BRZ in the Press
 

Just got the latest edition of Road and Track. In Sam Smith's column, he chronicles a trip from his home to watch the recent solar eclipse in a '17 BRZ. The car is a bit of an afterthought, but his reaction to it was, hmm, interesting. He compares the BRZ, rather unfavorably, to the Miata and contends that the BRZs limited sales appeal is related to the relative perfection of the Mazda and the BRZ's "cave like" noisy cabin, harsh ride and and, sort of, limited power.

Finally, at the end of the piece, he pronounces the BRZ - Perfect.

It really is somewhat perplexing. I've done 4000 mile road trips in my BRZ and found the cabin pretty accommodating. Is it noisy? Compared to a Maybach, probably. But, it's no louder than my wife's 2012 Camry SE and the BRZ's ride is actually a bit less jarring. The whole power thing is a canard.

I CAN NOT imagine taking that trip in a Miata. THEY are noisy, cramped, and ride terribly.

I looked for a headscratching emoticon and didn't find it. <headscratch> </headscratch>

I dunno, it sounds to me like a case of a journalist who was paid to say one thing but his real opinion is different. He's also likely required to complain about anything he thinks is lacking. Finally, I can see a bit of a complaint about a buzzy cabin at highway cruising speeds. I find my own BRZ a bit buzzy at highway speeds and the 2017 MT has a shorter final drive which will increase the RPMs compared to the earlier models and may make that even worse.

I remember when the S2000 first came out and some mag compared it to a Boxter and at the end they listed things they didn’t like. The complaint they had about the S2000 was the plastic rear window and how a car at that price shouldn’t have a plastic window. What I couldn’t understand is why they didn’t complain about the same thing on the Boxter because back then the Boxter also had a plastic rear window and of course was significantly more expensive than the S2000. It was obviously they needed to find something to complain about on the “Honda” regardless of how stupid it was.

Magazines are useless for the most part.

Lynxis' point is pretty valid. I know a lot of journalists out there will simply spout "opinions" based on who is paying them. There is however another possibility here. Journalists review tons of cars, and sometimes they forget that a luxury sports car is not something you can compare to a BRZ. Also as many are not car guys, they focus too much on features and comfort rather than driving experience which is what the BRZ was designed for.

As an owner of a '17 manual BRZ, I cruise at 75mph around 3400RPM. Its definitely louder than some cars, but honestly the road noise and wind noise is more noticeable than the engine or exhaust sound to me. Maybe ill have someone ride along and give their opinion on the noise. In the end though, if you aren't in the target market of this car you would probably be better off and happier with something else.

Things that contribute to road noise:

cheap plastic panels
sound tube
lack of sound deadening
lack of window frame
low to the ground
engine sits basically beside your foot
roof is paper thin sheet metal
trunk lid basically has a thin cardboard that doesn't cover the entire inside of the lid
Sound generator
sound generator
sound generator
Did i mention sound generator?

The only easy fix is getting rid of the sound generator. Everything else you'd have to change the handling characteristics of the car, are expensive or aren't changeable at all.

Put in heavy sound damping, throw on super comfy that has the least road noise, seal windows shut, rubber cement all the panels or buy another freakin' car like a low level 3 series.

At the end of the day, I'd like to see someone fit a set of 4 track day wheels and a floor jack and jack stands into an mx5 WITH an adult passenger. People who write about this car's lack of comfort bought the car for all the wrong reasons.

Seems common as a weird comparison. I got a ride in an ND and was surprised how uncomfortable and cramped it felt. I wasn't in much of a state to pay attention (I was being driven to get my tow hook because they thought they'd need it to extract my car...)

I get noise and comfort being potential issues, and that's fine. But unless you're doing a side-by-side drive of two cars, comparisons are VERY likely to be... off. Memory does funny things. You don't notice how loud it is because you had the top down and it was fun... And the cabin resonance in the twins is in a bad spot for highway driving.

In the end, eh. Who cares.

I like being able to fit STUFF in the car for road trips. And racing. And errands.

I bought my BRZ in May - I'm still on the honeymoon!

