Anyone else drive their BRZ hard?

[Lantanafrs2]

Originally Posted by iLuveKetchup

I don't think I've gone over 4.5k rpm on the highway. I only go +5mph the speed limit. Can autos even go beyond 4.5k rpm?

Oh boy

[iLuveKetchup]

Originally Posted by Lantanafrs2

Oh boy

Am I doing it wrong?

[PenGun]

LOL. I'm enjoying mine after breaking her in fairly gently. That's a nice surge at 5 grand, and it sounds good too.

[PenGun]

After looking at the stock dyno curves it becomes obvious why Subaru has never fixed the torque dip. If you are using the car, you will never see RPM low enough for that to be a problem.

[DarkSunrise]

Flog it pretty much every chance I get. Track days, autox, daily commuting, on-ramps, snow donuts, doesn't really matter. The FA20 seems to love that 4500-7500 RPM range and the chassis is so good at the limit.

Don't get me wrong - I take care of it as well (oil cooler for track days, regular maintenance), but if anything on the car breaks, I'll simply replace it and keep going. I love the car, but don't baby it if that makes sense. I actually think this car would be quite boring if driven constantly under 7/10ths, whereas something with plenty of low-end torque and less planted like a SRT-8 Challenger would shine.

[ROFL it's Waffle]

Originally Posted by PenGun

After looking at the stock dyno curves it becomes obvious why Subaru has never fixed the torque dip. If you are using the car, you will never see RPM low enough for that to be a problem.

Adjusting your idle speed to 4500 will solve that torque dip

[ROFL it's Waffle]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Flog it pretty much every chance I get. Track days, autox, daily commuting, on-ramps, snow donuts, doesn't really matter. The FA20 seems to love that 4500-7500 RPM range and the chassis is so good at the limit.

Don't get me wrong - I take care of it as well (oil cooler for track days, regular maintenance), but if anything on the car breaks, I'll simply replace it and keep going. I love the car, but don't baby it if that makes sense. I actually think this car would be quite boring if driven constantly under 7/10ths, whereas something with plenty of low-end torque and less planted like a SRT-8 Challenger would shine.

There's definitely a difference between "driving hard" and "beating on." Driving hard within intended limits is significantly better than beating on outside of intended limits (and keeps the injectors clean!). I have to imagine the Engineers who designed this car were also car people. They wouldn't want to build something that breaks when you use it as it was intended. That's more of a GM thing anyway

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by ROFL it's Waffle

There's definitely a difference between "driving hard" and "beating on." Driving hard within intended limits is significantly better than beating on outside of intended limits (and keeps the injectors clean!). I have to imagine the Engineers who designed this car were also car people. They wouldn't want to build something that breaks when you use it as it was intended. That's more of a GM thing anyway

Yeah so far the engine has been running well despite having dozens of track days on it. Only issue has been needing to replace coilpacks, but am hoping hood vents will solve that.

For that reason I was reluctant to bring the engine in for the j02 recall (valve spring replacement), but haven't had any problems in the 400 miles since. Trying to get a few track days in before the end of the year.

[Silverz]

I just drive it fast on the highway getting it up to 110-120 regularly but I don’t redline the thing.

I have 115,000 miles now with no problems.


If you beat it up like redlining it and squealing around corners obviously you will shorten the life of the thing and have more maintenance requirements.

[Bluefire98]

Man I love this thread. Our cars ask to driven hard I swear; peak power at 7k, awesomely stiff yet forgiving chassis, and a shifter that somehow feels better the harder you drive. But, I have a feeling getting pulled over and telling the officer she was asking for it won't get me out of a ticket.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Bluefire98

Man I love this thread. Our cars ask to driven hard I swear; peak power at 7k, awesomely stiff yet forgiving chassis, and a shifter that somehow feels better the harder you drive. But, I have a feeling getting pulled over and telling the officer she was asking for it won't get me out of a ticket.

"But officer she was begging for it!


https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...69#post3272669

[Mr Breeze]

Originally Posted by Howaitoguru

So I’m safe to beat the shit out of my BRZ? I just feel like with the boxer being such an old design that I might run into engine failure. Plus I know that our engines do suffer from a little oil starvation and higher RPMs. I just don’t want to run into that issue at 100k miles I might cry.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Make sure you have decent oil temperature and you should be ok. It's a sports car, it's supposed to be driven like one.

[86MLR]

Even the flat cap wearing STI drivers with their ringland stories of woe don't carry on as much as us owners of the twins.

It's a cheap sports coupe with a cheap FA20, but, they are not made of glass.

I've thrashed mine from day 1 when it came out of the dealer with 6 km on it, 2 years later I'm still thrashing it but now it is turbo charged.

If you use some mechanical sympathy and keep up your servicing and general maintenance you really shouldn't have any issues.

In saying this, poor driving techniques and/or lack of mechanical sympathy can kill anything.

Lugging the engine with the wrong gear for the RPM hitting the limiter, riding the clutch or keeping your foot on the clutch at a set of lights, these are the things that break stuff.

It's like when people complain about lunching a rod or bearing, only to find they went to 100% throttle, 100% boost, in 6th gear, doing 60kph.

[14stu]

I did over 3000 miles on the track last year (30 trackdays), and they're pretty much all above 6k rpm. I've already done 2 trackdays this year and should get over 40 by the end of 2020. I beat the ever living snot out of my BRZ and it's held up very well. Drive it hard, keep up with maintenance, and fix stuff when it breaks. That's the whole point of a sportscar.