Finally placed my order for 2015 Limited, after many test drives

[ZionsWrath]

What made your car blow up so early? I have a 03 accord, 117k. I beat on it as a teen (i.e. neutral drops and such) and its still alive today. I actually beat on it every day to save miles on my BRZ lol

Anyway, hope you have better luck with you new car!

[ZionsWrath]

Originally Posted by mikeschmeee

Up here in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Subaru won't let anyone test drive cars before a down payment is made. It's makes shopping for cars some what silly and difficult. I guess its just the Subie dealers out here.

Congrats on the new vehicle!
Please post some images once your new toy arrives.

Cheers

Although a hassle I can understand that.

I put a 2,000 down payment on my BRZ before it even hit the US. The dealer I went to told me on STI they require the same thing. They said they have horror stories of "kids" coming to test drive WRX and STIs and nearly crashing.

Mine was delivered and I test drove it and bought it.

[x1UP]

You're going to absolutely have fun with this car, without a doubt. Enjoy it!

[Natheria]

wow. when I went to my local subie dealership they just handed me the keys to a brz and an sti and said have fun. no license or nothing. I'm in the middle of buying a 14 white brz and they didn't even ask for a deposit to hold it. I can understand some dealers might be hesitant though with wrx and stis if they have a lot bad joy riders. that's why I always make an appointment to let them know I'm serious.

[JARE_ee]

Yeah, I was shocked too. They told me to go test drive the FR-S, if i want to know what's it like.

I'm not sure, but i think deposit is a minimun of 500$.

[FRSpappa]

Nice! True Sports Cars have two doors!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[reeves]

Originally Posted by Erci

The reason I chose BRZ over WRX: the smile factor in WRX comes from "hyperdrive".. getting into boost and being pushed into the seat. They throw in speeding tickets for free! BRZ is a laugh at any speed. It makes me smile, without breaking the law.

Totally agree. Hated my turbo for a DD.. by the time you're having fun at a high rpm, you're breaking a few traffic laws already. My BRZ is enjoyable at any speed (around any corner)!

[thill]

OP, congrats on making an informed decision, you really sound like the ideal BRZ owner. You will love the car, I miss mine everyday but the 15 WRX is pretty fun and I thought your comparison of the two cars was spot on. The BRZ is simply a more fun and sporty car to drive. The new WRX is not quite as fun, but more practical if you have a family and live in a place that snows 8 months out of the year

[totopo]

How do people have much of an idea of how cars drive based on a dealer test drive? I've found it neigh impossible to compare cars just driving it around on the streets for a couple of miles. Are there dealers that let you get to play with throwing the car around? I never really understand the "take the car for a test drive" because I feel like how the car drives at the track at the limit completely doesn't reflect what it drives like on streets. About the only thing I can see from a test drive are the ergonomics.

[sluflyer06]

Originally Posted by totopo

How do people have much of an idea of how cars drive based on a dealer test drive? I've found it neigh impossible to compare cars just driving it around on the streets for a couple of miles. Are there dealers that let you get to play with throwing the car around? I never really understand the "take the car for a test drive" because I feel like how the car drives at the track at the limit completely doesn't reflect what it drives like on streets. About the only thing I can see from a test drive are the ergonomics.

Logistically speaking how would you accomplish that? How would it be insured? Liability if you kill yourself on the test drive? What about break-in? What about putting signifigant wear/tear on consumables like tires/brake pads? Would you buy a car 4 other people took for test 'races' at a track

....as fun as what you propose it, I don't see it being remotely realistic.

[thill]

Originally Posted by totopo

How do people have much of an idea of how cars drive based on a dealer test drive? I've found it neigh impossible to compare cars just driving it around on the streets for a couple of miles. Are there dealers that let you get to play with throwing the car around? I never really understand the "take the car for a test drive" because I feel like how the car drives at the track at the limit completely doesn't reflect what it drives like on streets. About the only thing I can see from a test drive are the ergonomics.

My dealer let me take it to some backroads that were very tight and twisty. You don't need to redline a car to see how it drives.

[Erci]

Originally Posted by brzninja

I owned a 2013 BRZ and opted to buy a new 2015 WRX.

Long story short the only thing the BRZ has over the WRX is stiffer handling. That car never EVER swayed and the WRX, since it sits higher tends to sway in the corners a bit more. Nothing bad mind you, but that's really the only difference I would complain about.

Have fun with the new BRZ its a blast. Only reason I sold it was bad winters...needed AWD....turbo wasn't a bad addition either

Makes total sense! If practicality was high up on my list, I'd go with WRX. I am lucky enough to have 2 vehicles in the family (well.. 2 cars and a whole lot of bikes ). We also own a Hyundai Tucson AWD. The opposite of fun, but as practical as they come. I can leave BRZ in the garage all Winter, if necessary

[Erci]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

What made your car blow up so early? I have a 03 accord, 117k. I beat on it as a teen (i.e. neutral drops and such) and its still alive today. I actually beat on it every day to save miles on my BRZ lol

Anyway, hope you have better luck with you new car!

I wasn't particularly hard on it. I mean.. sure I'd take it close to red line often and corner somewhat hard, but besides that.. Mobil 1 syn since 3k miles and all the other regular maintenance.

It didn't *blow up* per say, but needed at least 1k worth of work, which would be in addition to timing belt ~$600 and my suspension was used up... so a bunch more money. Trade-in was just over 2k, so I decided it wasn't worth fixing the motor.
What actually broke was either the lifter or valve spring (according to tech).. sounded like a bucket of bolts was dumped into engine and RPMs started bouncing up and down.

[Natheria]

Originally Posted by totopo

How do people have much of an idea of how cars drive based on a dealer test drive?

test drives are by their very nature limiting and there isn't much you can do about the fact that after driving the car the car for a week that you will learn so much more. you do get a better idea though when you drives similar cars back to back. its like putting two shades of the same color next to each other. you get a much better comparison and certain things that will pop up after buying it will be more noticeable that way. also driving many different roads. most people just drive down the road and turn right back. you can drive it a little farther than that.