You did what??? My BRZ journey..

[ktulu7]

Wow, I just about could have had the same story, as I BADLY wanted a blue 3.8 GenCoupe track 2013, and was trying to get rid of my old Mazda6. I had similar feelings in general as the OP, but once I really got a chance to drive an FR-S around and not sit in traffic with it, I had to have it. It was easier for me to get than the BRZ, and I love the hot lava color, but otherwise I love both cars.

The biggest turn-off for me with the GenCoupe was that there was no freaking way I was buying it with a manual transmission. That thing was absolutely terrible, and I really didn't want an automatic car this time around, so I had to pass on it and get my awesome 86 instead.

[typericey]

My .02 on the topic of spoilers: I think they are pretentious, ricey and useless. Plus they add a few pounds of weight. Unless anybody can show me numbers that it actually helps with our cars' aero and downforce, a spoiler (or any piece of aero kit for that matter) stays out of my car. To me, aeros only belong to F1 cars, Veyrons, Huayras and such exotica. I could also be stupid and uninformed.

Aesthetically, I personally do not like anything that looks glued or screwed on body panels like an afterthought. Plus, I really love the simplicity and restraint of the twins' rear end design that's not to be messed with!

[swaq]

Originally Posted by typericey

My .02 on the topic of spoilers: I think they are pretentious, ricey and useless. Plus they add a few pounds of weight. Unless anybody can show me numbers that it actually helps with our cars' aero and downforce, a spoiler (or any piece of aero kit for that matter) stays out of my car. To me, aeros only belong to F1 cars, Veyrons, Huayras and such exotica. I could also be stupid and uninformed.

Aesthetically, I personally do not like anything that looks glued or screwed on body panels like an afterthought. Plus, I really love the simplicity and restraint of the twins' rear end design that's not to be messed with!

Cd without spoiler: 0.29
Cd with spoiler: 0.28
http://www.subaru.com/content/downlo..._BRZ_specs.pdf

So unless Subaru is lying in their specs the spoiler is functional.

[thill]

Had the dreaded check engine light come on today.. The car was running just fine and the temperature was low. I pulled into a restaurant (Culvers!) and had a meal with the family. The car started just fine and no CEL. Drove about 8 miles with no issue.

I will keep my eye on it. If it happens again, I will call the dealer and see what they want me to do, but per all the threads on this, this seems pretty normal for the car.

Rather frustrating on a 4 day old car.

EDIT. Called the service department and they told me if the CEL was not flashing that the car should be okay, but if it happens again to bring it in so they can pull the codes. I really hope I am not stuck not having my car for several weeks while I wait for a new ECU like so many others.

One thing I forgot to mention. Previous to starting the car and getting the CEL, I had hit the shutdown button to shut the car down. It started to shutoff but I don't think I held the button long enough and the car shuddered and then started again... I am thinking this is the cause. I just went out for about an hour running errands and no issues at all except I need to really watch my speed with this car. It is deceptively fast.

[GNS]

Originally Posted by Xenocide117

Idk how they got so far away from the regular Genesis with the Coupe. The old one was a good looking car. The refresh is a butter face.

Hyundai is like the Samsung of the automotive world - make a product, steal design ideas from other companies, tack on their homegrown design ideas (usually with disastrous consequences), pack it full of shitty gimmicks at the expense of the consumer (the Galaxy S4 16gb only has 8gb of usable space), crap them out as fast as they can and sell them to the "value conscious" consumer.

Now that Peter Schreyer is design president of both Hyundai and Kia (a recent appointment), we should see a marked improvement in design quality going forward.

[OakmanSmalls]

My initial experience was the same. Test drove an frs and didn't get to really "drive" the car. Interior was ok but I wasn't impressed. I was coming from a 325 Whp sti and couldn't settle...until I met the brz. I loved the interior and it felt like a subaru, something I've grown accustomed to. So while the sti was in the shop getting some stuff done, I ended up ordering my DGM premium. It comes tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited.

[thill]

Originally Posted by OakmanSmalls

My initial experience was the same. Test drove an frs and didn't get to really "drive" the car. Interior was ok but I wasn't impressed. I was coming from a 325 Whp sti and couldn't settle...until I met the brz. I loved the interior and it felt like a subaru, something I've grown accustomed to. So while the sti was in the shop getting some stuff done, I ended up ordering my DGM premium. It comes tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited.

Very cool, are you keeping the WRX as well?

