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Hodges Subaru has BRZ starting at Noon on Tuesday, March 6

In case anyone is interested Hodges Subaru in Ferndale Michigan will have a pre-production BRZ next week for 1/2 a day.

Quote:

We will have a pre-production BRZ in our showroom for a few hours starting at Noon on Tuesday, March 6.

Here are my impressions from today:

I only had about 45 minutes with the car in the showroom. My first impression was regarding its size, the car is "just the right scale" for me: tidy, low, and reasonably compact. I am not a fan of big cars, and right away the size of this car has me pleased. The panel gaps are tighter than the display cars at NAIAS, however they're still nothing to write home about. Current German cars have it licked in that department. The paint was in decent shape. The odometer said 800-odd miles, and there were already some rock chips in the front fascia. The orange peel was mild; on par with most marques I'd say.

The interior is a pleasant surprise. It's much better than the early cobbled-together mules and random photos lead me on to believe. The arm pad and elbow pad on the door panels are a nice soft-padded faux leather. The steering wheel feels quality. The switchgear is above par for Japanese cars in this expected price range. The big part, however, is the ergonomics. Bingo! Subaru really nailed the driving position. Modest recline, vertically oriented wheel, high IP and dash pad...you sit in the car, not on it like so many modern "city" cars. The shifter and e-brake are reasonably on-plane and close to the steering wheel. The pedals are well laid out and promote easy heel & toe. The shifter feels mechanical and chunky in a positive and satisfying fashion. The gauges are easy to read, though they're still positioned a bit too high relative to ideal steering wheel position [the top of the cluster is cut-off by the upper portion of the steering wheel rim, however it's not nearly as bad as an Evo VIII or IX, for example, and better than my Golf.

The seats are quite good. The leather appears to be of reasonable quality, and the alcantara smooth and grippy. Im 5'8" 140# with a 30" inseam; with the seat adjusted for me [and I tend to sit "textbook" aka not-ghetto-lean], there was only a couple inches of knee room behind me. I'm not getting this car for people to be in the back, so it doesn't matter anyway. The rear "seat" cargo wells fit my camera nicely, and would accommodate two backpacks perfectly. Back to the front seats. The torso bolsters are very good at holding me in place, however they're more voluminous than seems necessary...then again they do have thorax airbags in them. The seat bottom is a bit wider and doesn't hug me like the torso bolsters do; they must be anticipating mostly pear shaped people driving this car. One negative for me is the lack of inboard leg space. The trans tunnel intrudes a bit and it impedes the room I'd prefer to have for heel & toe. As such, I wish the Limited BRZ had the padded trans tunnel pieces, as my leg would appreciate it. Also, per my iPhone picture above, that is the deepest it goes. That little pocket is shallow and annoying. Investigation will occur to modify this pocket for more depth.

We get a crappy cheap parts-bin rear view mirror :( Also, the heated seat switches feel like something from Home Depot. They're harsh, clunky, and loud....as if I'm throwing a circuit breaker. They're uncalled for. More about the switchgear; the Nav unit has an excellent damped feel for the volume knob, and the three buttons below that have a satisfying little click to them. The HVAC knobs feel more damped than I expected and have a reasonably quality feel to them. The rocker switches in the HVAC move the entire "square" and not just the little silver bit, however they feel fine. The silver buttons for stability control feel appropriately good. The glove box door is very damped, perhaps too much, as it's very slow to lower with nothing in it.

Trunk space is very nice & big. It's wide, deep, but short on height. Nevertheless, it should accommodate most enthusiasts needs. Trips to the lumber yard, however, will be best done with the by-the-hour rental truck. Typical Japanese; there's no handle to close the trunk lid without fingering up the paint, and no hook to hold the loop in the carpet up while accessing things underneath. These little details make all the difference when you're in an emergency or OCD like me, and Subaru dropped the ball here. Underneath is a two-part tool kit, space saver spare, and a mysterious silver box in the forward left corner.

