Subaru BRZ Prototype First Drive Review: "Off the Chart" (Motor Trend)

[[es vi: eks]]

Originally Posted by Hachiroku

First Drive: 2013 Subaru BRZ Prototype

Off the Chart: Subaru Nails it With a Nimble, Intriguing Sports Car

From the December, 2011 issue of Motor Trend
By Angus MacKenzie


The key to the BRZ's appeal is the unique hardware under its relatively conventional skin. This is the world's only front-engine, rear-drive sports car powered by a boxer engine.

Man I hate it when magazines dont do there reaserch...
Most things have been done before....one way or another before.

Jowett made flat twin and flat 4 Rwd cars, utes, vans, sports cars. (production started 1910 winding up in 1953 with a limited batch of Jups being made up to 1954 to use up spare chassies)

Heres a tiny list...

1923 Jowett sports
1935/36 Jowett Weasle Sports tourer flat twin 900cc RWD 2 door light weight body.

This is the last flat 4 rwd sports car
1950s Jowett Jupiter is a 1.5L flat 4 RWD 2door sports car....
There are more models availble than there are listed in link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jowett

This is the last boxer engined rwd sports car
1965-69 Toyota S800 flat twin 800cc RWD 2 Door sports car
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Sports_800

[tranzformer]

Originally Posted by [es vi: eks]

Man I hate it when magazines dont do there reaserch...
Most things have been done before....one way or another before.

Jowett made flat twin and flat 4 Rwd cars, utes, vans, sports cars. (production started 1910 winding up in 1953 with a limited batch of Jups being made up to 1954 to use up spare chassies)

Heres a tiny list...

1923 Jowett sports
1935/36 Jowett Weasle Sports tourer flat twin 900cc RWD 2 door light weight body.
1950s Jowett Jupiter is a 1.5L flat 4 RWD 2door sports car....
There are more models availble than there are listed in link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jowett

1965-69 Toyota S800 flat twin 800cc RWD 2 Door sports car
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Sports_800

They were speaking about current production cars. This will be the worlds only boxer FR. Not that it was/is/has been the only one. Just that it is the only one now.

[tranzformer]

Originally Posted by PAImportTuner

Almost dead on.

Want to go on the record with an exact amount?

[[es vi: eks]]

Originally Posted by tranzformer

They were speaking about current production cars. This will be the worlds only boxer FR. Not that it was/is/has been the only one. Just that it is the only one now.

Yea I go along with that

[Snoopyalien24]

Originally Posted by tripjammer

3000 units a year?!?!?! Dammit!

I think production will increase over the next few years.. after the redesign or refresh of the current one, I think sales would blow up.

[Zaku]

I hope that's the case for STI ,not a normal BRZ

[tranzformer]

Originally Posted by [es vi: eks]

Yea I go along with that

Cool, that is at least how I read it.

[JohnnyR]

It's all sounding too inevitable that there will be a proper hi-po version of this car. It's a shame they didn't get on it sooner to be honest though. Not liking the sound of it basically saying "drive it and very shortly you'll wish it had 100 more HP". The weight game is all fine and dandy, but that only caters to what is possibly the smallest segment, the "sporty car niche segment" type of auto enthusiast.

When I turned 21 I bought a new Celica GT-S, and I heard it non-stop "looks fast", especially when Toyota used that in their marketing. After having a legitimate "fast" car now, it'd be too hard to get into one of these as a main car.

Here's to hoping Subie does the right thing and slaps a turbo on this thing.

[Aki]

Anybody know how the tranny in the IS350 is? Never driven one.

[fernan2]

Originally Posted by JohnnyR

It's all sounding too inevitable that there will be a proper hi-po version of this car. It's a shame they didn't get on it sooner to be honest though. Not liking the sound of it basically saying "drive it and very shortly you'll wish it had 100 more HP". The weight game is all fine and dandy, but that only caters to what is possibly the smallest segment, the "sporty car niche segment" type of auto enthusiast.

When I turned 21 I bought a new Celica GT-S, and I heard it non-stop "looks fast", especially when Toyota used that in their marketing. After having a legitimate "fast" car now, it'd be too hard to get into one of these as a main car.

Here's to hoping Subie does the right thing and slaps a turbo on this thing.

My best friend bought a last gen Celica the first month it came out, he had it for about 6 month before he sold it! For that same reason ( the Car was just to under power for its looks) thaTs why i want to hear the reviews on this car before i make my desision! I also like the 2013 GC.

[bryan]

Anybody know how the tranny in the IS350 is? Never driven one.

The automatic transmission on the IS350 is quite good. Not as good as an ISFs but still extremely impressive when compared to slightly older manumatic transmissions. It lets you rev higher and longer without interfering. The early manumatics were pathetic, shifting gears both up and down entirely too early. The IS350 was and still is a very capable car with a great transmission. If the FRS/BRZ adopted that for their automatic, those who choose it shouldn't be disappointed.

As for Motortrend wanting more power, who doesn't? But if a Mazda MX5 can do a burnout, I'm sure the FRS/BRZ should be able to as well.

[Option13]

I'm a bit dissapointed with that statement about the rear cylinders lining up with the front of the car, given the look of this image:





It certainly looks like that engine could be backed up a bit to take a bit of weight off of the front tires. Perhaps they ran into issues with the bellhousing cramping foot room? Or does the firewall just go that far forward?