[thill]

Having now put just under 200 miles on the BRZ, I feel I can give more detail on the Gencoupe vs BRZ:

- Exterior styling. I realize this is more of a personal opinion, but I have always preferred the look of the twins to the Gencoupe. The front end of the Gencoupe is quite polarizing, and while I did not hate it, I never loved it either. The BRZ is, IMHO, just a better looking car. That said, the BRZ exhaust is rather weaksauce looking compared to the Gencoupe, and the tires on the BRZ still look too narrow (that can be fixed). I would give the BRZ the nod here though. The car is much lower to the ground and looks more, to me, like a true sports car. I think the Gencoupe styling is more polarizing and will most likely not age as well long-term.

- Interior styling. This is probably a wash for me. Both cars have nice looking interiors and use good materials. I liked the stitiched leather look of the Gencoupe dash, but prefer the other plastics in the BRZ (for example plastics around the window and door locks is cheaper looking and feeling on the Gencoupe). The pretty much useless analog gauges (MPG, temperature, boost) in the center stack of the Gencoupe are a negative, but I also think the analog speedometer guage in the BRZ is equally useless (I always check the digital speedometer to verify my speed). The radio unit in the BRZ, for me, is not as good as the Gencoupe. I liked having some steering wheel controls, that said, I do not miss them as much as I thought I would as the BRZ head unit is right there at fingers edge. I just wish the touchscreen buttons were much larger (for example changing radio channels that have been preset). One of my complaints with the Gencoupe bluetooth was that it sometimes lost sync right in the middle of making/taking calls which was annoying. The BRZ has not lost sync once. The driver seat in the BRZ, for me, are superior. I am more comfortable in them, and the driving position is much better. There is definitely more room in the backseat of the Gencoupe and better legroom for backseat passengers. Although neither is comfortable for anyone over 5'5" I really don't think there is a winner here. Both have pros and cons. I would give it a tie. But if this were the FR-S I would have to give the nod to the Gencoupe for interior styling and finish. That said, for me, the driving position is really important and the FR-S and BRZ are superior here. So that may be enough to tip the scales for most people. Both cars offer nice features like push button star and perimeter keyless entry. The Gencoupe only offers Xenon headlights in the far more expensive 3.8 Track version.

- Driving characteristics: Here is where the cars are quite different (and where I want to spend the most time discussing the cars). The Gencoupe is based on the Genesis sedan platform. It is a larger and heavier car (roughly 700 pound difference) and you can feel it immediately. You sit up higher in the Gencoupe and the driving position is not as good. That said, the Gencoupe has a little better visibility and it took me awhile to get my blindposts covered in the BRZ. The Gencoupe has good handling. It is fairly responsive, but the Gencoupe has more understeer, and it relies a lot more on the tires to keep the car under control. Throttle response is not as good with the Gencoupe, and a big complaint I had about the Gencoupe was rev hang. The BRZ has far more feedback when driving the car and, for me, it instilled much more confidence when taking a tight turn quickly. It is not that the Gencoupe was hard to steer, it just requires you to think more, where the BRZ is so intuitive, and well, fun to drive around a tight turn. The gearbox is zero contest. In fact the more I drive the BRZ, the worse the gearbox in the Gencoupe seems. The throws in the BRZ are so much shorter. The shifter is notchier and it is hard to miss a gear. In the Gencoupe the throws are much longer and far more vague. 2nd to 3rd was sometimes easy to miss, and 6th gear is a huge long throw. There is simply no contest here. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate the BRZ a 9 and the Gencoupe a 5 (at best). Hyundai has to correct this for the next model. Subaru and Toyota should change nothing. It is that close to perfect. Like the gearbox, steering in the Gencoupe is just more vague. Less driver feedback, more electronic feeling. Again not close. BRZ all the way. The car simply feels much more balanced and intuitive to drive and is just so damn fun to drive through a tight corner. I find myself smiling driving the BRZ through a corner, whereas in the Gencoupe, I want to just get through the corner so I can punch it on the straightaway. And that is where the Gencoupe has the big advantage. The car has a lot more horsepower, and makes gobs more torque. Peak torque comes quickly withthe Gencoupe and I always loved it when the turbo was making full boost. It is a blast. That said, the rev hanging and somewhat noticeable turbo lag were annoying. But in a stop light race in a straight line there is really no contest here. But I will say the BRZ is not slow. It is a quick car, but the engine responds better with higher revs. Once you get used to the powerband and where the torque dip is, you can compensate. It just takes more work. I still think the BRZ needs more horsepower and torque. Not a ton more either, just a little more I don't want a 300hp 300 ft lbs of torque in this car for a daily driver. Honestly, 20-40 more hp and 20-30 more ft lbs of torque would do it for me. This said, there is no contest here for me. The BRZ is the better drivers car. It is just so much more fun to drive, especially on a curvy road. The Gencoupe, behind the wheel, just feels and drives more vague. It is not a bad car at all. It is just not as good as the BRZ. That said, if you want a stop light racer, the Gencoupe would be the better car.

