Is the Subaru BRZ's Small Backseat a Big Inconvenience?

We knew full well the 2013 Subaru BRZ wasn't meant to carry more than a driver and a passenger when it became Cars.com's Best of 2013 winner. The BRZ and Scion FR-S got our vote for reasons you can read here. Still, we went through with a plan to buy one and live with the BRZ's small backseat.

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The four-seat BRZ has received plenty of use in its six months of ownership so far; the backseat has not. It remains something Cars.com editors have to live with considering the BRZ is a daily driver — even split a dozen ways — not a weekend warrior.

Scion Series 10 Limited Editions Celebrate Brand's 10th Birthday

Coming to dealers in June will be special editions of Scion's entire lineup, including the just-announced 2014 Scion tC. Marking the brand's 10th anniversary, the Scion 10 Series editions of the xB, xD, iQ, FR-S and tC will all be painted one color — Silver Ignition — and feature the Scion name illuminated on the dashboard when drivers enter the vehicle before it fades to reveal the number 10.

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Each will be sequentially numbered, with a total run of 10,000 units to be produced. All will feature silver seat belts, LED Scion badges on the hood and rear that light up when the car is unlocked, and a solar-powered illuminated shift knob. The xB, iQ and xD models will come with unique alloy wheels, while the FR-S 10 Series will have standard high-intensity-discharge headlamps, dual climate control and smart key with push-button start ignition.

Toyota Executive: New Scion tC to Draw on FR-S Cues

Toyota won't reveal a restyled tC sports coupe from its Scion division until Thursday, but one executive said to expect styling cues to follow the new FR-S. Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota’s U.S. arm, told reporters this morning that the FR-S' "halo" status atop the Scion brand meant the tC would follow in the same styling mold, especially in the rear. Carter spoke at the National Automobile Dealers Association/J.D. Power and Associates' 2013 Automotive Forum on the eve of this week's 2013 New York International Auto Show.

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"You’ll see family resemblance of the FRS coming over to the tC," Carter said. "But you’ll still see about $5,000 difference" in transaction prices between the two, which should keep younger shoppers heading toward Scion's front-drive coupe. That suggests the next tC won't have a radically higher price. The current car starts at $19,480 including the destination charge. The FR-S, meanwhile, starts at $25,255.

Carter confirmed the next tC will continue to be front-wheel drive, keeping differentiation from the rear-drive FR-S. Interior quality may take a big leap over the current car, whose cost-cut materials drew our criticism when Scion introduced it in mid-2010. Toyota is "obsessed with styling, both interior and exterior," Carter said.

Tracking the Fuel Economy of Cars.com's 2013 Subaru BRZ

Since our previous update a month ago, Cars.com’s long-term 2013 Subaru BRZ tester accumulated nearly 1,100 miles. The BRZ is rotated among our editors who use the BRZ as a daily driver for commuting, running errands and taking road trips as if it were their own car. One editor took the sports car from Chicago to the Quad Cities on a 300-plus-mile road trip, accounting for a third of the miles racked up in the past 28 days.

Read More About Our Long-Term Subaru BRZ

The road trip nearly matched the longest distance — 302 miles — we’ve traveled on a tank of gas; on this trip our editor managed 301 miles. The BRZ continues to bulls-eye its combined rating of 25 mpg. Our manual-transmission BRZ has EPA ratings of 22/30 mpg city/highway. We’ve observed 25.58 mpg after 11 fill-ups so far, with many more to come in its yearlong evaluation.

2013 Geneva International Motor Show: FT-86 Open Concept

• Looks like: Yet another FT-86 concept
• Defining characteristics: It's a convertible version of the Scion FR-S
• Ridiculous features: Aside from the Milan-inspired interior, none; it looks production-ready
• Chances of being mass-produced: A Scion FR-S convertible seems likely

Toyota will unveil its third FT-86 concept in four years to the world this month at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show: the FT-86 Open concept. The compact sports car is the convertible version of the automaker's Scion FR-S, as it's known in the U.S., or GT86 overseas.

