Subaru BRZ
It handles brilliantly on the track, but how did its cut-price sports car formula handle six months of urban-based life?
It’s gone and here are our conclusions
WHY WE RAN IT
Is there a better bargain driver’s car? We don’t think so but need to be sure
“It’s not very fast” was the opening remark a friend made after seeing the specification of our Subaru BRZ. True, 197bhp and a 7.6sec 0-62mph time are nothing to shout about in 2017, but, after six months with the car, I am very aware of how little those things matter.
What matters is the way the BRZ makes you feel as a driver. Anyone can boot a throttle and let their car do the work, but few will be in something so confidence-inspiring that they can balance it on the edge of grip for a dozen or more laps on a drizzle-covered Brands Hatch. The BRZ is very good at that.
Thing is, we knew all that before our WR Blue Mica coupé arrived on the Autocar fleet. It’s a five-star road test car, after all.
What we didn’t know was how running a sub-£30k 2+2 sports car that prioritises driver engagement above all else would leave us. Would its low-slung body chin-slap every speed bump on my urban commute? Would a lack of torque from its naturally aspirated 2.0-litre flat four leave me trailing in the wake of electrified minicabs? I had six months to find out.
In what is fast becoming a tradition for my long-term cars, the opening test involved squeezing three best friends and myself into the BRZ and hauling ourselves up to Leeds for a university reunion. This was a bad decision. In a hot hatchback, such a task should be easy, but in the BRZ, it was a challenge. Anyone taller than 4ft will find the back seats offer no leg room unless the person in front is coaxed into edging forward. This was the option we took, and although it wasn’t unbearable, let’s just say we frequented more service stations on the 225-mile drive than ever before.
Perhaps I’m being too tough on the BRZ. Its maker never set out to produce a load-lugging machine. Subaru did set out to make the BRZ affordable, though, so the sprint up the M1 did prove rather useful in providing some real-world driving data for the car’s fuel economy. Subaru claims an extra-urban return of 44.8mpg, but I was still impressed by the 42mpg average we achieved with steady progress. With a fairly old-school drivetrain (that is, it lacks a turbocharger), I thought this was a stellar effort.
Around town, things were less impressive, with the BRZ often averaging economy in the mid-20s during my stints. The car doesn’t have stop/start, so the average economy figure tumbles in heavy traffic. But that’s not to say the BRZ feels out of place in the city. Its compact dimensions give it a
The BRZ is a supremely competent machine, even in greasy conditions
smaller footprint than a Ford Focus, making it a doddle to manoeuvre through tight town roads and to park. The ride quality over London’s crumbling tarmac is also very good, with the car’s low-speed pliancy more comparable with a regular hatchback than anything sporty.
That’s what makes the car’s composure at higher pace so much more impressive. Subaru’s engineers have given the car fairly low spring rates but enabled it to maintain good body control with clever damping. The results make the car comfortable
and confident, whereas in many hot hatches, the two are mutually exclusive. That the BRZ also feels at home on track is a perfect illustration of how rounded this sports car is. The memory of hunting down a trio of 981-generation Porsche Caymans in the drizzle at Brands Hatch will stick with me a long time, as will the image of the leading driver’s face as I outbraked him into Hawthorn Bend.
The BRZ is a supremely competent machine, even in greasy conditions, where its quick steering (2.48 turns lock to lock) and alert chassis fill you with faith that the car will respond to your every command. It does roll slightly, but this is part of the car’s communication process to let you know you’re approaching the limits of grip. The Michelin Primacy HP tyres don’t offer masses of bite – they’re eco-focused tyres – but they are remarkably consistent and showed very little sign of wear over the car’s 7000 or so miles with us.
Okay, the elephant in the room: as my friend asserted upon reading the car’s spec sheet, it is not particularly fast, but it has just about enough poke to be entertaining and, as I said in a recent report, I’m not sure I’d want a turbocharged engine over this if it meant losing some of the explosive top end power of Subaru’s flat-four. During six months, I met many who recommended I supercharge the engine, to offer the best of both worlds. Were I the permanent custodian of this car, the temptation would be there, but it would not be an overriding one.
And what of the styling? They say you know you love a car when you catch yourself looking back in admiration after having parked up. I did this every time I exited the BRZ. But when I got into the car, the reaction was less of admiration and more of toleration. The central console’s dated controls and retro digital clock didn’t appeal, and the heated seat controls looked like they belonged on an old microwave. But it was all easily forgivable – and, after six months, I almost began to convince myself that these features added to the car’s charm.
So is this the best bargain driver’s car on sale? If, like me, you rarely carry rear passengers, you treasure the adjustability of a rear-drive chassis and you are willing to trade torque for a high-revving engine, then the answer is yes, hands down.