Subaru’s wild NY debut

The New York Auto Show is supposed to be where car companies act serious. They roll out family SUVs, refreshed crossovers, and electric flagships under bright lights and cleaner talking points. This year, Subaru did that too. It used the show to present a slate of new mainstream models, including the 2027 Getaway EV and the redesigned 2026 Outback. But sitting nearby was the car people kept wandering back to: the Brataroo 9500 Turbo, a deranged reworking of a 1978 Subaru BRAT that looks less like a concept than like a cartoon that escaped into real life. That contrast is the story. The 2026 New York show has plenty of normal product news, and the official show lineup leans hard on it. The public dates run April 3 through April 12 at the Javits Center. Big reveals include electric SUVs, minivans, and production-ready updates meant to move real volume. Even Subaru’s own show messaging is about practical launches like the Trailseeker EV, Solterra, and Outback. The Brataroo is the opposite of practical, which is exactly why it works so well on that floor. It also was not born in New York. Subaru and Hoonigan first unveiled the Brataroo at SEMA in Las Vegas on November 4, 2025, as the next star car for the Gymkhana franchise. Travis Pastrana is the driver again, and the setting for the coming film is Australia. That matters because the Brataroo was never designed as a static display piece. It was built to jump, slide, and survive abuse that would destroy almost anything wearing vintage sheetmetal. The numbers explain why it looks so excessive. Under the body is a rallycross-derived turbocharged 2.0-liter boxer four built by Vermont SportsCar. Subaru says it makes 670 horsepower and 680 pound-feet of torque, revs past 9,500 rpm, and sends power through a six-speed sequential SADEV gearbox to an all-wheel-drive system with motorsport differentials. The bodywork is carbon fiber over a custom chassis with a roll cage certified to current WRC safety standards. This is not a restored BRAT. It is a silhouette wrapped around a competition machine. Then there is the aero, which pushes the car from absurd to memorable. Subaru says the Brataroo has the most advanced active aerodynamics ever fitted to one of its Gymkhana cars. The front fender louvers can adjust in real time to change front-end balance on the ground or in the air. Hoonigan says the car also uses interchangeable rear wings, including a larger one that expands as it deploys for more control. That is such a strange sentence that it almost sounds made up, which is probably why the car lands so hard in person. Its shape helps. Designer Khyzyl Saleem kept the BRAT recognizable, then stretched and sharpened everything until it looked half retro pickup, half time-attack weapon. The livery mixes 1970s Subaru colors with modern sponsor graphics and tiny kangaroos giving Pastrana’s trademark thumbs-up. Inside, Hoonigan says the original radio still works, while the old HVAC controls have been repurposed to manage the aero system. That single detail tells you almost everything about the Brataroo’s appeal. It is not nostalgic in the soft, museum way. It is nostalgic in the reckless way, with a working radio in a 670-horsepower carbon-fiber BRAT whose vents help control the car while it is flying.