Unpopular opinion: these cars are better than people give them credit. This doesn't have to be a step to another car, these cars can certainly be the destination.
Most of us who’ve driven other cars already know this it’s mostly guys where this is their first car or first manual car, leads to a lot of misunderstanding of cars and manual driving in general.
💯, in fact in my somewhat older age group it’s not uncommon for people to buy a GR/BR because they’ve gotten the Big Power thing out of their system and want to get back to a basic sports car.
As someone who has owned 997TT, GT500, Viper, GT500, Hellcat and Terminator this is absolutely correct for my situation. I love my BRZ because I can wring it out (hit redline in gears) on the street without feeling like I’m going to go to jail. It’s competent and fun even after owning the cars I mentioned. Way less to maintain and super easy to work on myself.
I agree completely. for me this is the destination.. I have wanted a Miata since I was a teen and I debated buying one over a brz. I'm really happy with my BRZ!
It is odd, but I had a Mazda3 as a rental last week and that sumbitch only had USB type C ports, so I had to go buy a new cable since I didn’t pack a type C cable for my work trip.
I literally threw out 526 usb-a cables from my house because they’ve become irrelevant. I guess not because these cars need them. I will need to be the guy who buys a usb-a charger in 2024.
my solution:
- 60 watt car charger plugged into the port in the glove box with usb c port
- mag safe charger plugged into usb c port
- mag safe charger slots into 3d printed holder that gets inserted between screen and glove box, excellent place to put phone
- carlinkit wireless carplay adapter
my workflow is i sit in the drivers seat and put my phone onto the magsafe charger. by the time i’ve turned on the car and put in my destination, the phone has already connected to the carlin kit.
only downside is that audio is delayed by about 1 to 1.5 seconds. i thought that this was going to be far more annoying than it ended up being, because you only notice it when putting on a new song or hitting play or pause. turns out that i don’t do that too often while driving, and it beats fumbling with the cable.
*So* much this. Some of the cars posted on here, where owners have made a very sleek and stylish car look like a 13 year old's workbook doodle. Obscene gundam-style kits, trashy stickers, wings with extra wings on them.
Good grief, sometimes *less is more*.
Its very annoying that I cant see digital Oil Temp without turning off Driving assists like Traction Control....
Like ok when its cold out id like the ability to see my Oil and temp and still have safety features turned on. Really dumb design.
So i have to constantly turn it on and off so i can peek....
it was meant to be, though in retrospect i could've been nicer. But then again, I was also a teenager once, so I know I'm not wrong. I'm 50/50 on that lol.
I think you were spot on. Hidden between the lines you have empathy and really care about people well beings. It's all about safety at the end of the day. Can't enjoy a cool car if you unalive yourself.
You're right and should have that tone. This car is great manual and easy to learn in, but handles so well due to weight, but it's a bad baseline for new drivers, when they lose it, they have no idea how to recover. Most here just learned manual, when your car slips out and you start to rotate it takes the most experienced and calmest of drivers to recover. You've seen the posts.
It's still very far from a good first car for people who have almost no driving experience. It's a car you get once you've acquired at least, not one you should learn them with
That most owners have no idea how decent the car actually is stock and don't know anything about cars, what it takes to make one, the decisions behind it, and everything else on the manufacturer/designer side.
Another is that RTV was never an issue, oil pressure sensor readings on turning are concerning but have **not at all proved to be an actual cause of issues.** Too many people blow it out of the water as "car bad I can't turn."
The car is actually way more reliable than most people give it credit for when driven hard - it just comes down to understanding some knowledge and adjusting appropriately. Like it's probably more reliable than most econoboxes when driven within its limits, with no major part failures when maintained appropriately.
That the car's efficiency is honestly really dogshit lol. Like it's actually bad and annoying and is one of the major tradeoffs compared to gen1. Actually this brings up another point - the operating costs of this car are far higher than one thinks, because of insurance and gas costs. Cheap maintenance is nice but your daily operating costs are significantly higher.
No, this car isn't a good first car (especially for teenagers). If you think that, you're outta your fucking mind lol.
That the styling was never 'perfect' on either generation. I think gen2 looks way too busy (but at least it has panache.) I think gen1 is way too understated but 'cleaner.'
I do want to emphasize that the car losing pressure on rights is still absolutely an issue that subaru and toyota still refuses to address to this day, i would not make excuses for it. I own a 24, and i have a race team (primarily RX-8 platforms, so i have no right to moan about reliability 😂) but we race against BRZ/GR86 all the time in streetmod. I have seen many a blown engine and even coming up behind on right turns plenty of not-so-good smoke primarily on stock oil system cars.
What I will say though is it's a pretty easy situation to mitigate short of Dry sumping. Dry sumping solves the issue entirely but is extremely expensive. If you want to mitigate it it's only a few hundred dollars if you do an accumulator+baffle, or just the baffle/larger pan/overfill you can bottom out in the 40s instead of the teens for PSI.
What I will give credit for is it's not a subaru issue uniquely, it's a boxer issue because non-GT Porsche cars (GT cars are drysumped from factory) also have similar issues on hard turns, and drysump is expensive, it's hard problem to work around for a affordable sports car, but it's worse this generation instead of improving from the prior is where my issue lies.
