Mad's BRZ Review: or how I came to love a Scooby Doo
 

So, I am in the market for a new car. It started as an idea to reward myself if I can get a new, better job, but after my window shopping brought me to the Subaru BRZ it morphed into a real desire to own this car regardless of the outcome of the job search. I still want that job, though, so friggin call me!

Anyway. I spent the past month or so researching the car. I've studied brochures, checked recall lists, read and watched reviews and lurked forums. There have been some issues. Fuel pump chirping, a few blown engines, but IMO, considering it's a new model and a new engine, pretty damned little. Reviews applaud the car's manners and sporty character, but seem to universally crave more power. Most consider it a dealbreaker and, to be fair, Subaru really needs to step up and boost the little pancake motor. There are rumors that they are stealthily upgrading the drive train in preparation for "something," but peoples' patience is finite and they better start being more forthcoming about their intentions before they lose peoples' attention. Another engine related issue is the torque dip. There is a huge hole in the torque curve between 3K-5K and it pisses people off. As it should, IMO. I'm not sure how THAT passed muster in a development meeting.


http://www.rallyxd.com/rallyxd/wp-co...subaru-brz.jpg

So, I have a car here that seems to be what I have been waiting for. I have been complaining for years that there was no new car out there that met my desires.

First, Subaru has no test drive cars. That's bush, bush league, and if they were were men I would punch them in the face. One would think having an actual car to walk around, sit in and, duh, you know, drive, would be a no-brainer, but Subaru seems to disagree. Fail. I must say, though, my local Subaru dealer makes up for it with a salesman who goes the extra mile. Realizing that despite the fact that the scruffy gaijin doesn't look like the typical local car buyer, he is a customer and should be treated as such; he's going to do his best. After apologizing for not having so much as a showroom car, this smooth mofo says, "come to the employee parking lot" and he shows me his BRZ! One, this is great salesmanship, and two, seeing that the dealer gets high off his own supply is encouraging. For those of you with fast food experience, did you eat at the restaurant you worked at? I sure didn't. If you know the car you sell is crap you won't buy it yourself.

I liked the car. I already see why AWD was not going to work. Beyond the extra cost, the engine is too low and far back to work in AWD configuration. The build quality looked very good, and the car passed that stage of the investigation. Before I buy one, though, I need to drive one. The proof is in the driving. I confirmed the other Subaru dealers on island also don't have cars and I reminded them how stupid and ill-advised that is. Again, though, the Naha dealer took me out to the back lot and let me check out a used car they were prepping for delivery. It was 2012 and still looked brand new and everything was in place.

I still wanted to drive one so I took advantage of the recent Toyota show and the test 86 they had. It was a short squirt around Ginowan. The dealer commented that I didn't stall it which I found weird. He said over half the people that day had stalled it trying to work the clutch. I explained that my daily is a bitchy RX7 with a twin plate, but, yes, this clutch pedal felt really vague so that's why people were stalling it. The clutch feels like it's working against a rubber band. I'm told that removing the spring at the top will make it feel more "proper." The shifter, however, wow. They make a short shifter for it, but I don't see how it could get much shorter. You can run up through the the gears with your index finger!

The seat felt tight on my right side, like the bolster had been bent in, but overall the ergos were good. I was chatting with the dealer and my wife, not really paying more attention to driving than necessary, still more than most people these days, texting, eating and beating their unsecured kids, but less than normal for me. The dealer says "turn here" at the last minute and without so much as a how do you do I pulled a smooth heel-toe downshift and whip it around the corner smooth as silk. That was significant. I wasn't thinking about that, I'd been in the car for about two minutes and we already clicked and operated like a team. Next test passed. I must seek out a rental car to wring out.

Thank you Sky Rent a Car! :thanks:

http://www.skyrent.j..._price_id=13597

So we booked the car and I drove it yesterday all day. Here is the review.

We picked it up and brought it to the casa for my initial walk around. First, IMO, this car is sexy as fuck. It doesn't have a bad angle in my eyes. I must have a car I find beautiful and this car is to me. Box checked.


