Fenrir's WRB BRZ Limited (MT)
 

Introduction

So, I picked up the car on 6/15, sitting at about 400 miles right now and figured I'd throw in my 2c on the car so far.

Bit of history for the cars I've owned: First car was a 1990 240sx with a redtop SR20 already swapped into it, plus a bunch of mods I knew nothing about at the time. Didn't know anything about cars, ended up selling it and picking up a 1997 240sx with an RB26 in it. Still didn't know anything about cars, ended up blowing it up and selling it (but gaddang that thing was fast :P). Set out to learn how2car, had a real job at this point and picked up my Mazdaspeed3. Since then the Speed3 has been a running project, but that's a whole other story. Also bought a Miata for spec racing somewhere in there.


ANYWAYS, let's follow with a picture of it when I first got it home:

http://rirnef.net/images/brz/DSCN0694-s.jpg
(more pics here)


Overall impressions

The interior on the Limited is quite nice, and makes the extra cost worth it alone. I love the seats, although in this 90°+ weather they could breathe a little nicer. My ass and legs are always soaked after 30+ minutes of driving (I don't believe in AC). :( As subaruwrxfan mentioned in his overview video, I'm super happy they didn't install the oversized fat american seats.

I really respect the simplicity on the dash. While most people seem to not like the blank silver panel on the passenger side dash, I find the whole thing refreshing from the recent gadgetron/fake luxury fixation many newer cars have. Simple works here.

Hands-free keyless system of the limited is awesome, a very nice touch.

Hate the wheels. Hate hate hate.

The stock head unit, as far as I can tell, is pretty good. I like the features. It's simple and easy to use, and gets the job done well.

The speakers, however, are absolute garbage. Very poor sound, and can barely get above half volume before they start to distort. As someone who listens to a lot of electronica, having to adjust the EQ for the bass to maximum negative levels to keep the speakers from blowing out is kinda stupid.

Driving impressions
The car handles very well. Very impressed with that, definitely the best handling car I've owned. Steering feel could be a bit better, but for being an electric assist steering system, the amount of feedback you get is very good.

Throttle response is a little muted. I notice this most when heel-toeing and launching. This could be just a result of all the cars I've been driving for the past 10 years have been modified with lightweight flywheels, high-flowing intakes, etc. I plan on getting an intake and exhaust for the car once a decent one is available (not going to buy some random metal piping that has no R&D put into it.

Clutch is also pretty meh. There's hardly any feel to it at all and it's very very light. Definitely going to want an aftermarket clutch for this car. This is just a personal preference, though, as I like stiffer clutches. The stock clutch bites very well, I just don't like the numb feeling.

The car has enough power for what it does. Could it use more? Sure, basically every car ever could, but it's not really that big of a deal. It's not fast, but it's not slow. If I want fast, I'll go hop in my Speed3.

So that's the quick and dirty of it, I missed a lot but I'll update this post as think of more things to say about it.

UPDATES: 10/18/2012

WELP, was in an accident. Was driving on a two-lane highway, in the left lane behind a massive SUV (Excursion or Escalade or some damn thing, I didn't really get a good look it was dark). The left lane was stopped as someone was trying to turn left at an intersection, and since I couldn't see ahead of the SUV (was well behind him, but this thing was lifted and on 24 donks and really hard to see around) when he decided to whip into the right lane at the last second, I didn't have time to stop and hit the line of cars. Almost managed to stop before the collision, but was still pretty significant damage to the car.

Of course, the officer cited me at "failure to reduce speed" which was the lowest possible citation he could issue. Thanks, SUV asshole.

Pics:

http://rirnef.net/images/brzc/brzc1.jpg

http://rirnef.net/images/brzc/brzc2.jpg

http://rirnef.net/images/brzc/brzc3.jpg

http://rirnef.net/images/brzc/brzc4.jpg

http://rirnef.net/images/brzc/brzc5.jpg

Few of the other car, much less damage than mine:

http://rirnef.net/images/brzc/brzc6.jpg

http://rirnef.net/images/brzc/brzc7.jpg


Bring on the trolls!

Just dropped the car off at the dealer to get the front bumper fixed. Has anyone else experienced slight fitment issues?

Haven't noticed but I'll check. I was looking at other body panels after hearing of fitment issues, but I was happy with the gaps and fit. Thanks for posting that pic.

UPDATE: Spoke with the Subaru of America corporate rep on Tuesday this week about the bumper. He said they've seen only a few so far (most of the fitment issues have been with the Scion afaik) and took some pictures. He filed a report and I'm waiting to hear back on how the Subaru engineers want to handle it.

Is the bumper still sticking out like in the above pics?

