FS MD/DC/NoVA: 2017 Subaru BRZ Series.Yellow

[series.trackday]

EDIT: My timeline for selling the vehicle has changed. My current plan is to offer the vehicle on an online auction site, most likely Cars and Bids, sometime in the November/December timeframe, complete with a independent pre-inspection and professional photos. If you're interested (and haven't already DM'd me about the vehicle), I will update the thread with a new post when the auction will go live.


Asking $28,000. I know it's a lot of money for a BRZ, even a limited production model. Read on and find out why, and why I'm offering it for sale.

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Up for sale is my 2017 Subaru BRZ Series.Yellow with a manual transmission. I purchased the vehicle used from Ourisman Toyota of Fairfax in the fall of 2021 for $31995+TTT (goddamn COVID prices) and since then have added two HPDEs and 6718 miles, bringing the total odometer to 53383 miles. Yes, that's very few miles for 3 years of ownership. The vehicle has been my weekend fun car, and additionally spent almost a cumulative year of that time on a lift in my garage as I slowly upgrade and tinker with it.

From stock, the limited-to-500-units production Series.Yellow was equipped with all of the options of a BRZ Limited, as well as the Performance Pack, which included Brembo 4-piston calipers up front and 2-piston in the rear. It also has blacked-out side mirrors, badges, 17" wheels, and is yellow. Very yellow. The interior features yellow stitching on the seats and trim, yellow-accented door pulls, and yellow seatbelts.

Inside, the vehicle's stock silver-plastic trim around the center console and binnacle, as well as other select interior trim, has been accented with carbon fiber.

Soundworks of Maryland has given the vehicle's A/V system a major upgrade.
The stock 6.2" touchscreen unit has been replaced with an Alpine Halo 9" multi-function touchscreen (ILXF509) with Apple Carplay and Android Auto. All stock functionality, including backup camera and steering wheel controls, have been retained through the use of a Maestro RR module. A USB interface module allow USB connectivity and charging through a port inconspicuously installed in the center console. Additionally, the OBD2 option is included, so you can see vehicle performance data on the screen.

The front speakers have been removed, and in their place are Morel HiFi Hybrid63 3-way component speakers. The 6 inch woofers and the crossovers fit in the stock door locations, with custom baffles and mounts. Additionally, custom mounts have been fabricated in order to allow the larger tweeters to fit in their stock locations behind grilles in the dash corners. The Hybrid63 speakers are driven by a JL Audio VX800/8i 8-channel D-class amplifier and integrated DSP, with twinned channels to provide more watts RMS to each speaker. The rear speakers have been removed and not replaced; a decision I came to after guidance from Soundworks and listening to a similar setup with just the Morels up front. You won't miss the missing speakers, the soundstage is crisp and clear, and the audio is powerful from just these two three-ways.

Replacing the stock spare in the trunk is an 11" JBL Stadium BassHub, powered by a JL Audio JD500/1 Class D mono amp. With it being affixed to the spare tire mount, there's enough power here to vibrate the entire chassis if you chose to do so. Spare is included with sale.

Acudamp and Morel noise and vibration damping has been added to much of the vehicle's cabin, including both doors, the rear pillar area, rear trunk, etc. Even without the audio system on, this now sounds like a much quieter, more luxurious vehicle. Road noise is significantly improved.

As far as aerodynamics go, Verus Engineering two-piece front splitter with "race upgrade", transmission tunnel cover, rear suspension/diff cover, and non-aggressive rear diffuser from the "Ventus Stage 2" kit is included. Installing and tweaking this has been my current "tinkering" project, so depending on how long the sale takes, this may be 20%, 50%, or 100% installed for the seller. Anything that isn't installed will be included with the sale.

Externally, the vehicle has some small rock chips in the front fenders, bumper cover, and front of the hood. There are also a few chips in the front of the rear wheel bulges. Typical paint wear for a vehicle of this age and mileage - and it's more visible due to the yellow paint. There is some marring on the lower-front of the front bumper from contact with a curb going up into my driveway - I learned my lesson and come at it sideways now. The vehicle has always been garaged under my ownership. I've driven in the rain rarely and in the snow once.