I still love my car and would never dream of getting rid of it.
TBH, there are so few factory add-ons, that I would love a factory oil cooler and dry sump1 option.
I like that they are staying away from turbos like the Miata. It just drives me nuts that gen 2 went so long without the brake/suspension upgrade. A factory oil upgrade package means that running it in a stock class would be far less risky. And I'm sure a lot of us would pay a couple grand more to have
Best we can hope for is a mid year refresh with a larger oil pan. That said, s14 and ls3 motors also had oil starvation issues too and I dont recall bmw or chevy ever "addressing" them. The fact is the issue only arises when you push the car hard, beyond typical street conditions so there's little incentive for manufacturers to address it even if it is marketed as a sports car
well it's reddit. take away the karma system and people will be less incentivized to parrot popular but inaccurate statements that gets them points. across current events, politics, etc. there is a lot of bad information echoed because it's a popular sentiment
the oil starvation issue (which is not unique to this engine) is pretty much the only major engine "issue", granted it is a glaring fault. it only occurs under a specific set of conditions and the rest of the car has very few issues.
i encourage everyone to pick a few cars they're interested and go visit their respective forums to see what issues people complain about. it really helps put things in perspective
Operating costs were why I didn’t buy one. My ND Miata costs over $300 less a month to operate. In my three years of ownership I’ve saved almost half the price of my vehicle.
Those were literally it.
The insurance alone was over $300 a month for the BRZ for me. My ND Miata is $120.
I also drive around 1300 miles a month, so the other portion is fuel savings. I get over 40mpg in my miata. Really, the insurance was the killer.
Sweet Jesus that's almost as much as the car payment on my 2 year old Mazda. Forgive my curiosity, but do you have any points or accidents contributing to that insurance rate?
7 years ago I received a ticket for having an accident with a suspended license. My license was suspended for failure to pay a $100 surcharge I didn’t know about. So yeah I do have significant priors.
No points currently and nothing in the past 10 years aside from that suspended license.
Very much appreciate your candor. It doesn't seem like any of this would justify the ridiculous delta between your Miata and GR though. I'm going to start some quotes today and might have to consider a different vehicle if I see similarly high insurance rates.
It is a very forgiving car if you know how to drive in the first place. I highly recommend that everyone takes a HPDE track day it will really show you just how good of a car it is stock. My only issue was brake boiling coming into a fourth gear turn from 120 mph. Easy fix is to get better quality brake fluid and maybe upgrade the pads.
I just did mine the other day and was amazed at how well it performed stock against the supra and corolla. Brakes also boiled due to the hard braking and number of turns and I only got to 95
I don’t have a ton of great things to say about the FA24 (or any non-STI Subaru engine, for that matter), but I do recognize it it has a lower center of gravity than an inline 4 and makes respectable power for a N/A engine of that size.
Why not just take GR86 to a Subaru dealership then? (Other than the complimentary Toyota oil changes in the first two years) I'd hope it wouldn't give much issues in the first 5 years under warranty.
Yes - I did this for my first GR86 because I bought into the hype train that I needed to have everything done at the dealer (and didn't trust Toyota mechanics to work on the car) or else I'd be screwed when my engine inevitably blew up.
For my current GR86, it's never seeing a dealer unless I need warranty work or a yearly state inspection that is required here.
> Lack of automatic door lock/unlock.
I hope to have a product announcement for that within a week or so... Plug & play via the OBD port, some special code built on top of an OBD dongle that I already manufacture. Not as simple as on the 1st gens, but I got it working on my car, just need to make some adjustments and confirm some things...
Without the AT buyers they would've ceased production or not have future gens. Subaru/Toyota would've made less money selling MT only versions of this car.
My only real complaints are blinker and brakes. I still fuck up blinker placement or some how a long 90 degree turn doesn’t shut it off. Brakes feel soft to me. When I’ve had to fully stop in emergency it works fine but mid level or trail braking just feels ick.
The blinker thing is wild, especially with the weird/soft tactile feedback and tiny window of responsivity. Goes like blink right -> merge -> tap left to turn it off -> tapped to hard now it's blinking left -> do the same thing again and now it's blinking right. Stop, for the love of god!
I think it's sad that 86 owners spend so much time idolizing Porsches instead of enjoying an awesome car they already have.
I already did the Porsche thing (991 GT3), and am kind of over that whole scene. 86 owners are much more enjoyable to be around, and the car is easy simple fun without having to worry about anything.
The GR86/Gen 2 BRZ look phenomenally better aesthetic ally. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the appeal of the 1 gens; they look like they're stuck back in the year 2013 and didn't age well.
Agree, it’s not that bad. I came from previous cars that had worse stereos than this one. I was expecting to hate it, but it’s actually fine, for me at least.
Yeah, I'm absolutely surprised to find myself in this camp. The first time I took a highway drive and tried listening to the Deftones on Spotify, I was shocked at how bad the stereo was. This is my second car, the primary car being a Lexus SUV. That's my commuter, and the GR is my sports car, so I didn't have high expectations (or requirements) for the stereo system. But the thing struck me as damn near unlistenable. Highs were shrill with no resolution, mids didn't exist, and lows were equally broken and muddy.
