If the BRZ never existed...

[Turbowned]

Well, in addition to the BRZ I bought the other car I would've bought... 2003 Audi RS 6! I think if I could've done it differently I would've gotten a $40-50k used E92 BMW M3; having multiple cars can be kind of a pain, as cool as it sounds.

[zeppy]

Would have kept my 05 STI and rs2.5 with wrx swap. Maybe picked up a Miata (Na or nb)

[1stGenBRZ86]

its stupid to compare a used car to brand new. if you looked hard enough, you could find many of yesteryear's more powerful cars for less than the cost of a new twin, but keep in mind you will also be buying someone else's headaches; especially if its a used sports car which was more than likely beaten on.

with that said, if the twins didn't come out, I would not be looking at any other new car at the moment as they are mostly overpriced for what they offer.

[kykiee]

If the FRS/BRZ didn't come out, I would probably be driving a Prius or a CT200h

[akuhei]

I would probably still be driving my Toyota Tundra for the time being.

[TylerLieberman]

I'd still have my '12 Stage 2+ WRX and would be waiting to get a new fully loaded STI or holding out for the next gen M3.

[MidnightRunner]

Originally Posted by 1stGenBRZ86

its stupid to compare a used car to brand new. if you looked hard enough, you could find many of yesteryear's more powerful cars for less than the cost of a new twin, but keep in mind you will also be buying someone else's headaches; especially if its a used sports car which was more than likely beaten on.

with that said, if the twins didn't come out, I would not be looking at any other new car at the moment as they are mostly overpriced for what they offer.

Correct. Typical buyer's dilemma regarding new and used cars.

But getting past that, you have to drive SOMETHING to get around.

Sent from my LG-P769 using Tapatalk

[Enraged21]

FD RX7

[tennisfreak]

Used Porsche Cayman S

[mmsracing]

my wife would have made me buy a Prius or Honda fit, actually fit is kinda nice imo

[Gaiakai]

Would have been an E46 M3 for me. Who knows, in a year or two I might end up getting one. EAG has had this Japan Red for THE LONGEST TIME now....

[Ganthrithor]

I know what I would have gotten: sad.

Seriously though, there's a reason I had my GTI for so long. The only alternatives that I seriously considered were:

- used Miata! (really preferred something with some space, rear seats, and a hard top though)

- used Boxster (see above, but add in Porsche parts prices)

- used Cayman (hard top, but still expensive and still lacks rear seats)

- E46 M3 (sounded like they had lots of electronics issues and structural problems with their rear subframe mounts. Also most of the ones for sale at the time had those stupid SMG transmissions... welp.)

- used 911 (As they say, all 911's cost the same in the end, and it's not a little...)

I was getting pretty serious about needing a 911 before I learned about the BRZ. I wasn't sure about which generation-- I had my eyes open for nice 3.2s or SCs, but the 996 was also on my radar as a sort of un-loved performance bargain-- but the 911 generally ticked most of my boxes: RWD, quick, handles well, has emergency rear seats and a bit of room for cargo, DAT NOISE, etc. I just had doubts about paying a pretty high entry price for the car and then having to continue paying lots of money for literally everything after that: service is expensive on the older air-cooled cars, consumables would be expensive (including gas), and the 996s occasionally have their engines grenade. In fairness, by looking around I'm sure you could find a 996 that had had preventative maintenance done to prevent grenading engine, or just find one with enough miles on it already that the engine would have blown already had it been bad, but it was still a worrying aspect.

...and then the BRZ came along, and it ticked basically all my boxes, and I was intrigued. And then Chris Harris drove one and loved it. And then I pretty much decided to go buy one. I found one to test drive first just to see if there was anything I hated about the car, but it looked good in person, felt taut but well suspended (even on my relatively boring around-the-city test drive), had pretty good brake feel for a stock car, and crucially didn't feel horrifically slow. I really was expecting it to feel like a total slug since it's not very powerful to begin with and I was testing it in Denver at 5k feet AND it was a brand new car, so I wasn't getting to use half the tach, but it didn't feel boring like I feared it might. And it sounded better than I thought it would.

So I decided what the hell, I'm gonna buy a BRZ. And I did. It took a while to find the right one (I finally found a WRB limited manual with no options on the east coast for a good price), but I found it and bought it right off the truck. It was awesome. I love my car. I may end up "in it" for as much as a Porsche, but there's just something lovable about the BRZ: everything about it is just inappropriate. It's like a babby M-car that just wants to squeal do happy burnouts everywhere and chase down + embarrass cars that cost ten times as much (provided the road has curves). I love that I can pull up places amidst piles of much more serious and prestigious cars and people walk over and tell me how cool my $27k Subaru is. This once happened while I was sat next to a red Lotus. A RED FUCKING LOTUS. I love bearing down on 991s and Ferarri's on backroads in my cheeky little electric-bluemobile, or parking it next to them at cars + coffee. I love that my car has torn up tread blocks all the way out to the sidewalls while their supercar doesn't despite the fact that they're near their wear bars. You know why? Because the BRZ just likes to have fun, and because the BRZ gives no fucks. That's why.

So basically what I'm trying to say is, I'm p glad the BRZ came out.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

So I decided what the hell, I'm gonna buy a BRZ. And I did. It took a while to find the right one (I finally found a WRB limited manual with no options on the east coast for a good price), but I found it and bought it right off the truck. It was awesome. I love my car. I may end up "in it" for as much as a Porsche, but there's just something lovable about the BRZ: everything about it is just inappropriate. It's like a babby M-car that just wants to squeal do happy burnouts everywhere and chase down + embarrass cars that cost ten times as much (provided the road has curves). I love that I can pull up places amidst piles of much more serious and prestigious cars and people walk over and tell me how cool my $27k Subaru is. This once happened while I was sat next to a red Lotus. A RED FUCKING LOTUS. I love bearing down on 991s and Ferarri's on backroads in my cheeky little electric-bluemobile, or parking it next to them at cars + coffee. I love that my car has torn up tread blocks all the way out to the sidewalls while their supercar doesn't despite the fact that they're near their wear bars. You know why? Because the BRZ just likes to have fun, and because the BRZ gives no fucks. That's why.

So basically what I'm trying to say is, I'm p glad the BRZ came out.

It was nigh-impossible to find a WRB Limited equipped with manual when I bought mine...now I know you dirty West Coasters were taking them!

[YW-Slayer]

This year/next year? Maybe a used R8 or Gallardo, but more realistically, an Elise or a 2015 STI. Maybe a 996 C4S.

In the year I bought the BRZ (2012)? Probably nothing.