Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB - View Single Post - After owning it for several years

accel · 04-07-2017, 05:37 PM

I do not have BRZ/86 but considering one.

I used to own Honda Prelude as DD and autocross car - was very happy with it - fun to drive and reliable - and maybe I shouldn't have sold it. But it was front wheel drive, fairly heavy and max tire width you could install without dealing with rubbing issues was 215 (stock 205)...

So I sold it justifying I needed a 4 door 4 seat car, and I wanted it sporty, manual trans, and there was no alternative to BMW 3 series at the time. Almost at the same time I bought Mini Cooper S (manual transmission, LSD) to my wife.

Pretty soon I realized that was big mistake on my end. Mini Cooper saw two flat bead towing trucks in several years. Something that no other car did to me. Big engine carbonization issues, HPFP failure, some genius made coolant and oil flows separated by a plastic gasket inside the engine. Sure enough it cracked eventually... it also consumed 1+qt per 1000 miles and that was considered ok - everyone gets that... radiator fan would randomly turn on after the engine shut off. No engine temperature gauge.... They fix\upgrade something all the time with TSBs/recalls/extended warranties - adding shields to turbo piping of fixing oil pump that was setting cars on fire after you turn the engine off... So we were scared to drive the car too far from the service center. I sold it with great relief.

BMW didn't have this many small things, but got the engine replaced out of warranty. BMW partially accepted their fault and covered 70% of the replacement. So I thought, at least new engine is beneficial. But then electric water-pump fails, AC smells like shit (evaporator leaks), you cannot even replace the battery without some computer programming that is not available to you in reasonable way. So, I think I am giving up. Will fix it and sell.

I worked on Prelude for the pleasure of it (and sometimes fixing it) - suspension and other tweaks, but working on the car just to make it run and because it is ridiculously expensive to go to the dealer.... that's not my peace of bread. I do not want to deal with car makes that waste your time, energy and resources anymore.

Looking my way back towards japan cars, hoping I still can find something fun and reliable.

So, from this point of view... Would you recommend BRZ\86 or not? Does it have serious long term ownership issues?

Also, between the twins which one would you suggest? From just going through brochures I could see that Toyota has Hill Start Assist (can I turn it off?) and Subaru does not. Also, I see they have different infotainment systems. From my experience with one in Outback - Subaru's not good as it does not integrate )yet) with Android Auto or iOS thing.... what other not obvious (but important) differences these cars have?

04-07-2017, 05:37 PM	#1
accel Member Join Date: Apr 2017 Drives: Bmw Location: Ca Posts: 46 Thanks: 0 Thanked 6 Times in 6 Posts Mentioned: 2 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	After owning it for several years - would you still buy it again? I do not have BRZ/86 but considering one. I used to own Honda Prelude as DD and autocross car - was very happy with it - fun to drive and reliable - and maybe I shouldn't have sold it. But it was front wheel drive, fairly heavy and max tire width you could install without dealing with rubbing issues was 215 (stock 205)... So I sold it justifying I needed a 4 door 4 seat car, and I wanted it sporty, manual trans, and there was no alternative to BMW 3 series at the time. Almost at the same time I bought Mini Cooper S (manual transmission, LSD) to my wife. Pretty soon I realized that was big mistake on my end. Mini Cooper saw two flat bead towing trucks in several years. Something that no other car did to me. Big engine carbonization issues, HPFP failure, some genius made coolant and oil flows separated by a plastic gasket inside the engine. Sure enough it cracked eventually... it also consumed 1+qt per 1000 miles and that was considered ok - everyone gets that... radiator fan would randomly turn on after the engine shut off. No engine temperature gauge.... They fix\upgrade something all the time with TSBs/recalls/extended warranties - adding shields to turbo piping of fixing oil pump that was setting cars on fire after you turn the engine off... So we were scared to drive the car too far from the service center. I sold it with great relief. BMW didn't have this many small things, but got the engine replaced out of warranty. BMW partially accepted their fault and covered 70% of the replacement. So I thought, at least new engine is beneficial. But then electric water-pump fails, AC smells like shit (evaporator leaks), you cannot even replace the battery without some computer programming that is not available to you in reasonable way. So, I think I am giving up. Will fix it and sell. I worked on Prelude for the pleasure of it (and sometimes fixing it) - suspension and other tweaks, but working on the car just to make it run and because it is ridiculously expensive to go to the dealer.... that's not my peace of bread. I do not want to deal with car makes that waste your time, energy and resources anymore. Looking my way back towards japan cars, hoping I still can find something fun and reliable. So, from this point of view... Would you recommend BRZ\86 or not? Does it have serious long term ownership issues? Also, between the twins which one would you suggest? From just going through brochures I could see that Toyota has Hill Start Assist (can I turn it off?) and Subaru does not. Also, I see they have different infotainment systems. From my experience with one in Outback - Subaru's not good as it does not integrate )yet) with Android Auto or iOS thing.... what other not obvious (but important) differences these cars have?