BRZ Owners, Review / thoughts after living with daily

[pornie]

thanks Orb. I just have this anal thing about lights inside the car, can't handle them. they don't affect my vision, but I do not like having anything bright inside the car at night...

and every sat nav/display (in-dash) that I have run across does dim w/ you turn on the headlights, its more of a question of how far down you can dim it. ideally? off.

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[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by pornie

thanks Orb. I just have this anal thing about lights inside the car, can't handle them. they don't affect my vision, but I do not like having anything bright inside the car at night...

and every sat nav/display (in-dash) that I have run across does dim w/ you turn on the headlights, its more of a question of how far down you can dim it. ideally? off.

As I said, it's proportional with the adjustment knob; I don't believe there's a place to adjust the head unit backlight separately, so you're stuck with the stock adjustment which CAN go low. I don't think you can turn off interior lights though, so you'd be SOL there. In any case, I find the head unit cumbersome and use my phone for nav so if you plan on aftermarket audio it won't be an issue.

[Deslock]

An addendum to my previous post: The frost was enough to get my passenger window "stuck" yesterday morning. I was in a rush so I left it that way, and reset it later (by lowering and raising it). Was a little disconcerting at first, but then I realized how quick and easy it is to fix.

Originally Posted by pornie

a quick question for you all.. how far down can you dim the nav/radio screen for night time driving? In everything I drive, I usually have the interior dimmer set to one click from the dimmest setting.

FWIW, I'm sensitive to lights in the dark and the BRZ's screen isn't too bright for me. If I were you, I'd try it at a dealership (should be easy this time of year given how early the sun sets).

[Masterauto]

Fun and great driver around town on on the road. Radio/nav touch screen and menus suck, gps loses signal often, but sound decent for a Subie. Wish the heated seats got warmer like German cars do. I also own a GT-R and Chevy Duramax work truck, I never feel like this BRZ is underpowered. The gears are ratio perfectly and fun to shift. I upgraded to a high flow cat pipe and picked up 2.5 mpg (now 27 mpg mostly spirited town driving) and much better sound without being too loud.

[Element Tuning]

This car lives for the track! Everything else is going to be a compromise.



For all the little, this isn't a frickin minivan, sacrifices just: enter car, turn off stability control, turn off traction control, and powerslide out your driveway . Every day I leave the office I have a big grin on my face as drift her out of the parking lot

With that said I have the FRS and the Pioneer it comes with sounds great when using bluetooth or the USB stick. Typically factor Subaru stereos and NAV really suck. knowing this would be a race car I wanted either a base BRZ or FRS and the FRS came in sooner so I picked that up.

I had issues with the bluetooth and people not hearing me clearly but I traced that down to the rubber cup holder blocking the mic. You need to insert that so the mic is on the open side.

If you need to put kid seats behind the driver, you'll be hating life

Maybe it's just me but I think the FRS interior is great and not cheap at all. As mentioned the buttons that don't like up pretty lame at night.

I think at $24k the FRS is a steal and I didn't expect the world at that price and I actually got more than I expected. The car itself has taken massive abuse at the track and massive abuse being a Hydra EMS R&D mule for Element Tuning and it's handled it all incredibly well.

With that said my taillights are full of water and my driver's side window squeals like a pig

[Jon G.]

I enjoyed the brz but after previously owning a 06 LGT LTD, and afterwards an 06 STi I just couldn't handle the change and traded off on a 12 sti.

But as far as the car itself, I enjoyed it for what it was and if I could afford too, I wouldn't have minded owning both.

If your not set in having AWD and a turbo and looking for that style of car, I would highly suggest getting one, you won't be disappointed.

Just don't buy mine, they are asking $29k for it with over 3k miles and its a premium.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by Jon G.

Just don't buy mine, they are asking $29k for it with over 3k miles and its a premium.

There's a sucker born every day.

Sell used car for more than new car; profit!

[Masterauto]

If your overweight, old or out of shape this car sits real low. Ya gonna struggle to get in and out.
I like mine just fine but the Nav/radio really needs a better interface and not sure why they have not released one as software driven. The heated seats need more heat on high.