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This is an S, the top level model so you get the leather wheel and shift knob with red stitching everywhere. I have always liked baseball stitching on interiors. It's sort of 80's and neavu riche, but screw it, I like it. The controls are all where they should be. The e-brake is right by the shifter if you are the kind of fella who sees that as more than a parking device and a bit more like a fighter jet control stick. I are one of those guys. :thumbsup: There is one of those start buttons that are all the rage. My wife's Mini has that, I'm over it. The tach is in the center where, I suggest, is the proper place in a sports car. The speedo is off to the side and runs up to 260KPH. Can the car? I don't know.


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First test, highway driving. I put it up on the expressway and put the hammer down. It's not exactly a sledgehammer, let's be honest, but it's not a brad hammer either. More like a ball peen, the peen end. Why that end? The torque dip is real, folks. Holy shit is it obvious and you will have to learn to drive around it or you are going to be upset. I took note of the dead area and checked the graph this morning and yup, spot on what I could feel. Don't try to do anything between 3500-4500. Downshift into the mid 2000s and accelerate through the torque black hole to achieve joy. You can feel the dip on the way through, yes, but if you are passing through it, it's manageable. If you start anywhere in it, however, it's DOA. I came up with a metaphor that I feels best illustrates the feel of it. Image you have a turbo car with a big laggy exhaust housing. It takes time to wind up and you can feel it coming, BUT, when it spools, it's still not that impressive. It's like a TD05 with a 16cm housing laggy build up to 200hp at full boost.

I pulled over into the parking area to write down my observations, take more glam shots and to listen to the engine.
No fuel pump chirping, just the steady ticking of injectors. Kind of sounds like a sewing machine.

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That, is the sound generator. Yes, this engine idles and revs very quietly. Surprisingly, I really don't mind not hearing it. The exhaust is whisper quiet as well and that, too, is ok with me. Subaru, though, seems to have harbored some embarrassment about not having an engine noise you could hear in the car and I understand that concern, but I find their solution to be lame. Subaru takes intake noises, runs a pipe to a resonator that then runs to a hole under the dashboard so you can hear, something. That would get pulled from any car I own. Come out of the closet, I'll still love you. :slap:


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Cruising at 100kph in 6th I'm steady at 2500rpms. This is great for gas mileage if you care about that and despite my ownership of a slutty rotary I actually care about that too. It's also good because you are outside the dip and can accelerate directly from there if you would "like" to go faster, slide it down into 5th if you "want" to go faster or whip it over and down into 4th if nothing but angry naked, nipple-twisting thrusting screaming acceleration will do. The car will not scare you, but it takes off with purpose and it will make you think "weee!" and a goofy smile will cross your face. Wind noise is present, but it's not too bad for a car in this price range and you have to think to listen for it; it's not pronounced. The homotube works; you can hear stuff as you wind the engine up.

The suspension is firm, but not stiff and felt very confident at highway speeds. I ran it up to the upper reaches of the speedo and it was composed all the way through the gears and didn't start to feel floaty until north of 100 mph. Now, some would consider this bad, but let's be honest. To make a car that can keep it's cool at those speeds, barring very expensive active suspension would lead to a car that was a torture rack in town. I know, I own one. My RX7 sails along at hyper speed just whistling a happy buuuuurrrrrr, but rolling down 58, all exits lead to a chiropractor. :(

At this point I'm starting to form an idea of this car's mission statement which I will wrap up with in a later post.

Rolling through Nago I get to the second phase of this test, in town driving. First a stop at A&W for some munchies.

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On the drive through the city I didn't avoid rough spots. I went over them on purpose and am pleased to say that, yes, you get a bit of a thump, more than a luxury car or even an econobox people mover, but it's far from punishing. It's not "damn!" it's more like, "hey, there was a bump there." An 80's portable CD player would skip and you should have the top on your Starbucks, but that's about it and the seats are firm, but soft enough that you are not uncomfortable. Ah yes, the seats. That right side bolster is a no-go. I would spend the entire day squirming around trying to contort myself around it to no avail. It really feels like it was bent by accident, but I have sat in several different 86s and now this BRZ so I can confirm, this is the seat's intended shape. I can't figure out why the left side didn't bother me at all while the right was poking my ribcage and making my torso rotate 2 degrees to the left of straight ahead. I'm chubby, but not fat and I fit in the seat great everywhere else. I may just have a wide back or something. IT'S NOT A TUMOR! I think if I skinned the seat, put a prybar in that side and bent the bar out about a half inch it would be absolutely perfect. I would be willing to do that to a brand new car if that is all I find wrong with it. I drive on up to my little postage stamp of land for more centerfold spreads.

