Things you should know after buying a BRZ?

[Ultramaroon]

You will feel superior to FRS owners.

[gramicci101]

Make sure you're aware of how long the nose is.

And yeah, know that you have the better of the two.

[JD001]

Learn and memorise reasons why you didn't get a FRS.

[extrashaky]

Thought of another normal thing about this car:

If you come back to your car a few hours after driving it (five, actually) and hear a humming or buzzing sound coming from under the rear of the car while it's off, that's the fuel evaporation leakage check, part of your emissions system. It's normal.

I'll add this to my earlier post also, just to have them all in one place.

[BDKane01]

Wow, excellent posts here. Big thanks to extra, though. Massively informative post. I have noticed a few of those items. During my test drive my BRZ did some rattling and I left without it. I obviously went back.

[BDKane01]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Also, here's something that will help you find information on this site:

Ignore the search button. vBulletin's built-in search is terrible, not just on this board, but on every board that runs that software. It will ignore the most relevant posts and give you lots of garbage that has nothing to do with your topic. Or it will tell you no such topics exist. It's an all-around failure.

Instead, use Google. Yep, just good old Google. You can restrict a Google search to just this site by using Google's built-in "site:" tag, like so:

site:ft86club.com normal

Just enter that text into the search field on Google. What I've done there is told Google to only search pages on the domain ft86club.com for the word "normal," which it's more than happy to do. You can do this with any domain name. Some companies actually build in a Google search into their own websites to use Google this way.

If you use that tag a lot on a single website, Google will occasionally think you're trying to mine information, and it will take you to an intermediate page where you have to prove you're not a robot. Don't be alarmed if that happens. Just fill out the captcha thing they give you and keep going. It's a little annoying, but it's not usually permanent.

I can't press thanks enough for this one lol. The search engine is bad.

[Side]

Since you bought the limited, make sure you activate the alarm. It does not come activated from the factory and most dealers don't seem to know that.

The manual will have instructions how to activate it, and there is a thread I'm too lazy to find as well.

[BDKane01]

Originally Posted by Side

Since you bought the limited, make sure you activate the alarm. It does not come activated from the factory and most dealers don't seem to know that.

The manual will have instructions how to activate it, and there is a thread I'm too lazy to find as well.

Yup, activated it when I saw that post a few days ago. Thanks.

[BDKane01]

Originally Posted by JD001

Learn and memorise reasons why you didn't get a FRS.

Because Scion...lol

[Mim]

You will learn to love the wheel gap as the stock 12.5cm ground clearance is already problematic for speed humps and steep driveway's, let alone if you lower the car further to reduce said gap.

You can actually fit a pretty amazing amount of stuff in the boot, without needing to drop the seats. In my case, this is even with a full size spare eating some space. When dropping the seats you will be even more amazed at how the car can swallow long objects. Note you need to annoyingly release the lock on both sides of the rear seats in order to drop it. Make sure you move the front seats out of the way first.

After starting the car, the DRL's stay off till you release the hand break. Only realized that one recently myself.

The car is extremely sensitive to change of virtually any kind. Even to variances of tire pressure of 1psi.

As a DD the twins are actually pretty comfortable. The seats hold most body types pretty snugly, the ride on MY15+ cars is firm, but not overly jarring. Everything falls comfortably to hand and is where it needs to be. The handling, stability and feedback of the car instills confidence that (to me) lends the car to being extremely relaxing to drive.

Fuel economy can be pretty amazing, depending on how you chose to drive. This coupled with having no forced induction generally equates to much lower insurance and so a reasonably cheap to run car. I pay a meager $113aud a month for comprehensive.

The paint is pretty thin so take extra care like using clear 3M film on vulnerable areas like the nose to mitigate chips from flying rocks on freeway's. Some go for paint protection like opticoat to also cut back on the need to polish the car going forward. I simply stick to washing the car more often and keep touchup paint handy, but have only scrapped the front on a concrete barrier when parking once.

The car has plenty of power once you learn how to access it. That said you will develop defensive driving skills to help cope with some of the negligent drivers we share our roads with and, how to avoid potential issues that come with driving a car that does not exactly have a nuclear power plant under the hood.

Grats on the new car and welcome to the forums!

[Side]

Originally Posted by BDKane01

Yup, activated it when I saw that post a few days ago. Thanks.

Apparently I was on auto pilot and did not read your whole post.

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Thought of another normal thing about this car:

If you come back to your car a few hours after driving it (five, actually) and hear a humming or buzzing sound coming from under the rear of the car while it's off, that's the fuel evaporation leakage check, part of your emissions system. It's normal.

I'll add this to my earlier post also, just to have them all in one place.

I thought of something that might fit in with your list:

If your engine sounds like a tractor when under load and at low RPM, thats normal too haha. Every time I drive up parking lot ramps to the next floor, my car sounds like a tractor

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

We've all been focused on features of the car, but there are also a lot of quirks of this car that can alarm people, yet are completely normal. Before you freak out over something weird the car is doing, search the board to see if it has already been discussed. You will probably find that it's normal.

