NYC BRZ: Life in the Big Apple with a BRZ

[NYC BRZ]

So let me say thank you to all of you who I have befriended since joining the site a few short months ago. This is a great, passionate, and fun community to be part of. I'm really glad to be sharing my BRZ journey with everyone.

I have the opportunity to live in, arguably one of the greatest cities in the world. Like all others, it has it's good traits and bad traits. The cultural diversity is unmatched. It's a lot of fun and I get the chance to meet a whole lot of different people. It's a city that's been stereotyped in movies, television, and damn near every other form of communication since the days of yore.

It's not a city that one would immediately think is full of car nuts. The immediate reaction is: mostly business types who hop on the subway and move in droves to their respective glass cocoons. The roads are crap and they probably don't even have licenses.

Well while some of that is true, the reality is that it consists of 5 seperate boroughs (think counties) that each have their own seperate melting pot of cultures and personalities. Most people think of Manhatten when they think of NY. Sky scrapers, yellow taxis, and Times Square. There is also Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, and Queens. I live in Queens. It's sort of the most suburb like borough. We have backyards I swear.

The car culture in Queens is pretty diverse. Tuners ruled the streets here in the 90's and early 00's. The Fast & The Furious had a pretty deep effect on the culture here. Anyone with $100 thought they could turn their moms 94 Civic into a "pocket rocket." It's kind of funny when you look back on it, kind of like how women in the 80's thought shoulder pads were cool. Cool then, laughable now. Since the early 00's it's kind of morphed into this Euro/Japanese battle for street supremacy. There are A LOT of BMWs and VWs/Audis running around. You see Evos and WRX/STIs so much around here it's pretty much a "Meh" experience. The roads are crap in a lot of places, don't get it twisted, but they're a lot better than portrayed/assumed. My commute takes me through the worst of them in the morning but I damn well don't care. It's all about the drive after work, at night, on the weekend, at the local autocross, etc.

I grew up around American cars. Specifically GM. My dad is a service writer at a local dealership so I grew up around Cadillacs. There was a time I thought they were the best thing in the world. (Flame Suit On) This was pre "V" era so really there was nothing to be proud of but I was young and naive.

In high school I really started to get into cars big time. I used to spend hours reading Super Street, Import Tuner, Modified, etc. I dreamed about owning these cars. The Fast & The Furious was big at the time so my taste was a sign of the times. I thought having a decal of a giant shiny knight with a huge lance going down the side of a bright orange Eclipse was the sh*t. Hey I was young.

When I turned 18 and graduated I moved to FL for college. My parents were pretty cool and leased me a new car. It was Chevy Cobalt coupe which at the time I didn't appreciate. I wanted a used 240sx or a used FC RX7. Looking back on it it was a smart move on their part because it was really good on gas and never gave me any trouble.

I studied Automotive Aftermarket Management and got a job right out of college working for a parts manufacturer based out of NY. I moved back home and bought a used G8 GT. Damn its a beast. Loud, fast, comfortable, red, fast, and just plain gorgeous. The only problem is that it weights 4k lbs and gets 11mpg since my commute every day barely lets me get over 30mph. I got into autocross and the G8s time was numbered. It handles well for such a big car but it needed too much to be competitive.

Fast forward to March 1st. My itch to get back into tuner cars led me to plunk down a $500 deposit on a car I've never seen in person, in a color that i've never seen in person, for a price I didn't know from a dealer 2+ hours from my house. Why? Because Race Car.

Seriously, the BRZ is unique and checks all the right boxes. At first I was worried about 200hp but I'm a believer that you have to look past certain flaws to find the joy in others. I really can't wait.

24hours from now I will be sitting in god awful traffic in Manhattan on the way to the Holland Tunnel, on the way to I78, then down the stop light festered US-202 to make my way to Fred Beans Subaru. You know what? That'll be the one time in my life I'm more than happy to sit in traffic for 2+ hours just knowing what's waiting for me when I get there.

EDIT: Pics I never added
Pre-Delivery Photos courtesy of R8




What I rolled up to at Fred Beans the night of delivery


Resting at home


At my first autox with NYR SCCA



Here you can see a cool shot of my custom Gulf Orange/Chrome/White numbers from autocrossnumbers.com

[Kimsey47]

Rock on bro! Congrats and good read!

[NYNOMAD]

The car is worth it. Come on up to westchester - Bear mountain area. Really nice roads and no traffic! Check out rt301 carmel to coldspring. Also the road to the bear mtn bridge. and more!

I take the train to NYC every day....

[engee]

Congrats to hear that you are finally picking it up!

[R8]

Nice story! And congrats again, you two are going to be very happy together

I actually finally got to drive a blue one last night, a twin of yours, lol. Very, very fun!

[Alex@R.A.D.]

nice read... looking forward to meeting you at one of the future meets sir Would love to talk about how things have changed in our industry throughout the years

[NYC BRZ]

Thanks everyone! I'm fortunate to get to work in an industry I love. I get paid to market and develop parts every day! The BRZ is the type of car that makes it all worth it. Trying to dive into the engineers head is one of the best parts of the job. This car is already a complete mind screw. Its so well thought out. As a marketing guy I applaud Subaru/Toyota/Scion and as a gearhead I bow to the size of their b@lls for getting this car out there.

