First BRZ Advice: Stock vs Supercharged
 

Hi all,

So after nearly 4 years of lurking and watching videos, I am finally looking to buy my first BRZ (1st Gen) and have narrowed it down to 2 options. Option 2 is about $4,000 more than option 1 but has multiple modifications that would cost more than the difference.

Option 1: is a stock 2017 BRZ with about 46,000 miles (74,000km).

Option 2: is a supercharged 2017 Brz with about 26,000 miles (42,000km).
- Jackson racing C38 supercharger (installed at 16,000 miles)
- Tuned by Delicious tuning
- Jackson racing oil cooler
- EL headers
- Coilovers
- Upgraded Bushings
- Upgraded brakes and brake lines
- Upgraded tires and wheels

To be transparent, I am not experienced with cars but am wanting to learn as I go. A supercharger is something I eventually will want, however, I am worried that starting with one might be too much to start at.

So my question is: Would starting with a supercharged Brz be too steep of a learning curve to begin with? Also how worried should I be about reliability. The previous owner said the car is tuned to about 245whp & 190wtq because they wanted to keep it reliable.

Thanks in advance!

I would not start your adventure with a modified car. You will learn a lot through your ownership and upgrade path as you move forward with your plans. You will need to look up things that may seem stupid, but are important.

The supercharger can hurt reliability, just as any other modification does. Those bushings, the tune, the brake lines, everything touched can hurt reliability. Most everything you touch on a car is compromise, and you'll need to learn why through your adventure with the car.

We'll be here to help, so start fresh, get ready to learn and keep an open mind :)

I'll give the opposite view - modifications don't add much to the value of the car. Hence if you want to add some mods it makes more financial sense to buy a car with all the mods already installed (provided they've been done well).

Assuming both cars are in a similar shape, the lower 20k miles alone is probably worth $2k-$3k, meaning you get the mods basically for free. Getting the stock car and then adding all these mods will costly over $10k in parts and tuning alone.

Nobody is telling an M3 buyer to de-tune the engine and swap the suspension to a base model one, right? I don't see a problem with starting out from a modded Twin.

Yes, reliability is a concern with a supercharger and you might not like it (or think it's worth it for you) or any other mods on the car. But if you already have plans for extensive modding I think this is a good opportunity to get a complete package for much less money (again, assuming all the mods where done well).

When I first got my FRS, I intended to add FI. After owning it for 4 years now, I'm leaving it na. FI is great if you have a need for speed in a straight line. Our cars are built for twisties. Also, working on a car is a journey of learning. If someone has already done most of the work, you won't learn much.

I would never buy a FI modified car as a car to learn on. Too many unknowns. That said I owned my 2013 for 4-5 years before going FI. Would I do it again, absolutely. It somehow makes the car more complete. Get the newest and lowest mile example you can if you wish to go FI in the future.

I figured if I felt the cars power level lacking i could always toss a supercharger (i prefer supercharger over turbo) into it down the line. Likewise an exhaust and intake as well if i feel the sound lacking.

It could be me just being old and not into the modding game anymore, but i just dont feel like doing anything to the car.
-Power is fine, dont want to mess with the engine.
-Sound is ok, i MIGHT want to still add exhaust/intake in the future but i dont want to deal with a louder exhaust so its likely not gonna happen.
-I think about dropping it sometimes (dat wheel gap....). But the car is low enough already and i dont want to compromise any angles/parking lots/speedbumps situations i regularly find myself in. Plus lookswise it isnt so bad with the stock 18's.
-The most likely thing i might actually do in the future would be to improve the brakes with a brake kit (beyond just better pads and rotors). I might have to find new winter tires though if that happens as my 16" winter wheels likely wont clear any brake kits i might add.

Agreed our cars are made for handling. But it's nice to be able to pass a semi on the freeway in less than 4 seconds.

I say buy the good car.

Thanks for everyone’s input! After some back and forth internal deliberating I think I will be going with the stock BRZ.
I think it will be best for me to grow with the car at my own pace. The last thing I want is to have something go (or already be) wrong with the mods and me be oblivious to it.

Yea unless you're used to wrenching on your own car I wouldn't buy an already modified car. Tons of unknowns in terms of if everything was installed correctly. So you could end up chasing problems like the tuning, installation errors, and the supercharger itself.



It's best to learn the platform in a stock form so you can get a sense of what you would like to change if anything at all. And modding your car yourself is funnier anyway :thumbsup:.