BRZ in bad weather?
 

Considering a BRZ...living in PacNW we get rain 7 months a year, and some light snow. I drive a Maxima now and it can get hairy on the highway in heavy rain. I'm no stranger to RWD - 300ZX TT, 240SX turbo, BMW M3, BMW M5 - but I'm wondering if I will regret buying a BRZ when the weather gets foul again - the sun is out right now and buying a RWD sports car for a DD seems perfectly reasonable! (In case you're wondering, my "sensible" alternative is a CX-5. Not really interested in a WRX.)

If you can handle a 300zx TT in the rain you'll be fine. IMO the BRZ is great in bad conditions, it does exactly what you tell it to. I think it's a riot.

- AdrianG

Your a trackstar that has driven RWD sports cars before and you want to know if you should get a CX-5 over the BRZ due to rainy weather?

....

Well TBH all my RWD cars were weekend toys. So sure I drove them in rain, but not 70 miles a day, 5 days a week in rain, like I would with the BRZ. It's been years since I have had an "enthusiast" car (having kids will do that to you).

Also, the roads are terrible up here, highways are all rutted and fill with standing water, hydroplaning is not uncommon even with very good tires, and the city streets are littered with potholes. But the back roads are amazing. :)

I know plenty of people who are DDing their twins in bad weather.
Just make sure in the bad weather, you are not on stock tires. Please.

I've drove in all weather conditions including snow without issue. There are some who don't know how to drive in bad weather and have messed up their cars though..

It's really up to the operator. The best mod you can make to the car is the driver mod.

The car is only as capable as it's tires. The stock tires are low grip high efficiency for a reason, to make it more fun at civil speeds. That is the same reason why you will need snow tires or at minimum, good all seasons.

I'm an all season driver in Denver and have not had a single issue in nearly 2 years (with the exception of stock tires on snow/ice, or snow that's just way too deep). Heavy rain is no problem unless you have high speed roads prone to collecting lots of water. The car's light weight will make it more susceptible to hydroplaning, but again, the right tires will help minimize this.

This is exactly the situation I expect to face. If I understand you correctly, the stock tires are not up to this particular challenge, and some high quality AS tires are in order?

Just put Pilot Super Sports on it for non winter driving.

Yep. I've never considered all seasons to truly be ALL seasons, because they sacrifice something everywhere. Jack of all trades is the master of none.

If you plan to use one set of tires all year, good all seasons should do you well. I'll ask a buddy of mine @Pat who is somewhat of a tire enthusiast what he'd recommend.

The other option is to get summer tires that are good in the wet, and then get snow tires for the coldest part of the season (which by default are also good in the wet). A second set of wheels makes swapping easy.

You've almost got me convinced. If I buy now, I can hoon about on the stock tires for the summer, get some new tires in the fall (focused on heavy rain, with very occasional light snow), and justify a new set of aftermarket wheels with summer tires next spring. :D

I daily a rocketbunny BRZ in the Pacific NW, you'll be fine.

Im in Michigan, it's fun.

The stability control is good. When it sprinkles and the roads are real slick, I blip the throttle on slow turns just to kick the rear out and watch the stability control pull me straight. It's fun :D

I wouldn't dare do that on an older RWD car, I'd be spinning out all the time