Ten years ago, the brand new 2013 Subaru BRZ had a twin brother called the Scion FR-S, which we said “absolutely wins the fun-per-dollar category.” Scion and the FR-S name have been dead these many long years now, but the BRZ and Toyota GR86 have only come more alive; we recently cooed that the second-gen BRZ “makes an even better case for this fast-disappearing segment.” Coming up on a decade of success, it seems at least one of the sport coupes plans to celebrate the milestone and the enthusiast memories. The New Nissan Z forum found a VIN decoder document Subaru sent to the National Highway Transportation Administration, the page covering the GR86 revealing two “Premium 10th” trims for the 2023 model year.
It’s thought these will be 10th anniversary models positioned at the top of the range. According to the paperwork, they could be available with a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic, and one will offer Subaru’s EyeSight ADAS system, one won’t; the EyeSight tech still isn’t compatible with a manual transmission.
At first it seems odd that Subaru doesn’t appear interested in the anniversary party normally paired with tin or aluminum gifts, but the brand prefers to blow its birthday kazoos in Japan. If there were ever a time and a car for a revival of a Subaru Ultimate Customized Kit Special, it’s now.
However, fishing through our memories of recent anniversary models, we can’t remember one that was much more than an appearance package, and none of those were too flash. The 20th anniversary 2020 Prius offered a choice of two exterior colors with black accents, and a few badges and plaques. It was a limited edition, though, so Toyota might similarly cap production on the commemorative GR86. If we’re lucky, Toyota will tie the street model to the one-make GR86 racing series to begin next year, and offer some noteworthy mods if not performance upgrades.
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