From GTI to BRZ
 

Hey guys!

Figured I would finally introduce myself! Proud owner of a new WRB BRZ. I picked her up about two weeks ago and I haven't looked back. I came from a mkv gti with pretty extensive mods.

http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps09da5797.jpg

I originally wanted an frs, hence my username (made it before I purchased) however the frs did not offer the options I wanted and WRB is just an amazing colour.

So on November 14th, 2013 I picked up this beauty!

http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps1d33eedf.jpg

Sorry for the crappy photo, unfortunately it is the only one I have right now!

I had the car for one day before I started to order parts, I already have the JPM Coachworks alcantera gauge hood ordered as well as the weathertech mats. And more will follow!

Would love to hear your opinions and comparisons of the two cars!

Congrats!

Congrats! I came from a mkiv gti. A welcomed change.

I have the exact same two parts on order right now! My first mods as well, great choice.

I just put a deposit on SWP BRZ this afternoon and I'll be getting out of a 2011 GTI.

I'd be interested in what your take on the adjustment from one to the other. I may not take delivery for a while on mine.

And if anyone wants to buy a GTI hit me up 😁.

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Well I'm still in the break in period, so I haven't really been able to push the car, however so far I can say that everything about the BRZ is tighter, you feel more connected to the road than the gti. The steering in the gti was awesome, until I drove my brz for the first time. Now I realize that the gti is kind of soft or sloppy to say the least, compared to the brz which is precise and smooth. Even with all the suspension mods done to the gti, it didn't feel as tight to the ground as the brz does. The gti overall was a great dd, had tons of torque but overall just got boring after a while. Where as the brz is a blast every time, and I notice the more I drive her, the more she comes alive.

Right now, all I miss from the gti is the torque, other than that, I don't miss anything else.

I'll be able to give a better comparison once my break in period is complete!

Congrats! I came from a '11 GTI (MKVI). So happy that I made the change at over a year later.

Very nice GTI, I hope you are enjoying your BRZ!

Yea that just about sums it up. My car is stage I and even with that it just kinda got boring. Its great but kinda blah. Lost that excitement to drive and I want to get that back.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the switch!

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Aw yea WRB good choice :)

Lots of VW to FRS/BRZ guys in here, lol. Myself included.

I previously had a mk5 R32.

Nice!!

I will be coming from Passat CC to WRB BRZ as well

Nice! I came from a modded GTI as well to a WRB BRZ :word:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P...o/DSC02451.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z...DSC04477-2.jpg

Welcome to the family :cheers:

Your car is one of my inspiration cars! I love it, you have done a very nice job. I only hope mine is as well done as yours one day.

I would love to hear your feedback. I own an MK6 gti and I'm a torque lover which the BRZ lacks. I went from a 06wrx to a 370z and I hated it so I sold it for my GTI and I'm much happier. I've wanted a BRZ for ever but I'm afraid it will bore me like the 370z did due to lack of any useful torque.
what do you guys think?

Kind of depends what bored you about the 370z. I can't imagine it was lack of torque (you say lack of usable torque?!). That being said, if you "love" torque and can't see the forest through the trees, you will most likely hate the BRZ.

That's kinda what I'm thinking to. Don't get me wrong, absolutely love the brz and have no regrets. However, the one thing I do miss is the torque. So if that is something that is a deal breaker you probably won't love the brz. With that said, the brz makes up for the loss of torque in so many other ways.

I came from a modded Mk2 GTI to my BRZ. Keeping the GTI for autocross, but the BRZ is a MUCH better DD. I love it.

I would think that the hardest thing to adjust to when going from a Golf to a BRZ/FR-S is loosing the ability to haul around tons of shit in the back.

http://images18.fotki.com/v270/photo...1010940-vi.jpg

I went from a BRZ to a mk6 GTI, but do dream of going back to a BRZ again.

This move from BRZ to GTI is what is technically known as an "Oops." :D

Welcome! I still keep my mk6 around. Great all around cars, and my wife has fun driving it around town.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6217/6...be9f99facc.jpg

I enjoyed the BRZ a great amount but the GTI does have a TON more power and is very practical. If I had room for 2 cars I'd have both.

I said the same thing about my STI vs. the BRZ, but honestly, I don't really miss the power all that much (not when I have a rotrex SC in the cards for my BRZ :D)

Id like to keep mine but it's one or the other and right now I'm digging having a legit sports car instead of a sporty hatch.

No knock on the GTI. I could see myself getting an R down the road for a family car.

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Very nice set up on the GTI . Loving the wheels

VW to BRZ convert here too. I had a '10 TDI Golf. I had a straight pipe turbo-back and stage 2 tune. I do miss the 300+ tq. But I love the BRZ and have not regretted the trade.

BRZ is at the top of my list when it comes time to replace my GTI. However I am torn about leaving the "solidity" of a German car for a Japanese car. I have owned a couple of WRX's, Mazdaspeed3 and a zillion Honda's back in the 80's and 90's. Nothing comes close to how a German car feels. I also appreciate the high quality interior of my GTI. My question to all you former/current GTI owners who now have a BRZ, does it feel "cheap" or are the driving dynamics so good you can overlook some of the negatives?