Built on the same platform as the Scion FR-S, the FT-86 Open concept shares the rear-wheel-drive Scion's 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder engine, which is paired with a six-speed manual or automatic transmission and good for 200 horsepower. Toyota says it will gauge customer reaction to the concept at the Geneva show for a possible launch of a production-version convertible.

"The FT-86 Open concept is designed to combine all the lively, accessible performance and highly engaging, readily exploitable dynamic abilities of the GT86 with the even greater levels of driving pleasure derived from open-topped motoring," the automaker said in a statement.

We Bought a 2013 Subaru BRZ

Each year Cars.com names a "Best Of" winner that our editors pick as the ultimate car we've driven over the past 12 months. This year, the award went to two cars, the nearly identical Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ sports coupes. Before we determined the winners, we had already decided that whichever car won our Best Of award would get a spot in our long-term test fleet.

Our winner was decided late on a Friday, and we put a deposit down by the following Thursday.

I was tasked with buying one of the two cars, and it turned out to be one of the simplest car purchases I've ever made. Here's why.

Cars.com Names Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ Best of 2013

As we have for the past several years, our editors have spent countless hours behind the wheel of every brand-new or redesigned mainstream car sold in the U.S., and from that group we've chosen our Best Of Award winner. This year is no different, but at the same time, it's a little different.

This year, we've picked twins, the Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ, as our Best of 2013 Award winners. These two models, co-developed by the two companies, are nearly identical, from chassis to sheet metal, and these sports cars provide a driving experience that's tragically rare nowadays.

Congratulations to both Scion and Subaru on the win.

December's Fastest- and Slowest-Selling Cars

Automakers won't report December sales results until later today, but we have data on the month's fastest and slowest sellers. The redesigned Toyota Avalon hit dealerships in the first week of December, and it stormed the fastest-selling list, with regular and hybrid versions averaging just eight days apiece on dealer lots. Shoppers moved toward the Ford F-Series Super Duty pickup truck, too. That’s likely a result of an improved construction market; November housing starts hit their second highest rate since mid-2008.

The redesigned Mercedes-Benz GL-Class, which hit dealerships in September, spent its third month among the fastest sellers; the new-for-2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek also marked its third month on the list. Of the 18 fastest-selling cars, 10 were repeat performers, with such regulars as the redesigned Subaru Impreza and new Scion FR-S. The Kia Soul's severe mileage downgrade doesn't seem to have sapped demand, and neither has the popular hatchback's age. It debuted way back in early 2009, but in December it placed among the fastest sellers for the third month in a row.

October's Fastest- and Slowest-Selling Cars

It appears shoppers clamored more aggressively for incoming 2013s last month. Cars for the 2013 model year averaged just 23 days to sell from the day they hit lots while 2012s averaged 121 days. Combined, the group averaged 73 days to turn. That's a wider gap than October 2011 when 2011 and 2012 cars averaged 15 and 93 days to turn, respectively.
 
New or redesigned cars topped the month, with the seventh-generation Nissan Sentra and all-new Subaru XV Crosstrek taking just five days each to move. The redesigned Ford Fusion and Honda Accord plus the all-new Ford C-Max Hybrid made this month's movers, as well.
 
We focused on just 2013 models for October since automakers had a vast majority of 2013 models on sale. October did have one notable redesign in the Loser column: the Chevrolet Malibu Eco, which averaged 92 days on dealer lots. The regular Malibu, meanwhile, took 32 days to sell. That’s better but still below average for 2013s. Is the new Malibu getting lost in the slew of redesigned family cars? Sales fell 6% in October, putting the Malibu behind the Fusion and well in back of the redesigned Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima.

Here are October's fastest- and slowest-selling cars:

2013 Subaru BRZ Video

The Subaru BRZ is not only a great-looking sports car loaded with available features, but it's also a remarkably fun, well-balanced coupe. However, it's got a tiny backseat and overall firm ride, as well as a $1,300 price premium over its twin, the Scion FR-S. Is it worth it? Cars.com reviewer Joe Wiesenfelder takes a close look at one of today's true affordable sports cars and explains why the answer is yes.

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