Subaru Testing a BRZ with STI Badging and a Big Wing

[yelsew]

My only hope is that this sets a precedent that the car can come with higher performance tires. It was always my belief that it was one of the only thing holding that car back at head to head reviews when looking at track times, and now it will really be punching above its class when compared stock for stock with other similar cars. I love this chassis and I am fine with the power level. Still one of the fastest cars I've ever owned and none of them ever felt dangerously slow. My 1.6 supercharged mini was even held up as being a fast car with 30 less hp and close to the same weight as the BRZ yet the BRZ is "slow". Perspective.

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Nothing wrong with wanting more power because you find it exhilarating of exciting. I went through that stage in driving 30 years ago and no longer get enjoyment from pushing a pedal for a 10 second burst of speed.

And yet most if not all WRX STI drivers around the city here are this power hungry crowd, cuz I've noticed they can only drive fast and at times recklessly on the straights, most of them are scared shitless when it comes to the turns.

I've never even went thru the straight line speed craze stage, just don't find it interesting at all.

Now I wonder if this Type RA will come with the STI super quick 11:1 steering rack.

[Da Brz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Nothing wrong with wanting more power because you find it exhilarating of exciting. I went through that stage in driving 30 years ago and no longer get enjoyment from pushing a pedal for a 10 second burst of speed.

The problem I have with the more power crowd is the whining they can't pass or the car is so slow it is undrivable. These statements are just foolish.

I can agree with this. I don't think those kinds of cars are even made anymore. And haven't been for a long time. I do think this car's biggest problem as far as this argument goes is that everything is "fast" nowadays. Which is why you hear the minivan response all the time.

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I still have not figured out where this car can be driven on public streets that 300+ HP would even be fun. Can't even open it up about 90% of the time with what it has already.

I think this depends on where you live. I'm in mostly rural areas with straight highways between towns. Where I'm at, you're doing a lot of 0-65mph runs after every stop sign or red light you come to. It's literally the antithesis of what this car was made for, lol.

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by Dorb

Big wing turn off on both cars. Should be a law that these can only go on super cars, otherwise they just look stupid.(reminds me of all the tools in town you see with 4 bangers with these over the top wings and the way to loud exhaust that says look at me)
Actually the main reason I bought my 16 STI Limited as you could finally get it without the dang wing, which was a really smart move by Subaru and opened up the market past boy racers. But then again to each their own, just not my cup of tea, and someday when folks get older they may will get it.(or not)
My .02

Who imposes that big wings should go only on super cars and not on the BRZ? Are they the real boy racers that might try to overtake you on a straight line and laugh at you? Who cares about them and who is now the boy racer? Those who really know will just admire.

[Silver Cervy]

Originally Posted by Cal3000

Street wise, more power=more fun on your daily drives. I boosted my FRS 4 years ago and would probably not enjoy the car if I revert back to stock. Fact of the matter is the feeling of speed and power is exhilarating if you are into that stuff. But I notice a lot of ppl that purchase FR-S/BRZ are just cruisers, which is boring to me.
I recently purchased and Evo and the feeling of the torque is exciting no matter where I'm at.
There are a lot of people that purchase the car that like the platform wishing for a reliable experience with power.
I understand the complaining.

I'm sorry, but why would you buy a car for a daily driver knowing that it will be boring, and then complain about it being boring? Why not just buy something that comes with the amount of power you want? The BRZ was not primarily designed to be a daily driver, it was designed to be a weekend toy.

I'm not saying it's wrong to simply desire a bit more power, but actively complaining and bashing Subaru about not offering it is completely childish. You should've known what you were buying when you signed the release papers, so either deal with it or move to something else. Or hey, maybe you could, I don't know, buy one of the multiple FI kits that have been specifically designed for this car?

[willimusk]

I have zero interest in this new tS BRZ over the 2017 with PP. Beyond the suspension tweaks and stabilizers, the upgrades seem mostly bling. And I would actually pay to have that spoiler removed. Just not my style.

It blows my mind that people complain about lack of acceleration for freeway merging and passing. You have to DRIVE the car. Anticipate. Prepare. Shift. I have no trouble at all merging at 85, or passing uphill on a two lane back road at 60 or faster with proper pacing and prep. Use the gears! Be one with the machine!

[funwheeldrive]

Originally Posted by willimusk

I have zero interest in this new tS BRZ over the 2017 with PP. Beyond the suspension tweaks and stabilizers, the upgrades seem mostly bling. And I would actually pay to have that spoiler removed. Just not my style.

It blows my mind that people complain about lack of acceleration for freeway merging and passing. You have to DRIVE the car. Anticipate. Prepare. Shift. I have no trouble at all merging at 85, or passing uphill on a two lane back road at 60 or faster with proper pacing and prep. Use the gears! Be one with the machine!

I think some people are afraid to go over 6000RPM.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

I'm sorry, but why would you buy a car for a daily driver knowing that it will be boring, and then complain about it being boring? Why not just buy something that comes with the amount of power you want? The BRZ was not primarily designed to be a daily driver, it was designed to be a weekend toy.

I'm not saying it's wrong to simply desire a bit more power, but actively complaining and bashing Subaru about not offering it is completely childish. You should've known what you were buying when you signed the release papers, so either deal with it or move to something else. Or hey, maybe you could, I don't know, buy one of the multiple FI kits that have been specifically designed for this car?

