If 2014 was the last model year for the twins...
 

...would you be happy or sad as a current owner?

Obviously not gonna happen. Just curious.

I'd be stoked that we are one of the few to own such amazing cars. That and our resell value will most likely stay super high :happyanim:

Happy....

Very selfish of me to say... but I would be happy like most because it would mean our cars are now "limited"!

That being said, the aftermarket would fall as they will see there won't be as much profit to gain from the limited productions.

Since I'm planning to keep this car for a very long time as my toy, and since it will be used only on the weekends and be garaged....I'd be stocked if this was the last year.

6 years from now I could actually show it off to friends and family, hey look my mint condition 2013 BRZ with 3k miles on it.

Happy.

I would buy a beater and garage it. Talk about making money 30 years from now

^This

3000 miles/six years? Sounds like a waste of money and the use of a great machine. But, hey, that's just me. I'd use it for, at least, five two-week vacations to the Caribbean.

It's a tough call for me. Obviously aftermarket support and polished FI solutions etc would suffer -- I bought the car to have fun not to show off, so I think I'd actually be a little bummed.

Exactly this. I wouldn't garage it though, I'd still drive the shit out of it. Ballin' factor.

i'd be thrilled. hell i'm secretly happy that subaru discontinued GBS so now i have something relatively "rare"

Well that is true, wonder how many GBS got squeezed out b4 that call?

Around 800-1000 :thumbsup:

*looks at his DD BRZ with 13k miles on it already*

I hate and respect you all at the same time.


Edit: I would also be in the group that wouldn't mind. I mean, who wouldn't want to say they have a car that only had a 'limited' run of 2 years? /special

Yeah isnt there a famous teg type r with like 1-3k miles from 90's?

I would absolutely be happy! Selfish, yes, but there has been ample time for any enthusiast to pick one up.

wtf is wrong with you people. The more successful and long lived this car is the more that the 86 sets a standard that other cars have to live up to in terms of driver engagement.

Decidedly sad.

Most of the world would benefit from autonomous/public transport, not better handling.

Happy as hell!

That's nice, but I'm a car guy, I want cars that feel good to drive.

I honestly can't wait for Google to start putting autonomous cars into consumer hand, and I think it'll happen rather soon, but in the meantime why wouldn't we want the future cars to be as awesome as they can be instead of being refrigerators with wheels?

With rumors of the miniZ, 130R and now the S1500, I hope the 86 at least gets a fully supported life cycle (~6-8 years). Competition is good when people are trying to outperform each other, the next Miata and Mustang should be a good kick in the pants to anyone else still standing around.

A little of both. The added exclusivity would be cool. But this project is kind of one big litmus test for the sports car market. Nobody else is really making affordable, lightweight RWD coupes. We've been hearing for a while now that several manufacturers are planning to release something similar. If the twins fail, it becomes less likely any other manufacturers try to tap into this market.

^^^THIS +1

Looking forward to seeing the competition


Nick C.

I would be happy that there weren't any more of these threads.

What if butterflies had lead wings?
What if the sky were red?
What if my dog is really monitoring my activities for the NSA?

Also public transportation blows, private transport is more efficient in the US, and autonomous will never happen on public roads.

1. They would have died out eons ago
2. 99% of people wouldn't notice or care
3. Hahahaha, "if"
4. US has terribly underfunded public transportation, that's why it "blows", I'll bet $5 that autonomous vehicles will be available for private use within 10 years, Google will provide services via autonomous cars within 5.

It's the internet, everybody has an opinion and nobody cares.
:happy0180:

Oh come on. This is more revealing than a lot of threads on this forum. It is interesting to see how people would react if their car was made permanently rare, and why they would feel that way.

The quote above about a BRZ/FR-S failure discouraging the rest of the manufacturing world is a really interesting one because the inverse is true too -- if the platform is successful then the competition should respond.

Sometimes it takes the reversal of a thought to think a little deeper, which is why I asked the question.

I've got to stop reading all these bullshit threads. I am wasting my time and am getting a headache.

The US is larger than nations with successful public transportation, and if you factor in systems that actually turn a profit, public transportation is awful. Not to mention, we have transportation systems that run regardless of passenger load, meaning they continue to burn fuel and their efficiency drops like a rock. Privately owned vehicles burn nothing when they're parked, and only burn fuel when they're needed.

Car and Driver had a couple great write-ups on how inefficient public transportation is, and why it simply doesn't work for much of the US. http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/...y-take-the-car http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/...-chance-column

And they've been talking about autonomous cars since the early 90s, it's not going to happen unless they can segregate traffic. There are simply too many safety issues.

You're right, geographically speaking public transit will never work for the 'majority' of the US. In college I had access to a public transit system in a small town that made owning a car less convenient than public transit, guess I'm spoiled.

I guess you haven't seen one yet, autonomous cars are better than 95% of the other drivers I share the road with. They don't need to segregate traffic, the car is 'smart' enough and safer than most drivers.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXylqtEQ0tk"]How Google's Self-Driving Car Works - YouTube[/ame]

I've read plenty about the google cars, here's the difference. Google has fleet maintained vehicles. For the same reason cabbies pick up used Crown Vics, they're pretty much impeccably maintained.