Under the car, the rotors and pads were replaced with DBA one-piece, slotted disks and Hawk HPS+ (rear) and DTC30 (front) pads at 53,379 miles. At the same time, the brake system was completely flushed with new DOT3 fluid. In addition, there was some corrosion of the brake rotor bolts and carrier bolts, so they were replaced with new OEM fasteners. I also have a compliment of sealed DOT5 fluid to include with the sale.

Shifter movement during cornering was improved by installing a Whiteline transmission carrier bushing/spacer.

The stock performance exhaust has been removed and replaced with a HKS Hi-Power Muffler SPEC-L unit. This is quieter and has significantly less drone than the TRD unit, although the annoying drone that caused me to swap units would probably be killed by the added sound damping added by Soundworks. I still have the stock exhaust, and it can be included in the sale if desired. Otherwise, I'll scrap it.

The suspension has received a very thorough upgrade, and I don't just mean the two-way, 32-step adjustable Fortune Auto 520CR coilovers that replaced the Sachs units at the front and rear. The front lower control arms, rear lower camber arms, front tie rod ends, rear swaybar endlinks, front swaybar endlinks, rear traction arms, and rear toe arms have all been replaced with SPLParts fully-adjustable units. The SPLParts units are billet machined anodized aluminum and use a combination of nickel-plated 4130 Chromoly, stainless steel and anodized titanium hardware for the adjusters and fasteners. They're light, strong, will resist corrosion, and are highly adjustable for your street, street-track, full race, or drift needs. The anti-roll bars have been replaced with RaceComp Engineering hollow swaybars and RCE poly ARB mounts. Note that these are the hollow units, designed to provide a high level of stiffness without the weight. They are not the same as the current RCE units and aren't available any longer, to my knowledge. Currently the vehicle wears an aggressive race alignment and a buyer would likely want it dialed back for street-only driving. I would be happy to have a readjustment of the suspension done at my local trusted shop as part of a purchase agreement.

The car currently wears Apex Race Parts 17x9" ET35 APEX EC-7R Forged wheels finished in Satin Black, wrapped with Falken Azenis RT615K+ 245-width tires at all four corners. They're light, strong, and the tires are SUPER sticky. Don't try to drive them when it's wet or cold, though. The stock 17" aluminum wheels with all-seasons are also included with the sale if you want this to be a all-seasons car.

During the period I've owned this BRZ, I've performed three oil changes, using only Motul fully synthetic. The vehicle has seen one track day (oil changed directly after), with never more than 3000 miles before getting fresh oil and filter. The oil drain plug has also been replaced with a Fumoto oil drain valve, enabling even faster/easier oil changes without risk of damaging the oil pan drain threads.

No other modifications have been performed to the motor or transmission. I haven't seen any evidence of oil starvation or pressure issues. Frankly, it's now the motor that's letting the rest of the build down and researching motor swaps VS builds was my next step. Hopefully the next owner will decide what to do with the motor and trans to finish this build out and have something special.

I'm completely confident that a buyer could pick up the vehicle and drive from MD to California without mechanical issues, blasting tunes the whole way. Just be prepared to crank the coil over firmness adjustments all the way down, and you'll be cramped with the extra wheels, tires, exhaust, and other "includeds" with the sale.

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So the motivation question - why sell? Looking at it one way, it's a vehicle I paid $32K + TTT for. KBB says it's worth around $19-20K. And then I spent $16K on the highest-quality parts I could find, and put probably $10K worth of labor into. I've very confident that, even if all of the parts were still available, you couldn't replicate this vehicle for less than $20K plus the cost of a BRZ/86.


The answer is, I came across an ad for a dream car of mine, I ran some numbers, talked to the seller, and soon I'll be the ecstatic new owner of a Lotus. The garage situation won't work out with four cars, and once I have the Lotus all of my effort and money is going to end up going into it. The BRZ will sit out in the weather, barely ever driven, and the build will never be finished. I'd rather send the car along to a new owner who is going to appreciate the modification done to it and is going to keep on improving it and driving it as it's meant to be driven.



I don't have too many photos of the vehicle after all of the modifications; I'm posting this now and will get some after work. I took a couple quick snaps of the vehicle after driving it back from its last suspension/alignment setup and will put those in the post. More photos to come within a couple days.

[dc_hokie]

Nice Build. I PM'd you.