Scion FR-S battles Subaru BRZ in Shannonville shootout

While platform sharing and rebadging is nothing new, the marriage of Toyota and Subaru is certainly one that is centre stage these days. The two Japanese powerhouses joined forces to produce the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ respectively, a car that promises to put the "sports" back into the sports car. With excellent balance, a light curbweight and a tuned chassis, the car is certainly a blast to wheel around and we know first hand since we've tracked them both! But unfortunately, we never had a chance to stack them up head-to-head.

Logic would say that the cars should be basically equal. Afterall, they are identical aside from aesthetics and interior but then again, the BRZ appears to have a bit more aero considerations. However, it also is more luxurious which could make it weigh a tad more. What we found here is a shoot-out between the two sub-$28K machines, albeit a fairly unscientific one.

The cars play a bit of lead-follow with the FR-S tailing the BRZ through the twisties at Shannonville Motorsports Park. At the 6:11 mark, they swap and the Subaru chases down the Scion as the 205mm tires on both cars sound like they are getting very unhappy after so many laps. We hear from trackday organizers Touge.ca that the drivers are fairly evenly matched as well. In a more comprehensive test, drivers would have swapped places, cars would be identical in every aspect (ie, fuel level) but we think that one might be a hair quicker as it reels the other one in on the video.

So which one has the edge? Which would you choose? Leave your comments on the video after the jump.