Test drove the new Subaru Brz yesterday and must say I was very impressed. The salesman has a test drive route here in Connecticut along some twisty back roads that has me wanting to go ask for another test drive. Obviously with 200hp and 151 lbs of torque it doesn't have the brute power of my Srt 6 but man was it fun. The interior was excellent for a sports car,simple yet with all the modern amenities and the car handled like a dream. As soon as my car is out of the shop I'm going to take it on the same route to see how it feels in the Srt6 . The smooth high revving engine in the BRZ sounds awesome and makes you feel like you are driving a rally car. When the time comes that I want to get out of my xfire this is definitely going to be my next car. I highly recommend anyone into sports cars to take one of these beasts for a ride,you will leave the place smiling I guarantee.

 

So much hype about this car. I agree it looks good, although the rear is a little too reminiscent of the BMW M Coupe for me to totally appreciate it as a novel design. All that said, I still can't get over how vastly underpowered it is. I don't think I would ever be completely satisfied being in car that wasn't as fast as it looked. Sure it is probably involving to drive, well buttoned down in terms of modern updates, handles like a dream, but my Limited at the time had many of those features but it was so dang slow sometimes I just couldn't help but feel underwhelmed. [Gets off soap box. Puts on a flame suit. ]

 

For the money, new, its a bad *** car. I have yet to take one for a spin but i figure it would go exactly as you described. Its a well balanced car and its not meant for drag racing ( it consitently dynos 160-170whp) but the entire sports car experince is there. The STI version should appeal to the srt crowd. Although i read from many sources it will not come turbo. Either way... At 2700 lbs, rwd, and dozens of companies competing for your buck, you can bet there will
Be many performance parts available for this car.

 

I know the 200hp number seems low and I too thought the same thing,that for a sports car it was vastly underpowered. But you have to drive this thing to "feel" how fast it is. Its a small car, smaller than I thought until I saw it in person and I'm not a big fan of high revving,low torque engines but man is that engine sweet. Aside from a few 140 mph blasts in my srt6 I don't really drive flat out that fast very often,I'm more of a twisty back road guy.That's why I have to take my car on that same route to compare.Of course not having the close ratio manual its not going to be as fun but I'm curious to see how the handling of the xfire stacks up.

 

The Subion FR-Z, as we call it around here, I find to be a joke. It's not really a Subaru(lack of AWD) and Toyota wouldn't take ownership of it here in the states(hence the Scion badges). At least it's still a Toyota in Japan. It has been touted as the successor to the E86, so I'm expecting that within the next year I'll see every PR 20-something driving one in Kissimmee. An acquaintance has one, and he's suffered nothing but ridicule over it. Until he smoked everyone in the time attack course a few weeks back. Still wouldn't drive it, having owned a real Subaru before.

 

I've never been one to dismiss a car just because it's not a torque or HP monster. Hell, there's a very good reason why the Miata is so popular as a race car, and why the Spec Miata/Spec MX5 series is such a popular race series - those cars are quick, well balanced, highly responsive and just a blast to drive. Then again, I'm also a huge fan of classic sports racers, and most of those were very limited in HP numbers compared to today's average four door sedan, but still an absolute blast to drive. That said, I actually managed to run down and pass a pair of Spec Miata race cars during my last track day, in my Limited with factory Conti tires on it. Drag racing does absolutely zero for me, and in all the meet ups I've done with other Crossfire members, I never had a problem hanging with the SRT6s on the twisty canyon roads, and I guarantee I was having more fun dancing on three pedals and picking my own gears.

But, at the end of the day, we all like what we like, and want what we want. And we're spending our own hard earned money to get it, so we should all get what we want, regardless what anyone else thinks. It's a free world, enjoy it the way you want to enjoy it!

 

M-in-O, when they let you off the detailing page, you speak wisdom.

 

Well said.

 

Good timing on this.. I was just checking the stats on the FRS today... its got a worse power-to-weight ratio than the n/a Crossfire for more money... I know its a little apples to oranges, but I usually will take the older/cheaper car that's just as good as the new car and spend the extra $$ on upgrades

 

I like it, I like the idea of it... I laughed my butt off when in an article they said it would fit a full set of rims + tires in the back with the back seats down... Supposedly its a tiny bit quicker than the N/A but blows away pretty much everything in handling.... That all makes for an awesome affordable toy. Plus TRD is making aftermarket for it.

 

Au contraire on that turbo version. You will just have to wait.... I can wait. I do it all the time. Never buy a car (any car) the first model year. Wait til it gets all the kinks knocked out, gets a good/reliable turbo, and buy in 2016/7. Should be good on gas mileage for the power too.

2015 Subaru BRZ Turbo - Top Speed

http://blog.caranddriver.com/turbo-v...ower-next-wrx/

 

A guy at work ordered one two months ago. He is still waiting on his color to come in. I was respectful about it but basically told him I would need to wait for the Turbo model...just can't go from a SRT-6 down to 200 hp and really low torque. The high rpm motor with a 6 speed makes up for a lot but not enough. Also, it will be a magnet car for every punk street racer out there. I am old enough where I need to be thinking Porsche not Subaru.

 

Saw one today in Black........nothin special.