My brother's new civic was on the lot with a misalignment just like that. The techs took it back to the work area during pdi, took off the bumper, adjusted the clips, reseated the bumper, and it looked perfect within 20 minutes.

*By the way, I am with you on your hate of the stock wheels.

I have been told by a sales rep that there has been SOME fitment problems found on some BRZ models. He pointed out, one of the model, the "fin" at the side of the fender sticks out a bit, and is not completely glued on properly. It was not that bad, but if you are SUPER meticulous (which I do not understand why anybody would NOT be, especially with the BRZ), then it would not be too big of an issue.

Keep us all posted on this issue Fenrir!! I hope it will all be repaired for you without charge!! This sucks! I would be annoyed and pissed if this was to happen to me!!

The bumper is still currently sticking out. When I dropped it off at the dealer the first time to see if they could just reseat it, it was returned to me with both sides popped off and a small dent in the fender (I'll try and get a picture of it today). Thanks, dealer.

That's pretty much what the rep told me as well. He's heard of a few issues here and there, but the most prominent has been with the FR-S front bumper. I'll update when I hear back. Supposed to hear back by the end of this week, but considering that it's always a struggle with this dealership I doubt I will until I call them back.

And this is why I hate getting any type of warranty/service work done to an of my cars. Luxury brands are better about it, especially if you're a perfectionist type. I'd press them real hard to pay for their PDI guy to take care of it. Did you immediately bring the issue up with the manager or did you drive it home first?

I drove the car home after buying it, and it was actually a friend who noticed it first that night. I brought it back the next day and they took note of it, but didn't have availability to fix it. So I brought it back a few days later, which somewhere between I managed to scrape the bottom of the front bumper pulling into my work parking lot (steep incline to get it :\) so when I brought it back they were giving me grief saying that I must have "rammed something really hard to do that much damage to the clips". After arguing with them over it, they finally agreed to reseat the bumper and order new clips. I waited over a week for them to call me back when the clips arrived, and they never did. When I called in, they said they didn't know if the clips arrived, and they would have to call me back. An hour or so later, I get a call back saying the body shop picked up the clips and then lost them, so they'd have to find them. An hour later I get another call saying that they had them 5 days ago and were wondering why I never brought the car back. :mad0260:

After I brought it back a second time, they didn't fix it claiming they wanted the SoA rep to come out. I told them that they can change my oil for me and I wasn't going to pay for it, which they did.

So, I just waited until the SoA rep came out to take a look. He took a bunch of pictures and I'm waiting to hear back on how they want to proceed.

Ridiculous. Lesson learned the hard way I guess; ALWAYS check the car after the service tech gives it back to you. Sometimes they'll scratch or otherwise fuck something up and try to buff it or hide it in some fashion rather than fess up to it. Is there another dealership near you? You can take your business elsewhere if it's feasible for you to boycott that particular dealer.

New dealer time? As stated above this is also why I hate warranty work issues.

Just got a call back from the dealership today, they want to send out a few engineers to take a look at the fitment itself (seems the issue goes all the way back to Japan in the factory from what it sounded like...). The engineer should be in my area in the next week. I'm just glad they decided to actually CALL me this time and keep me updated. Will update more when I have it.

There's other dealerships near me. The one I'm going to had a reputation for being pretty shady, but had recently undergone new ownership by a pretty reputable chain of dealers, so I was willing to let the water go under the bridge and go in with an objective opinion. It's pretty easy to see at this point how they earned their reputation, and the new ownership probably didn't include a staffing change. Since I'm pretty deep into this service request and Subaru corporate is already involved with the dealer in question, I'm going to hope that the close eyes on them will keep them from screwing anything else up. If they do the repair work I'm going to go over every single inch of the car before I drive away. As you said, lesson well learned here. This is the first car I've owned that hasn't been serviced by myself or close friends who work at the dealership it's being worked on at, so I'm used to just trusting them to do a good job. Pretty pathetic I need to show such a level of distrust in order to get things taken care of properly.

IN OTHER NEWS: Ordering a Nameless Axelback/Downpipe combo this weekend. So that should be fun and help keep me positive :D

Update:

Since my last update, the car has been back to the dealer twice. The first time was to see if the engineer could repair the bumper, or if a new one would be required. The second was when I mentioned the door rattle that seems to be prevalent on more than a few cars.

They brought it to the body shop, and my understanding is that the engineer himself worked with their body shop to get the rattle fixed, but on receiving the car back, it rattles MORE than it did when I dropped it off. Their explanation is that the power mirror control is making the noise, which is crap because I can put pressure around the cup holder in the door and it stops rattling.

He also said that he's going to try and get me a new front bumper. I informed him if it wasn't factory painted, I wasn't interested and they could compensate me some other way.

This is still being dragged out?! Boo for you Subaru :thumbdown: