| PhatFreshPrince |
12-15-2021 11:09 PM |
I have driven my BRZ just over 300 miles, and I wanted to give everyone my first impressions. Of course, all these comments are my opinion, so take them for what they are worth. First, it looks great, and I love its lines.
The Great:
The best thing about this car is the power and the gearing to apply the power to the wheels. I am coming from a 328 hp Infiniti G37 Sport manual. Yes, I could make the car go off the line, but that was its only mode. I had to rev it up to 3k rpm to feel any power out of it. I stalled my G37 more than any other car I have owned. I felt like I had to punch it just to take off easily. In contrast, the BRZ is light and takes off with ease. You don't have to gun the gas to get it to go. Yes, the G37 weighs 4k lb compared to 2800 lb, so that tells me that power is not everything. Where the power is in the RPM and the gearing makes all the difference.
The power in the BRZ is very nice for its weight. I, too, have kept it under the 4k RPMs, so I cannot wait to peg the RPMs out and feel the full power. I love the even or flat power curve in the BRZ. Again I am comparing it to the G37. The G37 had a huge power thrust at 3k RPMs. It was so bad I had to let off the gas when the engine got to 3k. It was so jerky because of it. Well, so far up to 4k RPMs on the BRZ the power curve is very smooth. I LOVE IT!
The clutch is great too. To me, it is very light which I love. I can feel it when it engages. Several people are switching out the spring, but I don't feel the need. I switched out the spring in the G37 because I was doing everything I could to try to fix that car. I am exaggerating, but I never did learn the G37's clutch.
I like the directional headlights. They are a neat idea and they work well. I notice the left headlight turns to the left and the right head remains straight turning in a curve to the left. The opposite is true as well. The right headlight turns right while the left light stays straight in a curve to the right. They will not move if the car is sitting still.
The Not Bad But Not Great:
The radio is not the best. It sounds hollow. You can tweak the settings to make it a little better. Overall it is a good radio. It does get loud but if you are playing any music with bass in it it sounds worse the louder you go. For example, I was playing U2 - The Joshua Tree and it sounded great, but when I played any Chris Brown songs the bass was distorted. People are talking of getting the bass option for the truck, but I am not sure if this will fix the sound quality. It might need more intelligence in the head unit to send the low tones to the bigger speakers and the high tones to the smaller speakers. I don't know, maybe just all-around higher quality speakers will fix it. My G37 had a Bose system in it, and I could turn the volume all the way up and it always sounded great.
The Apple Play does at times seem a little buggy. One time I was playing Chris Brown and on a phone call at the same time. I am not sure if the caller could hear the music or not. I am not too concerned about it. I am hoping there will be a system update soon to fix most of the little issues. A final thought on the radio is that it is okay. I will leave it as is for a while until some come up with a fix that is not too costly.
This is not a complaint but an observation. The BRZ is lower than any other car I have had. I like it though, but the headlights shine in the back windshield way more than I am used to. I do have the auto-dimming mirror which makes this a moot point.
Getting in the car is a little harder too. It's not bad, and currently, I am not sliding the seat back before getting out of the car. I may go to this method later.
My only complaint is there is no place for your phone. I have been putting it in the cupholders, but it cannot be both a cupholder and a phone holder. I am looking to make a place for my phone in front of the gear shifter.
Well, I love the BRZ and the few minor issues would not prevent me from buying the car. These minor issues will just become several fun projects to do to the car over the next few years. It's got all the basic stuff there and checks all my must-have boxes like rear-wheel drive, manual transmission, and great power to weight ratio. I cannot wait to hit the 1000 mile marker.
|