Thanks for posting that review, C4L. This is going to be a great car for someone who doesn't care about the performance numbers, but wants a car that offers an unmatched driving experience (in the price bracket), classic RWD driving dynamics, and plenty of sensory feedback from the car. Basically a driver's car. It's not for everyone (some people only care about the numbers and that's fine too), but it says a lot that the reviewer, whose job description includes driving high-end exotic supercars, was absolutely smitten with the BRZ:
Then I made a big mistake. With my eyes still set on the rearview mirror, I locked onto the tiny back seat barely befitting a pair of shih tzus. I knew then and there this car was not for me. Or rather, I was not for this car. I wanted to cry. Like, weep cry. I had driven the BRZ 1320 feet, and I coveted one. But I might as well have coveted my own private 747 with a batting cage and a Jacuzzi. See, my family and this small 2+2 Subaru -- which, by the way, stretches 21.4 inches shorter than an already compact Mustang -- go together like Porsche and pickup. But wait, maybe if I moved the front passenger seat all the way forward, I could make enough room for a child seat, allowing the missus to be semi-comfortable, which...is never going to happen.
Few cars have made me miss bachelorhood quite like the BRZ. The Lamborghini Aventador didn't. Neither did the Ferrari 458 Italia.
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Better still, the BRZ treats the driver to all the MX-5's chassis greatness -- the direct, linear steering; the composed, taut ride with a touch of softness; the firm, reassuring brakes; the initial understeer that transitions gently and predictably to controllable oversteer -- but adds a quiver-free fixed-roof body that communicates chassis behavior with even more precision. In terms of accessible, rewarding dynamics, the BRZ resides with the Porsche Cayman, which, as Subaru points out, has a slightly higher center of gravity than that of the made-in-Japan coupe. In fact, around our figure-eight course, test director Kim Reynolds preferred the BRZ's character and 0.90 g of lateral accel (Subaru admits the standard Michelin Primacy HPs are "moderate grip" tires) to a certain mid-engine Brit that costs roughly tenfold. (Hint: It's in this issue.)