No 2020 BRZ Premium Model?
 

"The rear-drive 2020 Subaru BRZ returns with a starting price of $29,745 thanks to the discontinuation of the Premium trim."

The 2020 BRZ is bringing back the tS, but discontinuing the Premium base model. The majority of people buy the limited trim anyway, but I think the higher initial sticker price could scare away potential buyers and give bored car review websites a new way to bully the BRZ/86 when comparing to the ND2 Miata.

What are your guys thoughts on this?

Imo they're just responding to sales numbers. This isn't an important model for either Subaru or Toyota anyway. This platform never really made an impact on the miatas mystique as it is so if the journalists want to pile on by unfairly comparing it to the Mazda, they're just being snarky assholes imo.

I remember an old article from when the NC was still around I think and it was titled something similar to "The Toyobaru will defeat the miata by becoming the miata" :lol: and then the ND came out. :slap:

how many people were buying the premium? i didn't because if i was buying new, the car had to have heated seats.

premium didn't offer that.

They did the same thing here back in 2015 by stop offering the base model. Main reason was that it didn't sell too much, but on the other side it was 35 kg lighter. It was a much better starting point for someone that wanted to modify it and build a more back to basics sports car or a race car.

Exactly what sold me on a Limited. Already spending thousands on a car might as well get all the nice options lol I’ve said it before, this is the newest car I’ve ever had and with heated seats, comfort access, a touchscreen, bluetooth etc. it feels like a BMW luxury car lol

I understand that to some it wasn’t worth the extra money. Some people made these into show cars or track cars and wanted to save money to spend on mods which is cool. Just wonder how this will affect used prices for both trims in a few years

If I was saving $10-15k, the base model would have been worth it for what I wanted to do, but they're so close in price, and the limited grows fog lights and keyless ignition...

I still really wanted a new car with manual locks, windows, and cable-actuated HVAC, but they never offered it all together

I had heated seats for over 15 years before this car, I don't miss them. The fabric seats are comfy after a minute even in the coldest weather. I had fog lights on the last 5 cars, I don't really miss them either. Sometimes but not so much that it would be a deal breaker on my next car if it didn't have them. If the CPO car I found had those things I would have paid the extra but it didn't and I haven't looked back. $30k is a bit much for this car though don't you think?

What fool actually walks in and pays MSRP? Many are buying Limited with performance pack for $25-27k without much haggling needed. Even at $30k, what other NEW cars can you buy today that are lightweight, RWD with a manual transmission? The Miata is the only other option and for those that don’t want a convertible or those that need a back seat or more than a few cubic feet of storage space... that rules out the Miata.
As far as the features of the Limited trim, the heated seats and fog lights were not the big selling points to me... it’s only cold enough to think about heated seats a few days a year where I live. The features that made it well worth any small price increase to me were the performance package, keyless entry/push button start, Alcantara seats and dual zone climate control.

The big draw to the brz was having the subaru name and the features since they changed the suspension differences.

Makes perfect sense.

Same. If I could've had "factory delete" of the rear seat, entertainment/radio, power windows, AC, spoiler, etc. that would've been my ideal choice.
It's been mentioned in the forums, the Japanese market "Custom R" (?) spec is/was pretty much stripped down. Closest "basic" available in the US was the Premium, which is what I (happily) opted for back in 2017.
I've asked this question before, I'm curious about US sales #s by trim (I've been unable to find a breakdown of sales figures x trim) -- my guess is the Premium would make up the smallest portion sales, i.e. there seemed to always be Limited or Limited + PP on dealer lots but few w/ Premium trim available. I had to order my Premium coordinating directly w/ Subaru of America.

With how few were available on dealer lots here in the northeast most people I know either special ordered, had the dealer get one from another somewhere else or traveled for theirs. Generally if you're ordering or the dealer is going to extreme measures to get one for you it's not going to be discounted much if at all. I know of quite a few people that paid $27k or higher especially for PP or special editions.

In '14 when I got mine those were the only significant differences which is why I went CPO rather than brand new. Well, that and the 100k warranty rather than 36k which turned out to be pretty important as they were still correcting things on my car right into the mid 90k range. The Alcantara seats weren't a factor for me at all, I actually don't like leather seats much anyway. Push button is cool but ehh, whatever. As small as the cabin is I still can't figure out why the dual zone even matters.

I didn't care for the extra features at all, coming from a Hyundai Elantra, before that another Elantra, and a Toyota Corolla, but there were only limiteds at the dealership I was buying at. The closest premium was from a lot in a nearby town, but I told the dealership I wouldn't mind waiting for it to be driven there because it should've only take an hour or two.

It took four hours.

Maybe it would have been worth it for me to get a limited, but I got the premium for around $24k which was good by me. The limiteds they had were way over sticker for like $32k and I wanted a silver car so I guess it worked out.

I think we tend to overthink things and then spend more time justifying are choices based on that over thinking. Once you realize it’s just your brains need to be right and that humans are very good at rationalization, just decide your decision was right and move on.

I mean I love my limited, but I love my 04 WRX as well and it’s 16 years old. In fact I am starting to think I prefer a car with a key and actually don’t mind opening a door and starting a car with a key, it feels right for some reason. (Showing my age)

If I could mix the best features of both my cars it could be perfect for me. And I am sure the car you picked for whatever reason is perfect for you.