70% eh! Gotta source for that?

Hmmm, let's see: Impreza awd, BRZ rwd. Impreza 4 door hatch, BRZ two door coupe, best looking Impreza still ugly, BRZ pretty...

Nope, I don't think you have that right:

BRZ has a new engine, an Aisin transmission (not a Subaru transmission), a different rear suspension, different brakes, different body shell, heck they even reversed the front suspension and changed the strut angle.

I mean if you mean they still just spot weld a unibody as they did in 1993 and consider that to be the same engineering I guess you might have a point...

This thread was intended to be about unforgivable flaws in this car that are unreasonably expensive to fix.

Are there any such flaws or would you buy a new one tomorrow if it came with an attractive new feature?

To produce a flawless new car is pretty impressive, if indeed that's what Subaru has done.

Decreasing tolerances increases cost. Plus I think every car forum for every car has people complaining of X Y Z rattle

poke in and underneath a first gen impreza and you will see

hell the door-card is 90% identical in it's execution. Overall the car is different, sure, but the lego blocks on which it was built are over a decade old.

Agree.

Agree.

Just because it's different on the surface doesn't mean the platform isn't common.

Remember that the Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg share a platform (so does the Audi Q7), doesn't mean they're the same car in the end.

My biggest gripe is the road noise/lack of sound insulation. Couple that with the relatively terrible stereo and I really struggle on longer trips in this thing.

The speakers I've already dealt with, but you have to crank them so loud to down out the road noise that it gets a bit grating after a while.

Secondly I'd say the "sport" mode on the VSC, does it even do anything differently than full-on? As far as i can tell it doesn't allow for any more sideways angle and the traction control steps in just as abruptly. Yes, i want it to let me hang the tail out for more than 0.5 seconds and i don't think that's too much to ask.

^^ Sport mode definitely lets you get the tail out a tiny bit further, but I'd agree that it steps in way too soon.

OH! I also find the fact that the trunk doesn't have an open button on the outside of it to be ridiculously annoying. It seems minor but my old car had one so I guess I'm used to it?

By the time I've forgotten to hit the button inside the car and get around to the trunk my key is usually in my pocket already. Then I have to find the key and hold the stupid button for 3 seconds. SO ANNOYING!

It does. At least the BRZ does. Under the centre of the lift area of the trunk lid there's a rectangular push button.

It's designed to keep you fast. Tail out is slow. VSC is designed to catch your slide after you've already gone a bit too far.

Unless you're trying to go slow for show. Then you need to switch if off completely.

The FRS just has a blank where the BRZ's rear trunk release is.

Well, sure, and all cars today are built on the original platform: four wheels and seats....

This claim that such and such a platform so old it should have the defects worked out is a tired old argument. As if engineers in the '70's didn't know how to design a chassis. DB7? Same car as the original Jaguar XJ-S. Jaguar XK? Based on the Aston Martin DB9. Callum had a hand in both.

How similar are these cars? Depends.

The BRZ is not an Impreza. It certainly isn't a 1993 Impreza. What's your source?

There's a big difference between something having the same number of wheels and seats and sharing a physical platform.

A shared platform means shared parts, including parts (or all) of the unibody. If you look at how many parts on these cars are directly taken from an Impreza (WRX, but still an Impreza) you'll see a lot more in common than you first think.