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.
...
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.)