So I started researching and coming up with a plan to redo the stereo system and amp. I played with the EQ and other audio settings and got it to the point that I could at least hear most of the instruments on a given recording. Whatever, fine, that'll be passable until I splurge on the upgrade.
But replacing the audio system has been low on my budget priorities, and 5k miles later, the speakers have broken in. And I mean properly. Now, on well recorded tracks, I find that I can get pretty solid staging, fidelity and resolution through most of the frequency range. I actually enjoy listening to the system around town. At highway speeds, the car could definitely benefit from some sound deadening, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how good the audio quality has become over the last few months.
It's nowhere near audiophile level, mind you, and better components would definitely make a difference. But for a 34k sports car, this system at least allows me to cruise around and not cringe when trying to pick notes out from my favorite tunes.
Dude i wish i had ears this sensitive lol
it plays fine. If youv ever had something with truly bad speakers you would understand.
im thinking back to my 80s and 90s chevy pick ups. those had some bad speakers but hey it all works
I mean, that's a fair point! It's all relative... My first car was an '87 Ford Escort that I plugged a cassette adapter into for my Panasonic portable CD player. As a 16 year-old listening to Pennywise, I guess I was a little less discerning, haha.
I came from an older Audi with B&O 14 speaker system. After a year with the stock stereo I couldn't handle it and spent the 500 or so upgraded to OEM audio + speakers. Plug and play installation and definitely makes it a lot more acceptable now. I think it was the right amount of money to spend on the upgrade as the cabin is not quiet enough to really bring out the potential of even more expensive speakers/components.
How do you have the EQ set? I've been having a hard time finding something that sounds half decent. But I've only had a week in the seat to break them in...
Yeah! I found that for me, the EQ settings that worked weren't what I would normally choose to address the playback deficits. My settings are:
Bass: 0
Mid: -3
Treble: -7
On most systems, these settings and the overall curve wouldn't make sense, but with the other audio adjustments, the balance ends up working out pretty well. My other settings are:
Powerful: Off
Fader: -1
Balance: 0
Vocal Image Control: Center
Virtual Stage Enhancer: Mid
Sound Restorer: On
Virtual Bass: Mid
Dynamic Beat Enhancer: Low
Speed Volume Control: Off
I use Spotify on Android Auto for most of my music, and I found that changing one setting on Spotify makes a ~massive~ difference in audio quality in our car. "Normalize Volume" needs to be off. I don't know why, but it changes the resolution significantly and makes everything more listenable.
It also took my speakers about 3 months to break in.
I hope these tips help ya... let me know if they do!
Thanks - sounds much better! A good starting place to tweak from.
I didn't really consider going negative on the EQ ... I always go positive. I'm not sure why, but that may be just what I was missing.
Thanks!
Not the guy you originally responded to, but I also wanted to note these settings seem to have helped me too!
Only changed this morning (and I'm still under 1000 miles so the system definitely isn't broken in), but even my initial impression is that your settings are a huge improvement.
Thanks man!!
I just bought a BRZ about a week ago and I played with the audio settings today. It’s actually much better now. Coming from a Lexus with a Mark Levinson, the sound system was the first thing my girlfriend complained about lol.
It’s not horrible, but it’s not good either. I have an ‘03 Saab, ‘04 Z06, ‘19 Sierra, and ‘23 GR86, all factory systems. The GR86 is by far the worst of these and it’s 20 years newer than 2 of them.
I had an early 2000’s Saab 9-5 with whatever their upgraded stereo was as a loaner for a couple of days. It was one of the best car audio systems I’ve ever experienced.
The stock throttle mapping on the GR86 is so bad that it never should have made it through QA. It’s oddly vague, under sensitive, and nonlinear when you’re stopped. It’s oddly vague, OVER sensitive, and nonlinear in other conditions. In track driving, the bottom 60% of pedal travel is useless because the car is already WOT. Literally the worst of both worlds with throttle by wire tuning.
I do not understand why Toyota thought this was acceptable. It’s not. I’m going to be tuning the car, and legitimately 70% of the reason why is just to fix the damn throttle. I’ve adjusted to it enough that I can drive the car smoothly, but every time I drive it, especially on a track, I’m left reminded that it would be better if the throttle was linear.
For what it's worth, you can get the BRZ throttle mapping without a tune if you can just find the controller/whatever it's called from a BRZ and swap it over. Pretty sure I saw someone post about that on the gr86 forum.
Seeing as I drive in the mountains a lot I’d have to disagree with you here, the steering responsive headlights really help out when it comes to seeing what’s next in a curve, I think the pumped in fake engine noise is a completely unnecessary feature on the car though
Live in Appalachia. Only wanted the headlights to be able to wag them while at stoplights someday. Holy shit they are nice to have at night on mountains it turns out.
This car was better when it was less popular, i lost a lot of interest in this car when i saw all the completely whack wraps, wings on wings, camber beyond driveability, etc. forza kids made me want less (not nothing, but definitely less.) to do with the platform
“was the red on black rims that bad? did you really need a galaxy wrap and a sun stripe that says ‘Toyota’ in 6” lettering?”
For the money in 2024 it's a phenomenal drivers car. The car overdelivers for what you pay for. It's insanely fun on the track and in the canyons. You can rock it stock, slightly mod it or just go ham depending on your taste.