So far my favorite ever, tho I've owned a lot of pickups.


:w00t:

Windnoise is definitely a legitimate complaint. It's pretty bad. And that is coming from someone that evaluates cars for similar metrics every day.

I recently rode in an ND at autocross for the first time. I was appalled at how much body roll there was. It felt like riding in a side by side it was so bad. That combine with the fact I generally don't like convertibles took one off my consideration list. I understand why they have the reputation they do, but an 86 is much better set up from the factory

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Yeeeep, that sound tube sure is great, until you're on the highway and it's sitting there droning away and driving you crazy. On the plus side, running a full exhaust removes that complaint and makes you hate highways in general as the exhaust drones... Going to get around to fixing that someday.

Harsh ride? It's a sub 3000 lbs sports car, it's going to ride like shit as it doesn't have the mass to deal with bumps. Or it's going to roll like a sailboat in a hurricane (looking at you Miata) and then they'd complain about the handling. Lack of power, shut up and downshift (did they have an auto? cause then I could understand).

Overall, if I didn't care about the lightweight sexy looking package of the BRZ I would buy a WRX or a pony car (mustang, camaro) for the same price and have a fatter, uglier, but more powerful car.

Hows the noise in the cabin when you plug the hole for the sound tube?

The BRZ is really quiet compared to a helicopter. I don't even need a noise canceling headset! But it's a real shame that the BRZ can't fly over highway traffic: -10 points.

It's still fucking noisy. But we didn't buy a featherweight, inexpensive, 90's throwback car for the silent interior, did we?

It's a hell of a lot quieter than my older cars! No complaints here :happyanim:

Haven't read the article but it's odd that he complains about the BRZ being too noisy, but then compares it to a Miata. Has he tried riding in a Miata on the highway?

Yep!

A bit better .. :bonk:

Wind noise was significantly reduced by underpanels IMO.

As I noted in the OP, I just don't get the noise issue. It's probably because I don't own a "quiet" vehicle. Or, maybe, because I rode motorcycles and shot large bore handguns for 50 years and my hearing is toast. Either way, to my (ringing) ears, the BRZ is no louder than the wife's Camry SE (on Pirelli P7s) or my '06 F150 STX. None of them is what I'd call objectionably loud. In addition, the BRZ has the most comfortable seats of the three. If I had to choose one to take on a 6k mile two person road trip, I'd take the Subie in heartbeat..

As a low cost GT, the BRZ is on a superior planet compared to the Miata. It has usable luggage space, usable cabin space (I can wedge my 6'6" self into the driver's seat in a Miata, but cannot operate ANY of the controls except the radio - in the passenger seat I get to massage my gums with my kneecaps, I can stand it for 5 minutes and that's it), it is many decibels quieter, noticeably quicker, rides better, and corners MUCH flatter.

For my purposes there is not a dimension on which the BRZ comes out on the wrong side of a comparison. What annoys me most is the possibility that these journo clowns will poison the market for the car to the extent Subie will drop it before I get too old to buy my next one.

actually I do agree on this, the underpanels did eliminate some noise

Much better, you don't notice it that much until you block it off. The speed limits here for the highways is quite high as well so that may effect the noise compared to others.

But compared to a Miata it's as quiet as a church...

I have a Series.Blue so I have those already and can't really comment on not having them. I did test drive a 2013 before eventually buying my car, and I noticed the ride was much nicer on my 2015, but I never got on the highway with the 2013...

It’s a Subaru BRZ, not a Porsche, not a BMW. As well someone did mention the weight or lack there of, the ride is not supposed to be wonderful, otherwise it wouldn’t handle as well. Compared to my 02 WRX my 17’ BRZ is very quiet and the suspension is worlds better and well so is every other part of the car. Hell the 06’ STI struts and springs on my WRX could rattle ones teeth out.

The Miata is a good little scoot, at 6’ 220lbs it’s too darn small for me, as was the S2000, neither were very comfortable. My BRZ has plenty of leg room and shoulder room, and with the back seat done the trunk is surprisingly not small.

