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26 Posts
Having read a few other first impressions on this forum, I thought I would chip in with my thoughts too. I have owned my car for about a week now - I drove it back home a couple of hundred miles from the dealer and took in some winding country roads. Have driven it around town since and am adding revs every hundred miles or so to try and break it in somewhat gently. I have been a bit impatient so am already at 6k rpm after 400 miles but hey, it’s a modern car…
Some background, because I think context is important when listening to opinions. I have bought this car as a mixed daily driver for me/my son and as a track car for me. I have owned several high performance vehicles (400 - 500 hp) and I have mostly owned European cars. This is the first Japanese car I have owned in fact. My track experience has recently been with a Porsche, which I still own but don’t want to track anymore. I read up on the new BRZ and liked the reviews. The price point and performance is perfect for a mixed daily/track car and I have witnessed how a well driven first gen BRZ can embarrass faster cars on track. It’s a perfect car for learning to be a better track driver, in my view.
Likes:
Low down torque is plenty - you don’t have to drive it hard to get it to pull. Of course, I am looking forward to revving it out but there is no real need to go beyond 4K rpm in every day situations.
Visibility is excellent - really impressed by this!
Seats are supportive and comfortable - not sure how well they can take harnesses - it would have been nice to see some sort of harness “guides” incorporated in the seats of a car like this.
The handling is superb - this thing is going to be super fun on track. It corners easily as well as my Porsche - interested to see how it handles at the limit. Body roll is low in my opinion, contrary to what some others have observed. I haven’t pushed to track levels of cornering speed on the road of course.
Ride quality is better than I would expect for a car like this.
The overall look of the car is nicely aggressive compared to the first gen, in my eyes at least.
Steering feel and response is quick and precise with plenty of feedback.
Dislikes:
The accelerator mapping is weird - slowish to respond to input but even slower to respond to taking your foot off the gas. This causes an initial rise in revs when I change gear quickly and press the clutch in. Doesn’t help with smooth gear changing…This is probably my biggest and only serious disappointment with the car.
The pedals are not well set up for heel and toe (for me) - the accelerator needs to be longer - I am sure this can be fixed fairly easily.
Road noise is very high at highway speeds. I felt like I needed ear plugs at times on the way home from collecting it. That said - the dealer had massively overinflated the tires, but lowering the pressures doesn’t seem to have helped much. Probably a different tire would address this, but generally I am a fan of Michelin tires.
The stereo is poor - maybe I need to play with the settings more but it is essentially useless at highway speeds. Calls via CarPlay haven’t been too good either.
The gear change feel is a bit loose (the context of me being used to a Porsche 6 speed is important here though…) Maybe this can be addressed by a short shift kit. It isn’t awful though and is fine around town.
Why are the exhaust tips not flush with the bumper?! I have adjusted them outwards as far as possible but they need to come out another few cm’s to look right!
The front license plate mount that is incorporated into the front is disappointing - I tend to run without a front plate but it looks rather obviously missing!
Why can’t I change the units for the temperature like I can with all other units? I am from Europe - I don’t know what a Fahrenheit is!
Overall I am really happy with the car. It has plenty of performance and is great value. These things are going to be very popular. A friend who owned a Gen1 drove it and immediately felt that it was a much improved car - particularly the engine. Oh - as for the engine sound through the speakers - I can’t say I would have noticed. It sounds better with a few miles on it. I am happy with it - it isn’t intrusive nor does it sound false to me. I don’t plan to modify this car other than harnesses and brakes (eventually - the brakes feel like they have plenty of performance to match the tires) - but it’s easy to say that now!
Some background, because I think context is important when listening to opinions. I have bought this car as a mixed daily driver for me/my son and as a track car for me. I have owned several high performance vehicles (400 - 500 hp) and I have mostly owned European cars. This is the first Japanese car I have owned in fact. My track experience has recently been with a Porsche, which I still own but don’t want to track anymore. I read up on the new BRZ and liked the reviews. The price point and performance is perfect for a mixed daily/track car and I have witnessed how a well driven first gen BRZ can embarrass faster cars on track. It’s a perfect car for learning to be a better track driver, in my view.
Likes:
Low down torque is plenty - you don’t have to drive it hard to get it to pull. Of course, I am looking forward to revving it out but there is no real need to go beyond 4K rpm in every day situations.
Visibility is excellent - really impressed by this!
Seats are supportive and comfortable - not sure how well they can take harnesses - it would have been nice to see some sort of harness “guides” incorporated in the seats of a car like this.
The handling is superb - this thing is going to be super fun on track. It corners easily as well as my Porsche - interested to see how it handles at the limit. Body roll is low in my opinion, contrary to what some others have observed. I haven’t pushed to track levels of cornering speed on the road of course.
Ride quality is better than I would expect for a car like this.
The overall look of the car is nicely aggressive compared to the first gen, in my eyes at least.
Steering feel and response is quick and precise with plenty of feedback.
Dislikes:
The accelerator mapping is weird - slowish to respond to input but even slower to respond to taking your foot off the gas. This causes an initial rise in revs when I change gear quickly and press the clutch in. Doesn’t help with smooth gear changing…This is probably my biggest and only serious disappointment with the car.
The pedals are not well set up for heel and toe (for me) - the accelerator needs to be longer - I am sure this can be fixed fairly easily.
Road noise is very high at highway speeds. I felt like I needed ear plugs at times on the way home from collecting it. That said - the dealer had massively overinflated the tires, but lowering the pressures doesn’t seem to have helped much. Probably a different tire would address this, but generally I am a fan of Michelin tires.
The stereo is poor - maybe I need to play with the settings more but it is essentially useless at highway speeds. Calls via CarPlay haven’t been too good either.
The gear change feel is a bit loose (the context of me being used to a Porsche 6 speed is important here though…) Maybe this can be addressed by a short shift kit. It isn’t awful though and is fine around town.
Why are the exhaust tips not flush with the bumper?! I have adjusted them outwards as far as possible but they need to come out another few cm’s to look right!
The front license plate mount that is incorporated into the front is disappointing - I tend to run without a front plate but it looks rather obviously missing!
Why can’t I change the units for the temperature like I can with all other units? I am from Europe - I don’t know what a Fahrenheit is!
Overall I am really happy with the car. It has plenty of performance and is great value. These things are going to be very popular. A friend who owned a Gen1 drove it and immediately felt that it was a much improved car - particularly the engine. Oh - as for the engine sound through the speakers - I can’t say I would have noticed. It sounds better with a few miles on it. I am happy with it - it isn’t intrusive nor does it sound false to me. I don’t plan to modify this car other than harnesses and brakes (eventually - the brakes feel like they have plenty of performance to match the tires) - but it’s easy to say that now!