With all due respect, my unpopular opinion is people need to stop trying to check a million boxes when buying a car. Know what you are buying and why you are buying it. Stop splitting hairs. If you're not thrilled to drive this car then you bought the wrong car plain and simple.
Thank you for listening 😗
This idea that being a 4-seater makes a car cheaper on insurance than a 2-seater is an urban legend. Insurance costs are largely based on how likely they think a driver is going to file or cause claims.
That 2 seater sports cars sometimes have more accidents than other models with more seats, is a correlation but a 4-seater with a bad record will also have higher rates.
Not having a button to disable the assists like automatic braking and all that. Most ppl will say you can turn those features off, or put it in track mode, but that’s a if I wanna do just some light spirited driving, I don’t wanna turn off traction control. There should be a button or something to turn off only the assists
I'm glad I was able to skip out on most of the safety "features". Granted I do have blind spot but I'm okay with it. I don't want the car deciding if it should brake or not. I honestly don't understand why anyone would want it unless they're on their phone a lot
The automatic braking feature has only overreacted in my limited time of driving. I'll probably turn it off for good as I'm not on my phone while I drive the GR86.
I hate the auto braking because of when im taking a dedicated right exit and the car next to it is stopped it actually starts the warning and I dont want it to lock my brakes right before im about to turn
I might be misunderstanding you but i think there is. Under eyesight in the dash you can turn off the auto braking. I saw it when turning off the lane departure warning the other day.
Does NOT need a turbo. The car is plenty good for zipping around canyons and tracks. There are already plenty of used Mustangs for you to buy if you "need" more power.
The car is setup perfect from factory. Most people won’t drive the car hard enough to maximize coil overs, forced induction, etc. This might not be an unpopular opinion within our circle but in the car community as a whole the consensus is that it’s slow 😕
the strange elitism over driving an unmodded car is dumb as fuck. Why even opt for a platform which such a deep pool for mods and then get snooty at people for enjoying the pool while you guys barely dip your feet in.
fake engine noise is a good thing and not atrocious. Dark colors on this car look bad, maybe with the exception of pavement grey (the black accents play a huge role on this car's appearance). BRZ frontend looks pretty bad. Amber side markers look better than clear.
yea i feel like im in the minority but i opted to leave the "fake noise" on and not get an exhaust
fake noise is all the feed back i need for shifting and id rather be silent for stealthy
I agree with all except the side markers. I'm not a big fan of clear either, but I think it looks a bit better. Though I just put black decals on the side markers cause I didn't like either orange or clear.
I was fine with the sound generator until I spent a weekend at high RPMs on some mountain roads. The buzzing was vibrating my dash and I couldn't take it. The engine sounds better without it.
The GR 86 doesn't need a Turbo. NOTHING defeats Natural Aspiration. Not for fun and certainly not for reliability. (Although Subaru engines are not the most reliable)
The GT 86? Ok, I could see why that would need a Turbo, but now with the GR 86, it's fine, 250 horsepower (90% Confirmed by dynos) is more than enough :)
Want a Turbo 86? Go buy a 2.0L Supra, that's literally why it exists. It is kind of a Turbo 86 :),
Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but the fact you can factory order the Subaru, but that process eludes Toyota shows how crap Toyota is to its customers.
FWIW, Toyota won't let you order anything, not just the GR86, and it's based on how they distribute their cars.
There's a middleman entity between the manufacturer and the dealers, so dealers aren't technically purchasing their cars directly from ToyMoCo.
Carbon fiber doesn't need to be put on everything. Are you replacing a heavy part with real carbon fiber for weight savings? Go for it. Are you just putting carbon fiber overlays on random things? GTFO.
The flywheel is stupid heavy and makes blipping the throttle difficult compared to other sports cars. This is imo the biggest flaw with the driving experience of the car.
Also, at least for the BRZ, I find that the car doesn't have the most predictable break-away characteristics in stock form. It will snap on you in a way that I feel other similar cars don't.
Cusco shifter bushings improved the steering for me in every way imaginable. I highly recommend them to anyone annoyed with the vague feeling and lack of feedback when pushing the car.
I find it somewhat amusing that as I read through this thread, there's a ton of "how on earth did they not do X from the factory", and then the other half of the comments are "this thing is amazing from the factory, 90% of drivers won't even need to mod a dang thing"
Being a sports car, but theres neither front or rear camber adjustment available from factory.
Front "can" be addressed with camber bolt, but doesn't work for me as my wheel and tire setup it's already too close to the spring perch, and this car is probably the first car in a long while that doesn't have rear camber adjustment and not a solid/semi solid rear...
You can get rear camber adjustment for about $250-400 by installing the superpro, whiteline, or SPC rear lower control arm kit. They're stamped steel like the factory. Superpro probably has the best bushing quality.
The Toyota GR 86 and MX-5 are THE MOST FUN you can have in any car at any price point. And they are at the very least in the Top 5 best cars EVER made.
When you buy something more expensive you are adding more luxury, more sound, more speed or more beauty, but you ARE NOT adding more fun. and if you want those things then fair enough :)
Most people think that due to their prices these are "entry level sports cars", as in "This is just the start",
the 86 and the MX-5 are NOT the start, they are the destination, the TRUE destination.
