New BRZ owner here
 

Hello everyone, bought a left over 2018 Pearl White BRZ M6 on January 4th and have put 4k miles on it so far.

So far I love It. It's fun and getting 31.4mpg is so awesome when you're coming from 15-17mpg. Only complaint is like a lot of people say is the power.

I have driven nothing but GM all my life and I use to have an '05 GTO M6 a few years ago so the power is my only complaint with the car so far.

I've read where a lot of new users had issues shifting into 2nd smoothly. No problems there but sometimes shifting into 5th can be a little bit of a pain. I tend to ride the clutch a little going into 5th. Anyone else have problems with this in the beginning?

yes, but as you keep racking up miles, you will notice the shifting is getting smoother. Whether that's up to you getting more accustomed to the car, or the transmission breaking in - who knows. But it does get better. Don't get too comfortable though - I grind once in a blue moon when I'm not fully focused on the shift at WOT

Welcome to the #masterrace life.

Change the transmission fluid with something other than stock ( Redline or Motul) and give it a month. Change it again. Wait a couple more months and see how it feels. This is probably a break in / fluid problem, my transmission was crunchy until I switched to Motul, it's been perfect since. Even got rid of my 4th gear high RPM shift grind.

The stock Toyota GL-3 gearbox oil is notorious for making it hard to get into gear but mostly 1st on a slow roll or downshift into 2nd gear. Never had a problem with 4th 5th 6th but you should slow down your shifts for these gears as they are single cone synchros (for me it's easy to grind 5th to 4th if too fast). The first three gears on the other hand are triple cone.

I'm using Eneos Gear Oil GL-5 75W90 (same as the JDM Subaru stock oil) and no problems with the first 3 gears in just about any situation.

But like all stick shifts I've managed to grind all 6 gears at least once each with this car over the last 5 years lol!

What do you mean by a pain? More effort?

Just give it time. It will get better. You do not need to change anything.

Not anymore effort. The clutch grabs differently just about every time so it's been hard to learn to find the sweet spot of the clutch for that gear.

6th to 5th downshift or 4th to 5th upshift?

4th to 5th.

Interesting...

Well a lot of good suggestions here. Keep the stock oil and once you've finished breaking in the car, switch to another oil and see if it improves.

I've only kept the stock clutch disc and pressure plate for the first 10,000km as I found it too softly sprung to the point of annoying (especially when driving fast).

I switched to a slightly stiffer sprung setup since (STI made by Exedy clutch disc and cover with STI short shifter) and it engages much more quickly and positively.

https://www.sti.jp/parts/subarubrz_zc/engine/

Thanks will do. I've got 4400 miles on it now.

Oh and only one other complaint. Damn engine sounds like a sewing machine once at operating temperature. I know this is normal just a little annoying.

I find that you have to shift pretty quickly from 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th depending on how high your RPMs are. You have to pretty much dump the clutch when going from 4th to 5th.

Yes I'm feeling the same about this.

Just an observation, but NO one should be complaining about the power of the BRZ.

I just have to ask, did any of the complainers actually test drive their BRZ before they purchased it ? It wouldn't take 2 minutes behind the wheel to realize this car is no power house. Actually, you shouldn't need to drive it to realize this, just look at the specs.

In your own case how can you not be disappointed about power when coming from a 6.0L 400 HP V8, generating 400 lbs of torque down to a 2.0L, 200 HP 4 cylinder that's not even turbocharged. Sure, the BRZ is about a 1000 lb's lighter than your GTO, but that's just not going to make up for 200 less HP.

In my own case I bought my 2014 BRZ strictly due to it's good looks and handling. It has more than enough power to keep me happy in the 90% of stop and go driving I do. Heck I'm even too chicken s**t to push it to probably even half of it's handling capability.

Now for the honesty part. I'm an old fart pushing 65, and found out a long time ago that all that extra power just gets you is a lot of tickets, higher insurance rates and the possibility of getting yourself or someone else seriously injured.

