2021 Subaru Wrx Sti on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Subaru BRZ tS returning for 2020?

Last year Subaru rolled the special edition BRZ tS onto the market, the tS standing for "tuned by STI." Although the mad men at STI didn't inject more go into the 2.0-liter boxer-four with 205 horsepower and 156 pound-feet of torque, they did apply the whetstone to the BRZ to provide sharper edges for that power. Subaru only offered 500 examples for sale in the U.S., part of the coupe's regular cadence of special editions. CarsDirect discovered the model listed in the EPA's fuel economy listings for the 2020 model year, though, leading all to wonder if the tS will make a return next year.   If it does come back, we can expect STI to make this new take at least as good as before. Exclusive kit on the 2018 version included strut tower braces upgraded with pillow-ball joints, draw stiffeners for the front suspension, STI-tuned springs and Sachs dampers, Brembo brakes, and lightweight 18-inch wheels in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 rubber. Aero-wise, front and rear underspoilers worked in tandem with a manually adjustable rear wing in raw carbon fiber. Drivers could keep up with the additional dynamic prowess via the multifunction performance display lifted from the BRZ Limited. The 2018 BRZ tS cost $34,355, about $2,000 more than the Limited trim at the time, in return for the extra tuning, larger wheels, and better tires.  According to the EPA, the 2020 BRZ tS and its six-speed manual will return 20 miles per gallon in the city, 27 on the highway, and 23 combined. That's a drop of one mpg in the city and on the highway, two mpg combined, compared to the standard coupe with a six-speed manual. When CarsDirect queried Subaru, the spokesperson made no denials, only attributing the difference in fuel economy to the larger wheels and stickier rubber. For anyone considering the 2020 Toyota 86 Hakone Special Edition available later this year, now you have a choice to make.

Subaru lifts leg at Super Bowl, goes with Puppy Bowl ads instead

There will be many automakers spending millions upon millions of dollars advertising in the Super Bowl next weekend, but Subaru will not be one of them. Instead, the automaker will be catering toward animal - specifically dog - lovers with a set of commercials for the 2014 Subaru Forester that will appear during Puppy Bowl IX on Animal Planet.
The ads all build on Subaru's reputation of being a dog-friendly brand, and its latest "Dog Tested. Dog Approved" campaign will feature four 20-second spots. Of the four, "Tailgate" and "On The Lot" are definitely the most entertaining, while "Let's Talk Financing" and, especially, "Lint Roller" are snoozers.
Scroll down to watch all four spots, and there's also a press release listing other initiatives Subaru is planning to attract dog lovers. If you like dog commercials, you should check out the newest spot from Volkswagen, too.

The next Subaru three-row will be the biggest Subaru ever

Subaru's trying to fix what hobbled the too-small, too-odd Tribeca, the company's last attempt at a three-row SUV, with a truly American-sized vehicle that will resemble the Viziv-7 Concept the company showed off at the LA Auto Show. We caught up with Dominick Infante, National Manager of Product Communications, to get the story about what that future SUV will be like. While he couldn't talk about engines ("[W]e'll have big news on that coming up," he said), Infante told us that the production SUV would be based on the new global architecture, a version of which underpins the new Impreza. That car, and its architecture, were "designed to meet crash testing out to 2025, so it's very overbuilt which is why we can go to something as large as this," Infante said. It's also coming soon. Infante told us that the production version be on the road in 2018, which we assume means it'll be a 2019 model year vehicle. Don't expect it to diverge from the company's general styling themes, either. Infante mentioned that the Tribeca, "was a very stylized vehicle ... [it] kind of didn't fit with the brand." We'd say that's an accurate assessment of a vehicle that always stood apart from the rest of the lineup. Subaru will play it safe to avoid that problem, making sure the production version of the Viziv-7 will be immediately identifiable as a Subaru. As Infante put it, "It's not going to be overly fancy or pretty; it'll be rough and tumble. We're going to stick with our Subaru DNA." And it'll also fix the Tribeca's other problem, which was size, particularly in the third row. Infante promised us that adults would fit in the Viziv-7's rear seats, although a quick glance in the Concept didn't confirm this because there wasn't an interior at all. So we'll have to wait and see, and note that there was no discussion of the size of those adults. Infante also promised configurable seating and cargo arrangements that would go beyond anything Subaru's done before – and since Subaru's only done one proper three-row, that means the Tribeca. Since it's debuting in 2018, it's a safe bet we'll see a concept that's much closer to production form next year. Stay tuned.Related Video: