2017 BRZ Or Luxury?

[Packofcrows]

G37, Lexus...IS300

[Silver Cervy]

I've never liked the idea of buying a car and just leaving it stock. Anyone can buy a car, but few can mod it well. I would rather have a slow but unique car than an expensive cookie cutter. I drove a 328i before getting my BRZ and while the car was good in many ways I can't say with honesty that I was ever excited in it. Plus it looked so bland and similar to other 328's that it never made me feel unique.

First of all, test drive the BRZ. Asking for opinions on a car when you personally haven't driven it is kinda pointless. After you get an impression for how it feels you will have a much easier time deciding.

[Poodles]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

It depends of what you want. Personally I believe it is useless to change just the exterior. You'll get smoked by the others and then you'll feel silly. Then you'll start thinking to change also the internals, looking for forced induction etc. The chances will be that in the end you'll spend much more money and have a car with problems. This platform was built from the beginning with NA on mind and it has a HIGH compression ratio engine. This leads to many design issues and it is not easy to MOD it. Do you want to buy a car which is easy to MOD? Get a car with a turbo from factory, then change the ECU parameters with a COBB kit or something similar. You'll have much more potential. Even a bigger turbo will be easier, depending of how much the stock engine can handle. The best reason to buy a BRZ/86 is if you want to have an affordable, light and nimble car. By today standards it will not be slow, but not fast either.

Except, you know, the crazy amount of people that have boosted this car and it's running fine. Direct injection is naturally a knock suppressant, and the D4S system has massive overhead, unlike say a WRX where there is a brick wall of how much power you can make as you can't increase the size of the injectors.

Originally Posted by krayzie

IDGAF I'd rock the hell out of that...

Hell, if I could afford it I would do this



/flamesuit on

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by Poodles

Except, you know, the crazy amount of people that have boosted this car and it's running fine.

You have to keep the boost to a minimal level, because the effective compression ratio goes way up. If there are no issues, can you tell me why the factory increased the block rigidity in the revised engine?


(Purple): stiffened areas


For sure, they didn't do this for the +5hp power increase. If I wanted to go FI, then I would wait for the revised engine. It has the potential to handle much more power.

[Poodles]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

You have to keep the boost to a minimal level, because the effective compression ratio goes way up. If there are no issues, can you tell me why the factory increased the block rigidity in the revised engine?


(Purple): stiffened areas


For sure, they didn't do this for the +5hp power increase. If I wanted to go FI, then I would wait for the revised engine. It has the potential to handle much more power.

Likely the same reason block revisions are done by other makers. As the block is a cast unit and open to relatively loose tolerances and potential flaws, overbuilding them because of a rare failure is a good idea. This is why when warranty work is done, the old parts are sent back for inspection to figure out why the part failed. Also, changing a sand cast item is relatively cheap, so if it stops the .01% failure rate, it pays for itself.

I will agree the new engine will likely hold more power, but not simply because of the ribbing. The aluminum intake manifold will handle more pressure than the plastic one and got a much longer period of time.

[humdizzle]

i keep thinking about selling it for more luxury. I drive about 80 miles highway 4 days a week. The road noise, meh stereo kinda wear on me. The ride isn't too bad tbh.

I just haven't found a reasonable replacement. You can have a cheap luxury car, and you can have a cheap drivers car... but having both in 1 is quite a bit of $$$.

[gramicci101]

Originally Posted by humdizzle

i keep thinking about selling it for more luxury. I drive about 80 miles highway 4 days a week. The road noise, meh stereo kinda wear on me. The ride isn't too bad tbh.

I just haven't found a reasonable replacement. You can have a cheap luxury car, and you can have a cheap drivers car... but having both in 1 is quite a bit of $$$.

Both of those are fixable for not a huge amount of money. Any decent audio shop can sound deaden the car. Here's a DIY that nalc did covering the entire process.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53511

For audio, OEM Audio+ has the DSP requirements down to a science, but a high quality audio shop that will actually measure frequency response to tune the DSP will be able to come up with similar results.

[pinski]

I came to the BRZ from a Lexus IS250 F-Sport. Initially, I liked it, but came to loathe it very quickly. It was too soft, the manual transmission was garbage, it didn't handle well, didn't have any power, wasn't technologically advanced, had the steering wheel buttons from a Corolla, etc. It looked good and was comfortable. I can't think of any other attribute.

Dumped it for my BRZ and couldn't be happier with the decision. Entry-level luxury cars are (typically) neither good at luxury or driving experience. If you double your spend, then you can probably have the best of both worlds, but at significant cost to yourself. Just my $0.02.

[Bamsterman]

This all depends also on your budget...I came from a BMW. Work for BMW. My wife has a BMW. I drive an FRS. I love my car. Its a blast to drive (I live in FL by the way), looks good, sounds good, relatively cheap to mod. BUT...if I had the choice, I personally would rather have an M235i. I feel like its a good combination of sport and luxury. Fun to throw in the turns, still good straight line for those boring FL roads...

[Xxyion]

I personally hate luxury cars. Sure i enjoyed driving my parents 325i one time. But compared to the smile i get on my face whenever i take my BRZ around corners that car is nothing.

Again as many people said, best thing to do is research and then make the decision yourself. It took me 5 years of research and decision making before i bought my BRZ. I wanted to make sure it was the car i was going to spend 30k on. After all that and finally getting the keys though i couldnt be happier. I look forward to driving every day.

In the end the cars shortcomings (noisy, rough ride, crickets) wont bother you if you love your car. I personally dont think taking these types of negative things into account so early is a good idea. Best thing to do is test drive it at least a few times.

Can you see yourself driving this everyday? Will you be happy with the power? How badly do you want to mod it? Keep these in mind.