Draco-REX's BRZ "Ghost"

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by *KID*

WHEELS?

4? If you're asking what wheels I have, I'm still on the stock wheels and tires. I'm waiting for a set of Wedssports to arrive.

[EvoXDD]

showing the STI made me want to show the EVO so here she is: laquisha (big sister) next to, so far unnamed, BRZ (little sister)



evo has become track/sunny sundays only while the brz will be a show car with the occasional play time (autox). Laquisha (evo) has some sugar daddies (sponsors). mishimoto, flossy, and Tomei (cobb's contract ran out after a year, about 6 months ago). The BRZ so far is just sponsored by flossy, which has some really nice show/function parts that i can not disclose quite yet!

[sysfailur]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

That doesn't seem to sound too bad at all. I'll agree that no 4 cylinder can really top a turbo Subaru's unequal length headers in aural quality.

I love UEL and EL headers. Personally I went for EL + EWG on my STi and love the sound you get from that combo--it sounds like a JDM time attack car, like the Cusco/Tomei STi which I love

I guess really it's all about preference. I had the UEL setup for a while, then made the switch and I love how smooth it sounds. Link to the iterations of my exhaust. UEL or EL, the boxer engine sounds amazing.

[Draco-REX]

Teaser pic.


WedsSport TC105n 17x8+42, Titanium Silver

[Lonewolf]

That teaser pic shows how much nicer the wedsport looks compared to the stock design...good choice.

[colHolm]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

Teaser pic.


WedsSport TC105n 17x8+42, Titanium Silver

Nice... I can't wait to see them on the car. It's all coming together nicely. Good choice on the AP exhaust as well (good job Don@Accelerated), it sounds awesome, especially on the gopro mounted on the rear bumper.

[Draco-REX]

Tires (235/40-17 Yokohama Advan AD08s) should arrive tomorrow or Friday, so they'll be on the car this weekend.

I should make a new exhaust video. It has really mellowed and deepened some. Sounds a lot throatier, but I picked up a little bit of cabin drone if I'm accelerating or decelerating. Cruising on a level road is still fine.

[bimmerboy]

damn that looks so sick. plz post more pics when u can! Also curious about the overall weight of the tire/rim combo vs stock since these are very lightweight wheels.

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by bimmerboy

damn that looks so sick. plz post more pics when u can! Also curious about the overall weight of the tire/rim combo vs stock since these are very lightweight wheels.

They should come in 2lb each less than stock. The wheels are around 15lbs each (Weds says 14.85) vs the stock 20.1, and the tires are 24lbs vs the stock 21 (according to TireRack). Granted, that's more weight to the outside of the rotating assembly which isn't good. But I didn't want to get a lighter soft-sidewall tire like the R-S3. This car deserves a sharply responsive tire in my opinion.

[Draco-REX]

The wheels above were a nice thing to come home to so they got top billing today. But I just came back from a long road trip from OH to MA to visit family and friends back home. I drove the BRZ for this trip and put about 1800 miles on the clock.

Comfort:

It's reasonably comfortable for long trips. My back was well supported by the seat and I had no pain. My legs did get stiff though which is odd. Usually my back will hurt and my legs are fine. I had a friend along and he felt the same way. I think because I wasn't squirming in my seat to help my back I wasn't moving my legs as much as I normally do.

Normally I don't care about center arm rests. With my proportions they are usually too low to use or too high to be comfortable. However I hurt my right shoulder before I left for my trip and it would have been nice to have something to support my arm. But this is an exception. I still don't care about center arm rests.


I drive out to MA and back twice a year and I've done it in a few different cars. The most comfortable was my Legacy. That car was made for trips like this. And I did kind of miss the comfort. But two trips a year isn't worth the other 361 days of driving.

Ride:

The Legacy had a softer ride that was tuned for comfort with a little sportiness thrown in. The roughest ride was my STI. It has a modified suspension that is very firm and borderline harsh. Since the STI is tuned for street handling, it has a softer ride than a track car, but you still know it's modified.

The BRZ was closer to the STI than the legacy, but without the harshness. Some roads that would annoy me in the STI were just eaten up in the BRZ. While other roads that the Legacy would just cruise over would set the BRZ to bobbling.

But overall, my back can honesty state that the BRZ's suspension does not make long trips a chore.

Mileage:

Going West to East along I90 through New York I see my best mileage. In my old Legacy spec.B (rated 24mpg highway) I saw 29mpg. In the BRZ I saw my average get as high as 38.3 about halfway through the tank, with a final average of 37.5 at the next fill-up.

It seems that city driving is where the on-board mileage meter gets a little confused. The above leg was from one service station to the next, so it was 100% highway mileage and the fill-up mpg matched the on-board mpg.

Other legs of the trip varied in the mid 30s depending on the terrain. I don't do anything special to get better mileage. I had a passenger and was running the A/C with cruise control set to 73mph. But on that golden run between Angola and Guilderland service stations I can see 40mpg+ in a MT car or even better in an AT. If I had the patience to stay behind a Semi, run without A/C and pop out of cruise control on uphills, I'm sure I could have hit a 40mpg average.

But the fact that I can get high 30s on the highway with the A/C on, relaxing with cruise control handling the speed at a pace that I'm comfortable with, all in a car that's actually FUN to drive is awesome. There are many other cars that can get those numbers or better, but they would bore me to tears any other day of the year.

So, is the BRZ a good long haul cruiser? Well, there are more comfortable cars, and there are more efficient cars. So if I were making these trips monthly, or long trips were a part of my job, I would probably want a different car. But for the occasional road trip, I don't think there are many other cars that can deliver as much fun on a daily basis and not make you pay for it on a long haul.

Ghost's fuelly page: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/dracorex/brz

[Draco-REX]

Tire Rack rocks. I ordered tires yesterday at 11am and they showed up 24 hours later.

So they're here, they're big, and they're soft! I can't wait to drive the car with these on all four corners. So I'm going to try and get them mounted and on the car tonight.

[colHolm]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

Tire Rack rocks. I ordered tires yesterday at 11am and they showed up 24 hours later.

So they're here, they're big, and they're soft! I can't wait to drive the car with these on all four corners. So I'm going to try and get them mounted and on the car tonight.

Jealous.

:happy0180:

[SkAsphalt]

Joys of living in Canada colHolm...more so for me than you..shipping to Saskatchewan is either more than the product/savings OR they won't ship at all.

Originally Posted by colHolm

Jealous.

:happy0180:

[Draco-REX]

The wheels are on!

Pics kind of suck because of the lighting conditions. Better ones are forthcoming.



Full thread here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13591

Tire thread here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13592