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I can't say enough about how pretty this car is to me. I've been trying to nail down which color I prefer. I know I definitely don't like silver or the dark blue, but white, black and red are great, but for me, if I had a Subaru, it must be world rally blue which this car is. I liked it best in the brochures and I love it standing next to it.

Time to go over the top of the island and run some windy roads! That's what we all came here to see, right?

This car doesn't sweat. I started off easy. Hey, it's not my car, I'm still feeling it out and I haven't really done spirited driving in years. By the time I made it up to Hedo any uncertainty I had was gone. The car and I were plugged in, it was talking to me and I was starting to understand what it was saying. Every corner was getting faster, braking was coming later, power was being tapped earlier on exit, I was getting better and better at juking around the torque curve. Pause to take some more porn pics and take a leak.


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Time to head back down the other side. The intro class was over, it was time for the exam. I won't say I was pushing as hard as I could. I won't say that I was pushing the car as hard as it could go. Let's just say if you drove a Toyota Aqua or whatever the base rental cars are the same way, Sky would have had to dispatch a tow truck and an ambulance. Those roads on the east side are pure corner porn! I know the guys that run that route regular are probably bored and snorting derisively, but think about the first time you ran them at double, sometimes triple the posted limit, banging your shifts at the right times, picking the good apexes and being rewarded with fast exits and good setups for the next, oh wait, this one is even better than the last one! You know how much fun I was having.

Yes, I understood this car very well now. I could look ahead and know exactly what gear that was going to take, ease it up a bit because it's a new road and I don't know it, after the end shows itself, speed up to what it will require and set up for the next. At no time did I feel the car was anywhere near its limit. It patiently waited for my command, did it exactly like I wanted, better than I expected and seemed to hope my next request would be more of a challenge. I was dead quiet, breathing in a regimented and deliberate fashion, scanning mechanically and 100% focused on what I was doing. The car was yawning and doing it's nails between control inputs. It's like I was the virgin and the car was a $3000 a night escort doing her best to humor me as I clumsily thrust my little pecker in her all wrong. As I pulled into the Lawson south of Schwab to unwind and replenish my electrolytes from all the clumsy sex I took another pic of the "girlfriend" I rented, because I had fallen in love with a prostitute and I didn't care who couldn't understand our love.

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Then the RX8 drove by.

Now, the RX8 appeals to me for two reasons.

One, it's a rotary. I like rotaries. I "get" rotaries. I understand why some people don't like them. Most of those people don't have legitimate reasons to hate them, they just have an unjustified, uninformed herd-thought inspired and supported opinion and it's stupid, like them. Some have considered, informed reasons why they don't like them and their points are valid. There are some characteristics of that engine that are unappealing and there's no way around it. You have to accept them if you are to be happy with a rotary. I am one of those strange birds who will so I happen to love the little spinny triangle motors. The RX8 has one, good.

Two. All reviews praise the handling of these cars. Some have compared it to an FD which is a very good handling car. I have an FC. I love my FC, but the FC is a big broadsword where the FD is a razor sharp Katana. Both will cut you, but where the FC requires a wide cleaving stroke, the FD whispers through the flesh with the flick of a wrist. I don't mind the unsophisticated "hold the fuck on" way around a corner, but it would be nice to try lacing through them smoothly, for once. I'm not getting an FD so the idea that the RX8 has similar capability is very appealing.

The RX8, is, unfortunately, ONE OF THE BUTT UGLIEST CARS I HAVE EVER LAID EYES ON! So, sadly, there's no way I would buy one. One auto reviewer put my feeling into words perfectly when he said "I respect the RX8, but I don't love it." Now, here I am, standing next to a car that I love and respect, both having been earned today and there goes the car that that same reviewer said had the power that the BRZ was missing. I felt a stirring in my loins. I looked at BRZ and BRZ was already cracking it's knuckles and loosening up for battle.

