BRZ @ Mastro Subaru, Sanford, FL

[FLHC]

I'm heading out there now. i'll be wearing a wilwood engineering shirt and blue shorts. Come up and say hi.

[Smudgeous]

Originally Posted by FLHC

I'm heading out there now. i'll be wearing a wilwood engineering shirt and blue shorts. Come up and say hi.

Unfortunately, I had to take off for work. I was there from 10am until about 11:30. The car looked gorgeous in WRB, even though it's the AT premium trim

[FLHC]

Originally Posted by Smudgeous

Unfortunately, I had to take off for work. I was there from 10am until about 11:30. The car looked gorgeous in WRB, even though it's the AT premium trim

car looked 10x better in real life over the pictures. All qualms I had about design are now gone.. however, I really didn't like the feel of the A/C controls on the premium. They seemed cheap and also looked a bit out of place. I hope the limited's feel better.

There was also a fanboy with a subaru rally jacket that just didn't 'get' the BRZ... "Wheres the hoodscoop!" "They forgot the turbo!"

[Smudgeous]

Originally Posted by FLHC

car looked 10x better in real life over the pictures. All qualms I had about design are now gone.. however, I really didn't like the feel of the A/C controls on the premium. They seemed cheap and also looked a bit out of place. I hope the limited's feel better.

There was also a fanboy with a subaru rally jacket that just didn't 'get' the BRZ... "Wheres the hoodscoop!" "They forgot the turbo!"

I thought the same thing about the car's appearance in person.


Things I specifically noticed:

• As many people have previously stated, the layout of everything seemed pretty spot-on. If I were blindfolded and asked to reach out to where I would want/expect everything to be, this seemed to have everything in that spot.

• The rear window was smaller than I imagined for some reason, though the height of the car coming up to sub-chest level doesn't have me overly worried. The jury's still out whether I'll be able to keep my seat at the bottom height setting if I have to do any reversing onto an incline, however.

• I loved the way the bolsters hugged me. I'm going to be finding excuses to play with lateral Gs for sure.

• I finally figured out that the cup holder insert has tabs that match slots in the center console area to secure it in either forward or backward position. I'd previously been wondering if the damned thing slid around.

• I was pleased to see there is a little rubbery front lip to the cell phone holder space under the HVAC controls. It appears roomy enough for most cell phones to fit without worry of toppling out. However, the limited trim I preordered is going to have the push-button start taking up half of that space, so besides a small PMP, I don't know what would fit in there.

• The recessed area where seat heater buttons go in the limited trim looks really odd without anything in it.

• I liked how clicky the dials to the left of the wheel (head/dash light intensity) felt when rolling them to different positions.

• At a bit over 6'1 with a 34" inseam, I'm quite pleased with how low my knees were while sitting with the seat all the way back. In addition, my headroom clearance was roughly 1-3 inches, depending on the seat height position.

• The bulges in the hood through the windshield and rear fenders you see through the side mirrors were quite sexy.

• The design/pattern in the black plastic (rear diffuser piece, front 'mustache', fake fender vent piece) was nicer than expected. It almost looks like carbon fiber from a short distance away.

• I really liked the appearence of the nav screen in the dash, but forgot to go back and take a peek at it once they brought the keys out to start it. Of my previous 8 rides, none of them had a built-in nav, so I suppose I'm easy to please here.

• The actual 'dead cat' space between the wheels and fender was not at all as bad as I thought I remembered seeing in pictures. Due to the wheel well diameter, however, it looks like 18" tires would make a more symmetrical appearance.

• The frameless windows popping down a half inch or so on door open and closing back to full on door close was pretty cool. Looks like it alleviates any worry of breaking the glass on either door from slamming.

• The fabric pulls to lower the rear seats seemed to be quite far forward. Being rather long-armed, I still had to lean pretty far forward to get the seats down. I suppose this isn't really an issue, as anything shorter comes at the cost of trunk space. Still, it makes me chuckle to picture some shorter owners trying to lower them without crawling into the trunk.

• I really liked how spacious the cup holders in the doors appeared. It looked like they'd accomodate those large square-bottled aloe vera drinks you see at Asian markets.

Looking at the HVAC knobs on the premium, I definitely was yearning for the limited's switches in person. However, barring a test-drive experience that goes unlike anything else I've read about the car, I don't think it would be enough to ruin my opinion. The interior layout ergonomics are there, however cheaply they manufacture the switchgear that finds its way in.


I found it rather hilarious that they parked it right in front of Dave Mirra's rally car. It was a blessing as well, though, as it drew the majority of the attention away from the BRZ, allowing me inside as soon as I got there, big grin all over my face. I'm perfectly fine with having the "little brother" of the Subaru performance line. It's been about a decade since I had my last rear-wheel drive car, and I can guarantee you this will be easier to break loose than my old '85 200SX with its 102HP .

[FLHC]

Wow yeah you definitely looked at more details than i did haha

what time were you there? I got there around 12:30 and left at 2

[Smudgeous]

Originally Posted by FLHC

Wow yeah you definitely looked at more details than i did haha

what time were you there? I got there around 12:30 and left at 2

I got there around 10am and stuck around until around 11:30. They kept telling me they were going to have a raffle drawing "in an hour" every 15 minutes or so, except the start time kept changing.

[Subaruwrxfan]

Wow, great pictures of some details I haven't seen before! Are they keeping this car for a while, or did they actually put those all over the front and back window of the rep's car just for this one day at the dealership?

[Smudgeous]

Originally Posted by Subaruwrxfan

Wow, great pictures of some details I haven't seen before! Are they keeping this car for a while, or did they actually put those all over the front and back window of the rep's car just for this one day at the dealership?

I think it's the latter. My salesperson sounded quite excited about it being there (I think it was only there one day prior to Saturday). I believe it's a demo unit that makes the rounds to quite a few dealerships.

[Dave-ROR]

The rep's car is a Silver limited 6MT so this wasn't the reps car.

We not unless he wrecked the first one and got another

[DEC1]

You know you're in FL when....the driver is in flip-flops...
Thanks for the pics and the overview...

[Smudgeous]

Originally Posted by DEC1

You know you're in FL when....the driver is in flip-flops...
Thanks for the pics and the overview...

Haha, I grew up in the northeast, and earned a bit of a reputation for not changing my wardrobe during the course of the year. Down here, it's actually pretty normal attire. T'is certainly a state better suited to me