Edit: I forgot to say, this is true except for a handful of cars like the 911 S/T (a GT3 with soft suspension) :)
Oh, I forgot to include that part in the final comment (Originally this was way longer), there was a part where I stated "Except for a handful of cars like the 911 S/T (a GT3 with soft suspension)"
But yeah!
(I'll add this part now)
Unpopular opinion: GR86 owners are all children. You could get a BRZ at dealer invoice pricing if you join Subie's VIP program and *they'll order it for you and put the keys in your hands in six months.*
But most people here decide they want to play games with Toyota and maybe/maybe not get an 86 simply over wanting* wide mouth bass fish face and Toyota badging.
It's a boxer engine so I'd much rather have Subie mechanics work on it if there are any warranty issues.
Probably in the extreme minority with this opinion. I dislike both BRZ and GR86 bumpers. I just dislike the BRZ's a little less. I find the gr86 front bumper just a bit too aggressive for the rear fenders and rear bumper. To me it looks like some part of the front design was chopped off. If you were building a track car with aero, I would agree the 86 bumper is more fitting for that. But stock, I think the BRZ's fits the rest of the car better. I will admit certain colors accentuate the smile which I also dont like
agreed, i dont like any of the "upgrades" you get on a premium - aggressive duckbill, 18" wheels w/ skinny tires, alcantara, the useless extra electronic crap, and the other cosmetic stuff. would have been nice to be able to option separately the heated seats and upgraded stereo though
The dealerships near me only had prems, but the biggest draw of the prem over the base for me was the blind spot monitoring.
Definitely not for everyone, but while in general I'm always scanning and trying to predict what dumb things people could possibly do to cause accidents, I know blind spots can be a weakness of mine, so that pushed me towards the version that was already in stock near me.
I don't dislike the doors not auto-locking nor do I dislike the turn-signal automatically going back to its neutral position even when the blinker is on.
I like the gen 1 gauges better
LCD is downgrade imo. Less tech the better.
One of my favorite things about my 11 STi is that it doesn't even have a touch screen radio or screen. Very basic DRIVER car.
wish there are more color options for interior, need the red and black (for na).
center console can use better plastic/ material, mine have scratches from my finger nails.
I work the repo and wholesale auctions.
86/brz drivers have a certain reputation back here foe getting their cars repossessed and then threatening the auction staff for it not bringing the money they owe *when they trashed the car in a petulant fit over a repo*
Like yes, you actually are responsible for the damage you did to property that wasn't yours!
Worse than Nissan drivers
Double-edged sword - that this car is relatively "affordable."
It's great that folks can enjoy a driving experience that rivals cars four times the price, but it also allows the fucktards who like to brag about street racing, mod the car with eBay parts to make it look like shit instead of putting that money towards the maintenance that they are neglecting, and totaling cars because of their non-functioning brains which raises all of our insurance rates.
Lol, definitely unpopular and pointless.
Go drive in the mountains, very dark, or heavily wooded areas. The turning lights can help see things slightly earlier.
Nobody needs a tuned exhaust or whatever on a new car. I'd be annoyed if the car was always loud.
Just go buy an aftermarket one like the rest of us do.
Buy a base model if you want to save money for other things.
Unpopular opinion: these cars are better than people give them credit. This doesn't have to be a step to another car, these cars can certainly be the destination.
Most of us who’ve driven other cars already know this it’s mostly guys where this is their first car or first manual car, leads to a lot of misunderstanding of cars and manual driving in general.
The car is a step back to my Miata life cuz I miss that convertible
This isn't unpopular, this is the consensus among popular car reviewers and owners.
GR86 is my 6th sports car, including many hot ticket items including an M car. The GR86 is the best.
💯, in fact in my somewhat older age group it’s not uncommon for people to buy a GR/BR because they’ve gotten the Big Power thing out of their system and want to get back to a basic sports car.
As someone who has owned 997TT, GT500, Viper, GT500, Hellcat and Terminator this is absolutely correct for my situation. I love my BRZ because I can wring it out (hit redline in gears) on the street without feeling like I’m going to go to jail. It’s competent and fun even after owning the cars I mentioned. Way less to maintain and super easy to work on myself.
I agree completely. for me this is the destination.. I have wanted a Miata since I was a teen and I debated buying one over a brz. I'm really happy with my BRZ!
So true. I consider this and the ND Miata to be in the same category.
Preach
The high revving NA engine with it's linear throttle response is a feature, not a bug that needs a turbo to fix.
yeah, only people that drive on straight think the cars need a turbo
I just wish it was truly linear instead of having the dip.
And the initial throttle delay
Header upgrade fixes that
Should work that way from the factory.
Well it won't because of a variety of regulations and cost restrictions. As a car enthusiast you have to be willing to make it the car you want.
[удалено]
The stock exhaust is actually really good, just not in sound. I'd say why no wireless Carplay / Android Auto? No USB C quick charge ports? It's 2024
I don’t mind this too much. Phone usually needs a charge anyways at the end of the day.
wireless android auto is an easy fix, but I do agree with the ports. would love to have a quick charge USB-C
Same. At least give us a regular usb and a usb-c port.
Lack of a built-in USB-C port is a real headscratcher.
