WR Blue MT BRZ (Hong Kong)

[YW-Slayer]

Picked it up this morning.

Initial impressions: Feels pretty good. Haven't pushed it beyond 4Krpm yet, but while there's not as much torque as the Legacy, it feels quite close since it's obviously much lighter.

Quite noisy (wind noise) on the highway at around 100km/h, but that's expected.

Steering feels pretty good, definitely better than the Legacy and the BMWs (E60, E92), or in fact any other car (Alfa GT, 2011 and 2012 Mustangs, various other random rental Fords) I've driven. But as you can see, I've never driven any other sportscars with highly-rated steering feedback (e.g. Elise) so not sure how it compares to them.

Driving position is great, all switches in exactly the right place, feels quite low and, to me, like a "real" sports car. The analogue speedo IS totally useless as some others have said, but the rev counter and digital speedo are great.

Gearstick seems a bit buzzy, but maybe it's because I just haven't driven a manual for a long time. Definitely need to get back into the groove.

Seems surprisingly roomy in the back even with my driving position, and I think I should be able to fit our rear-facing ISOFIX base and child seat in there - though the manual seems to indicate only suitable for Cat 1 seats and ours is a Cat 0 or 0+ seat.

Haven't tested the stereo properly yet. Stock spoiler looks great to me. Car looks MUCH better in person and with plates (maybe I'm mad) than otherwise.

Now at work, but can't wait to go for another drive later tonight. Only done 38km so far, 20km on it when I picked it up and 18km on the way home. Going to try and hook up an old 250GB rugged hard disk (with MP3s) to the stereo and see if that works with the USB jack.

Overall, very pleased so far.

[gwascopter]

how much it cost in HK

[ayau]

is your rear fog light functional? the USDM models we have are not functional unfortunately.

[ayau]

are there a lot of people in HK with 86/brz? i'll be visiting HK in december and i'm going to keep and eye out for these cars.

[YW-Slayer]

1. HK$418,800 due to our First Registration Tax (disincentive to buy a car). So around US$53K.

2. Haven't tested the rear foglight yet. I suppose it should work? We don't get much fog here.

3. I haven't seen any other 86s/BRZs around, though my friend who drives more often around the territory than I do says he has seen a few. This should be the first batch of "official" cars here, the others (apart from maybe 1 or 2 86es) are all parallel imports from Japan via dealers other than the official Subaru franchisee.

Although I mainly sat in traffic this morning, one of the more amusing portions was seeing a white E90 M3 CSL slow down when overtaking me so that the 2 occupants could look at the car.

I find the ride very good, perhaps even slightly smoother than my Legacy, which has STI springs and front and rear sway bars.

Ayau, give me a buzz if you're coming over, I'll tell you where you can do some car spotting if you are interested.

[nix]

Congrats man, looks hot!

[ayau]

Originally Posted by YW-Slayer

1. HK$418,800 due to our First Registration Tax (disincentive to buy a car). So around US$53K.

2. Haven't tested the rear foglight yet. I suppose it should work? We don't get much fog here.

3. I haven't seen any other 86s/BRZs around, though my friend who drives more often around the territory than I do says he has seen a few. This should be the first batch of "official" cars here, the others (apart from maybe 1 or 2 86es) are all parallel imports from Japan via dealers other than the official Subaru franchisee.

Although I mainly sat in traffic this morning, one of the more amusing portions was seeing a white E90 M3 CSL slow down when overtaking me so that the 2 occupants could look at the car.

I find the ride very good, perhaps even slightly smoother than my Legacy, which has STI springs and front and rear sway bars.

Ayau, give me a buzz if you're coming over, I'll tell you where you can do some car spotting if you are interested.

yeah, super expensive to own cars in HK. it's only about 28K USD for a top spec BRZ.

how do you order a subaru in HK? are there subaru dealers like we have in the US? i don't see a subaru.hk website. the only thing i found was a company called motor image HK. do they import subarus for HK customers?

i believe the rear fog is connected to the front fogs. all you have to do is turn on the front fogs to see if the rear fog is functional.

[Surok]

the red 86 at WanChai was the first aero kit i saw.... SOoooo good looking!

[YW-Slayer]

Thanks nix.

Ayau, Motor Image are the Asia (ex-Japan) distributors for Subaru products. You can buy cars through some other parallel import retailers/dealers. One of the best-known ones is Richburg, although in a reversal of fortune a few years ago they became the main dealer for Lotus, which had previously been run by Lamborghini Hong Kong. There may be a mark-up, however, it can allow you to bring in cars that the main dealer does not think it is worth bringing in or supporting (e.g. Toyota Mark X, FJ Land Cruiser, Honda Element, Hummers(!!)) or to bring them in before the official dealers have got everything in place (86, BRZ).

I'll have a look at the foglights tonight.

Surok - you mean the one with Crown? I didn't think it had an aero kit. Or do you mean one in the Automall?

[yormaX]

53K for the BRZ, wow your pretty rich. What do you do for a living?

[YW-Slayer]

I should clarify that the Legacy isn't really "mine" (long story). Yes, it's not cheap, but cars are a luxury item here. I'm lucky enough to be a lawyer. It helps pay the bills. Fortunately, the monthly payments on the BRZ are quite low at only a bit over US$1K, since I managed to get an interest rate of 2.25%.

[Walexis]

Congratulations, I hope you did not wait too long for it.

I waited 6 months for the 86 to arrive in HK.

Just wondering:
What kind of radio did they install in your BRZ and do you have a space saver or a full size rim in the trunk?

[YW-Slayer]

Hey Walexis, good to see another twin owner in HK here! We can do a Wednesday/Sunday morning drive sometime if you're interested. Did you get a "hong" or a "sui" car?

The radio is this one:

So not too impressive-looking, though it seems to have all one would need. I want to install a better-looking double-DIN unit, but will see how it goes with this one first. If it works well with my 250GB USB hard drive and doesn't sound TOO bad, then I may just stick with it. They said they could leave it blank but that wouldn't save me any money, so I thought I might as well keep this one here for now.

I have a full-size rim in the boot with full toolkit.

[Walexis]

I have a SMD at 06:30 already at W9.
Care too join?

I got the same radio as you. Sound is okay, just the color clashes with the rest of the lights in our dashboard.