Disagree with the bold there Silv. It was indeed primarily designed to be a daily driver and that is what the vast majority of the buyers use it for. The beauty of the design is that it can be both a daily driver and a weekend toy. It may not be perfect for one or the other but they struck an excellent balance that not may others do right now.
As far as the modding for power goes I do believe that this is one of the only cars (at least that I have heard of) that assigned a corporate level senior manager to head up an aftermarket integration program. Instead of trying to hold it tight to them and sell catalogue items they reached out to the aftermarket and said "Here is what we have, now go out and make the stuff we know the market will want". With the wealth of aftermarket go fast parts available there is not one single excuse for all the complaining that it is too slow.

[Silver Cervy]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Disagree with the bold there Silv. It was indeed primarily designed to be a daily driver and that is what the vast majority of the buyers use it for. The beauty of the design is that it can be both a daily driver and a weekend toy.

All cars nowadays, besides the hyper-exotic and track built ones, are designed to be used as daily drivers. But both Toyota and Subaru advertise the 86 and BRZ as canyon carvers, cars meant to be taken out on a sunny day with no real destination and spirited fun as the main objective. They didn't build the car with the vision of highway traffic and grocery store trips in their mind. What's sad is that's what the majority of people who buy these cars use them for. The majority of the complainers probably have never seen a track or mountain road in their life, so to them the only way they know to have fun in a car is to floor it on the interstate. They genuinely do not understand the concept of good handling and weight distribution.

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by krayzie

And yet most if not all WRX STI drivers around the city here are this power hungry crowd, cuz I've noticed they can only drive fast and at times recklessly on the straights, most of them are scared shitless when it comes to the turns.

Truth. Go onto the iwsti forums and all the build threads that have a bunch of traffic are the ones where people have bought their cars and immediately ripped the engine out to do a 500whp+ build. That's it.

If they wanted a Sedan to go fast in a straight line, I have no idea why the hell any of them bought a Subaru. Why spend $35k on a car and $15k on an engine build when you could just spend $40k and get a really nice, used CTS V?

People keep asking me when I'm going to "go stage 2 bro" and I keep telling them never. Why should I? The car is plenty quick and I have no issues keeping up with guys in Vette's, Shelby's, etc on tigther sections of track. When the road opens up, sure they leave me behind. But it's fun to go through 4 or 5 consecutive turns and be right on their ass again. All in a 4 door sedan with half the horsepower.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

All cars nowadays, besides the hyper-exotic and track built ones, are designed to be used as daily drivers. But both Toyota and Subaru advertise the 86 and BRZ as canyon carvers, cars meant to be taken out on a sunny day with no real destination and spirited fun as the main objective. They didn't build the car with the vision of highway traffic and grocery store trips in their mind. What's sad is that's what the majority of people who buy these cars use them for. The majority of the complainers probably have never seen a track or mountain road in their life, so to them the only way they know to have fun in a car is to floor it on the interstate. They genuinely do not understand the concept of good handling and weight distribution.

Key word "advertise". That is the power of marketing. Take an inexpensive little coupe and push it as a canyon carver even though 99% of the people that buy it will never carve a canyon even if they have one close enough to do so. The first ads for the FRS consisted of two people walking slowly away from the car as flames erupted behind it. Exciting yes but not meant to say that flames will shot up around your car every time you walk away (tunes by certain individuals aside that is).

[willimusk]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

All cars nowadays, besides the hyper-exotic and track built ones, are designed to be used as daily drivers. But both Toyota and Subaru advertise the 86 and BRZ as canyon carvers, cars meant to be taken out on a sunny day with no real destination and spirited fun as the main objective. They didn't build the car with the vision of highway traffic and grocery store trips in their mind. What's sad is that's what the majority of people who buy these cars use them for. The majority of the complainers probably have never seen a track or mountain road in their life, so to them the only way they know to have fun in a car is to floor it on the interstate. They genuinely do not understand the concept of good handling and weight distribution.

I hear you. I will probably never take this car to the track. But coastal CA is S-curve paradise, and I that's why I bought a BRZ, to push it through turns on winding, hilly back roads. In this context, I doubt I'll ever have the skill to maximize the car's power, but that's the fun of it, to learn how to explore the full suite of what the engineers have thoughtfully provided--and they've provided more than enough HP for that, IMO.

[WolfpackS2k]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

As far as the modding for power goes I do believe that this is one of the only cars (at least that I have heard of) that assigned a corporate level senior manager to head up an aftermarket integration program. Instead of trying to hold it tight to them and sell catalogue items they reached out to the aftermarket and said "Here is what we have, now go out and make the stuff we know the market will want". With the wealth of aftermarket go fast parts available there is not one single excuse for all the complaining that it is too slow.

Except for people that don't wanna trash their new car warranties.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

Except for people that don't wanna trash their new car warranties.

Now we get into a whole different world of issues then. Technically speaking nobody should do ANY changes to the car if worried about warranty. They also should not participate in any thing that could even remotely be called a "race event" because that can lead to denial as well.


It is sort of odd that they worked so close with the aftermarket to develop pats and promote the car as track ready but will so quickly refuse warranty work if you do either.


As I have said many times I do not understand why they never came up with a factory authorized FI system like they did on the tC. Would seem to be the answer to some complaints. Still would not be "good enough" for many though I suppose since it would be nowhere close to that magic "needs 300hp" statement that get's thrown out so often.