Motortrend's Best Driver's Car 2012 preview: BRZ vs ZL1, GT500, Aventador, 911s, MP4

[Chewie4299]

Haven't read the whole thread so maybe it's been said but aside from getting absolutely SPANKED in the World's Greatest Drag Race I expect the BRZ to perform very well. They are looking at everything about the cars. The twin has a good chance. Look how the FR-S did when Top Gear did a similar test.

[NESW20]

a driver's car should have 3 pedals. leave the flappy paddle gearboxes for the racing machines.

[Tbxgz]

First videos are up! BRZ was 2nd to go in the first batch of hot laps with Randy Pobst.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38WqRJf7So8"]2013 Subaru BRZ Hot Lap! - 2012 Best Driver's Car Contender - YouTube[/ame]


Randy Pobst's Impressions:

On handling...
The balance is so good. I don't have to turn the steering wheel much and the balance doesn't change much through the corner, which is one of the things I really appreciate about the Subaru. I can enter the corner hard on the brakes, standing on the nose, and turn in. Yes, there's a little roll and no, there's not a lot of tire grip -- it's not a real strong, grippy tire -- but the balance is good through the entry phase. I add some power and it frees the car up a little bit. Just a little, right in the middle of the corner. After that, it just hooks up and drives off in beautiful shape. I can carry full cornering speed right to the exit. I know right where the car is going to go, right where it's going to be, so it's predictable. It's stable without understeer. That's a wonderful thing and I don't think that's easy to achieve.

On the brakes...
I had genuine brake fade, this was pad fade. The pedal was not soft. I could smell the brakes by the end of the second lap and by the third lap -- I did a third lap, too, partially just because I wanted to -- but I could feel clear fade. Firm pedal, but losing stopping grip, which is probably pad fade. I could smell the pads, too. Maybe they've never been that hot before.

On the engine...
The engine just doesn't want to be flogged all the way to redline -- it really doesn't. I'm shifting a couple hundred RPM below that. The engine is not the sweetest engine there is, but it has a broad power curve, makes it very usable. Needs more power. It wants it. I'd put more tire on it, too. I just like power. I don't really believe in that "this is enough power" theory, but power does really change a car's character. It's a lot more difficult, I think, to make cars handle well when they have more power. I think I would supercharge it so you don't lose that precision in the power delivery.

Overall...
Fabulous car! Oh my God! I mean, really just a wonderful and satisfying experience. I feel like I can just drive this car right on the edge of the friction circle. It reminds me a lot of my all-time favorites, the MX-5 -- first-gen, second-gen or third-gen. In some ways, it's actually better. It doesn't have the roll that the MX-5 has had all along. What a satisfying ride in terms of...everything.





Todays other contenders- Jaguar XKR-S
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swF3XklaWaE"]2012 Jaguar XKR-S Hot Lap! - 2012 Best Driver's Car Contender - YouTube[/ame]


and the Lamborghini Aventador
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIdkJRMJ-_s"]2012 Lamborghini Aventador Hot Lap! - 2012 Best Driver's Car Contender - YouTube[/ame]

[86BRZ]

I noticed he is too busy riding the Bull and no time left to talk.

[MVJ1975]

Well, looks like "most likely to spin" Jaguar is out of the running.

[Sev]

Thanks for the videos.Didn't seem like he really had anything of substance to say about the Aventador. "Drives like a raging bull" - is that a good thing or a bad thing? Apparently it's a manly thing.

I wonder if there just wasn't anything specific to compliment it on like his commentary with the jag and brz. Might have also been that he drove the Aventador first and they asked him to talk and comment more which he did on the jag and brz. I noted that he started off the brz saying "you're definately not dealing with 500 hp" which implies that he drove the Jaguar right before driving the BRZ.

Order of driving:
Aventador -> Jaguar -> BRZ?

[random hero]

BRZ article:

http://www.motortrend.com/features/p...ar_contenders/

[random hero]

Originally Posted by Sev

Thanks for the videos.Didn't seem like he really had anything of substance to say about the Aventador. "Drives like a raging bull" - is that a good thing or a bad thing? Apparently it's a manly thing.

