Subaru BRZ
BRZ Premium with 6-speed manual
As good as the BRZ auto is (and it's very impressive), I'm glad I drove it first, because the Premium model with the standard six-speed manual is the purist's delight.
But check your purists preconceptions at the door, because this ain't no stripper model. Perhaps as a nod to Scion's content-cramming technique, all BRZ models come standard with a limited-slip differential; cruise control; eight-speaker audio system with navigation and XM radio; leather-wrapped steering wheel, shift knob, and e-brake handle; soft-touch dash; and black fabric trim. Step up from base Premium spec to Limited, and you get leather/Alcantara seats and surfaces, 17-inch wheels with summer tires (instead of 16s with all-seasons), vented 11.6-inch disc brakes up front, and vented 11.5-inches at the rear.
But back to how it drives. Ergonomics play a bigger factor in the manual as your right hand must frequently leave the wheel to engage the six-speed trans. Shifter position and feel is excellent, lighter yet tighter, and far less rubbery than the WRX STI's hand-built gearbox (the two share the shift knob and lever arm). To be fair, the latter is built for the abuse of a much heavier, 300-hp rally racer. In terms of weighting and crispness, the BRZ is mighty impressive, though I'd still give the Mazda MX-5 the nod in terms of near-perfect positioning.
Why do we still love manuals so much? Because direct control over the transmission allows the driver to really ring out the RPMs and fill the BRZ's cabin with arguably the best exhaust note a Subaru has ever produced. It's loud and not particularly smooth, but completely beguiling and perhaps the beefiest-sounding 200-horsepower four-cylinder engine note around.
Manuals also encourage drag launches and other hooliganism. With VSC Sport on, one-two shifts near the 7400 RPM redline will loudly chirp rear tires. The two-three shift gives only the faintest pip, and not all the time (remember, there are only 150 lb-ft of torque). Wring it out all the way through sixth gear and you can enter SKC's 43-degree banking over 120 mph. At that speed, the BRZ feels stable and planted -- perhaps due to the number of aerodynamic doodads (rear diffuser, double bubble roof, deck wing [Limited only]) that help the car achieve a 0.27 coefficient of drag. We didn't attempt VMAX, but Subaru engineer say a 7450-rpm fuel cutoff limits top speed to 220 kmh -- which is approximately 136.7 mph. To be honest, that seems a bit low.
On the handling course, you can drive the manual BRZ differently than the auto -- upshifting and rev-match downshifting at will -- but you don't have to. Though relatively low on torque, the FA20 is quick to rev and pulls the 2800-pound chassis around with no real flat spots in acceleration. I left it in third gear for two laps of the road course and never felt the need to downshift, except for the tightest of hairpin corners. Staying in second meant bouncing off the 7400-rpm rev limit or repeatedly snicking the fantastic transmission.
Just before I headed out to track for my second stint in the 6MT, a BRZ engineer let slip that the lateral acceleration target is 1.0g I tried to validate this claim on a giant circular skidpad using my patented belly fat accelerometer, but gave up after about 90 degrees in favor of practicing my best Keiichi Tsuchiya impersonations.
As I said earlier, yes, the BRZ will drift, and it is a beautiful thing. The combination of low mass, low center of gravity, and rear-wheel drive creates a neutral-handling vehicle that needs only to be flicked into a corner to get the rear tires breaking sideways (no clutch kicking or other abuse needed). With just enough torque available low in the rev range, and a reasonably high redline, BRZ can keep its tires spinning while the exploratory "dabs of oppo" can be dialed in. This very different from the Miata/MX-5, which is only beginning to break sideways at the top of its rev range before you must shift and kill any sideways momentum.
But it's not quite ready for Formula D just yet. While it has the snap to transition quickly from side-to-side and drift-to-drift, the BRZ needs more power to sustain the kind of high-speed drifts that win head-to-head battles. However, it would make a killer track day or autocross racer right off the lot with just a stickier set of tires (and Subaru says you can do that by folding down the rear seats and stuffing the 6.9-cubic-foot trunk with spares and tools. Try that in your Miata.)
Final Thoughts: The BRZ delivers as promised. Handling is as sweet as Orange Tang, but far less artificial-tasting. Power is not neck-snapping, but the car has just enough to make it exceptionally responsive. My frequent Mazda MX-5/Miata references are no mistake; the BRZ is definitely in that Zoom Zoom category of vehicles that deliver grins from pinning occupants to the side bolsters rather than seatbacks. The low mass, low center of gravity, and lack of dive and roll combine with direct steering and excellent outward visibility to create an exceptionally focused and pleasurable driving experience. With the BRZ, instead of adding speed with the gas pedal, you can refrain from subtracting speed with the brakes. The car is about carrying speed and momentum, and will surely be snapped up by auto crossers and track day enthusiasts alike. Our drive was brief, but the takeaway message is that the BRZ is a scalpel in the current rear-drive knife fight.
The 2013 Subaru BRZ will be available in seven colors (black, pearl white, silver, dark grey, dark blue, world rally blue, and red) when it goes on sale in May 2012.
Expected volume for the BRZ is in the neighborhood of 3600-4000 per year and the cars will be built alongside the Toyota GT86 and Scion FR-S at Subaru's Gunma Main Plant. Prices are said to be "very close to the WRX" for base model (Premium), so expect $24,000 for Premium models and roughly $27,000 for the BRZ Limited. As precision surgical instruments go, that's a pretty good deal.
2013 Subaru BRZ
BASE PRICE $24,000 (est)
VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, rwd, 4-pass, 2-door, coupe
ENGINES 2.0 L/200-hp /150-lb-ft (est) DOHC 16-valve flat-4
TRANSMISSION TRANSMISSIONS 6-speed manual, 6-speed auto
CURB WEIGHT 2700 lbs (est)
WHEELBASE 101.2 in
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 166.7 x 69.9 x 50.6 in
0-60 MPH 6.2 sec (MT est)
EPA CITY/HWY FUEL ECON NA/30 mpg (est)
ENERGY CONSUMPTION, CITY/HWY NA
CO2 EMISSIONS NA
ON SALE IN U.S. May 2012