[brianbot5000]

Had my BRZ since June 15th, and haven't had any issues. BUT, and perhaps this is telling - I only have 2400 miles on it. Since the weather turned crappy, I find myself driving my truck instead. For really ****ty weather, even just rain, the BRZ is certainly OK but it's not ideal. Can't wait for spring when the weather gets a bit nicer; until then, I'll stick to dryer days for the BRZ. This reality has me wishing for the days of my WRX with AWD - I felt invincible in that car, like I could go fast in any condition and feel confident. My next car will definitely be a WRX or STI hatchback.

One thing I will say - really really wish the BRZ had steering wheel controls. I was anti before I had the car, but now that I do I hate having just the touchscreen to use for flipping through songs or stations. It's not only annoying but kind of dangerous - more so than other cars I've owned. The WRX (my 2002) didn't have steering wheel controls and it was no big deal, but with this touchscreen it sucks not having them.

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by SubaDuba420

So now that the BRZ has been out for several months I'd like to hear what the owners opinions are after living with the car daily after the initial "awesomeness" wears off. I've read and watched nearly every review, but I'd like to hear the opinion of people who've spent more than 10 hours in the car. After reading the following long term review I figured I'd ask the owners here of similar experiences / opinions.

Good or bad, minor little annoyances you missed on the test drive or major issues requiring days in the shop due to lack of parts availability.

I came from a Porsche Cayman R, and I still couldn't be happier I made the choice to sell the Cayman, pocket some cash, and buy the BRZ. I have been daily driving it for the past 5 months and have just shy of 8,000 miles driven. Whereas I felt like going over 10,000 miles in the Cayman would ruin its resale value so I only drove it a couple days a week to work, I don't worry with the BRZ. I drive it every day, and I have had zero issues with it. It delivers 30 to 32 MPG, and enjoy every drive to work and home.

[Sid03SVT]

I've really gotta get behind the wheel of one of these cars; any takers in the central CT area ;-)

[Jerm95gt04WRX]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I came from a Porsche Cayman R, and I still couldn't be happier I made the choice to sell the Cayman, pocket some cash, and buy the BRZ. I have been daily driving it for the past 5 months and have just shy of 8,000 miles driven. Whereas I felt like going over 10,000 miles in the Cayman would ruin its resale value so I only drove it a couple days a week to work, I don't worry with the BRZ. I drive it every day, and I have had zero issues with it. It delivers 30 to 32 MPG, and enjoy every drive to work and home.

What how is it satisfying after coming from a cayman R? A real cayman R? Jeez hard to believe.

[53x12]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I came from a Porsche Cayman R, and I still couldn't be happier I made the choice to sell the Cayman, pocket some cash, and buy the BRZ. I have been daily driving it for the past 5 months and have just shy of 8,000 miles driven. Whereas I felt like going over 10,000 miles in the Cayman would ruin its resale value so I only drove it a couple days a week to work, I don't worry with the BRZ. I drive it every day, and I have had zero issues with it. It delivers 30 to 32 MPG, and enjoy every drive to work and home.

Who cares about resale value on a car. It isn't an investment. No way I trade in a Cayman R if I am ever lucky enough to own one. Never.

[Jive Turkey]

i came from this:



The ONLY, ONLY thing i miss is my external wastegate so people know i'm there and dont merge/cross the street/get out of my way. the brz by the time i'm done with the brake and suspension would leave the sti for dead on track/auto-x i think, and i'll have more fun doing it

otherwise every day i drive the brz i have **** eating grin on my face because its just a joy. if you dont like driving then this car isn't for you. and it isn't as impractical as most other coupes. i fold the seats down flat and it can actually fit a decent amount of things. i've had 4 people in my car. granted they weren't comfortable but IT IS do able.

i can't wait to start to mod it to my own liking, but as a daily its perfect. its comfortable, has all the creature comforts my NEW sti never had like dual zone climate, key less everything..etc. its honestly just great. while there are some flaws, over all i dont see myself buying anything else new for under 40k that could be this much of a pure joy.

[Calamity Jesus]

Originally Posted by 53x12

Who cares about resale value on a car. It isn't an investment. No way I trade in a Cayman R if I am ever lucky enough to own one. Never.

People who have over-extended themselves to buy something worry about resale. It's a fast way into buyer's remorse. I speak from experience.