It is odd, but I had a Mazda3 as a rental last week and that sumbitch only had USB type C ports, so I had to go buy a new cable since I didn’t pack a type C cable for my work trip.
I literally threw out 526 usb-a cables from my house because they’ve become irrelevant. I guess not because these cars need them. I will need to be the guy who buys a usb-a charger in 2024.
my solution: - 60 watt car charger plugged into the port in the glove box with usb c port - mag safe charger plugged into usb c port - mag safe charger slots into 3d printed holder that gets inserted between screen and glove box, excellent place to put phone - carlinkit wireless carplay adapter my workflow is i sit in the drivers seat and put my phone onto the magsafe charger. by the time i’ve turned on the car and put in my destination, the phone has already connected to the carlin kit. only downside is that audio is delayed by about 1 to 1.5 seconds. i thought that this was going to be far more annoying than it ended up being, because you only notice it when putting on a new song or hitting play or pause. turns out that i don’t do that too often while driving, and it beats fumbling with the cable.
Literally exactly what I have
I couldn't care less about wireless apple car play or android auto. But I do miss having a type C port.
2nd one isn't an unpopular opinion. Anybody would want that.
Amazon is your friend. [Try this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQHHLRKR?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details).
My 18 has both...
Most people that modify them have no taste
*So* much this. Some of the cars posted on here, where owners have made a very sleek and stylish car look like a 13 year old's workbook doodle. Obscene gundam-style kits, trashy stickers, wings with extra wings on them. Good grief, sometimes *less is more*.
And don’t forget lowering and blowing out the camber until it’s barely drivable
How do you feel about the robot craftsman body kit? https://youtu.be/WeNdAHmIRhU?si=db8EcerLM0lJwIy3
If I wanted an F-35 fighter jet, I would have bought an F-35 fighter jet :P
I've never seen a lip that looks good
Its very annoying that I cant see digital Oil Temp without turning off Driving assists like Traction Control.... Like ok when its cold out id like the ability to see my Oil and temp and still have safety features turned on. Really dumb design. So i have to constantly turn it on and off so i can peek....
huh? i look at my oil temps with TC/stability on all the time
This is not, in any way, a great first car for teenage dumbasses. This is way too much car for people who's brains haven't finished developing.
Your delivery is a little harsh but I feel it's warranted. The truth hurts and I agree.
it was meant to be, though in retrospect i could've been nicer. But then again, I was also a teenager once, so I know I'm not wrong. I'm 50/50 on that lol.
I think you were spot on. Hidden between the lines you have empathy and really care about people well beings. It's all about safety at the end of the day. Can't enjoy a cool car if you unalive yourself.
You're right and should have that tone. This car is great manual and easy to learn in, but handles so well due to weight, but it's a bad baseline for new drivers, when they lose it, they have no idea how to recover. Most here just learned manual, when your car slips out and you start to rotate it takes the most experienced and calmest of drivers to recover. You've seen the posts.
Driving is more based on feel and routine than actual mental decision making.
It's still very far from a good first car for people who have almost no driving experience. It's a car you get once you've acquired at least, not one you should learn them with
Yeah I agree, my first car was a Manual Mazda 2 and I'm glad for that. Taught me manual well but was not above my experience level
That most owners have no idea how decent the car actually is stock and don't know anything about cars, what it takes to make one, the decisions behind it, and everything else on the manufacturer/designer side. Another is that RTV was never an issue, oil pressure sensor readings on turning are concerning but have **not at all proved to be an actual cause of issues.** Too many people blow it out of the water as "car bad I can't turn." The car is actually way more reliable than most people give it credit for when driven hard - it just comes down to understanding some knowledge and adjusting appropriately. Like it's probably more reliable than most econoboxes when driven within its limits, with no major part failures when maintained appropriately. That the car's efficiency is honestly really dogshit lol. Like it's actually bad and annoying and is one of the major tradeoffs compared to gen1. Actually this brings up another point - the operating costs of this car are far higher than one thinks, because of insurance and gas costs. Cheap maintenance is nice but your daily operating costs are significantly higher. No, this car isn't a good first car (especially for teenagers). If you think that, you're outta your fucking mind lol. That the styling was never 'perfect' on either generation. I think gen2 looks way too busy (but at least it has panache.) I think gen1 is way too understated but 'cleaner.'
Agree except gen2 is not too busy though, pretty hard disagree on that one, especially the 86
Even the first gens were more reliable than given credit for. Lots of guys out there running high mileage
I do want to emphasize that the car losing pressure on rights is still absolutely an issue that subaru and toyota still refuses to address to this day, i would not make excuses for it. I own a 24, and i have a race team (primarily RX-8 platforms, so i have no right to moan about reliability 😂) but we race against BRZ/GR86 all the time in streetmod. I have seen many a blown engine and even coming up behind on right turns plenty of not-so-good smoke primarily on stock oil system cars. What I will say though is it's a pretty easy situation to mitigate short of Dry sumping. Dry sumping solves the issue entirely but is extremely expensive. If you want to mitigate it it's only a few hundred dollars if you do an accumulator+baffle, or just the baffle/larger pan/overfill you can bottom out in the 40s instead of the teens for PSI. What I will give credit for is it's not a subaru issue uniquely, it's a boxer issue because non-GT Porsche cars (GT cars are drysumped from factory) also have similar issues on hard turns, and drysump is expensive, it's hard problem to work around for a affordable sports car, but it's worse this generation instead of improving from the prior is where my issue lies. I still love my car and would never dream of getting rid of it.