In the engine bay: the engine is indeed low. The irony is, the transmission is quite high, being bolted to a boxer. Thankfully, the slave cylinder and its bleed valve are easily accessible. There are several acoustic tuning devices, be it the plumbed-to-cabin resonator, or boxes in the intake pre and post filter. Despite traditional Japanese habit to throw lines around the engine compartment with little regard to aesthetics or maintenance, I don't immediately see any obviously blocking to normal maintenance stuff. Of course, I could've missed something.

Amusing, there is a cut-out in the fender where the fake fender vents are. It's as if the vents were intended to be real, and then they changed their mind. Hmmm.....

Overall, it's good, and I'll keep my order, pending test drive and pricing. The driving position is proper sports car, and the car is properly small and tidy. I look forward to more!

Funny that they put a black sticker over the Toyota emblem on the engine.......WTF, haha.

:coolpics:

Quote:

Amusing, there is a cut-out in the fender where the fake fender vents are. It's as if the vents were intended to be real, and then they changed their mind. Hmmm.....

Hmm.. Care to elaborate some more on this?

Thanks for an honest review! Great pics too

WOW! that red looks good! :drool:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snoopyalien24 (Post 150762)

Hmm.. Care to elaborate some more on this?

Thanks for an honest review! Great pics too

Sure thing! In this picture...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6...ceb8d350_b.jpg
RYE_3975.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

...you see from the engine bay looking at the backside of the fake fender vent trim piece. You can see the two gray plastic tree fasteners holding the trim piece to the fender sheet metal. You can only see this because there is a big cut-out in the fender structure. That cut-out doesn't appear to be for any rational structural or functional reason. What I mean is, it looks haphazard and as if an unfinished thought was cut short...and that thought was having the fender vent be a functional heat extractor. There may or may not have been good aerodynamics, or the hydrodynamics didn't pass muster for the corrosion warranty...who knows! Point is, it's entirely possible they either cut short having a real fender vent, or they found a vent isn't good for something, but they did leave physical space and air flow potential for a fender vent.

Oh, a few other things I remembered about the car.

*There are two tow-hooks underneath the front bumper in plain sight. No need to remove access panels. They're next to aerodynamic flippers just in front of the front tires.

*The axle-back muffler does look to be aluminized mild steel. That's crap.

*The engine sounds nice! It's rather quiet, but so is the HPFP and direct injectors, especially compared to earlier GDI cars like the VW FSI, TSI, BMW N54, and MINI R56.

*The leather on the seats is of course "seating surfaces" only. The sides and back are all vinyl, as expected for a car in this price range.

*The radiator is tilted forward on a slight angle. It's not dramatic like the Miata, perhaps 10 degrees. There are also two very heavy duty looking radiator puller fans.

*The oxygen sensors are only 4-wire heated narrowband, and there are only two, pre and post-catalytic converter. It's very simple...and honestly a bit disappointing. With DI I was hoping/expecting for WBO2.

*There appears to be only one way to fold down the rear seats, and that's by diving head first into the [presumably empty] trunk and pull both straps on the opposite sides of the seats simultaneously. There's no way to unlock the seat back from the cabin....unless what appeared to be buttons on the top of the seat back were broken on this pre-production car.

*Ingress and Egress are about as good as it can get with a 2-door coupe with kinda long doors. The doors themselves are reasonably thin and the sills are pretty low. You'll always need more room than a car with short doors, however the long doors plus the big side bolsters on the seats make ingress more attention-demanding than flopping into your average 60" tall city car with uber-flat Americanized seats.

...and finally, here's the video I took of the rep starting and revving the car. I hope it turns out OK, I'm still working on my manual focus skills with video, so sorry if it's not in good focus.

[u2b]9hHYYVfY81c[/u2b]

Any idea where it's headed next?

Ah I see now! Very in depth, so thanks you could be our car reviewer for the final release :D

Sweet, thanks for the in depth review/first look! I want to see this car in person so bad.

I'm thinking the inner fender cut outs could be to allow for functional heat extractors on a future turbocharged variant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwmilton (Post 150954)

I'm thinking the inner fender cut outs could be to allow for functional heat extractors on a future turbocharged variant.

I don't see the fender cut outs being used for that, since the natural flow would be disrupted by the hood support. You would need to change the hood, which could provide a better place for heat extraction when the time comes.