How cool would this be if it happened? What are the chances the road would open up to allow it? What are the chances the 8 driver would want to go? I didn't know, but I was going to find out. I jumped in the car and gave chase. As we went south the cars thinned out and I got closer to the 8 and people got out of his way. We came around the sweeper at Ginoza up to the light before the expressway entrance and the car in front of him turned left. There he was at the light and I was right behind him.

The light went green and we both eased off. I surged up and I saw puffs of smoke burst from his pipes and we tore through second and were about to grab our third gears when traffic ahead stopped us. So close! Indeed, so close; he didn't pull away from me an inch on that short blast. Certainly not definitive, but still fun as hell. We continued south and as we got to the north end of the bridge leading into Kin I hope it was clear because he had one car in front of him and the movement of the 8 suggested he would go for the pass. The road swept right and slowly the bridge became visible. As soon as I saw it was empty across it's entire length I slotted the car down a gear and wound up the little boxer and I could see he was getting ready make the pass. as he moved to the right I nailed the gas.

His mufflers puffed a split second later and we were off. If he had waited a second later I would have had to hit the brakes. Yes, that equates to a head start, and? :iono:

We took it through a full gear and upshifted and I was balls deep in his ass and he couldn't do anything about it, but stare at the rice bags he was face down on and feel that 2.0 **** poking him. I let off and saluted him in his rear view mirror. I didn't want to be a jerk about it. I was grateful he was willing to play and I felt he had nothing to be ashamed of. I said out loud "underpowered, eh? Not if you drive it right." I couldn't have hoped for a more delicious frosting to the cake I had been eating all day.


Conclusion:

On paper it is my belief that Subaru's objectives were to build a car that was really really good, but not great. They wanted it to be very balanced in the sense that it would do everything as well as it could without sacrificing that overall balance to be able to do one thing a little better. They wanted a solid, but blank sheet of paper for the owner to embellish as they see fit. After spending a day with the car and giving it a test drive that would make a car dealer need a fistful of Prozac and a stiff drink I can say with confidence that I have looked into this car's eyes and seen a machine I can work with. If Subaru was, in fact, trying to do what I think they were, they did it.

This car is pretty. This car is solidly built. This car is reasonably spacious for its size and the interior, save for the seat issue, which may really just be a problem I have, is a darned nice place to live and work in. The car is low slung and firmly planted to the road. The suspension is firm, but not hostile and works very well in most any setting. The brakes are understated, but strong, linear and showed no signs of being overworked all day. The engine is sort of boring, quiet with enough power, but no more than that. Yes, the car would be better with more power and yes, the torque dip should have been ironed out before the car was launched and definitely after three years of production, but I had a theory that if properly driven it could be worked around and I have tested the theory in the real world in all arenas save for a straight up drag race which I think would go badly as that is 100% in the car's blind spot, power.

Other than that, what you have here is the automotive equivalent of a Swiss army knife. It can do so many things and do them very well. It only comes up wanting when you try to step outside of the balance and do something more specialized, something that can only come at the expense of other things. Much like I wouldn't use my SAK to chop down a tree, nor would I ask a BRZ to lay claim to a drag strip. Realistically, though, how often am I chopping down trees? How much use does my ax get? How often do I need to turn a screw, cut some rope, open a bottle etc, though? Answer, all the time. How often do I make a long trip up north to attack windy roads?

More to the point, how often am I going to work and happen to be on a short strip of road all by myself without adult supervision? Yeah, exactly, all the time. I love my "race cars," but bringing them out requires planning, scheduling and back up plans for when they blow up. As much as I want to be 1000hp GT-R guy, I'm not. I'm bone stock BRZ guy with a broken GT-R.

Subaru, we will be talking very soon.


Thank you for a fun day BRZ.



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tl;dr

Kiddiiiinnnggg! I read it all. I agree!

Great read! So nice to hear that you enjoyed the BRZ and almost every aspect about it. I'm sure if you spend more time with it, the more you will love it even more.

Wow another great post!
I keep finding very well written posts about the twins.

