Doug Demuro’s review of my personal 2018 BRZtS

[spike021]

Originally Posted by yurikaze

Sounds like more people need the experience of living with a Miata as their only car.

That or worse, like spending 25 or so years taking public transportation everywhere. Because that was me high school through all of college. I never had my own car. I took the bus and train/lightrail everywhere. Good luck schlepping a suitcase, backpack, and other miscellaneous in a full bus/train.

Having a twin with its folding rear seats is like the equivalent of taking a bus like I used to and having the back section all to myself while everybody else is crammed the rest of the 2/3 of the bus.

So much space.

OK sorry it's a bad day for my analogies but you get the idea.

[Rai-zero]

Originally Posted by spike021

Yeah, I know that and he’s very subjective. I just hope sometimes rather than comparing an apple to an orange he would try to think of them objectively and holistically.

I know, he drove a 1988 Miata and was cool with it, but the BRZ is slow??

I sent him an email to review my tS but I am not local to him. I'm glad to see this anyway. Nice clean car.


I agree with his handeling assessments.

I was a S2000 owner and agree that the tS does feel like a S2000 (limited to 7500 rpm) and the car does feel planted and stable in driving.

I also owned a 414 hp M3 and (IMO) the tS handles just as well as the v8 M3 and somewhat better than the S2000 (longer wheelbase and more grip).

Acceleration (IMO) the S2000 is the perfect car. The tS is just a few ticks off the S2K. The M3 was probably too fast for my community (public roads).

For example we have a 2 lane left turn and then everyone goes right lane onto the HW. So 90% will stick in rightmost turning left lane. However if you get into the front of inner left turn you can jump in front of those 9-10 cars slides right and one the long on-ramp to 70 mph HW. So I do that today in the tS and I'm about a 40 car lengths ahead of the regular cars by the time I merge onto the HW. In the M3 I'd be at 70 in a few seconds and just have to back off but in the tS can have a fun time raving it through the gears.

[NCtoBRZ]

Originally Posted by dhuang

I've known Doug for quite some time before his automotive journalism career -- we've done a lot of car spotting back in our college days, and he's an absolute gearhead in-person. I've offered him my Series.Yellow to review while it was still stock, but he wasn't passing thru Atlanta anytime soon.



He worked at Porsche Corporate and dealt with dealership allocation. I've driven his corporate 997S on some twisties.

He must be the sort of gearhead that likes cars but has little to no mechanical knowledge or experience because he makes A LOT of errors in his car reviews and seems pretty clueless about much of what he reviews. His voice is pretty hard to listen to for very long as well. He must be doing something right though because he does have a lot of views on his videos...

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Rai-zero

I know, he drove a 1988 Miata and was cool with it, but the BRZ is slow??

This is Toyota and Subaru's marketing failing to communicate that the 86/BRZ is a remake of the old Japanese cheap sports car including the overall performance.

The average interweb celeb thinks the car should be some really fast 201x thing which is not the intent to begin with.

[Lantanafrs2]

I can fit quite a bit in my car. I didn't buy a sports car for practicality though.

[Aluma007]

I've taken my daughter, all her dorm room things, and her bike on the hitch rack on my brz(at the same time)...and got over 30mpg on max performance tires. This car is damn amazing if you ask me. I'm pretty sure she's going to take it away from me pretty soon.

[Rai-zero]

Originally Posted by Sasquachulator

yeah...no.....lets not get carried away here.

This car doesn't do anything more or less practical than any other 2 door sports coupe out there.

Anything bigger would likely be more practical (more space).
Anything smaller would actually be a 2 seater. and less practical.

the M3 had nice useable rear seats. I used them 10 times in 6 years. Don't miss them or the extra 1000 lbs of weight.

I kind of like the smaller size (but not too small). I'm 6-2 205 lbs and the car couldn't be any more perfectly sized. It could be bigger but I wouldn't need the room and it could be smaller and it would be too tight in every direction.

I compare the BRZ to the Cayman (in size). I'm not counting the rear seats for anything except some storage.

[Rai-zero]

Originally Posted by krayzie

This is Toyota and Subaru's marketing failing to communicate that the 86/BRZ is a remake of the old Japanese cheap sports car including the overall performance.

The average interweb celeb thinks the car should be some really fast 201x thing which is not the intent to begin with.

I pointed this out in another post, some 80's air cooled 911 are as slow as the BRZ except you might not want to beat on the 911 because it might be costly if something broke. So actual acceleration would be equal maybe BRZ a bot quicker.

