Owner Reviews - Page 17

    CarExpert.com.au

    2022 Subaru BRZ S owner review

    CarExpert.com.au

     2022 Subaru BRZ S owner review

    David Festa purchased this Subaru BRZ new with additional options for $47,245 (including all on-road costs). David Festa would buy this car again because: "I would buy again because the days of dedicated sports coupes with rear-wheel drive, naturally-aspirated engines, and manual gearboxes are limited and I want to enjoy them while I can. It is the anti SUV. Before the turn of the millennium virtually every automotive manufacturer had an affordable sports coupe. Toyota Celica and MR2, Nissan 200SX, Honda Integra and Prelude, Mazda RX7, Alfa GTV, Fiat Coupe are just a few that come to mind. Even Holden had the Calibra. Ferrari and Lamborghini were the poster cars but an affordable sports coupes was what I really aspired to. And as old fashioned as the layout is, the BRZ is the best 1990s sports coupe you can buy today. I like a hot hatch as much as the next person but I love that this car is designed from the ground up for driving enjoyment and is not just a modified shopping trolley. I previously owned a base model 2015 GT86 and after waiting more than a year from the first reveal I found the experience of seeing the new BRZ in person a bit surreal. Years ago I used to sleep in the Doctor’s on call room in the Nurse’s quarters of the old Preston & Northcote Community Hospital (PANCH) in Melbourne. The same building is now an up market hotel and it feels bizarre walking through the place. The walls, foyer and swimming pool are all in the same place but barely recognisable. Everything is the same only better. I have the same experience with the BRZ. You can see the same basic shape of the old car but everything has been updated. The wider rear track makes the haunches more curvaceous, all the design details are more cohesive and the aero slashes on the side are now functional. All the hard points are the same but absolutely everything has been improved. Kudos to Subaru for making so many changes and all of them positive. Often when a car is updated there are inevitably some changes for the worse, just look at the cost cutting in the new Golf GTI interior or their horrendous new user interface. I loved the old BRZ and I love the new BRZ even more. But if, for whatever reason, you did not like the previous model then you may not like this one either. There have been multiple incremental improvements rather than any radical changes and in a lot of ways it remains substantially the same car. Only much, much better. To me it feels more premium and well made, like an expensive power tool, but in no way luxurious or opulent. A BMW or Porsche this is not. "