The engineering may be conventional, but the execution is exceptional. The Toyobaru twins’ focus on affordable, involving driving enjoyment propelled them, with tail-out attitude, into the COTY winner’s circle.

First published in the January 2013 issue of Wheels magazine, Australia’s most experienced and most trusted car magazine since 1953.

MORE often than not with car companies, collaboration equals abomination. Seldom do joint projects produce something remarkable.

Rarer still are results like Wheels Car of the Year 2012, the Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86. Both launched mid-year and were rapturously received. Understandable, as they blend supermarket-shelf affordability with chic boutique driving pleasure. Sensually satisfying and immensely entertaining, this compact, front-engine, rear-drive coupe was something special. The 86 was exactly the kind of car many believed Toyota had forgotten how to create. And the BRZ proved Subaru’s expertise extended beyond turbocharged boxer engines and all-wheel drive.

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There seemed little doubt the coupe would make it to the final stages of COTY, but victory was not a foregone conclusion. Among the other nominees were some outstanding cars. One of them showed convincingly how our driving dependency on oil could be massively reduced. Another offered a spectacular redefinition of everything that should be expected from a tiny car. Along with the Holden Volt, Volkswagen Up, and the others, the 86/BRZ would have to survive the sustained and searching scrutiny that is the week-long COTY test program. In other years, cars have gone into the process with a bright reputation and emerged with it tarnished. And, needless to say, empty-handed.

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Then you drive it, and it’s instantly, glaringly obvious that the engineering effort invested in the 86/BRZ has gone into the details. All of them…