People need to look at what they are driving and understand that your not going to get the best of everything. You want a sports car that handles well, don’t bitch at the stiff ride. You want all of that and high HP, get a Cayman and empty your bank account. You want a quiet cabin with back massage, get a Mercedes.



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My wife has a 2012 Honda Civic and it has much more road noise and cabin noise than the BRZ.

Turn the radio up, easy fix.

Coming from an S2000, my FR-S is quiet... and sounds like a lawnmower compared to the Honda at 9K. The plastic rear window on my ap1 was all scratched up and "milky"; I could not see out of it at all. I Loved the Honda, but the FR-S is easier to live with. I went on an almost 3000 mile road trip in my FR-S with my wife. There is no way we would have attempted it in the Honda.

I've taken a 4500 mi trip in my BRZ and it was perfect. Once you find a sweet spot I think they are quite comfortable to drive in. As for the cabin noise factor, I haven't found it significantly different than any other car I've driven. The only complaint I would maybe have is that sometimes speech clarity from incoming bluetooth calls isn't that great, (and have had problems with the other side hearing my voice maybe due to cabin noise) but I think it may be an issue of acoustics or speaker quality rather than cabin noise.

There must have been some improvement on the 86 860, either that or I am deaf as a bat. I plugged the sound tube and find the cruising noise perfectly acceptable. I admit not a BMW 5 series but very few cars are.

The sound tube ain't where most of the noise is coming from-- just sayin ;)

When I gutted the rear of the interior of my car, it got loud in the cabin. Wind and road noise got bad. Oh well. I can road trip in my car still because once I shove suitcases and whatnot in the back, it won't be noisy anymore. With the backseats intact, I took 2 1,000 mile trips and the FRS is actually comfprtable and makes a nice road tripping car (I wish it had a moonroof though).

Pay no attention to car journalists. Consumer Reports is the only non-biased source for reviews, everyone else prints what the advertisers tell them to print. I was reading a glowing review for some FCA POS in MotorTrend a couple weeks ago and the next page after the "article" was a full page ad for Dodge. Do you think they are really going to bite the hand that feeds them and post a truthful review of another brand in the same company? There's lots of ways these journalists get paid off too. If there are those who post the truth, they simply don't get models to review, they don't receive complimentary 1st class tickets to Germany to drive the car on the Ring and so on. Those who play the game and post BS get the money and treatment, those who post the truth have to struggle to get by.

The 860 has the underbody panels that was mentioned earlier. I am seriously considering adding the ones sold here for my base model 2017 86:

http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/jdm-...l#.WjPcyEFOnYV

In the last week alone I've read a handful of people all commenting how it reduced highway noise considerably. Reduced drag is a bonus!

Myriad

Are these underbody panels for the rear half of the car? I thought the car, specifically the front, already had underbody panels.

Depends on the twin. Some of us have the underbody panels and in the case of my car, the sound tube drone at highway speeds was irritating. I have a full exhaust now so I wouldn't even hear the sound tube (and I avoid highways because of the exhaust drone...)

Yep, lots of open metal in the truck that will transmit sound. Not to mention if you have an exhaust. Heck with moonroofs, I want my targa back!

Also, keep in mind Consumer Reports isn't all it's cracked up to be either... Nobody is truly unbiased.

Quite expensive, but I thought they started adding these to the newer models instead of only the special editions?

Front has them, yes. These continue from there and go back further.

If I'm not mistaken, for the US the base model 86 is the only one lacking the underbody plates (along with the new spoiler). The 860 has them and both of the BRZ trims have them. You can add the plates easily enough, though. The spoiler, not so much. I was hoping the rumored higher trim in 2018 would have the new spoiler so I could add it to my hot lava 2017, but they discontinued my color so there will never be a new hot lava spoiler now. I could get the old FRS style one, but I don't think I care for it. A naked trunk it is, then.

Myriad

If you don't like the noise, get a Perrin inlet tube and delete the noise generator. Cleans up the engine bay and adds lightness. Problem solved, until you get unshielded headers and a tune.

I also got the underbody panels, and they significantly improved road noise/clean up air flow.