The Subaru BRZ almost didn’t happen in South Africa. With the might of Toyota SA and all the export credits it gets for building cars locally and sending them overseas, it’s able to import the BRZ’s sister, the 86, for much less and in bigger numbers.
At R390 000 the BRZ is quite a bit pricier than the nearly identical high-spec 86 which comes in at R352 000 (there’s also a low-spec 86 at R298 500), but at the last minute Subaru SA decided that there was still enough brand loyalty and demand for its take on the simple front-engined, rear-wheel drive sportscar in our market. And so, here it is. But is it any different to the Toyota?
DIFFERENT TO TOYOTA
The technical answer is yes. Subaru engineers gave the BRZ a slightly harder front and slightly softer rear suspension than the 86 in an attempt to give it its own unique handling characteristic. While the 86 is sold as an oversteery drift car for the road (try to find any piece of marketing literature without one pictured in a smoky slide), the BRZ is marketed as more of a stuck-to-the-ground track toy.
But marketing hype is just that – hype. Under those low bonnets lies a naturally-aspirated 2-litre flat-four rated at 147kW and 205Nm (subtract around 18 percent at Gauteng altitude), which isn’t enough grunt to really excite, sideways or not. I’m sorry if that sounds disappointing, but in all honesty, the flat-out performance is underwhelming.
There’s a moment, at around 2500rpm, where it feels as though big things are about to happen, but then it all kind of peters out with a long rev-up to the redline. Boxer engines like this aren’t usually noted for their willingness to rev, and past 3500rpm it sounds and feels like the BRZ is asking for forgiveness rather than more punishment.
HARDLY FAST
Our Vbox test equipment confirmed the inevitable with a best 0-100km/h time of just under nine seconds and the quarter-mile was covered in 16.2. Not exactly numbers to go bragging about, nor are they befitting a car so lowly slung and racy. With these kinds of figures it’s hard to really test the suspension’s fine tunings, but I suppose if you really provoke it with unrealistic inputs, you can get the 17” tyres (the same ones fitted to Prius nogal) to chirp and sing under short moments of duress.
Still, even with its pedestrian power, it’s a fun car to drive. Sitting this low and this close to the road in a sportscar the size of an old MGB GT or Triumph Spitfire (and just about as practical too with laughable back seats and a full-size spare that dominates the boot), can be entertaining even with insufficient engine outputs. If there is a noticeable difference in handling between the BRZ and 86, I didn’t notice it.
The Subaru’s ride is cushioned much better than you’d expect but still suitably sporty, and the short throw six-speed manual transmission that snicks and clicks punctiliously through gears, more than makes up for what it’s lacking elsewhere. I enjoyed rushing it up and down the gates with exaggerated throttle blips that made me feel like I was going faster than I was.
HIGHER SPEC
Subaru SA has tried to add value by extending the BRZ’s maintenance plan to five-years/105 000km (from Toyota’s four-year/60 000km), and has also included a boot spoiler and a locally-made and fitted sports exhaust system as standard kit. The BRZ has a slightly lower-sounding grumble at idle than local 86s, but I wouldn’t say the free-flow increases aural pleasure by all that much as revs increase. We’re told this system adds between 3 and 5kW, which is believable, even though the BRZ had almost identical acceleration figures as the 86 with a standard exhaust that we tested last year.
The BRZ test car came with some other (not standard and not cheap) features as well, with a front splitter (R9964), rear diffuser (R7 226), silver fender vents (R586), STi blue engine cover (R750) and touchscreen radio with navigation (R7349) all adding to the substance of a car that’s otherwise a normal Toyota 86 with Subaru badges.
I’d probably skip all the body bling, but I did prefer the radio with Garmin-based nav to the stock unit, even if it was a bit more fiddly to use than other cars’ factory-fitted ones.
VERDICT
An expensive, albeit somehow understandable, alternative to the 86. However the lack of power can’t be ignored, and regardless of the suspension nuances it’s hard to think of either car as anything but super-accurate sniper rifles that fire plastic pellets.
But, sniper rifles, regardless of what they shoot, look pretty cool. Don’t they? That’s what counts most here.
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