I bought and totaled a BRZ. Then I bought another.
 

I am a long time lurker and probably have set the record for the shortest amount of time before totaling a BRZ.

A bit of background first. Two years ago I started a new job and purchased a Cadillac ATS 2.0T. The ATS was a good car and reminded me very much of my E46 BMW, but it had a major flaw--it was an automatic. After nearly two decades of driving manuals, I had married and decided on an automatic to share the car with my wife (who drives manual...long story). This was a poor decision and I quickly became bored of the car.

After much pestering of my wife, she gave me the go ahead to trade in her Honda Fit and shop for a new car. Cars I tested or considered before landing on the BRZ:

-2012 Porsche Cayman S
-2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS
-2016 BMW M2
-2016 Focus RS
-2016 Golf R
-2015 Lexus RC-F

Cars I've owned:

-1988 Toyota MR-2
-2002 BMW M3
-2006 Honda Civic Si
-2014 Honda Civic Si
-2014 Cadillac ATS 2.0T

After test driving quite a few cars and nearly pulling the trigger on the RC-F, I ended up getting a hot deal on a 2016 Pure Red BRZ. I then promptly proceeded to roll it into a ditch.

After getting an insurance settlement, I went ahead and replaced the 2016 BRZ with a 2017 World Rally Blue BRZ with a 6-speed manual. After 350 km on the clock, here are my impressions:

-The suspension is stiff, but well damped. For those who have driven Magneride equipped GM cars, it reminds me of the dampers in Sport mode.
-The LED headlights are stupidly bright and angled poorly. I was flashed high beams twice on the drive home.
-The infotainment system and navigation are not flashy, but work well and are leagues ahead of Cadillac's CUE system (sad, no?).
-Dual zone climate control in this car is laughable.
-The car heats up really quickly--I like this.
-The 2017 steering wheel is tiny and I love it. The leather feels cheap, but I am okay with that.
-The car is not loud with the sound tube plugged. Majority of the noise is tire noise, which is pretty easy to remedy by replacing the stock tires.
-The stock tires and brakes are not awful. My initial impressions when I test drove the BRZ was that it was underbraked, but it's not the case. It really is the tires and their lack of grip, but the lack of grip suits the character of the car.
-Stock power level is more than fine. I've yet to have issues with merging, keeping up with traffic or passing when need be. This is with keeping the revs less than 4,000 RPMs due to the break-in period.
-This car is really attractive. I was waiting in a school parking lot to pick-up my nephew and kids were doing laps around the car.
-My wife hates riding passenger due to lack of height adjustment, but she loves driving it.
-The doors don't automatically lock over 25 kph or unlock when stopped. Really Toyota/Subaru?

All in all, I am very pleased with this car. It feels like an amalgamation of all of my old cars.

A few pictures after washing it, sealing with Black Fire Diamond and applying Aquapel. There's already a rock chip on the hood.

They can be height adjusted by the wheel on the left of the dash.

Not in the 2017s!

No? They did away with that? Well sonofabitch that is dumb.

Yep. Super dumb.

Did you turn TRACTION OFF?

Nope. I took delivery of the 2016 on a night when it was 0 C and raining. The rest is history.

Per the 2017 release
"Automatic LED Low & High Beam Height Adjustment"

EDIT- That was meant to agree with you @unhappymeal ...the headlights are suppose to be auto-leveling.

I will need to double-check, but I didn't see a dial on the left side of the dash like in the 2016.

Additional observation: the tire valve caps don't screw all the way down and leave some thread exposed. I'm not sure if this is a dealership screw up or a Subaru failure, but it's annoying none the less.

It isn't mentioned in the 2017 BRZ owners manual. Hopefully it's dealer adjustable.

Unhappymeal can you feel any difference in the handling between the 2016 and the 2017 BRZ. Can you detect if the 2017 is more responsive to steering inputs than the 2016.

there's obviously a difference in handling since his 2017 didn't end up in a ditch on the 1st day.


I'm just kidding lol, I couldn't resist. enjoy your car

I can't believe they did away with the leveling control! That said, when I first got it new from the dealer, mine were pointed at the highest setting.

This must be a significant improvement over the pre-17s then. Ours is garbage, warmed over.

Huh. I think it works rather well.

Most cold mornings I don't even turn on the climate control after pulling out of the garage. Just the passive heat flowing through the plumbing is enough to keep the little cabin warm.

Is it as cheap feeling as the pre-17's? Mine is barely a step above plastic.

Depends on your purpose. The car is underbraked for even the most laid back track day. Mine all but completely faded after a 30 minute session. Fluid and pads are a worthwhile upgrade, imo.

I always thought this was missing as well - I don't get why they left it off.

Welcome! Glad you decided to stay in the fold after rolling the '16. As much as I enjoy mine, if I somehow crashed it, I doubt I'd be back.

Sorry, I can't comment. I literally had the 2016 for five minutes before rolling it into a ditch.

I say the dual zone is laughable because the cabin is small and there are so few vents. The difference between the passenger setting it to 20 C and the driver having it at 24 C is negligible.

