The Scion FR-S/Toyota GT86 has caused quite a stir among sports car enthusiasts. This is partly because it’s a fun and interesting car in its own right, and partly because its introduction just might mark the beginning of a new era of affordable, but fun, Japanese sport compacts. Everybody is eagerly awaiting FR-S competitors, but a higher priority for fans is a faster version of the FR-S. For the previous generation of these sorts of cars, this would have meant a turbo version, but in a conversation with Top Gear, the car’s chief engineer, Tetsuya Tada, said that a turbo FR-S wasn’t coming.
What he said Toyota was working on instead was a version with a KERS hybrid system, similar to the one found in Toyota’s TS030 Le Mans prototype racer. This system gathers energy from braking and stores it in supercapacitors, it can then be used to give the car a boost of torque on the straights. This is a technology which is popular in race cars, but hasn’t yet taken off in road cars, and Tada even touched on the reason why, saying “Toyota wants to make things accessible. The capacitor is appropriate technology, but it’s not as lightweight as you might think, and it’s expensive.”
He said that Toyota did indeed have prototype of the car in testing with a KERS system, but he wouldn’t say whether it used capacitors. Neither would he say whether a production version would use them, saying basically that it’s possible, provided the technology improves soon. Of course, this was far from an official confirmation, Tada only said they were working on such a car and that it’s the kind of thing he would like to build. There is no promise that the car will actually be built or that this version will even make it to the US. The idea is certainly exciting, and the FR-S would almost definitely be the cheapest car to have such a system, at least for a while. It has the potential to be the car that would finally make the technology more mainstream.
Which system, the KERS or a turbo would provide more HP?
Well, the KERS system is really more about torque, which is what electric motors are particularly good at. It’s there to help you power out of turn and get back up to speed for the straightaway. Turbos will generally give bigger horsepower numbers, but these tend to come only at higher engine speeds. Both have their advantages, but they do slightly different kinds of things. Of course, this is all just generally speaking, and it really comes down mainly to how far the manufacturer wants to push either system.
Which system would you recommend for the FRS or BRZ?
Truthfully, a turbo system would probably give you the best all-around driving experience. It would also be cheaper and easier to use on public roads. But there are already plenty of aftermarket turbo kits for the car, if you really must have one. Both systems together would be fantastic, but it looks like the only way to make that happen is if they go ahead with the factory KERS system and you install your own turbo kit.
I have heard that Subaru is secretly working on a Turbo version of the BRZ?
I’ve heard that too, although it would be better to have a Toyota version. If Subaru makes any changes to the engine, they will be doing it without any help from Toyota, and that means they won’t be able to use the fancy fuel injection system which Toyota designed specifically for this engine. Subaru would almost certainly have to use a more primitive system, and although it would ultimately still be faster, it would be better to have Toyota’s fuel system and a turbo at the same time.