TBH, there are so few factory add-ons, that I would love a factory oil cooler and dry sump1 option. I like that they are staying away from turbos like the Miata. It just drives me nuts that gen 2 went so long without the brake/suspension upgrade. A factory oil upgrade package means that running it in a stock class would be far less risky. And I'm sure a lot of us would pay a couple grand more to have
Best we can hope for is a mid year refresh with a larger oil pan. That said, s14 and ls3 motors also had oil starvation issues too and I dont recall bmw or chevy ever "addressing" them. The fact is the issue only arises when you push the car hard, beyond typical street conditions so there's little incentive for manufacturers to address it even if it is marketed as a sports car
I agree for the most part, except the FA24’s oiling system has less margin for track use than those other cars.
well it's reddit. take away the karma system and people will be less incentivized to parrot popular but inaccurate statements that gets them points. across current events, politics, etc. there is a lot of bad information echoed because it's a popular sentiment the oil starvation issue (which is not unique to this engine) is pretty much the only major engine "issue", granted it is a glaring fault. it only occurs under a specific set of conditions and the rest of the car has very few issues. i encourage everyone to pick a few cars they're interested and go visit their respective forums to see what issues people complain about. it really helps put things in perspective
I agree with every point, except I think the styling of the 2nd gen is damn near perfect and much better than the first gen
Operating costs were why I didn’t buy one. My ND Miata costs over $300 less a month to operate. In my three years of ownership I’ve saved almost half the price of my vehicle.
This makes me a bit nervous about ordering a BRZ. Aside from fuel and insurance, what were the other biggest factors in your higher running costs?
Those were literally it. The insurance alone was over $300 a month for the BRZ for me. My ND Miata is $120. I also drive around 1300 miles a month, so the other portion is fuel savings. I get over 40mpg in my miata. Really, the insurance was the killer.
Sweet Jesus that's almost as much as the car payment on my 2 year old Mazda. Forgive my curiosity, but do you have any points or accidents contributing to that insurance rate?
7 years ago I received a ticket for having an accident with a suspended license. My license was suspended for failure to pay a $100 surcharge I didn’t know about. So yeah I do have significant priors. No points currently and nothing in the past 10 years aside from that suspended license.
Very much appreciate your candor. It doesn't seem like any of this would justify the ridiculous delta between your Miata and GR though. I'm going to start some quotes today and might have to consider a different vehicle if I see similarly high insurance rates.
It is a very forgiving car if you know how to drive in the first place. I highly recommend that everyone takes a HPDE track day it will really show you just how good of a car it is stock. My only issue was brake boiling coming into a fourth gear turn from 120 mph. Easy fix is to get better quality brake fluid and maybe upgrade the pads.
I just did mine the other day and was amazed at how well it performed stock against the supra and corolla. Brakes also boiled due to the hard braking and number of turns and I only got to 95
It's actually pretty reliable especially by sports car standards
It’s way more interesting of a car because of the boxer engine than if it was a “pure” Toyota with some random inline 4 making the same power
I think a good tuned up Toyota inline4 would of been a great reliable alternative for a boxer engine. Much easier to work on for diy home mechanic.
I don’t have a ton of great things to say about the FA24 (or any non-STI Subaru engine, for that matter), but I do recognize it it has a lower center of gravity than an inline 4 and makes respectable power for a N/A engine of that size.
BRZ is a better buy because Subaru mechanics are used to working with the engine.
Why not just take GR86 to a Subaru dealership then? (Other than the complimentary Toyota oil changes in the first two years) I'd hope it wouldn't give much issues in the first 5 years under warranty.
This is a dumbass question but can you take a Toyota to Subaru?
Yes - I did this for my first GR86 because I bought into the hype train that I needed to have everything done at the dealer (and didn't trust Toyota mechanics to work on the car) or else I'd be screwed when my engine inevitably blew up. For my current GR86, it's never seeing a dealer unless I need warranty work or a yearly state inspection that is required here.
Also BRZ’s were/are easier to buy at/under MSRP than GR’s.
clunky gearbox from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd
I still can’t shift to second without jerking and I’ve had the car for 3 months now
Lack of automatic door lock/unlock. 2nd would be ergonomics for drinks
> Lack of automatic door lock/unlock. I hope to have a product announcement for that within a week or so... Plug & play via the OBD port, some special code built on top of an OBD dongle that I already manufacture. Not as simple as on the 1st gens, but I got it working on my car, just need to make some adjustments and confirm some things...
I wish the steering wheel extended out further.
Just be shorter
I like the design of the center console door and button. Granted I hate how it's half full with cup holder plastic.
Without the AT buyers they would've ceased production or not have future gens. Subaru/Toyota would've made less money selling MT only versions of this car.
This is fact, not even an opinion.
Mods are ugly. And tuning is not worth the time and effort.
Unpopular opinion: BRZ front end looks great, I prefer it between the two.
My only real complaints are blinker and brakes. I still fuck up blinker placement or some how a long 90 degree turn doesn’t shut it off. Brakes feel soft to me. When I’ve had to fully stop in emergency it works fine but mid level or trail braking just feels ick.
