Subaru’s BRZ track rat is fun, affordable — and finally fixed
LIME ROCK PARK, Connecticut — Short but sweet, Lime Rock is one of America’s most formidable race tracks. It features double-apex turns, elevation changes and the Diving Turn — a heart-inyour-throat downhill bend.
But my 2022 Subaru BRZ tester likes Lime Rock’s new interior autocross track best.
This is the natural habitat of BRZ, one of the industry’s most entertaining sports cars. Entertaining for its quick reactions, low center of gravity and precise manual shifter. Whether at Lime Rock or your local parking-lot autocross, the Boxer Rearwheel-drive Zenith (BRZ) earns its name. You’ll find yourself grinning as you fling it from pylon to pylon.
But for the first time, the heavily revised Subaru is also not a fish out of water on big tracks thanks to its new 2.4-liter Boxer 4-cylinder mill.
A quick story: My son Henry coveted the Subaru BRZ for his first car. He loved the low-slung chassis, fastback and roomy 2+2 seating.
When I got a BRZ to test in 2014, I called him in Chicago. When he arrived, I had the manual BRZ with our six-speed 2006 Honda Civic Si in the driveway. The solid Civic was the car my two boys were raised on. They tracked it, traveled in it, bonded with it.
After testing the speedsters back-to-back on twisty roads, I could see the verdict in Henry’s face. He was disappointed. BRZ’s handling was expectedly quick (though Si is no slouch), but not enough to overcome the lack of grunt. Despite boasting 200 horsepower on paper — equivalent to the Si —
the Subaru was no match for the Honda’s punchy, high-revving VTEC engine.
He returned to Chicago with BRZ scratched off his shopping list.
The 2022 model makes up for lost ground. Subaru engineers have thrown out the ol’ 2.0-liter and replaced it with a beefier, 2.4-liter flat-4 cylinder that pushes out 228 ponies and 184 pound-feet of torque — meaningful increases of, respectively, 28 and 33 over the original car.
Don’t get me wrong, I adore the sports car shape. But next to affordable rivals like the MX-5 Miata, Ford
Mustang HiPo and Chevrolet Camaro 1LE, BRZ lacked distinction.
The new BRZ is better. Flared side gills, sculpted rocker panels, duck tail. Fascia features are properly integrated, where before they looked stuck-on Mr. Potato Head-style.
Speaking of curves, BRZ rotated through Lime Rock’s corners with confidence, a hallmark of Subaru engineering. Their signature Boxer engine with its horizontally opposed pistons (as opposed to taller V-6 and inline-4s) has been the standard in the industry for low center of gravity. The first-gen car was as low as a Tesla Model S (its batteries slung low) — and the new ’22 model is bettered only among gas-powered cars by the $160,000 Porsche 911 GT3 track monster, which itself benefits from a flat-6 Boxer engine.
The $30,000 Subaru can hardly compete with Porsche’s leading-edge suspension upgrades like rear-wheel steer — but it does manage sophisticated handling tools like a stabilizer bar bolted directly to the frame for increased stiffness.