What other car did you consider before deciding on the BRZ?
 

I Held out for almost 7 months debating what my next car would be... But made the right decision with the BRZ. The only back up I considered was an Imported BMW M135i from mexico.

S2000. It's so hard to find a clean low mileage one. I found a couple that were going for as much or more than a new brz. I'll probably pick up a cheap ap1 and use it for tracks.

I replaced my lifted Silverado (7.5" lift on 35s) for this car.

All used
I considered a Camaro (until I drove it and hated it)
I considered a Corvette, but I just wanted to test drive it and didn't like it as much.
I looked at the WRX, but I wanted the STI and couldn't afford it.
I even looked at a Dodge Challenger and a Nissan 370Z.

It all came down to what I got for my truck and I loved the BRZ as soon as I sat in it. It's my daily driver. Only put 300 miles on it (had it for a week) and love it. Just if I can figure out how to start from a stop smoother...

Just saying first tank I got 25.3mpg (hand figured) and now I the car says 28.9mpg, but I'll hand do it later. Way better than the 11mpg I was getting in the truck.

Many cars, but the final 4 were
Challenger - DQ'd on mileage and general tank-ish-ness
Cadillac ATS 2.0T - DQ'd on no need for extra doors and size at this point in my life
Subie BRZ - DQ'd on if gonna' spend an extra 3-5k it's going to be on parts that I want and less on the Subie make, Alcantara seats, or fancy climate controls.

WINNER - 2013 Raven FRS and I'm happy as a clam. The money I saved vs. BRZ (in so cal's inflated pricing) has added TRD catback, TRD drop-in filter, RS*R Superdown Springs, Huper Optik Tints, B2Auto spacers, JDM clear corners, and new tails. Still have money left for camber bolts, brake pads/fluid, track tires, and maybe i can squeeze in wheels if I'm lucky. feelsgoodman.jpg

I was looking at 4 cars:

New:
2013 BRZ
2013 135i MSport

Used:
Cayman S
C6 Z06 Corvette

Ultimately the BRZ won because it really was the best combination of everything that all 4 cars brought to the table, and wouldn't break my wallet in regards to purchase price and maintenance.

im 22 years old so a Z w/ no backseat would cost a lot in insurrance. A used prosche would also be costly and it'd be used. Muscle cars were out of the question. And the Hyundai Gen coup was out because every Gen coup ive seen is riced out and driven by young D-bags. I was either going to stay w/ my 88 Supra or get the FRS/BRZ. End of story.

I knew I wanted a BRZ as soon as I saw one. Took me a while to decide on a color but ultimately I fell in love with Satin Pearl White. Then I waited about 7 months for a Limited SWP to show up semi-close to me. It was still a 90 minute drive, but I'm glad I was able to grab it! It had actually been reserved already but the guy who reserved it ended up not being able to get it. Subaru call me up since I was on their email list and that day I drove over and fell in love. :)

There's no other car on the road that I think looks better than my brz.

I had been planning to buy a new car for a long time and so I had a list going of cars I'd like to check out. Ultimately I decided on the brz once I test drove one.

Challenger - too large and heavy
370z - couldn't find a reasonably cheap one
335i - same as above
Mustang GT - large and heavy
FR-S - wanted those few extra features of the brz

Then one weekend my 2005 Sentra's engine died on me from overheating and I had to pretty much make a decision that week. Went with the brz. I've only had it for a month and I feel like that was the best choice I could have made. Just graduated college, so I had to find something not too expensive, but I definitely wanted something awesome as a DD.

Nothing. It was either fix a ton of stuff on the speed6 to keep it running for another 5 years or buy a new BRZ.

Very happy with my decision.

WRX limited or WRX STi limited.

Porsche Cayman.

The only new car I seriously considered before signing the papers for a BRZ last week was a GTI. I've always liked their looks, and with a simple $600 ECU tune the GTI is ~250 HP/TQ. Concerns about VW reliability ultimately led me away.

Used options I mulled included the S2000, EVO and WRX, but these cars barely depreciate and most have been ran pretty hard.

Here's what my list was-- cars and why I didn't choose them:

New:

• BRZ (won, obviously)

Used:

• N54 BMW 135i (eliminated due to gas-drinking and high upkeep costs out of warranty)
• Late-2000's BMW 335i (same as above)
• BMW 128i (same as above)
• E46 high-end 3-series / M3 (eliminated due to maintenance concerns-- lots of German-car electronics gremlins and torn subframe mounting points put a damper on my enthusiasm here. They were still extremely tempting, though.)
• Porsche Boxster (eliminated due to upkeep costs and no gimmick rear seats)
• Porsche Cayman (same as above)
• air-cooled Porsche 911 (eliminated due to recent price increases / hard to find good coupes, also high maintenance costs and no ABS on anything but the 964 [ugly IMHO] and 993 [expensive and my family already has one])

That was pretty much it. I'd probably have had a Cayman / Boxster if it weren't for the lack of rear seats-- I don't care about having room for four on a regular basis (usually it's just little old me in the car), but having ironic rear seats for moving people in a pinch is important to me. Just the other night I DDed 3 friends downtown for a friend's birthday night-out-- it would be a shame to just not be able to do things like this. I still think that the 1-series is an incredible car for the money and that I'd have had a good time with one if I'd been able to find one in good shape at a decent price. The potential cost of ownership is high, though.

What I really ~*should*~ have done is gone with an older Porsche. With their increasing value, if I'd been able to find the right deal on Rennlist then I bet Porsche-inflation would probably have largely offset whatever I spent on mods over time. If you're really patient you can find really nice cars for reasonable prices. At the end of the day I bet dropping $35k on an older Porsche would not be the worst use of one's money, and (most importantly) you'd get to enjoy a Porsche every day in the meantime!

If I was not a silly person, I'd probably have gone with an old 911. As it happens though, I am a silly and impulsive person and bought the BRZ instead, thinking that "sure, the BRZ is more expensive, but it has tiny running costs and unlike all these other cars, I won't need to change much on the car to enjoy it."

Of course, now I'm several grand in the hole on my car anyway, which makes this one expensive BRZ and means I could totally have gone for any of these other cars for the same money. I guess at least gas and tyres will be cheaper? :3

I'm not regretting my decision much. I really like my BRZ. It's fun, fairly good on fuel, feels faster than it is, and promises to be pretty cheap to keep on the road. Also I find it bizarrely comfortable-- I guess I'm just the right size for its cockpit-- which makes it a great DD/fun-car/road tripper all in one!

Maybe in a few years if I'm making decent money I'll swap it for an air-cooled Porsche-- variety is the spice of life after all-- but until then I'm just gonna enjoy my fun little blue car.

carrera c4s
evo x
mazdaspeed 3
s2k
focus st
Sti limited
Fiat 500 abart
Civic si sedan
2013 honda accord
g37xs
IS250
135i