I wonder if there just wasn't anything specific to compliment it on like his commentary with the jag and brz. Might have also been that he drove the Aventador first and they asked him to talk and comment more which he did on the jag and brz. I noted that he started off the brz saying "you're definately not dealing with 500 hp" which implies that he drove the Jaguar right before driving the BRZ.

Order of driving:
Aventador -> Jaguar -> BRZ?

Probst said the Lambo was the only car he had a "moment" in, and thought he was going to spin... not crash .. And ironic the $400k + car w/carbon ceramic brakes had horrible fade and couldn't allow Probst to get a clean lap, when the BRZ had minor fade from hot pads

[Tbxgz]

Originally Posted by Sev

Order of driving:
Aventador -> Jaguar -> BRZ?

I think BRZ was second.

From the article, closing remarks about the BRZ:

Overall...
Fabulous car! Oh my God! I mean, really just a wonderful and satisfying experience. I feel like I can just drive this car right on the edge of the friction circle. It reminds me a lot of my all-time favorites, the MX-5 -- first-gen, second-gen or third-gen. In some ways, it's actually better. It doesn't have the roll that the MX-5 has had all along. What a satisfying ride in terms of...everything.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/features/p...#ixzz246eMfvGZ

Closing remarks on the Aventador:

Overall...Huge power. It is very much a raging bull to drive. This car requires both hands and your full attention. It's actually very, very good under power accelerating off a corner. It can be a little dicey on the way in. Extremely powerful machine, a handful on the way into a corner, and very good under power with lots of traction. Not an easy car to go fast in. I definitely worked up a little bit of a sweat.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/features/p...#ixzz246f1KnGz

Closing remarks on the Jag:

Overall...I was working really hard at the wheel. I was not comfortable at speed. I judge this Jaguar as the most likely car to be spun, even more so than the Lamborghini. It's a difficult car to drive at the limit with the stability and traction control off. On the other hand, it's a very nice car for drifting for the camera, so we probably got some great video and still shots. I can't wait to see that.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/features/p...#ixzz246fLobfJ

Based on those closing remarks, sounds like Randy liked driving the BRZ the most.

[ashtray]

I'm very impressed with Randy's driving ability - and I'll take his opinion of how the car behaves on the track with a lot of weight. Is this competition just about track driving? Or overall?

I'd LOVE to drive that Lamborghini - but I'd literally have no where to drive it. Doing 45mph down town roads? Not exactly small and nimble for my 20-30mph tight canyon roads. Cruise at 80mph on the highway? Just doesn't sound like much fun. Take it on the track? I'd probably wreck it on the first turn. (I love how Randy puts it through the corkscrew! I crash there all the time unless I'm super conservative, and that's in video game world. Real world I'd just crash there every time in a 700hp super car! Hahaha)

Can't wait to see more vids!

[ashtray]

It has more neutral handling than its Scion twin and is less prone to understeer

Wait, I thought the FRS was slightly more prone to oversteer, not understeer???

[Jason0513]

hahaha...

this is going to be nice, I just watched the preview and they gave out something for the brz/86 to hang on already...

1st, editor in chief said its not about horsepower or the price of the car. its about how the car engages you and make you feel confident on the road.

2nd, did you hear pobst saying that he almost ran out of control on the lamborghini? i guess that is a minus factor?... 1 down lol...

3rd, and have you heard pobst making remark on how the brz/86 was able to pick itself out on the corner with satisfying result as a driver? hmm... that sound good also for the brz/86...

downside...

isn't pobst is the one who choose miata over the brz on those old articles?...its a good thing miata is not included...lol i am making excuses already...

and, i am not sure if my theories are correct but top gear made exactly the same segment and they have the brz/86 on top...motor trend and topg gear are two different companies... maybe they dont want to be called a copy cat and make a different result than the others...

hahaha i love the brz so much that i am making excuses already...lol

[b.e]

Originally Posted by ashtray

Is this competition just about track driving? Or overall?

Overall. Look at the preview video, they also take over a road (anyone know which one it is?) and all the reviewers drive all the contenders.

[random hero]

Probst might have some affinaty w/Mazda cars because he was employed by them for years to race in sports car series ... I know he took an extra lap in the BRZ, he enjoyed it that much... would be great to see a >$30 car come out on top of some seriously big $$$ cars