Of course we have 440hp Mustangs that cost $30-somthing. I know BRZ is not blistering fast.

When I first got the tS was next to a Challenger or Charger at the light, he looked at me like he wanted to go. I was in break in period so was not doing anything but the point is (imo) what's the point? He has 6000 cc engine and what do you expect it will be quicker than 2000 cc engine (shocker).

I was in Europe and heck half the cars were smaller than the BRZ and many Economy cars. The US is an aberration where you can get 7000 lb pick up trucks for daily driving or V8 440 hp muscle cars for teenagers etc..

I happen to prefer less it more. And small car with good handling to a big brutish car.

Douge is funny but he's so superficial, He'll talk more about the owners manual than about the tires/brakes/clutch/engine combined. I happen to really like the bRZ engine.

It's really not horribly underpowered, and if so I don't mind because it keeps up with traffic and then some. I can do 95 mph without even trying.

see this video

[GrantedTaken]

Demuro is a clueless tool.
I don't need to waste 15 mins. hearing this buffoon discuss the window switch.

[Seasaw]

I honestly think that Doug would bash this car harder; he actually had a lot of good things to say about the BRZ and the Ts. Most of the negative feedback was aimed toward the fact that there was no engine upgrades due and the fact that it is badged as "Ts" or the STI version of the BRZ. Doug did say that the interior was good for a entry sports car, exterior looked good, and the handling was amazing. He also said he loved the BRZ itself. Again most of his critique was aimed towards the fact that it was a higher trim with no hp/tq gains.

[Chikna]

Who changed "tS" to "too slow"?

[spike021]

Originally Posted by GrantedTaken

Demuro is a clueless tool.
I don't need to waste 15 mins. hearing this buffoon discuss the window switch.

I think that's a bit harsh.

Some of his videos are super interesting and help me discover cars (and admittedly their quirks) that I'd otherwise never know about.

I do think this review (and his comments on the /r/cars reddit post about it) pushes a bit too much toward the "majority opinion" for the views and discussion, because let's agree that the greater the debate/discussion around "power", the more views he'll get on the video.

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by rcm47

I gave him directions to an awesome twisty mountain road not to far from where he did the review but I guess he didn’t take them. For his Doug score for practicality I think all of us agree this probably the most practical 2 door sports coupe on the market and should have at least gotten a 6/10 practicality score.

Yes, I expected a better score in practicality. At least you have a decent trunk space and you can carry 4 wheels & tires.

[Rai-zero]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

Yes, I expected a better score in practicality. At least you have a decent trunk space and you can carry 4 wheels & tires.

I think it’s unfortunate that Douge lumps the BRZ in with the Civic/GTI class. I realize the price to pay etc.....


BUT if he were honest he’d look at the real cars in this area (sub 3000 pounds, RWD sports car). He’d have to compare it to the MX-5 (nearly as slow and way less useful) or the Cayman/Boxster ( faster but twice as expensive).

I love the GTi as well, but if I’m looking at the BRZ was also looking at the Cayman and MX-5 drove both. Chris Harris had the great video showing the BRZ v used Cayman. Anything tested new v used the used car tends to look better because it’s half off or more. But I was looking at used Cayman still on warranty and they were all high $30K to $40K+ and the new ones (fantastic car) was every bit of $70K with the amenities you get standard on the tS.

In all you can buy a tS and a GTi for the price of a new Cayman. I love the Cayman but give me a BRZ and GTi. I owned a $70k M3 was fantastic car but I really preferred if I had not. I should have kept the S2000 and got a GTi or Si Civic back when the had the 2L NA engine instead of sinking all that money into one car trying to be a jack of all trades.

Anyway sure I’ll say it the BRZ is not a great numbers car, it’s not great as a practical car (GTi) it’s something you buy because you love it’s RWD and low weight. It’s a car you can live with that’s has a feel on the road not just a car that will get you to point B. It’s a car you buy if you like the air cooled 911 or the front engined 4 cylinder Porsche type car but don’t want the hassle with a 30 year old.

It’s your modern day S2000. Incidentally my S2K cost *just as much* as my tS even though that was 18 years ago so was like $40K plus if you factored inflation. Plus the tS has quite a bit more equipment (like a heck of a lot of safety features, comfort features). Sure the S2000s engine is worth twice the price of the BRZ engine but every other piece (imo) the tS is equal or better.