For example:

Cricket sounds coming from the high pressure fuel pump are completely normal.

A "clunk" when you put the manual version of the car into first gear from neutral is completely normal.

A rattling "can of marbles" sound if you coast a manual in neutral is normal.

An occasional brief engine knock on startup in cold weather can be pretty alarming the first time you hear it, but it's normal. (Mine has only done this once.)

A periodic dip in the RPM at idle is normal, unless they have finally tuned that out with the new model. I doubt that.

It is normal for the A/C compressor to cycle on and off if you run the defroster, even if the A/C is off. That's often a cause of the idle dip noted above.

A faint honking sound during acceleration is normal. Mine did this after a few thousand miles and then went away.

An unexplained drop in the coolant level in the overflow bottle is normal. Nobody can figure out where it goes, but it doesn't seem to be going into the oil or exhaust.

If you have a manual, it's normal for the clutch to stink for several thousand miles. You're not necessarily burning it up if you smell burning clutch.

A squeaking clutch pedal may be a sign of a problem, but it's usually just normal.

An irregular ticking sound from your rear deck or trunk area is normal. There's a fix for it, but mine actually went away on its own over time.

It's normal to see soot around the exhaust pipes. Clean it. It will come back.

It is normal for the shifter to rattle.

It is normal to hear rattles behind the dash.

All sorts of rattles are normal in this car. It's a very stiff car with virtually no soundproofing. You will hear things in this car that are masked in other cars.

It is normal for your shifter to be stiff for the first few thousand miles (manual transmission).

It is normal for second gear to be particularly stiff before it wears in and loosens up.

It is normal for your coolant temp to run as hot as 210° if you turn your A/C off. With A/C on, it will cycle the engine fan more often to keep it around 190° to 195°. You will only know this is happening if you monitor your actual coolant temperature with Torque or an aftermarket temp gauge, because the coolant temp gauge on your dash is fake. It shows the needle in the "normal" middle position starting at 170° and staying there at least to 210°, possibly higher. (And that's normal.)

If you come back to your car a few hours after driving it (five, actually) and hear a humming or buzzing sound coming from under the rear of the car while it's off, that's the fuel evaporation leakage check, part of your emissions system. It's normal.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something. There are just way too many normal things about this car to remember them all.

Missed one!
The fuel system uses two different injection systems with two distinctly different sounds associated with them. If all of a sudden you notice a change in the clicks coming from the system you have just switched from port to direct injection (or vice versa) and it does not mean your engine is going to blow up. This one still messes with my head sometimes.

[BDKane01]

Originally Posted by Mim

You will learn to love the wheel gap as the stock 12.5cm ground clearance is already problematic for speed humps and steep driveway's, let alone if you lower the car further to reduce said gap.

You can actually fit a pretty amazing amount of stuff in the boot, without needing to drop the seats. In my case, this is even with a full size spare eating some space. When dropping the seats you will be even more amazed at how the car can swallow long objects. Note you need to annoyingly release the lock on both sides of the rear seats in order to drop it. Make sure you move the front seats out of the way first.

After starting the car, the DRL's stay off till you release the hand break. Only realized that one recently myself.

The car is extremely sensitive to change of virtually any kind. Even to variances of tire pressure of 1psi.

As a DD the twins are actually pretty comfortable. The seats hold most body types pretty snugly, the ride on MY15+ cars is firm, but not overly jarring. Everything falls comfortably to hand and is where it needs to be. The handling, stability and feedback of the car instills confidence that (to me) lends the car to being extremely relaxing to drive.

Fuel economy can be pretty amazing, depending on how you chose to drive. This coupled with having no forced induction generally equates to much lower insurance and so a reasonably cheap to run car. I pay a meager $113aud a month for comprehensive.

The paint is pretty thin so take extra care like using clear 3M film on vulnerable areas like the nose to mitigate chips from flying rocks on freeway's. Some go for paint protection like opticoat to also cut back on the need to polish the car going forward. I simply stick to washing the car more often and keep touchup paint handy, but have only scrapped the front on a concrete barrier when parking once.

The car has plenty of power once you learn how to access it. That said you will develop defensive driving skills to help cope with some of the negligent drivers we share our roads with and, how to avoid potential issues that come with driving a car that does not exactly have a nuclear power plant under the hood.

Grats on the new car and welcome to the forums!

Thanks alot!

Coming from a 01' Integra, I am not deceived by smaller cars with four bangers. I know these things are more than meets the eye lol. That's why I bought it. Its a car that fits into my psyche already.

My Limited is my DD I'm at 700mi in 5 days. But. That's counting the 5 hour trip to bring it home. I don't think our insurance is that far off actually. I will be paying $117 USD a month.