OK, so much for the lecture. I'll get off my soap box now and dream about my lost youth. :sigh:

Looked at the specs and test drove it before I bought and yeah I knew what I was buying. Doesn't change the fact I want more power and will eventually add more in the future. I pretty much love everything else about the car which is why I bought it.

I'm not going to lie, on my test drive, I was surprised at how much low end torque it had and was underwhelmed from 5K+ in the rev range, as I thought it would produce a little more power. With that being said, I still decided to purchase it because the car felt like a damn race car when I first sat in it and the handling, shifter and clutch combo was good. It also had no rev hang, which was a huge plus in my book. I was coming from a 2018 Si, which had no top end and an atrocious amount of rev hang with some turbo lag.

Fast forward a little more than a month, and the car feels faster because I usually have no passengers and the temps are consistently below freezing. I am also more comfortable with the vehicle, so I can shift smoother and enjoy it more when I rev it out.

My car has 57,000 miles on it and I'm still not consistently upshifting from 4th to 5th in the same manner.

We know that the default position of any shifter is spring loading to engage the 3rd and 4th gears from neutral, if we move the lever forward or aft.
Gotta get it out of that default the first thing, getting ready for that 5th gear. How is the entire operation accomplished...

Shall I strong arm it with my hand on top of shift knob ?

Shall I use a combination of palm of my hand and inside of my thumb, on sides of knob ?

Shall I do it entirely within areas of palm of my hand, on sides of knob ?

Not an easy task deciding which method works best.

If I have a passenger, are they noticing my sometimes awkward movements ?
It's only the 4th to 5th shift which is the odd one to manipulate.

I believe this may be what gman6974 was relating to.

I really gotta start driving mine more. Had it ten months and only 56xx miles.

YOU? How about ME? I've had my tS for 5 months and have just over 3,000 kms (under 1900 miles) on it.
OK, so it's been in the garage hibernating over three of those months but still... I wanna drive!
Hopefully we'll get that early spring those Ground Hogs predicated. ;)

1 month and @ 4800 miles. Sounds like you guys have some garage ornaments.

Mine is almost 6 months and it has already 5,500 miles. Being a daily driving car with 40 miles a day commute to work I still think that I am learning LOL. Fun in driving manual than auto. Today, I am taking Honda Pilot to work to bring some stuff since I can't fit that stuff in this tiny car.

I probably misinterpreted your original statement. Sounds like you knew exactly what you were buying and your not so much "disappointed" in the power of the BRZ but rather having an issue getting used to the difference between it and your GTO.

I've actually been there myself, having owned V8's and for one reason or another trading them for something with much less HP. Definitely something that takes time to get used to.

There seems to be a consensus on this forum, and elsewhere, that a set of header's and a tune can really wake up the BRZ's Boxer engine, maybe enough so that you won't really need to invest in something like a turbo. Due to the car being so new and still within factory warranty, it's probably not a good idea to do anything extremely radical anyway.

I feel your pain brother. In the fall I fully intended to put the BRZ up for the Winter but the weather here in SW Ohio has been all over the place. One day it's in the teens and snowing, 2 days later it's 60 and the sun is shining. About the only days I don't take it out for a spin is when the roads are icy. I see it sitting there in the garage by it's lonesome, and I'm like a junkie that needs a fix.

I'm positive if I had one as new as yours I would definitely not be doing this.
Heck when Spring came it probably still wouldn't leave the garage for fear a bird might take a crap on it. I could have easily afforded a new one but due to my deep seated paranoia I bought the 2014 instead. Who knows, maybe a few sessions with a good shrink might help. :iono:

I won't be doing anything to it for a while. More than likely until the warranty is close to running out.

I've always owned V8s so it's definitely different but I love it regardless. Definitely needs lowering as well.

Hadn't driven my girlfriend's 2016 Corolla S 6spd in a while and drove it a couple days ago. Holy hell I forgot how slow that damn thing is. The BRZ felt like a supercar when I got back in it.

I'm on call a lot for work and I hate leaving it parked in an open lot for days at a time. So yeah, mine stays in the garage unless I know I'm not bringing a work truck home.