It was bound to happen sooner or later, and the winner of the I-don't-care-about-the-warranty-and-want-more-power-now contest comes to us from Toledo, Ohio. Accelerated Performance, an import tuning shop there, outfitted a brand new Subaru BRZ with a custom turbo.
Aside from being the first, this turbo setup gives the car a 54.5 hp boost over its stock 161 whp (compared to its 200 hp at the crank).
The stock engine is a normally-aspirated 2.0-liter four banger, but Subaru squeezed every last drop out of it by employing chain-driven dual overhead cams and a 12.5:1 compression ratio. Unfortunately, Accelerated Performance hasn't run more than 4 psi of boost on account of the ECU.
But good for them for trying. Most of us wouldn't have the chutzpah to mess with a brand new, still warrantied car (and for good reason). One commenter on the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club forum, where this little project popped up, opined that A.P. would be better off waiting for Subaru to come out with a line of factory-produced performance parts. But that's not the American way. Where would Carroll Shelby be if he'd let Ford do all the work?
Even if this example isn't perfect, the fact that it's here bodes well for the future. If BRZ performance parts R&D is already beginning — this particular car only has 760 miles on the odometer — there ought to be a pretty healthy range of upgrades available by the time the 2013 BRZ is a little older and a lot cheaper as a used car. (Hat tip to rodmillington!)
(A clearer look at the dyno sheet reveals the real horsepower this car is making. Thank you everyone for pointing it out. — Ed.)