- MPG is close, but I am averaging about 2mpg better in the BRZ vs the Gencoupe when driving them comparatively. Over time, the BRZ might actually be up closer to 3mpg. But I doubt this is a deciding factor for anyone buying a RWD sports coupe. Pretty impressive the Gencoupe gets close gas mileage considering how much heavier the car is, and considering how much more hp it makes.

In the end, I liked the Gencoupe. It is really not a master of anything, but somewhat good at everything. I love the BRZ. It is just such a great drivers car. So much fun to take out in a twisty road. The loss of hp and torque is more than offset by the driving characteristics of the car (the driving position, the gearbox, the handling, the feedback).

For someone considering these cars, you really need to do an extensive test drive back to back. I think the Gencoupe has so much power, many people don't notice all the little quirks the car has vs the BRZ. Which feels slower right away, but is a car that shines on a twisty back road.

[autobrz]

Thanks for the review. One thing though, the BRZ does not need wider tires. I actually think wide tires make a car look fat and heavy. Why would a light car need really wide tires to accelerate or go around turns? Even people who race the twins found 17x8 wheel with 225 width tires is the fastest around a track for stock power. If you park a BRZ next to a MR2 spyder on stock wheels (15f/16r), the BRZ's wheels and tires will look heavy and bulky while the mr2 spyder will look very nimble in comparison just there sitting still.

IT's just my opinion but I thought I'd give you another point of view to consider.

[s0sl0w]

All it took was one sit in a gen coupe at the auto show to know it wasn't right. Felt like a big car trying to be small and failing miserably at it.

And it looks like a minger.

[thill]

Originally Posted by autobrz

Thanks for the review. One thing though, the BRZ does not need wider tires. I actually think wide tires make a car look fat and heavy. Why would a light car need really wide tires to accelerate or go around turns? Even people who race the twins found 17x8 wheel with 225 width tires is the fastest around a track for stock power. If you park a BRZ next to a MR2 spyder on stock wheels (15f/16r), the BRZ's wheels and tires will look heavy and bulky while the mr2 spyder will look very nimble in comparison just there sitting still.

IT's just my opinion but I thought I'd give you another point of view to consider.

Good point. I came across this today:

A little research and a call to the experts at TireRack.com had four of Bridgestone’s RE-11 ($201 each) extreme summer performance tires on their way to our office. I decided that a softer, more aggressive compound in the relatively skinny stock size might find a magical balance between grip and fun. Besides, the stock wheels at 17x7 inches won’t handle too much wider than a 215 and larger, heavier wheels mean more cost and more weight. Turns out, the choice was damn near perfect. Run after run on our figure-eight pad showed that the Bridgestones significantly improved the car’s time, dropping a lap around our course from 26.3 to 25.8 seconds – that’s a big change, minor as a half-second may sound. Average lateral Gs also improved, from 0.90 to 0.95. Best of all, while the car clearly had more grip, once that grip was exhausted by the higher speed of the car, it will still slide around plenty. It’s just a bit more work to get the lurid drifts that come so easily on the Michelins. Turn-in is a bit crisper, likely due to the Bridgestones’ stiffer sidewalls, but ride comfort is comparable to the OEM rubber even if tire noise seems to have increased slightly.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...#ixzz2VBSOawWH

[thill]

Originally Posted by Marchy

17x8 and a 225 tire sounds perfect,

http://www.roadandtrack.com/special-...transformation

This test was even more revealing. Man.. I wish Toyota and Subaru would have made the Dunlop Star Spec the standard tire. Huge difference around the track.. Will really need to consider these once the Primacy tires start to wear down...

[OakmanSmalls]

Originally Posted by thill

Very cool, are you keeping the WRX as well?

Unfortunately no. After being in the shop it was determined a head had warped and the cost to fix it and the new brz was just too much. Plus the STI wasn't payed off yet. So I finished the repair and got rid of the sti. I've been deployed all month but will pick up my new BRZ when I get home. Hueberger has been great about holding it for me and being patcient w me being gone