I did it! 2022 Subaru BRZ In My Garage.

I did it! This winter I took my own advice and bought a 2022 Subaru BRZ. Over the last couple of years I’ve written about buying sports cars to keep them on the market, the joys of a small and light car, and even the greatness of rear wheel drive. The BRZ is everything I wrote about in those articles rolled up in single car.

Here is how it all transpired. It wasn’t totally expected and only happened due to some amazing timing.

Out with the old.

I’ve never been someone who rotates through cars quickly. Typically a car will stay in my garage for at least six to seven years, often longer. The only exceptions have been moves outside the continental US where I owned a car while in a country and then sold it off when we moved.

The BMW 435i I owned before the BRZ entered my garage only three years ago. I bought it when searching for something with more power than the Mk6 GTI I owned at the time and rear wheel drive. The 435i checked all of those boxes. It was a quick car and great for long highway road trips. As an added bonus, it was really roomy for a two-door coupe. Medium sized adults fit in the back seat just fine. However, as the years passed I came to realize I never really bonded with the car and it was too big and heavy for autocross events. The car was so competent and isolating at speed, it wasn’t fun until you were well past safe or legal speeds.

Despite the shortcomings, I had no reason to get rid of the car and was prepared to own it for quite some time. Everything came to a screeching halt after a service visit in December of 2021. The car was starting to develop symptoms of a problem which would eventually lead to extremely expensive and complicated repairs. While perfectly safe for normal road use, the issue made the car a poor fit for someone doing autocross or any other performance.

If I was going to get rid of the BMW, the crazy used market conditions in the winter of 2021 and early 2022 was the perfect time. The hunt was on!

The Candidates

Initially, just about any performance sedan, coupe, or hatch was an option. The usual suspects like a BMW 3 and 2 series, an M3, M4, or M2, a GTI, S3, Cayman, current generation Supra, and many others had my interest. I then started to look at vehicles like the first generation FRS/BRZ/86 or a Miata RF. Those two bubbled to the top of the list while the Cayman and Supra also remained candidates. All had shortcomings I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with as a long term owner or had budget-breaking prices, even on the used market..

Everything changed with the release of reviews of the new BRZ/GR86. The new cars turned out to be dramatically improved in many ways which eliminated or reduced my concerns with the first generation cars. The more reviews I read and watched, the more certain I became one was heading for my garage.

Hunting

A couple years ago, I wrote about hunting automotive unicorns. Due to the horrible market conditions, in the winter of 2021 any performance car was going to be a unicorn and a combination of massive interest and low production BRZ or GR86 would be exceptionally rare.

Toyota Down

While both cars are virtually identical, I like the a couple things about the Toyota better, so my local dealership was the first stop. There were nones within hundreds of miles of my location, but the local dealer appeared to have a couple cars inbound. I hoped for a shot at one of those cars or at worst order one and then wait or it to arrive. Those dreams were shattered upon learning the inbound vehicles were equipped with automatic transmissions (a total deal-breaker) and Toyota offered no options for placing an order. With not a single GR86 available anywhere I searched nation-wide, I turned to Subaru.

Subaru Rising

A quick look at Subaru’s online configuration page for the BRZ revealed a button for assistance in finding a car. With nothing to lose, I hit the button, provided my contact information, and figured that would be the end of it. To my surprise, I got a text less than 20 minutes from a local dealership. I learned there were no BRZ’s available anywhere at the moment (something I already knew), but they would be more than happy to custom order one for me. I made an appointment and started to get excited about the getting the car.

Everything was going great right up until the point the salesman tried to place my order. Subaru’s corporate ordering system appeared to no longer allow customer orders that evening. Dealerships were not notified about the halt on orders until the morning after my appointment. At the time, customer orders were exceeding production capacity.

The Surprise

I resigned my self to either fighting nation-wide for an allocation from either Subaru or Toyota or moving on to a different car when the salesman says, “You do have another option…”

The dealership just happened to have the exact car I wanted, color and all sitting on the lot and not listed anywhere. The only catch was this car still belonged to Subaru North America and was destined for the local auto show. However, it was available for sale as soon as the show ended. Realizing an opportunity like this would not happen again, I put down my deposit and patiently waited.

I will pause here to let you all know I did NOT pay over MSRP. The dealership who sold me the car has a corporate policy of not selling new cars above the published MSRP. I beg everyone reading this blog to not put up with the despicable auto dealer practice of adding on huge “market adjustments” or other ridiculous accessories simply to add thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a new vehicle. The practice must stop and that will only happen when dealers find marked up inventory not selling while their competitors who show some integrity are making sales.

Impressions

Here is the real reason you’re reading this article. Hopefully I didn’t bore you all with the back story. The car has seen daily driver duty, two road trips, one backroad blast through the Ozarks, and three autocross events. My thoughts? Believe the hype, it’s an amazing car.

The platform upgrades and the new engine are amazing. The suspension and steering are tight, responsive, and very accurate. Body movement is minimal, no matter how hard you’re pushing it into a corner; the car just dives in and sticks. The engine is a totally different beast from what I experienced in a first generation test drive. It will not only happily spin all the way to red line, but there is also good torque and power across the entire rev band.

It’s the intangible things you feel while driving this car which really make the difference. The tight steering and suspension combined with the rear wheel drive and the car’s very light weight make you feel like you are a part of a living creature. This is no more noticeable than what I experienced when I picked up the car. The BMW felt heavy and lifeless on the drive to the dealership while the drive home in the BRZ felt like the car was alive and very eager to be tossed around. The difference in driving feel in such a short period of time was almost overwhelming. You feel what the car is doing and every input you provide is nearly telepathic. The BRZ is the type of car which makes every moment even the shortest and most simply drives, like running an errand to the hardware store, really fun.

I can only offer three negatives to this car.

1. There is quite a bit of road noise, especially when driving on concrete roads.
2. The sound quality of the infotainment unit is sub-par at best
3. The fake engine noise generated by Subaru’s ASC system and projected from a speaker behind the infotainment head unit is terrible.

Fortunately, the road noise isn’t too terrible, there are options to upgrade the speakers, and the ASC can be disabled quite easily.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more about this car more in the future and please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and tell me what you think. Meanwhile, I’m sure I need to go somewhere for something…I just need to get back in the BRZ and drive!