Drove a Subaru BRZ this morning with a friend who is considering buying one. I have to say that the car is damn nice. handling is great and it feels light on it's feet. I didn't really get to push it as the sales guy was in the car and he was a little nervous. The acceleration is nice around town but I'm sure you'd run out of steam at higher speeds. The stock tires are great compared to a camry but ****ty compared to anything i've had on the 997 or 3 series. interior styling is nice but of course it's fabric. The car is as low as the base 997 so the ground clearance is tolerable but probably lower than a stock 325i. It comes with 17" wheels which feel right to me for performance oriented driving. the car seems totally trackable to me. For ~27k new this thing is as nice as anything new off the showroom floors out there (for me RWD and hardtop is a given so that rules out minis). Maybe a BMW 1 series but I think that's a bit more. It'd be a great step up for someone in that Miata/S2000 world.

My friend is in an interesting place- considering BRZ vs. used 996 vs. used cayman. He was considering stretching up to a 997 but that's out of the running now.

Any thoughts/suggestions? The first step on any used porsche would be a clutch/ims/rms if he went that route. If it was me, i'd almost go for the cayman. But then you have to deal with Jeremy Clarkson calling you a Gayman every time you turn around.

 

There's actually a thread on this in the Cayman forum. I own one. You can see my thoughts there.
https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...he-cayman.html

ps. The tires are shyte. Same tire they put on the Pruis. They used them to get the CAFE standards and MPG ratings up. Push them and they let you down really quickly. First mod any BRZ owner should consider doing. You don't even want to know what they feel like in the rain...

 

Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S are essentially the same car. They are fun driving cars for budget minded enthusiasts. Attractive designs but IMO, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe with the new engine is sexier and has better performance.

All three are fun cars.

 

Why not 991 vs BRZ? They dared to compare the two here

 

To drop the "F Bomb", Fords Focus has 50 more ponies under the hood.
I don't remember the nomenclature of their high-performance version, but 25% more HP is significant (250 vs. 200).

 

BTW, the typical BRZ, FR-S driver is the one who always wants to race you.....

Saw a guy in his early 20's a few days ago in a blue Subaru WRX STI, with license plate:

TRYMEV8

 

Nice. I know a guy who had a Mitsubishi Evo with a 5 foot tall wing in back. He had a license plate that said V8HAHA

 

I drove a colleagues BRZ a few weeks ago and it is a very good car, especially for the money. It has very balanced handling and its easy to throw around. The chassis can definitely handle more power but then you have to wonder if you can really use it on the streets. It's not as quick as the Speed3 but it exceeds it in every other area (other than passenger space).

He drove it through some back roads before I drove it and he had it sideways through a couple of corners with ease.

If I wanted a sporty no nonsense DD it would definitely be on my list.

 

It looks like the BRZ is out. I think he's going to go 996. That's probably an OK option for him as he likes to wrench a bit.

 

Does the BRZ sound like the WRX? If so, I couldn't take the exhaust and engine sound.

 

The Subaru flat four has a very unique sound, kind of like the old air cooled 911 flat 6. You can tell a Subaru coming a mile away.