As for your other questions:

-The infotainment for Canada is the same as the 2013-16's, but it's still better than Cadillac CUE. Yeah, ponder that.
-The steering wheel material in the 2017 feels *cheaper* than the earlier models. It's really not good, at all. I'm hoping once it absorbs some oils from human skin it softens.
-The car is not underbraked for street use. The pedal lacks the initial bite of the 4-pot Brembos on my ATS, but it stops well. I honestly think it's the tires holding it back.
-The lack of automatic unlock/lock is my largest gripe. It's such a simple feature and it blows my mind that they omitted it.

"The lack of automatic unlock/lock is my largest gripe. It's such a simple feature and it blows my mind that they omitted it."

Well I believe, at least on Made in USA cars, like Ford and GM, the autolock is on auto trans cars only.

Examples: My 05 Mustang V-6 auto had it. My 05 Mustang GT manual does not have it.


"The car heats up really quickly--I like this."

Also car defogs both front and rear very quickly...best of any car I've ever had.

Very helpful considering the wipers, at their fastest speed, are not fast enough in heavy rain.

Note: I've not driven this car in snowy/icy conditions, therefore don't know how well w/s stays clean in such conditions. Other cars I've had get snow/ice on top left of w/s in such conditions, necessitating stopping the car to flick the left wiper arm to deice itself. I would design cars to have heating elements top of w/s, very few engineers consider this. Well most likely due to cost cutting in most cars.

If this is the case, then there is usually a switch or sensor connected to the rear lower control arm.

May force aftermarket lower control arms to be revised.

-alex

You can remove the air conditioning system in order to go faster.

Welcome to the 2x BRZ in a year club ;)

It is pretty much the same as all cars where the stuff after the wipers builds up and starts to freeze.
The heating system does a great job of defrosting and warming the upper body in really cold temperatures. It however really sucks at warming your feet! Even with the blower just blasting the floor the top of you will be wetting and your feet ice cold. There was a couple of threads on this and we finally figured out that even though the blower is down there it isn't circulating the heat through the whole car. There isn't enough space between the back of the front seats and the front of the back seats to allow much air movement and this prevents the air back there from heating well. The result is cold air from the back keeping your feet frozen for about1/2 an hour of driving.

Odd. Both of my Civic Sis, which are manual, had it.

None of my 7 DSM/Mitsubishis had it. Neither my MTs or the wife's ATs. I hate that feature anyway and would have disabled it if it was on these cars.

I think this is more a symptom of manual vs. auto. My truck (which is a Toyota) is manual and doesn't lock the doors when I shift into gear.

Maybe that's just the way Toyota does things?

LOL. FT86club, where the unexpected can happen and usually does.


Guy says he crashed his car in five minutes and nobody asks what happens. The whole thread just turns into a discussion on auto locking doors.

I think the mention of zero C was enough reason to not question the wrecking 5 mins after delivery.

LOL ya but there was way more too it. I am just amazed that it just received no real reaction.

if this were the Honda forums...

"VTEC kicked in after 5 minutes... I guess it had to warm up or something..."

We'll ask when he does the next one.

Fixed :)

Eh, it's been a decade since I've had an accident. I had to get it out of my system some time :bonk:.

LOL. Pretty sure they all figured it was another "kid" that just couldn't handle the car. Was waiting for all the sagely advice and it never came. Not normal for here. I am a bit scared now.

Alright...since we've raised the question...

Other than the cold and the rain....what precipitated the roll over? Was hooning involved? I've not driven in cold or cold and wet conditions so I can't speak to your situation...However I've had my '16 sideways by accident a couple of times and found it to be very predictable and controllable. Again...no wet, no cold...maybe that was the difference?

Well Trump was elected as the next US president...Russia is making friendly overtures towards the US...and Microsoft has joined the Linux Foundation....I think there's plenty of reason to be sacred... Hell does gravity even work still?

Judging by the car that was upside-down in a ditch that started this thread, it seems gravity is on doing quite well this year, but I'd still keep my eye on it.

I do remember another thread about this car, I think he was evading another car going the wrong way down the road? correct me If I'm recalling wrong.

Yep!
Turned out of the dealer. Got run off by a car going the wrong way. Rolled into ditch. No hooning, shenanigans, bad driving, judgment errors or any other thing involved. Just the worst luck I ever heard of a new car owner!

No doubt...Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Epilogue:

http://www.firstchoiceautosalvage.co...8225cc598ab3f/

I've gotten so used to opening the window to flick the wiper I don't even consider it a problem anymore. What is a problem is the upper right side freezing up and the wiper starts to float off the windshield after a little while forcing me to stop and clear it. Sometimes there's just no good place to stop when you're on the highway and it goes from frustrating to dangerous in a hurry.

Yesterday I did a long (600) mile road trip and it was stupid cold most of the time. Early in the morning when it was below zero (F) I realized what the problem actually is. The cold radiating off the transmission tunnel is significant. It made my right leg and foot so cold I had to use the cruise control so I could move my leg over into the warm area. It was kind of scary because it had just finished snowing and the road was slick in spots and using cruise when it's like that is generally not a great idea. Once it got up into the single digits it wasn't as bad but still annoying.