Torque is one of the points raised by most road testers, but lots of cars lack torque and are still great fun. The Mazda RX8 and any Honda ivtec engined car are just 2 i can think of.
I much prefer the Scion FR-S model name to the Toyota GT86.
With regard to the Beemer, you should bear in mind it was a 2.8l 6 cylinder with buckets of torque so isnt really a fair comparison to the Scion. I'm also guessing that the price is significantly different.
It would be good to compare the 120i to the BRZ, but i dont think the US gets these small engines from BMW.
Best
G