This 300bhp WRX-Engined BRZ Is The Car We Wish Subaru Would Make

An Austrian firm has slotted an FA20DIT engine into a BRZ, giving the coupe a much more potent 300bhp to play with

25 Feb 2015

Talk to anyone about the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86 and the whole ‘it needs more power’ argument is almost certainly going to come up at some point. Since neither Subaru or Toyota seems willing to crank up the rear-wheel drive coupe’s grunt, aftermarket mods are the only answer. One option we’ve looked at before is forced induction, but what about an engine swap?

That’s exactly what the BRZ you see here (which cropped up on the FT86 forum) is rocking, in the form of a 2.0-litre FA20DIT engine under the bonnet. Oh yes, this car - the work of an Austrian company called Speedheads, possibly part of Stohl Racing - is packing a WRX boxer engine.

It’s still relatively early days for the project (we recommend you head over here and bookmark the build thread), but the car is already kicking out 300bhp. Much more like it.

It seems the plan is to eventually offer these conversions for regular punters. That’s a very enticing prospect, but we can’t help but be a little sad that the BRZ doesn’t come with this engine from the factory…