| Spaceywilly |
01-05-2012 09:22 PM |
There isn't much that hasn't already been said. It is just based on the first drives like all the other reviews so far (except the Top Gear BRZ review). Here are some key quotes:
BRZ
Quote:
So is it true that lack of space under the front end means there can never be a four-wheel-drive version?
‘No. It’s technically possible to do all-wheel drive – but I don’t think it will ever happen,’ says Masuda. ‘This is a lightweight car that has been designed to be rear-wheel drive – all-wheel drive would add weight and make it more complicated.’
Okay, so how about turbocharging – surely the key to producing a genuinely rapid BRZ – is that likely to happen?
‘Turbocharging would certainly be possible, technically speaking,’ he says, ‘but we have no immediate plans for an increase in output.’
But surely he’d like to see a BRZ with more than 197bhp?
‘My personal view – and that is all it is – is that I think we could produce a car on the same level as the Impreza.’
‘Any Impreza?’ I ask, thinking about the recently unveiled Japan-only 316bhp ‘S206’ STI.
‘Any Impreza,’ says Masuda, with a smile.
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Quote:
The first turn confirms there’s proper feedback from the all-electric powersteering system, lightening as the limits approach. I’m too keen in the next corner – definitely in defiance of the 45kph limit – and find well-contained understeer. But switching to the time-honoured approach of slow-in, fast-out reveals the Scooby’s sweet-spot – accelerating to the point where the rear tyres are just running out of grip and then using the quick-reacting throttle to hold it on the edge of adhesion. It’s clear this is a chassis that wants to go and play and, after checking my chaperone’s attention is elsewhere, I manage to engage the stability control’s more permissive Sport setting, which allows the rear tyres to generate a modest slip angle before flashing the big yellow light and reining everything in.
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Quote:
THE ODOMETERS of both cars give me the final score: a total of 17.4km (8.7 miles) of smooth test track. Definitely not the sort of drive that evo is going to pretend to base a definitive conclusion on, although I have to report my first impressions are overwhelmingly positive. We can’t wait to drive this car properly, and it’s a shame Subaru didn’t have enough confidence to let us do that here.
So has it been worth the hype? Probably, yes – although with a heavy proviso about the state of the yen/sterling exchange rate come next June, when UK sales begin. Originally this car was aiming at a price in the low-£20Ks, but the soaring yen means we’re now looking at the £25-28K bracket. Much over that, and it’s going to be well outside its comfort zone.
But, on the available evidence, the BRZ – and the GT 86 – are set to be two of the stars of 2012.
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GT86
Quote:
Circuit memorised, I’m into the manual. Ah, bliss! Low-end pull isn’t strong but it’s crisp and consistent, swelling into an onrush of energy as the torque peaks, and with six properly selectable gears I can use it all. Here’s what happens in a fast bend: you turn, you feel the nose begin to drift wide, you apply more power to tighten the line, you unwind the steering a touch and you power off down the next straight, tail just a little mobile as the power makes it squirm.
And in a slow bend: brake, turn, bung, drift. It’s as progressive and as benign as you could wish for, wonderfully transparent and you are the boss. And such is the fluency that you just know the GT 86 will ride well. ‘The best road for a GT 86 is one with bends and bumps,’ says development chief Tetsuya Tada. We like cars like that.
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