reflections

My car is finally here!  Woot!  

Here is the truck delivering it to my house:

Since my car was going to be waiting around for a week or so before it got picked up, I figured I would get some things out of the way. 3M clear bra was applied to the front bumper, and window tint to the sides and back. The sales mgr at the tint place was nice enough to snap a shot of the car for me after the tints were done:

Here are some thoughts after only 2 days driving the car.  A lot of this is going to be duplicative or obvious to other BRZ owners, but this is more of a personal log of my impressions.  Perhaps it will be useful to future owners or people considering this car, who have similar automotive backgrounds to mine.

Day 1 impressions.  Exterior.  Car is very low to the ground, and the overall look is aggressive.  Very classic GT-car proportions.  A poor-man's Aston Martin Vantage.  Even when dirty the WR Blue paint is very shiny and eye-catching.  In photos I feel the BRZ looks a little awkward, the big "mustache" bumper in front and the the rear trunk lid/tail lights were in my mind weak points in the design.  In person these things seem to fade away as the overall look is very handsome.  I had been previously considering all kinds of cosmetic mods to improve the look, but now that I see it in person I'm not so sure I feel so strongly about needing to modify these things.  It looks fine the way it is.

Interior.  Getting into the car the seat sort of embraces you and it feels a little weird compared to most other car seats but it's still comfortable.  As everyone has said the basic controls are right where you want them to be and everything falls into place.  I was able to get in and just drive the car with minimal adjustment.  Move the mirrors, adjust the seat, ready to go.  Having driven mostly Toyotas all my life there was very little confusion about what does what in the Subaru, all the controls felt very familiar.  The interior style is very basic, subdued, functional.  I like that.  No fancy wood trim or excessive chrome/metal to distract your eye from the pure function of driving.  I might replace the shift knob with something a little heavier (and a little more flash), and call it a day.

Driving feel.  I have not really pushed the car much in my limited time in it, but am very pleased with how the controls feel.  The steering is tight and well-proportioned.  The brake pedal has the perfect firmness and responsiveness.  I feel the throttle is a touch sensitive but I probably just need to adjust to that.  Clutch as many have noted, has a very high engagement point.  I know it can be adjusted but I will leave it alone for now, starts were a little unsmooth to begin with but I think I am getting accustomed quickly.

Day 2 impressions.  Commuting with the car is very comfortable.  Ride is decent, certainly smoother than my MR2 Spyder which is on Eibach Pro Kit springs and Koni shocks.  Sound of the car is fairly mellow, especially since I am upshifting at 4K.  I imagine it will get louder above that, but for now it's definitely one of my quieter cars.  All my other cars have aftermarket exhausts on so I am probably used to more sound and enjoy it.  I went ahead and programmed my shift light/buzzer to come on at 3800 RPM to help keep me in line during the break-in period.

Took a coworker and a friend out for rides in the car, both commented on how low the car is.  When you are sitting in the car with the door open, it's easy to just reach over and touch the ground.  That is a huge component of how this is a sports car, the low center of gravity design is key to the handling and driving feel. I haven't really thrown the car into a corner at speed yet, but so far it feels very sure-footed and stable.  Cruising on the freeway seems easy and uneventful, the car needs nowhere near the amount of attention and correction that my MR2 does.

I'm no audiophile, but the sound system in the car seems decent, I have listened to music via FM, HD Radio, Satellite radio, and through an iPhone via USB.  A fair amount of bass coming from the door speakers, enough to feel the vibration hitting my left leg which is a little annoying.  I managed to pair my phone to the head unit, but haven't made a call yet.  I have a fairly old-school basic phone, the LG Chocolate 2, so the pairing seems to be a little wonky.  I think I have to hit OK on my phone everytime I get in the car to allow it to pair to the car. A little lame but I have an iPhone 5 coming and that should pair without issue.

I've noticed a few weird ergonomic issues.  Visibility seems compromised by the left side mirror when I'm making a left turn. And the pointy triangle window on the forward part of the doors that remains in place when you have the window down, seems like a safety hazard when getting in and out of the car, my face seems to get uncomfortably close to that pointy piece on the way in or out.  My old SW20 MR2 had a similar window piece but I don't think I ever had issues with it.  Maybe I have to train myself to move differently.  Or roll the window all the way back up first.

This is my first 6-speed manual, and I've been driving my old MR2 5-speed for over 12 years so I've gotten pretty used to driving it and this is a bit of a change.  For the most part the shifting is straightforward, but I do occasionally stumble on a shift due to the spacing on the shift pattern being a little wider on the BRZ.  The 5-6 shift is easier to get used to than I thought.  But one thing I tripped up on a few times already is thinking that R is where it was on the MR2, namely where 6th now is.  I have caught myself shifting into 6, then remembering that I have to lift the reverse lockout and shift back into where 1 is to get to R. I feel like it's a little bizarre that you back up in R, then you have to pop it back into neutral, the lockout ring pops back down, and then you put it right back into the same spot to get to 1.  Will just take some getting used to I guess.

Also, I woke up extra early so I could wash the car before work and was able to inspect all the exterior of the car more closely.  Cosmetically I'd say the car arrived in 9.5/10 condition.  Most of the cosmetic issues are actually with the clear bra and tint that I had installed -- there are a few small bubbles here and there, or some imperfections in the bra install.  Minor issues really, and I am not going to worry too much about it.  I'm still really glad I got them installed, the benefits outweigh the minor downsides.  One thing that kind of caught my eye though was the rear bumper film installed at the port, part of the Pop1B package, there seems to be a small fleck of something (dirt or sand or whatever) underneath the film.  A little disappointing that they flubbed that little detail on the install.  I am pleased that the bumper film does not have a big honkin' SUBARU lettering across it, there is only a very small discreet Subaru logo on one end to let you know it's a genuine Subaru part/add-on.  Also being really nit-picky here, but for some reason the wheel locks on each wheel (also part of the Pop1B) had some kind of white paint or residue on the face of the lock, that I had to scrape off of each one.

Passed 100 miles on the odo on the way home from work... 900 miles to go on the break-in!

reward for reading through all that.  Parked in a row of all blue cars at work today, including my friend's Fiat 500 that came by for a visit.  Interestingly they are all different shades of blue.