Originally Posted by AnalogMan
Over the past week, as the last vestiges of winter have left and New England has thawed out, I brought out my BRZ from its winter slumber.
I don't 'lay up' the car for the winter in any particular way, it's a Subaru and not a mega-buck exotic, though it always lives in the garage under a cover. Being small, light, and RWD (and still with it's original crappy traction-free tires), it's just not the best winter car, so it doesn't get much use in the cold months.
Over the past week I gave it the ritual Spring washing and waxing, and started driving it regularly. I missed it. Not on any special roads, but many of the paths here in New England are twisty secondary roads meant for this car. As I was tooling along yesterday, rowing through the gears going down the island, I realized what a smile I had on my face. I wasn't setting any land speed records, not doing an impersonation of Fangio or anything. Just driving along, shifting up and down, taking the turns, listening to the engine.
And it hit me: this is simply a joyful car. It's exactly what a 'sports car' should be. The hell with the 'numbers' so many people obsess over, arguing over tenths of a second differences in '0-60' times. The BRZ is simply pure, undiluted fun to drive. Fun to drive in the old-school analog way, the way it feels to the seat of my pants and not some arbitrary 'numbers' that don't mean a thing in street driving.
Though my car is a mere first generation model with 'only' 205 hp, it's enough for me. It's more than enough to be fun, to feel the acceleration on the street without the need to be an adolescent and challenge muscle cars to drag races that will only end up with a night in jail (or an accident). Driving it 'playfully' (but not pedal to the metal, there's no need for that), I really don't feel (or maybe just don't care about) the 'torque dip' so many complain about but probably don't actually experience. The immediacy and linear response of a naturally aspirated engine is sweet compared to the rubber-band catapult of most turbos.
When I bought the car I planned to do the usual 'headers and a tune', but no longer will. Why bother? I think it sounds just fine as it is and for what it is - a simple, playful, fun, tossable, and very reasonably priced sports car. It sounds good enough to remind me I'm driving something special. Not every car has to have window-shattering volume or sound like an imitation Ferrari.
I knew all this when I bought the car - that's why I got it. But after a few months' absence, getting behind the wheel again and just having fun on secondary roads, reminded me of what cars are supposed to be all about (at least to me): fun.
From all the 'road tests' and reviews, the second-generation car certainly sounds 'superior' in terms of power and other things. Maybe someday, when the pandemic insanity of supply chain disruptions calms down and it becomes possible to actually test drive a car before buying it (and then able to buy it without a horror-movie dealer ADM), I might look into it. But I'm in no hurry, and maybe not at all. With all the fun it is to just drive this car, I really don't want or need any more.
Get out and drive. Have fun. Before we know it, internal combustion cars will be in the minority, gas will cost more than good Scotch, and most 'automobiles' on the road will be soulless, anodyne, boring, battery-powered autonomous electric transportation pods. We'll look back and miss the days when it was possible to buy gas for only $4.99 a gallon, and drive a car with an actual stick shift and clutch. I'm taking it out tomorrow, just for the hell of it, with no particular destination in mind.
If not now, when?
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