2015+ WRX/STI Review: Comparison to FRS/BRZ

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

Canada money isn't real money.

Is in Canada. Besides the U.S. money is fugly.

[TylerLieberman]

Just made the drive from Oklahoma to Arizona. About 990 miles total.

Car did great! Checked the oil every fill up and didn't burn any, even with the 100F + heat. It struggled a little bit going uphill in Flagstaff. The hot weather and high elevation made the car feel a bit sluggish but after that, it felt as good as always.

I'll be driving the last 350 miles to the new house in California on Thursday. Still loving this thing

To boot, I also managed to pull about 350 miles on a tank of fuel, and the display on the dash said I still had 70 miles of range left when I filled up (just under the 1/4 full mark). Averaged about 26.5MPG and that's with the car loaded with luggage and and stuff too.

[raven1231]

Originally Posted by TylerLieberman

Just made the drive from Oklahoma to Arizona. About 990 miles total.

Car did great! Checked the oil every fill up and didn't burn any, even with the 100F + heat. It struggled a little bit going uphill in Flagstaff. The hot weather and high elevation made the car feel a bit sluggish but after that, it felt as good as always.

I'll be driving the last 350 miles to the new house in California on Thursday. Still loving this thing

To boot, I also managed to pull about 350 miles on a tank of fuel, and the display on the dash said I still had 70 miles of range left when I filled up (just under the 1/4 full mark). Averaged about 26.5MPG and that's with the car loaded with luggage and and stuff too.

I drove 400 miles for my ATF briefing and I have to agree. These cars are great cars for long distance drives!

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by raven1231

I drove 400 miles for my ATF briefing and I have to agree. These cars are great cars for long distance drives!

Yep. I do have to be honest though, the entire drive was about 14 hours and after being in the car for about 9 hours, my lower back was pretty damn sore. The lack of lower lumbar support became pretty apparent at that point. I got out of the car and stretched for a bit during fuel up and it was okay after that, but dang.

The seats are definitely better than the last generation car, but they still come up a bit short to me.

[ckim]

I did about 150 miles of canyon carving this weekend and I absolutely love this thing.


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[raven1231]

Originally Posted by TylerLieberman

Yep. I do have to be honest though, the entire drive was about 14 hours and after being in the car for about 9 hours, my lower back was pretty damn sore. The lack of lower lumbar support became pretty apparent at that point. I got out of the car and stretched for a bit during fuel up and it was okay after that, but dang.

The seats are definitely better than the last generation car, but they still come up a bit short to me.

Yeah I saw some free mod on YouTube avout popping out the wire grid in the back of the seat. It's supposed to allow your back to sink in more and give more support. Haven't tried it though. Lol. Was also something avout putting padding in as well from like Walmart. Not sure how well either actually would work though

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by ckim

I did about 150 miles of canyon carving this weekend and I absolutely love this thing.


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I bet. I can't wait to get back out to Mullholand when I get back to CA this weekend.

Originally Posted by raven1231

Yeah I saw some free mod on YouTube avout popping out the wire grid in the back of the seat. It's supposed to allow your back to sink in more and give more support. Haven't tried it though. Lol. Was also something avout putting padding in as well from like Walmart. Not sure how well either actually would work though

Interesting. Might have to do so research on that.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by TylerLieberman

Yep. I do have to be honest though, the entire drive was about 14 hours and after being in the car for about 9 hours, my lower back was pretty damn sore. The lack of lower lumbar support became pretty apparent at that point. I got out of the car and stretched for a bit during fuel up and it was okay after that, but dang.

The seats are definitely better than the last generation car, but they still come up a bit short to me.

Yeah that's something I hated on the last-generation STI. Helps if you roll up a t-shirt and stuff it back there.

I still find it strange that Subaru doesn't offer lumbar adjustment on their sporty cars. Even the BRZ/FR-S seats while much better could use it.

[TylerLieberman]

Almost 4,000 miles and still going strong here.

A long time friend of mine surprised me with an STI lip for my BDay last weekend, which is pretty awesome!


Event at Willow Springs in December that I'm planning on going to. Should be picking up a few things before then:

-Brake Pads
-Brake Fluid
-AOS

Should be it. Then the next purchase will probably be an oil cooler come spring time so I have it for the hotter temps on track.

[NyC Zn6]

Originally Posted by TylerLieberman

Almost 4,000 miles and still going strong here.

A long time friend of mine surprised me with an STI lip for my BDay last weekend, which is pretty awesome!


Event at Willow Springs in December that I'm planning on going to. Should be picking up a few things before then:

-Brake Pads
-Brake Fluid
-AOS

Should be it. Then the next purchase will probably be an oil cooler come spring time so I have it for the hotter temps on track.

Do the EJ motors suffer with cooling like the FA?

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by NyC Zn6

Do the EJ motors suffer with cooling like the FA?

Boxer engines in general just seem to run hot, especially turbocharged ones. The big thing for me is that these older EJ motors are known for seeing knock events when conditions aren't ideal, so keeping the entering air and engine oil cool is pretty important.

I'll end up doing a few other small things too when I go to put the oil cooler on. Everything together should help keep IATs and engine bay temps down, which will help prevent heat soak.

[TylerLieberman]

I've been slacking so much on this car

The car hasn't had anything done aside from switching to some RBF600 brake fluid. In fact, it's still just under 5,000 miles on the odometer (I'm lame and don't go anywhere). I'm still just not really that motivated to buy anything else for it right now, because I'm so content with the car as is. An exhaust is definitely on the list though. I'm tired of no exhaust noise.

Should also be doing a track day the beginning of next month. That should be fun. I'm anxious to see how it does as a fully stock car.

I did get to drive a '15 GTR Black Edition at the track a few weeks back. Bone stock aside from Toyo R888s.



I can see why people love these things so much. I was always a bit unsure after driving them on the street, but the day at the track with one has made me a believer.

[thill]

Originally Posted by TylerLieberman

I can see why people love these things so much. I was always a bit unsure after driving them on the street, but the day at the track with one has made me a believer.

I drove one recently as well but not on the track. I liked the car but I would easily be arrested driving this car anywhere but on a track. As you can attest the GTR is brutally fast and very effortless. Limits are just ridiculous for this car. More-so than the C7 I drove.

[El Guapo]

Thanks for this review! I've been looking all over the place for a proper FR-S/BRZ vs. STi review. It could be that my searching skills aren't great, but I've followed some of your posts on IWSTI along with some other members who are tracking their STi's. Thanks to @Tcoat as well for posting a link to this thread.

A few questions for you Tyler:

1) Have you tracked you STi yet? If you have, how did it do? I skimmed through this thread and you mentioned that you want to track it so I might have missed it.

2) Did you track your FR-S?

3) If you did track your FR-S, how did both cars do out on the track? I imagine the STi was faster, but how did both cars perform?

4) You mentioned that you wanted something that was track ready from the factory. From what I've read, the twins need better brake fluid, pads, oil, and alignment to be ready for the track. My question is, could you elaborate more on that? Does the STi have less track preparations compared to the twins or what makes you say this?

tl;dr I'd like to know which car you think is the most capable, better, more fun car at the track?

I have yet to track my FR-S, it is something I want to do once the snow is gone. I have no track experience so I might be over thinking this, but I would like AWD for the winter. That said, I'd like to hear what you have to say. Thanks in advance!