Both. The interior on my FR-S definitely feels cheaper than on my GTI. You can tell this car is meant to be lightweight so you won't, for example, get that heavy *thud* when you close the doors the way you would in a GTI. The GTI definitely feels a level or two more upscale on the inside.

The FR-S is exactly what you would guess -- a minimalist, lightweight RWD sports car. But that's part of its charm. If it helps, I've never once been driving it and found myself thinking, "I wish it had a better interior." I just enjoy it for what it is.

I dont care for interior looks/feel. Driving experience matters the most :)

Thing is, these cars still have nice interiors. I rode in a coworker's 06 Corolla when we went to lunch last week while my BRZ was still in the shop, and THAT was a basic, no-frills interior. The 86 twins interiors (from base model FR-S to BRZ Limited) were ALL orders of magnitude nicer and more "luxurious." Compare that to similarly priced (allowing for inflation) 90's cars, even the nicer family sedans, and these vehicles that we say have "eco-box interiors" (I don't say that, as I'm not that arrogant and condescending about our cars) have nothing of the sort.

Even compared to domestics, we've got nicer interiors in these vehicles. Obviously the nicer german cars are nicer inside. That's part of the german charm ;). But you also have to then pay german sports car pricing too ;).

It's funny because that was a good reason I didn't want to get rid of my gti. Because I couldn't find anything that lived up to the luxurious interior. I first went and looked at an frs, and didn't like the interior, it wasn't enough for me to switch. Then I went and looked at the brz premium/limited and fell in love, you just feel like your in a sports car. I don't miss the gti's interior one bit.

I came from a totally optioned Mk4 GTI and don't miss it at all. When I went to move apartments I missed the cargo space of the GTI a little bit, but I was shocked at how much stuff I was able to fit into the BRZ with a careful packing job.

The interior of the BRZ has all the features of my GTI and more (satnav, although I don't use it because the BRZ head unit is terrible). I guess I don't have full leather seats anymore, but I really don't care: the BRZ seats are more comfortable and much more supportive than the GTI seats (which were already pretty comfortable). Overall I'd say that the interior on the GTI looks a little more "serious" than the BRZs, but the BRZ interior is plenty nice and similarly simple. I guess more modern GTIs had nicer interiors, so maybe if you're coming out of a recent one you'd find yourself missing things, but I've always preferred simple interiors anyway so I don't care.

Driving-wise the BRZ is just a whole new world of fun compared to my GTI. The GTI was quick, but ultimately the handling was pretty boring: mine has aftermarket springs / dampers, an aftermarket front swaybar, poly motor mounts and a Milltek turbo-back, but at the end of the day all the car really wanted to do was go fast and understeer a bit if you pushed it too hard. It was a quick and really forgiving car to drive, but not interesting like the BRZ is.

I do miss the power of my GTI a bit: it was probably making less HP than my BRZ, but the minimally-laggy torque from the turbo with that exhaust attached is something a miss a little. I'd say that if I drove both cars down a tight, windy road, my GTI with its Dunlop Star Specs might get from A to B a tiny bit faster than my BRZ, but my BRZ is much more fun to drive and with good tyres might be even quicker than the Mk4. Compared to my BRZ in stock format I think the GTI would definitely be a bit faster. There's just no comparing the quantities of fun involved though: the BRZ feels extremely light and nimble compared to the GTI, and being able to balance the car on the throttle better is a lot of fun.

FWIW I was driving both cars for a couple of months, and once you get used to the BRZ hopping into the GTI feels like you're driving a bus-- the wheel feels huge, the rack feels slow and strangely light, the seating position feels high and a bit wrong, the gear shift isn't where it ~*should*~ be, and the whole package feels heavy. My modded GTI felt like a fast hatch but you could still feel that it was a Golf trying hard to compete with proper sportscars (and doing a pretty good job in terms of raw numbers, but not that gracefully): my modded BRZ feels like a babby M-car-- less power, less weight, less grip (on stockers anyway), but it handles in the same way as much more serious cars.

This sounds exactly like my experience if you swap out GTI for WRX.

Came from a autocross prepped Stage 2+ MK5 GTI and I can safely say, this car, even stock is WAY more fun and exciting. Yes I miss the nearly instant torque and ability to spin the tires all the way into 3rd gear but the BRZ's handling prowess trumps even my ex modded "too much torque for decent corner exit" hatchback. Sure do miss the cargo space but hey, if it don't fit in the trunk, you don't reallllllly need it... right?

I went from MK6 to BRZ too. I miss the interior of the GTI but overall I am happy with the switch. pretty glad to be done with the DSG transmission

Not familiar with DSG. What is it besides a kind of auto trans?

dual clutch

its actually pretty decent, had one for 40k+, gf still has one on her tdi. Its closer to a manual than a slush box.

My main gripe with it (besides out of warranty fears) is that the transmission doesn't give much feedback on a stock car. Exhaust solved that though.