[OfficeWorker]

My knowledge here is far less than others, so forgive me if my terminology or accuracy is not 100%.

I got my 2017 with PP for $26.5 + that tax crap in early February, when it was arguably the worst time of year to buy a BRZ (hence probably their willingness to cut the pricing a bit, even though it was only one of two or three new blue BRZs in the state at the time, and at a point where most Subaru dealers did not even have new BRZs in stock at all.) At that point in time, no 2018 PP models were available, the tS was only just coming in and priced higher, and I had my doubts I could get the price that low on a 2018 so I went for the 2017, forfeiting CarPlay (especially knowing that whether I purchased a 2017, 2018, Limited, base, or tS, I was looking at nearly another $1,000 expense almost as soon as I bought the car.) The 2017 headlights are fricking amazing. The 2017 factory headunit is absolutely abysmal, much like every car I have used (supposedly the 2018 is an improvement,) and Subaru StarLink is so bad they should pay us to use it. I'm hoping the 2017 and 2018 head units can be swapped (still waiting on confirmation, and then playing the waiting game for one to come up for sale if they can!) I think the sticker on mine was $31-ish?

Are you going to drive this during the winter in MD? (If so, the way you wish to go about may add more benefit to opting for the tS, or the money you save over the tS with a Limited/PP might be put to better use.)

IIRC the tS comes with MPS4S summer performance tires (as opposed to the Primacy HP summer touring tires) - but if you are planning on winter driving in MD, IMHO both are poorly suited for our area that time of year and you may want to factor in buying either A) UHP all-seasons, or B) a second set of winter wheels/tires. As the MPS4S are ridiculously better tires than the Primacy HP, if you are OK with a summer tire for the nice months than this might work to the tS' favor (I feel the Primacy HP tires are something that many find themselves replacing sooner than later - I did - where as with the MPS4S, which is arguably a benchmark of its performance class, you will probably not find them deficient with even the hardest of street driving.) I went the route of MPS A/S 3+ UHP as I did not want two sets of wheels, so for me the lower price of the BRZ w/ PP worked in my favor and I just took the $800 hit of replacing the stock tires at 1,000 miles (glad I did given what this winter has been like!)

Also IIRC, the tS has a stiffer suspension. I know far less about matching mods than others here, but, to my understanding, this works slightly synergistically in your favor if you wish to run sticker tires (and IIRC slightly against you with UHP all-seasons.) This presumably would be far less of a difference than an aftermarket kit.

The STI wheels on the tS will be an even bigger PITA to clean than the PP wheels, which are already plenty...those are prolly worth having coated or applying a ceramic coating.

Depending where you are in MD, from what I have observed, there seems to be a good chance the car will have crap tons of iron deposits and industrial fallout when new, and the paint will probably benefit from a good decon and compounding.