Hello =D, WRB MT BRZ Sport Tech (markham ontario)

[funcheung]

Just picked up my WRB MT Subaru BRZ Sport Tech from Subaru Mississauga July 6
Traded in my 2011 Subaru STI
Canada doesn't offer it in Lightning Red, so I will have to slowly grow into the blue. I was always a fan of red. However it is still a stunning and eye-catching sports car on the streets.
Initial Impression
If you are a person who values POWER over all else in a car's characteristic, I suggest you stop reading now! Haha
I have to say this car is VERY well priced. Its worth your money. I love how they researched into how a car enthusiast wants to feel in a car. They managed to include things that we want, and take shortcuts (or omit) things we car enthusiast do not care about. Hence keeping the curb weight low despite modern car standards, and keeping the price low.
Interior and Comfort
First things I noticed is how nicely the steering wheel, pedals, shifter, and handbrake is placed. You are nicely planted into a racecar type of feel. The clutch is short (like how sports car is suppose to be), and it feels like a engagement point is about 80% of the way up. VERY easy to drive. Steering wheel is a balanced size, although if you are a frequent track driver you may want to change it out for a even smaller one. Shifter is not completely smooth. Its the ones where it clicks in to each gear, so you can feel when you have shifted. Its actually fun to keep changing gears. Its not as hard to shift as a Subaru STI which i hated for. I have had a bad habit of shifting fast where when my foot starts to pressure down on the clutch, my hand is already moving the shifter, and once my foot comes back out into the engagement point, I would have punctually shifted into gear. In the Subaru STI because the clutch was deep and the shifter was hard to shift, I would often grind the gears because my foot was out before I had shifted into gear. Hasn't happened in the BRZ. The handbrake position is PERFECT. This car was MEANT for you to go sideways.
Engine & POWER
Not much to say. Its enough. I am not the engine power type of driver. But if I'm cruising in 80km/hr in 6th gear and I suddenly need to bump it up for 100km/hr. Its there! Doesn't feel like it needs to strain itself to get there like a Honda with no low end torque. And obviously its not a stupid Turbo car, so no lag. God I hated my STI. When I drove the BRZ, I loved shifting down and rev matching. Everytime you hit the accelerator, there is this initial Intake sounds sucking in air plus the little growl of the Inline 4 Boxer engine.
Chassis/Handling
Honestly, I don't know. I haven't tracked it yet. Although I'm not pro enough to bring out a car's full potential, it is still possible to get a sense of its characteristics. The chassis feels great though and its easy to break out the tail if you throw it a bit. I did it in a right turn on an intersection. Although the handling target was a Porsche Cayman S, do not expect the body to be as solid. Remember there is a $60k difference. But for its price, I think its amazing. Even when I play music with hard bass, the interior plastic doesn't rattle like it does in a WRX or STI. The door panels, handles, and dashboard doesn't feel as flimsy as you would expect a $30k vehicle to be. I am glad Toyota did the interior design since Subaru sucks at it. To give you a sense of how compact the car is, when you shift into first gear from neutral at a complete stop, you can feel the gearbox clicking in with your ass HAHA. However you can see that less was spent on the interior. From the cheap ceiling and sun visors, to the crappy air vent flaps, and onto the thin and flimsy glove compartment, you will understand why the car can stay affordable. Hell I could care LESS about those things. Its only for people who care what a car HAS, oppose to consumers who care how the car feels. How you feel the road with your hands on the steering wheel, to every gear change, to every corner, fed to your ass that's nicely wrapped in perfectly balanced seats which are the border between comfort, and full fledged racing bucket seats.
YOU DO NOT NEED AN UGLY CF HOOD!!! The hood is so amazingly light!!!!
Complaints
Well, no big ones, just little things some of you may or may not care about. There is not built in bluetooth, so if you plan to get the upgraded package, be prepared of this ugly MIC sticking out from the ceiling where it connected to you windshield. Also I do not like how the strap on the seats to hold the seats belts unbutton so easily. Every time I have to carefully tug my seatbelt. I also do not like the small volume button on the NAVI. YES its small!!! Very often when changing the volume my finger joints will hit the touchscreen and change something! LOL. Also I am just a young dude, I do not need a 4 seater not that it could really hold anyone based on the position of my seat when I drive. I rather save that 30 to 50lbs of back seat, and not have to waste time/money to remove them. AND if you remove them, there is no platform left to hold your set of racing tires!!

Overall this is seriously the bang for the buck in my opinion. You get everything a REAL driver needs, and all the things you don't need are omitted so you don't have to pay so many extra costs. Yes the genesis may have similar pricing and a ton of gadgets inside for a good price. But in my opinion, Hyundai has only targeted the market of consumers who think its a good price for a car that has everything. But by having everything, they do not spend on R&D on how a driver wants to feel in a car. People want horsepower so they bolt on a even bigger Turbo in the 2013 Genesis coupe that's worse on the engine. Why don't they develop the engine harder to bring out the BEST in a NA engine instead of just forcing it to pump out more. Maybe I'm just bias because I hate Turbo. I want to just get in the car and go out on the track when I want to, and stay put and rest when I don't. I don't want to bother with all these tweaking settings, cooling down the Turbo, getting bigger Intercooler so the water temperature doesn't overheat, blah blah blah etc.



see you other owners around =D, I just saw the same WRB BRZ Sport tech on Unionville Main st last nite, hope we can meet up LOL


Also my car will be oftenly parked outside my restaurant Golden Elephant on Steeles and Silver Star BLVD for those who want to take a look at it =P

[funcheung]

almost for forgot to add that i love to drive in slipper in the summer, on the street or at the track. Its very comfortable with the pedal position in this car!

[percyng]

Congrats!!! I love to see a Rally Blue BRZ but never have a chance. In fact I haven't seen any other BRZ on the road yet in Calgary except for mine, lots of FRS.

And I agree that the NAV volume button is too small and I always touch the screen when turning the volume, I don't have a big finger either. Also I found the USB cable in the glove compartment is too loose, I had experience 3-4 times the USB plug is too loose and it disconnect my ipod.

[pizzahead20]

Originally Posted by funcheung

see you other owners around =D, I just saw the same WRB BRZ Sport tech on Unionville Main st last nite, hope we can meet up LOL

Hey funcheung that was me. Haha. I was going to pull up next to you but you turned into the parking lot so I didn't bother. We really need a brz/fr-s meet soon. Looks like we have more than enough cars now!

[funcheung]

Originally Posted by pizzahead20

Hey funcheung that was me. Haha. I was going to pull up next to you but you turned into the parking lot so I didn't bother. We really need a brz/fr-s meet soon. Looks like we have more than enough cars now!

Oh yea i pulled into the parking lot to wait for my friend. Whats funny is that when my friend was waiting to turn left from hwy7, he saw you turning right. He thought you flashed your lights at him and thought it was me. He turned around and followed you untill like warden 16th when he finally called me to ask where i was headed, n i said "uh did you follow the wrong BRZ?"

[Reflections]

Trading a 2011 STi. That's quite the difference! Seems like you weren't enjoying the STi and I guess the BRZ is a nice change for the positive.