Am I stupid if I don't buy a Civic Si?

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

WTF IS THIS THING, GROSS

Sorry, I take it you were wishing for a boy. Hahaha

[Jordanwolf]

Originally Posted by ermax

Sorry, I take it you were wishing for a boy. Hahaha

THIS... THIS IS A WOMAN, not that sorry excuse you showed us earlier.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

THIS... THIS IS A WOMAN, not that sorry excuse you showed us earlier.

Hmmmm.... hahaha

[WolfpackS2k]

[GrandSport]

My 2 cents:
FWD sucks but the BRZ/FRS is pretty crappy daily driver, at least the 2013 I have in my garage (for another day or two anyway).
Figure out what matters to you. For me, the only roads my current (or next) 86 saw or will see is the road between my house and tracks (and some of them on a trailer).

I mean, front wheel drive really sucks though. It makes any car automatically not fun to me- street or track.

(and push button start is awesome)

[motrek]

Okay, news! I bought a new 2018 BRZ, base model, over the weekend.

So far really enjoying it. I'm trying to break it in according to the user manual, more or less, so I haven't really been winding it out. That being said, first impressions:

- More powerful than I expected/remembered. I guess that's the difference between test-driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar environment for 20/30 minutes and trying to compare it by memory to cars you know. Now that I'm driving it on familiar roads and getting used to the gear ratios, I think the car is clearly faster than my old BMW. So that's been a pleasant discovery. A lot of my hand-wringing over torque was for nothing. (Sigh.)

- Wind/road/tire/etc. noise. I'm realizing that the noise in the cabin is very dependent on the driving surface, much more than my BMW and more than any other car I've owned in the past. When I test-drove the 86 with TRD suspension/exhaust it may have been on "loud" asphalt and that might account for most of the difference between my 86 and BRZ test drives. I definitely drove the BRZ on "quiet" asphalt. (The stretches of road sound the same inside my BMW...) I'm finding that the BRZ is disappointingly loud on most of the surfaces in my area. I expect/hope to get used to this after a while. Although for longer road trips, I wonder if it wouldn't be smart to get some hearing protection. A quick Google shows that there are nice, clear, small noise-attenuating earbuds for musicians and so forth. Will have to think on this some more.

Anyway, other than the disappointment over the road noise, the car has been exceptional and I've been seeking out reasons to drive it as much as possible. Thanks to everybody who offered well-meaning input on this thread!

[why?]

If the road noise annoys you can easily get some sound deadening like the audio crowd does. Depending on how crazy you want to go you can easily get Lexus or better like sound levels in the vehicle. Check out https://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/ if you are interested.

[alphasaur]

Originally Posted by motrek

Okay, news! I bought a new 2018 BRZ, base model, over the weekend.

So far really enjoying it. I'm trying to break it in according to the user manual, more or less, so I haven't really been winding it out. That being said, first impressions:

- More powerful than I expected/remembered. I guess that's the difference between test-driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar environment for 20/30 minutes and trying to compare it by memory to cars you know. Now that I'm driving it on familiar roads and getting used to the gear ratios, I think the car is clearly faster than my old BMW. So that's been a pleasant discovery. A lot of my hand-wringing over torque was for nothing. (Sigh.)

- Wind/road/tire/etc. noise. I'm realizing that the noise in the cabin is very dependent on the driving surface, much more than my BMW and more than any other car I've owned in the past. When I test-drove the 86 with TRD suspension/exhaust it may have been on "loud" asphalt and that might account for most of the difference between my 86 and BRZ test drives. I definitely drove the BRZ on "quiet" asphalt. (The stretches of road sound the same inside my BMW...) I'm finding that the BRZ is disappointingly loud on most of the surfaces in my area. I expect/hope to get used to this after a while. Although for longer road trips, I wonder if it wouldn't be smart to get some hearing protection. A quick Google shows that there are nice, clear, small noise-attenuating earbuds for musicians and so forth. Will have to think on this some more.

Anyway, other than the disappointment over the road noise, the car has been exceptional and I've been seeking out reasons to drive it as much as possible. Thanks to everybody who offered well-meaning input on this thread!

The car was also quicker than I expected it to be after reading all the negative comments on how slow it is. I'm used to driving turbo civics and 3-400hp mazdaspeeds with boat loads of torque. The 86 is not fast, it's not slow, it's peppy.

In regards to noise, I wonder if you could change to a different set of tires and if that would improve things for you

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by GrandSport

FWD sucks but the BRZ/FRS is pretty crappy daily driver, at least the 2013 I have in my garage (for another day or two anyway).

Of course this is just an opinion, but I'm not sure I really understand this. I've daily driven mine for almost 140,000 miles. Others, such as @Tcoat, have done the same.

Is it the perfect daily driver, probably not, but I wouldn't go far to say it's crappy. What is it about your daily drive that makes it crappy?

[carsebuco]

Get a loud exhaust set-up and all the road noise will go away.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by motrek

Okay, news! I bought a new 2018 BRZ, base model, over the weekend.

So, the answer we've all been waiting for, are you now stupid because you didn't buy a Civic?

[GrandSport]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Of course this is just an opinion, but I'm not sure I really understand this. I've daily driven mine for almost 140,000 miles. Others, such as @Tcoat, have done the same.

Is it the perfect daily driver, probably not, but I wouldn't go far to say it's crappy. What is it about your daily drive that makes it crappy?

It lacks a lot of bells and whistles is all. Decent amount of road noise and worthless rear seats, etc. I never said it was unreliable.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by GrandSport

It lacks a lot of bells and whistles is all. Decent amount of road noise and worthless rear seats, etc. I never said it was unreliable.

OK, didn't think you were saying it's unreliable.

I guess the definition of Daily Driver varies too much to make an overarching statement about it.

My daily driver needs is basically a commuter car that gets decent gas mileage and I don't hate driving everyday.

Since I don't need bells and whistles that are subject to breaking (heck I'd prefer rollup windows if I could get them), actually enjoy road noise (I ride motorcycles and fly small airplanes, now there's real "road" noise) and have found that the rear seats are fine for my occasional needs for passenger room, I'm guessing our needs are different.

Now that said, I fully admit that a CTS-V would be a much superior daily "comfort" driver, with the exception of gas mileage.

[motrek]

Originally Posted by Spuds

So, the answer we've all been waiting for, are you now stupid because you didn't buy a Civic?

Maybe. I'm not sure. Over the last couple days I've definitely had some buyer's remorse, e.g., when somebody parks next to me and I can only open the door one notch and have to writhe into the car. Or when I drive over a stretch of "loud" pavement and it's deafening. Or when I want to toss something into the car and I can't just throw open the rear driver's side door and throw it in the back seat. So it's a big transition from a "sport sedan" and I think "man this is my life for the next N years??"

And yet, I look forward to any and every excuse to drive the car anywhere...