The car does exactly what it was designed to do. And on this Thanksgiving evening, I am thankful that they designed it for people like us.

A coworker asked me how my drive was. They all knew I was going to flog one wednesday. I summed it up thusly, "it's like Subaru built a car FOR ME." I've owned likely 50 cars over the years and I have never clicked instantly and felt at home immediately in a car like I did in the BRZ.

All car reviews have to be like this.

Wish I had access to those roads.

Route 70 on the east coast.

the Top of the line BRZ doesn't get LED DRL or heated seats and spoiler or all of those dealer installed/optional extras over there?

You can get all that as options.

http://www.subaru.jp/brz/brz/grade/s/

I have been running the info through Google and put together some stuff in English so I can decide what I want.


205 / 55R16 tire
HID high and low beam lamp
Digital speedometer
Dual SRS airbags, SRS side air bag + SRS curtain air bag
SEAT CLOTH: tricot / tricot

Other standard equipment
■ Front Ventilated disc brakes (15 inches)
■ Rear disc brakes (15 inches)
■ air conditioning less (heater function only)
■ Speaker
■ 1 power socket
■ dual tail pipe
■ UV cut glass (full)

Manufacturer installed options
■ Performance package: [(en brake pads) front 16 inches, rear 15 inches] Ventilated disc brakes / Torsen LSD / Rogiyado Final gear This can be ordered by itself as option DI ¥43200
■ Manual air conditioning This must be ordered with the performance package as option DY ¥248400


205 / 55R16 tires and 16 inches aluminum wheel
HID high and low beam lamp
Electric retractable remote control door mirror
Manual air conditioning
Door trim (red stitch)
Removable front seat cup holder
Dual SRS airbags, SRS side air bag + SRS curtain air bag
SEAT CLOTH: tricot / tricot

Equipped with other standard
■ Front Ventilated disc brakes (15 inches)
■ Rear disc brakes (15 inches)
■ 2 speakers
■ passenger seat walk-in slide
■ plated inner door handle
■ driver and front passenger vanity mirror
■ 2 power socket
■ trunk room lamp
■ large muffler cutter
■ out side door handle (colored)
■ UV cut function with dark glass (rear quarter, rear)

Manufacturer installed options
■ Sport Interior package: leather-wrapped steering wheel and selector lever (MT car shift knob) / Leather-wrapped hand brake lever / paddle shift (AT vehicles) / with aluminum pad sport pedal / Silver decorative / stainless steel side sill plate This can be ordered by itself as option JY ¥32400
■ 215 / 45R17 tires and 17 inches aluminum wheels rear spoiler ■ Performance Package: Ventilated disc brakes [front 16 inches (en brake pads), rear 15 inches] / Torsen LSD / Rogiyado Final gear (MT vehicles) These two can be ordered with the sport interior package as option NK ¥129600
■ full floor under cover ■ rear spoiler These two can be ordered with all the others as option 2K ¥183600




215 / 45R17 tires and 17 inches aluminum wheel
Front 16 inches (Private brake pad) & rear 15 inches-ventilated disc brakes
HID high and low beam lamp
Front fog lights
Electric retractable remote control door mirror
Leather-wrapped steering wheel and selector lever (MT car shift knob)
Leather-wrapped parking brake lever
Paddle shift (AT vehicles)
Sports pedals with aluminum pads
Automatic Climate Control
Keyless access and push start
Removable front seat cup holder
Door trim (red stitch)
Frameless inner mirror
Dual SRS airbags, SRS side air bag + SRS curtain air bag
Stainless steel side sill plate
SEAT CLOTH: fabric / tricot
Equipped with other standard
■ Torsen LSD
■ Heated door mirrors
■ front passenger seat back pocket
■ plated inner door handle
■ 6 speakers
■ passenger seat walk-in slide
■ door Courtesy lights
■ driver and front passenger vanity mirror (with lighting)
■ 2 power socket
■ trunk room lamp
■ large muffler cutter
■ full floor undercover
■ out side door handle (colored)
■ UV cut function with dark glass (rear quarter, rear)
■ trunk lid trim
■ Silver decorative [panel center, instrument panel Center side, shift panel, door grip, air vent grille, aluminum center bench louver knob]