Originally Posted by R8

Nice story! And congrats again, you two are going to be very happy together

I actually finally got to drive a blue one last night, a twin of yours, lol. Very, very fun!

It wouldn't happen to have been mine would it

LOL nice at Fred Beans?

[R8]

Originally Posted by NYC BRZ

It wouldn't happen to have been mine would it

LOL nice at Fred Beans?

LOL nah, I was afraid you'd fear that though

Flemington NJ dealer actually had one I could drive. Over 100 miles on it though, so I guess other have as well. Looks and drives perfect though!

[NYC BRZ]

Originally Posted by R8

LOL nah, I was afraid you'd fear that though

Flemington NJ dealer actually had one I could drive. Over 100 miles on it though, so I guess other have as well. Looks and drives perfect though!

Sweet! I think Subaru of Keene had a Galaxy Blue 6MT Premium for sale. One of the guys on here backed out the day before it arrived and bought a WRB one from another dealer. You should buy it!

I can't to pick it up!

[dorkymork]

Can't wait to hear your thoughts once you've been behind the wheel!

[NYC BRZ]

Got the car tonight. WOW. Just a complete hoot to drive. I'm exhausted! Pics and longer review tomorrow. Night!

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by NYC BRZ

Got the car tonight. WOW. Just a complete hoot to drive. I'm exhausted! Pics and longer review tomorrow. Night!

Congrats! If I remember correctly you said you were planning on auto-crossing it or tracking it...please tell us how she behaves.

[NYC BRZ]

So the transaction was smooth as butter. Fred Beans Subaru was a very easy to deal with, no BS dealer. It took me about 3.5 hours to get there. Traffic out of NY into Jersey was horrible. About 2 hours crawling through Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. When i got out to Jersey it was pretty much all systems go with the G8 and I hooned her one last time. Made it there around 8:30. The dealership closed at 9 and was quiet. Everyone greeted me when i walked in and congratulated me on the car/color choice. The F&I manager was really nice, no BS like most other ones I've worked with. My OTD price was $31,xxx. After my trade and deposit I only had to finance $21,500. They originally got me 2.99 with Subaru Credit but ended up getting me 2.79% through Huntington. Not bad! I'm paying about $2.50 more a month than the G8.

So Dan Agee my salesperson walked me through the basics. They even gave me both versions of the brochure. One is the new one and the other is the Recalled one. I told him I wanted it as a collector item to prove I had an early production one. After that I was handed the keys. It was surreal.

Now for the driving experience. I had 110 miles to go to get home. The navigation was extremely easy to use. It tells you when theres traffic ahead which can be annoying when its just telling you there are stoplights with people stopped. I set her up and rolled out of the lot. Admittedly I hadn't driven stick in a while so it was pretty funny leaving the dealer. I stalled on a hill waiting for a light to change It was all good by the time I started going. Clutch is pretty easy to work and the throws are awesomely short. Very notchy gear changes. I might get the Perrin shift bushing to takes some of that notchiness away. Its not a bad thing just not 100% my cup of tea. The seatbelt location even with the strap was a little annoying. It kept rubbing my neck. That's an easy seatbelt shoulder pad from being fixed. I'm pretty large (300+lbs) and the car was still pretty comfy. My butt fit in the bottom and I conformed to the side bolsters, lol. Once they're broken it I'd imagine it will be much better. The headlight leveling system is awesome. I had about 75lbs of crap in the trunk that i transfered over from my G8 so I moved the setting up from 0 to 1. It worked great! The lights look absolutely sexy at night. Love the LEDs!

The power delivery was pretty good even though I had to keep it under 5k for the most part. We'll see how it does once I open it up this weekend at my autox. The handling however, was OUTSTANDING. On ramps and off ramps became my favorite part of the ride, lol. The ride is firm but not harsh. I drove it through Manhattan on my way back to Queens and it was fine. Definitely a daily driver capable car regardless of whether you live in the city or the country. I took the on ramp from the Garden State Pkwy to I95 at roughly 60 and it was just planted. Amazing feeling coming from a car that body rolled like crazy when not equipped with big sway bars.

I couldn't wait to drive it this morning to work. I got some Mothers Showtime and cleaned up the bugs off the front and windshield. My commute through Queens every morning is crappy. The roads suck but this car never once was too harsh. Some guy driving in an ambulance was yelling how amazing it looked in person, lol. I agree because pics don't do it justice. I parked it dead in the center of our parking lot at work so EVERYONE had to see it when they walked in, lol. At lunch about 15 of my colleagues came out to see it. One of the guys sons just bought a FRS. He knew a lot about the car and loved the BRZ. I felt like a rockstar

I'm about to leave work and head to an exotic car show in Melville on Long Island. I really just want to see the reaction when I roll up in the BRZ. Should be fun! I'll report more as I drive it. I can't believe it's finally here! Here's a sexy shot of the car at night when I picked it up:

[Zoomie]

Very slick. Maybe I should get two?! WRB and SWP!!! The better half would lock me out of the house!