Current and Previous gen owners - how bad is the road noise?
 

Hello all, I'm currently waiting for my GR86 allocation and I've been wondering after seeing lots of reviews mention road noise - how bad is it really? I have an 07 Civic Si coupe currently that would be my baseline.


How bad is the new BRZ/GR86 compared to the previous gen? Is it worse, better, or the same? How is it compared to other cars you've owned?


I understand this is a vague and subjective question but I'd like to get a good idea before I plop $30K down :D


Thanks for your input everyone!

my 2020 has no abnormal road noise

if you can hear road noise over the sound of the motor, or the tires, it means you're not pushing the car hard enough!

I have a 2011 Si and the road noise is a bit worse. Overall refinement is much better, aside from clutch/flywheel chatter.

I want to also clarify, when I say road noise I basically just am asking how the road/wind/tire/everything noise is at highway speeds. My 07 Civic Si is totally liveable, I've just heard lots of reviews and owner impressions saying that the BRZ/GR86 is fairly noisy at speed.

That's great to hear. As long as the noise didn't get worse from my Si baseline, I'll be very happy. Thanks for your input!

Been a while since I had my FA5, but I think the NVH in both generations of the twins is a bit worse than the civic.

My 2022 BRZ has a good amount of road noise. Less than my prior car (ND MX-5), but more than my wife car (GLI).

I think a lot of it is the tires. I put my winter set on, and the road noise was reduced dramatically.

It is right on par with any lightweight "sports" car. Tires do make a huge difference though since a lot of the noise is simply due to the lack of soundproofing materials and noisy tires come through really strong.
Most of the people I have ever seen complain on here came from BMWs and such where the soundproofing is considerably more substantial.

Did a 1100 miles road-trip with 2 kids and wife, no complaints regarding noise (just that next time we will travel with our other car that has space for human legs)

Realized now after reading your other thread I misread this quote... the Civic is worse? Wasn't expecting that honestly.

Sorry--I should clarify. The BRZ is slightly worse than the Civic with regards to road noise. Not by a lot (at least in my opinion), but I'm noticing it.

It's very likely the tires. If you have the limited, the 215/40/18 are kinda bad with road noise.

My spare set is a 215/45/17 all season. I have nearly no road noise on them. Granted when the snow is gone, i want all the grip.... and noise that'll come with it. ;)

Im a bit bias but thats because I DD a roadster that was 23 years old and had no form of insulation. Compared to that the BRZ is whisper quiet I turn the music volume to 10 and have zero issues. These aren't luxury cars or even econo cars they are cheap sports cars you cant expect them to be quiet but given the car id say NVH is pretty low considering what I am use to.