Manufacturer installed options
■ rear spoiler This can be ordered as option SB ¥43200
■ Leather & Alcantara Package: Alcantara * 1 / leather * 2 sheets (with front seat heaters) This can be ordered alone as option GF ¥75600 or with the spoiler as option SF ¥118800


RA cannot get any options
R and S can have the following base kit option packages

¥81540
■ Floor carpet ¥37800 ■ Number plate frame ¥3240 ■ Number plate lock ¥3240 ■ Wheel lock set ¥7560 ■ LED daytime running lights ¥27000

¥85860
■ Number plate frame ¥3240 ■ Number plate lock ¥3240 ■ Wheel lock set ¥7560 ■ LED daytime running lights ¥27000 ■ Floor carpet (sports) ¥43200

¥136620
■ Floor carpet ¥37800 ■ Number plate frame ¥3240 ■ Number plate lock ¥3240 ■ Wheel lock set ¥7560 ■ LED daytime running lights ¥27000 ■ Side blade fin ¥12960 ■ Rear under diffuser ¥54000

¥140940
■ Number plate frame ¥3240 ■ Number plate lock ¥3240 ■ Wheel lock set ¥7560 ■ LED daytime running lights ¥27000 ■ Floor carpet (sports) ¥43200 ■ Side blade fin ¥12960 ■ Rear under diffuser ¥54000

:popcorn: I enjoyed reading your write-up. Technical aspects, and opinion sprinkled with humor.

With just over 1200 miles on my BRZ, I pushed it to just over triple digits this weekend for the first time on a deserted highway. Stable, smooth and confident is how it felt to me. I understand why many complain about not enough power/torque, but honestly for me this car is the closest to the perfect sports car I have ever owned.

It's to bad so many people dismiss the twins because they don't have 300 hp.

I'm old enough to remember when 200hp was enough. My FJ20 only had 200hp back in 84 and nobody called it underpowered. All those SR20 kids treat it like it's made of magic and it only had 200hp when it debuted and that was in turbo form.

I wish I live in Okinawa.

Don't. Wish you live in mainland. They have famous wind roads, legit road courses and a drag strip at Sendai. We have none of that.
This is about as good as it gets around here.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9w5eXk53Bc"]baka naka at takoyama 1 - YouTube[/ame]

That guardrail at about 1.04 in and I are intimately aquainted. :bump:

Thank you for the excellent write up, was a good read. Also helped me decide what color i will get mine in :thumbsup:

Great read! Domo :)

Nice write up. I wish every car review was as thorough as this! I believe the car is perfectly balanced and all you need to do is properly drive it like it was meant to be. Then, it will reward you and you will have many smiles to come. Get the car!

Awesome read.

I think the real problem is it doesn't *feel* powerful - but damn me, I look down and realize I'm 20 over my intended speed and didn't even realize it. It gets there plenty fast and is oh so much fun.

It does zip along without you realizing it. I was looking down at the speedo when I was going hard and it was always faster than it felt like because the car was so much more sorted at whatever speed it was than I am used to.

Just got back from Subaru. The papers are signed, the car will be ordered.

I'm excited, but I'm dizzy. that's not a lot of money in today's new car market, but it's a lot of money to me.

I wound up going with the S, the Premium in America.

I was sure I would go with WR Blue. Not sure why, but the color just doesn't come through in pictures in the brochure, but when I saw the rental car I knew that was the color.

Well, today, again, the dealer had no showroom car, but, again, the dealer, a different guy than last time also showed me his personal BRZ. His was white. Just like the WR Blue, the white is done no justice in pictures, it's is beautiful. The blue Subaru emblem on the blue car dissapears, on the white car it shines like a sapphire. He had the STI aero parts on it as well which finished the car in a way that just white on the bottom doesn't. I realized where I last saw that combination, the tS.

http://carsandtrucks.tv/wp-content/u...00435943_l.jpg

With blue, the STI stuff was a would like to have, with the white it was a must have so I added that. His car also had the leather and alcantara seats. I had pretty much talked myself down from really needing the red stitching on the S and was about ready to go with the RA, the one we can get over here with the steel wheels. On the leather, though, it stops being neat and becomes excellent and I sat down to make the final test. F-me if the seat doesn't poke me like the stock S seat did. I'm not sure if it's just in my mind or if it really does feel better, but my right kidney didn't lodge a protest in the leather seats. Well, gotta have em.