Transfer that to private ownership. We see hoopties all the time that are uninsured, poorly maintained, and the second there's a major failure in electronics or mechanics at considerable speed, you're screwed. Or a pedestrian is screwed. Drivers simply won't be paying attention to react in time, and if the solution is slamming the brakes, someone else will hit them. I love the write-up on their cars that says they have 1M miles with no "at-fault" accidents; I wonder how many of the not-at-faults were easily avoidable but uncorrected by the computer? Yesterday I had someone try to change lanes into me, and I was up against a median. I slammed the brakes and hit the horn, and they got back in their lane. No matter how advanced automations get, they're no substitute for an attentive driver in some cases.

I'd have to go with the crowd on this one, I'd spend 1500 on a beat up Honda and garage it lol
I baby it as it is but it would definitely be cool to have one if it were so limited

You didn't watch the video did you? They showed that happening, a truck changing lanes without looking, the automated car avoided the incident (slammed on the brakes) and the truck left the road (drunk driver?) and came to a stop. As for the "not at fault" accidents here's the list so far:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_..._car#Incidents

Yay reliability engineering! The nice thing is that these won't be cheap, people will pay the price for the first few generations, you're looking at 5+ years after implementation before there are poorly maintained "hooptie" automated cars. You're also assuming that there won't be legally mandated inspections of automated systems, many states mandate vehicle safety inspections:

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_United_States"]Vehicle inspection in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

I'd be sad, honestly because it would dampen the efforts of manufacturers trying to make sports cars in the future. Think about it, these cars were looked at as the sports car messiah; how would it look if they had to cancel production after just 2 short years? You better believe the automakers of the world would be skittish to introduce any new sports cars to market!

I'd buy a 3rd

Have you driven in a major city recently? PA has mandatory safety inspections. A ridiculous percentage of cars in Philly obviously violate them or get stickers from other cars, or operate without a current sticker. They get seized if they're caught, they go buy another train wreck at the local auction, and cancel the liability insurance they needed to drive off the lot. It's a massive problem everywhere.

Not to mention, if including electronics like that the price would skyrocket for inspections alone, not including maintenance. I really don't see a scenario where they ever take over/become mandatory, become affordable for most drivers, attractive to drivers, or go anything past flying-car novelty. Time will tell, but this isn't the future of cars.

The best application for this technology will be the enhancement of collision avoidance technologies, which I'm really interested to see long-term reliability on. Not to mention, I really wonder how many of the sensors outside of the car (like Jeep and Mercedes adaptive cruise control) will last with environmental exposure or operate in inclement weather. How long until they start producing false readings from hazy lenses, bug splatter, and other similar issues?

I drive in San Francisco regularly, I have seen self driving cars on 101 freeway in heavy traffic, by far they are the safest drivers I see. I suppose we will have to agree to disagree and leave the fate up to time and those developing the technology. Greater men have been more wrong than either of us.

"Electricity is the thing. There are no whirring and grinding gears with their numerous levers to confuse. There is not that almost terrifying uncertain throb and whirr of the powerful combustion engine. There is no water circulating system to get out of order – no dangerous and evil-smelling gasoline and no noise."
-Thomas Edison, 1903

"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean the atom would have to be shattered at will."
-Albert Einstein

I always bring my perspective from the XT and MR2 productions so I'd expect 6-10 years of this car. If they quit after 2 I'd be quite shocked because it'd seem like a poor investment strategy for a corporation. If they do quit after 2 years I'll assume it got replaced by something else.

I like this thread, people are too uptight here.

If you've followed the Auto industry for 30 years, you know anything can happen. The only thing that stays the same is change.

That being said if this is your DD it would suck major balls if this car was discontinued. Anyone who has had any warranty work done knows how expensive powertrain parts are for this car. I'm talking Porsche expensive.

Believe it or not the '93 Civic used to have very expensive parts. Because of its popularity companies started cranking out OE and OE equivalent parts by the millions. Ten years after its intro I remember replacing the radiator, water pump, and timing belt for $150 with all new parts.

Rare vehicles become collectors items because they are too expensive to maintain due to the lack of a parts supplier base, a lot of them end up crushed. You never make money on a car anyway, even like new Supras don't sell for more than MSRP.

I could seriously see Toyota pulling out of this car if sales don't stay strong, but I think Subaru has learned this is a good market for them so hopefully we will see a half million of these vehicles sold over the next decade.

I fully believe (optimistically) that we're at the very start of a sports car renaissance. This car is just the beginning.

I really hope that's the case.

As for the original premise? I would be very sad if this were the last model year for the twins. I'm a huge fan of inexpensive fun cars, and even with the BRZ on the market, I still wish there were more options. Yes, I know several of you like the idea of owning something "limited" or "rare", but I kind of feel the opposite - the more small, sporty cars are out there, the better life will be for car enthusiasts.