blu_'s Not Blue BRZ Ltd
 

Picked up the car last Sunday.

I have 400 miles on her already and figured its time to start a thread. Went for a little drive tonight, even though it was raining and snapped some pictures. Lighting wasn't the best, but here goes.

Attachment 7921



Initial Impressions:

Likes:

-Steering: Its quick and pretty sharp. I think better tires and a bit of camber on the front tires will make it very good.

-Suspension: Firm but comfortable. Even though the basics are out of the Subaru parts bin the setup feels 100 times more composed than my STI did stock.

-Ride Quality: Kind of ties in with suspension, but I have been so pleased with it for a small sports car, I think it deserves its own praise. The car is very comfortable to cruise in. Fairly quiet at freeway speeds and no crashing or banging around on bad roads (still firm though).

-Fit and finish: Definitely give Toyota a lot of credit here. The car just feels very well put together. Especially for a car in this price range and much more so than my last 2 subies.

Attachment 7919

Could be better:

-Power: Definitely needs a bit more torque IMO, especially in the dip area. Granted I am not a driving god, but my intital impression is that if you want to get everything from the car in the fun department you have to be rev'ing its nuts off.

-Engine noise: I actually like the intake noise in cabin, but boxers always sound like they are about to explode to me. Being someone known to break engines, this makes me constantly paranoid. The direct injection adds to this IMO over past boxers. Car sounds very high strung from the outside when idling.

-Clutch: It seems like they just didn't care about this part. It is easy enough to use and very light, but also very numb.

-Transmission: This could probably go above, in the "likes" area, but I'm not quite sold on it. I don't find it as precise as I was expecting. I am hoping there will some simple upgrades to improve its feel. Also maybe shorten its throw even more. It is definitely not bad though.

Attachment 7920


Overall:

I like the car a lot. Even though it is small it seems very livable. Gas mileage is great. Handling and steering is great. Should be fun to mod. Hopefully we can unlock some more potential from the engine and make it a blast to hoon around.

Reserved

Just was outside in my glove box and realized they didn't put those two plugs under the car in when doing PDI :/

Hopefully tomorrow it will be dry and I can crawl under their and snap them in place. I assume driving a bit without them in isn't going to hurt the car.

Yeah, even from my short test drive today, I pretty much came to the same conclusion that this needs stickier tires and more front negative camber to make it handle better. And if anywhere I felt a slight lack of power from my test drive, it was in that 3-5k deadzone you mentioned. But still not terrible. I wasn't able to test a manual though so who knows what I'll think about the clutch/transmission. Anyway, sweet pics in the rain. :)

Thanks!

The transmission definitely isn't bad IMO. It feels better than my STI's did stock, but not quite as good after doing all the bushings and adding a short shifter. I think its one of the more subjective parts of driving though.

Power wise. I think that I am used to having twice as much torque in that "dead" range. I may have different feelings after 5k miles.

Yeah, TBH, I'm really not a fan of Subaru's transmissions and clutch in stock form. That was always one of my main complaints with them. The little experience I had with the Aisin AZ6 in the Miata and S2000 was alright but I'm used to smooth, transverse 5-speed manuals. But I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of adapting to it so I'll try to keep an open mind about it.

Although, with that said, transmissions are the thing I am most picky about. I pretty much hate the darn things. I have never found one that I was really impressed with overall - manual, auto, or dual clutch. And they always seem to be the weak link in the drivetrain (recently had to replace mine for 3k).

Great pic locations. do you mind if i ask what the camera your using is?
i can't wait to get mine. we will have twins from the same dealer :)

Thanks! Its just a Nikkon Coolpix S8100. Nothin too fancy :)

Hopefully you get yours soon!!

WOW. Finally got my insurance quote. Full coverage (not going into specifics but very good coverage) for my 2011 Legacy 3.6R LTD was 732 for 6 months. NEW COVERAGE is 645 for 6 months. Could not be happier.

That said I did get my first ticket it 6 years a month ago while hooning on the open ocean beaches in Oregon in my Legacy, so this will go up in a few months, when they recheck my driving record :/

Still very surprising in a good way. This is through Progressive.

I put my order in on April 13th. so i hope it soon. i am getting anxious with all the people around here getting them.

are you going for the front plate reallocator? because i didn't see holes drilled in your front bumper.

First mod, or not

Clarks driving mocs. I haven't had a pair of these for a while, but it was dangerous driving around with berks and work dress shoes. $35 at the outlet store in Troutdale :D

Very happy with them :)

Attachment 7944

You know I don't have one right now because Christian didn't have his normal PDI guy in when I picked the car up and he didn't want to have the job botched.

Personally I haven't decided if I just want a normal plate or the perrin/grimmspeed offset plate. I don't mind a front and center plate, but maybe I will be sold by the various tuners offerings.

Also, I just sat back to back in my car and my friends 997 Turbo. Even though he was, for good reason, mocking me for having an underpowered "girls" sportscar, the driving position was spot on between the two (I mean totally spot on). He was definitely suprised after siting in my BRZ. In the end he settled with, "put a turbo on that thing at it would be hardcore" :)

Take it for what you will, but he was very skeptical about the BRZ/FRS before he really started checking her out :)

edit: although after shifting the transmission in that Porsche I felt like I was going back to a home body :(

Good to see that so many of us owners are sharing likes/dislikes in common. Makes me feel like I'm not crazy about things like the soft clutch and the occasionally less than precise shifter (this very well may be my fault though).

I'm curious though, you and several other owners mentioned that they could feel the power dip between 3-5k. Does this mean you guys haven't been adhering to Subaru's 4k max rpm suggestion for the break in? If not, any reason why? Not trying to sound like a jerk, really just curious since no one seems to be positive about a good break in procedure.