No floor mats? What are we, animals? Add that. Head unit, nope. I want to play DVDs and if I get the overpriced stuff offered by the dealer, they are the wrong zone. America is zone 1, Japan is zone 2. That and I wanted more choices so it will be delivered with a gaping hole in the dashboard.

I know this is the car I have been waiting for. I know I checked all the right boxes and I know I will love it, but I'm still dizzy at the idea that i just ordered it. I'm going to see how much of this Old Smokey apple pie moonshine it takes to make my heart stop pounding.

congrats, mad. thanks for the fun review, especially all the pics

I hate my indecisiveness! Every time I see a WR blue one I think I made a mistake ordering the white, but then I see a white one and think I made the right choice, but then I see a blue one and I'm mixed up again.

The blue is so youthful and in your face which is cool, but that white is so sophisticated and understated which is where I think my head is at at this age. Either way, I know I'm going to happy, but I am playing mind games with myself hard right now and I have two months to go back and forth. I should be proper insane by then.

:bonk:

Paint the white car half side blue. Problem solved

Very nice write up!

I wound up switching back to blue. I immediately stopped second guessing it after it was confirmed unlike when I chose white so I'm confident that my initial desire for blue was correct. It's like changing the answers on a test after the fact; it's usually wrong. I kept the STI aero and still no wing. I wish I didn't have to buy the stock wheels, but that's the deal. When it arrives the dealer is going to laugh when I tell them to pull it in the bay and slap the new 18x8 Sparcos in the back of my van on the BRZ. I'm not even driving it home on the stock shit. I'll probably use those wheels for track days if the gymkana bug bites me.

I would like a wing, but I'm not firing holes in my trunk day 2, no way. This one is pretty cool, it appears to attach to the license plate mount.

http://cdn.mkimg.carview.co.jp/minka...6347979/p1.jpg
http://cdn.mkimg.carview.co.jp/minka...6347979/p2.jpg

I understand your color choice difficulties. I wanted white for so long. I have always loved the color white on any sports car, but when I finnally pulled the trigger it was on the Blue one. I dont know it just looks amazing on the BRZ. Great write up.

It's hard because there are a lot of great colors to pick from. I kept going back and forth between red and white. Sometimes now I regret that I didn't go with Hot Lava. I still love red though.

I went the white with no body kit or wing as the car just looks so clean and the front just looks angry enough as is.

Very much enjoying the amount of ground clearance for now, so holding off on the body kit. If I do end up getting that kit, I'll get the rear spats and sides painted and leave just the lower strip black.

Grats on your new car! Every moment spent in it will remove any doubt over the purchase :thumbup:

Very well written, and a very entertaining read on your experiences!

I was in the same boat of between White and Blue as well, ended up with a Blue because it's a Subaru... Haha!

I can understand your difficulty of choice between the two colors, it was the same way for me. I ended up going with the white in the end, but both colors look beautiful in the car. Also congrats on your new car :)

@themadscientist thanks for taking us along for your journey. We wish the USDM cars could be ordered with steel wheels, no head unit, etc.

Can't wait to see your order fulfilled!

So my wheels came today. I managed to fit them all in the back of the wife's Mini. :bonk:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps5mpboaoi.jpg

There is where my car will go!

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...psithc5vld.jpg

I vote this as my favorite photo of the week.

I hear you on the blue. I've always preferred a black car (and what I chose for my BRZ), but WRB is fantastic on this car. Was the only color that made me doubt.

I've yet to see a blue BRZ that my gaze doesn't linger.

IT'S HERE! They still have to do the government inspection and some more paperwork, but I have stood in the presence of the car and I made all the right choices. I don't regret the color, I don't regret the seats, I don't regret the STI aero and I'm glad I left off the spoiler. Another week or so....

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...pss46oxzfi.jpg

Congratulations!

Looks beautiful as always... And keep the rubber side down :D!!!