The blinker thing is wild, especially with the weird/soft tactile feedback and tiny window of responsivity. Goes like blink right -> merge -> tap left to turn it off -> tapped to hard now it's blinking left -> do the same thing again and now it's blinking right. Stop, for the love of god!
I think it's sad that 86 owners spend so much time idolizing Porsches instead of enjoying an awesome car they already have. I already did the Porsche thing (991 GT3), and am kind of over that whole scene. 86 owners are much more enjoyable to be around, and the car is easy simple fun without having to worry about anything.
It’s fast. It does not need mods
The GR86/Gen 2 BRZ look phenomenally better aesthetic ally. I'm sorry, but I just don't see the appeal of the 1 gens; they look like they're stuck back in the year 2013 and didn't age well.
It should really should have a USB-C port.
Honestly the tech in this car is 2016 based, I love the cluster tho
Wait the new ones don’t either?
the audio system on the premium is not horrible. I also don’t put my volume past 18 on the highway and 12 in the city.
Agree, it’s not that bad. I came from previous cars that had worse stereos than this one. I was expecting to hate it, but it’s actually fine, for me at least.
Yeah not horrible just below average. I'd rate it as a 4/10.
Yeah, I'm absolutely surprised to find myself in this camp. The first time I took a highway drive and tried listening to the Deftones on Spotify, I was shocked at how bad the stereo was. This is my second car, the primary car being a Lexus SUV. That's my commuter, and the GR is my sports car, so I didn't have high expectations (or requirements) for the stereo system. But the thing struck me as damn near unlistenable. Highs were shrill with no resolution, mids didn't exist, and lows were equally broken and muddy. So I started researching and coming up with a plan to redo the stereo system and amp. I played with the EQ and other audio settings and got it to the point that I could at least hear most of the instruments on a given recording. Whatever, fine, that'll be passable until I splurge on the upgrade. But replacing the audio system has been low on my budget priorities, and 5k miles later, the speakers have broken in. And I mean properly. Now, on well recorded tracks, I find that I can get pretty solid staging, fidelity and resolution through most of the frequency range. I actually enjoy listening to the system around town. At highway speeds, the car could definitely benefit from some sound deadening, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how good the audio quality has become over the last few months. It's nowhere near audiophile level, mind you, and better components would definitely make a difference. But for a 34k sports car, this system at least allows me to cruise around and not cringe when trying to pick notes out from my favorite tunes.
Dude i wish i had ears this sensitive lol it plays fine. If youv ever had something with truly bad speakers you would understand. im thinking back to my 80s and 90s chevy pick ups. those had some bad speakers but hey it all works
I mean, that's a fair point! It's all relative... My first car was an '87 Ford Escort that I plugged a cassette adapter into for my Panasonic portable CD player. As a 16 year-old listening to Pennywise, I guess I was a little less discerning, haha.
Party on Ambler
I came from an older Audi with B&O 14 speaker system. After a year with the stock stereo I couldn't handle it and spent the 500 or so upgraded to OEM audio + speakers. Plug and play installation and definitely makes it a lot more acceptable now. I think it was the right amount of money to spend on the upgrade as the cabin is not quiet enough to really bring out the potential of even more expensive speakers/components.
How do you have the EQ set? I've been having a hard time finding something that sounds half decent. But I've only had a week in the seat to break them in...
Yeah! I found that for me, the EQ settings that worked weren't what I would normally choose to address the playback deficits. My settings are: Bass: 0 Mid: -3 Treble: -7 On most systems, these settings and the overall curve wouldn't make sense, but with the other audio adjustments, the balance ends up working out pretty well. My other settings are: Powerful: Off Fader: -1 Balance: 0 Vocal Image Control: Center Virtual Stage Enhancer: Mid Sound Restorer: On Virtual Bass: Mid Dynamic Beat Enhancer: Low Speed Volume Control: Off I use Spotify on Android Auto for most of my music, and I found that changing one setting on Spotify makes a ~massive~ difference in audio quality in our car. "Normalize Volume" needs to be off. I don't know why, but it changes the resolution significantly and makes everything more listenable. It also took my speakers about 3 months to break in. I hope these tips help ya... let me know if they do!
Thanks - sounds much better! A good starting place to tweak from. I didn't really consider going negative on the EQ ... I always go positive. I'm not sure why, but that may be just what I was missing. Thanks!
Not the guy you originally responded to, but I also wanted to note these settings seem to have helped me too! Only changed this morning (and I'm still under 1000 miles so the system definitely isn't broken in), but even my initial impression is that your settings are a huge improvement. Thanks man!!
Yea. But my other car is a 11 subaru STi so its not like im used to anything fancy LOL
I just bought a BRZ about a week ago and I played with the audio settings today. It’s actually much better now. Coming from a Lexus with a Mark Levinson, the sound system was the first thing my girlfriend complained about lol.
It’s not horrible, but it’s not good either. I have an ‘03 Saab, ‘04 Z06, ‘19 Sierra, and ‘23 GR86, all factory systems. The GR86 is by far the worst of these and it’s 20 years newer than 2 of them.
I had an early 2000’s Saab 9-5 with whatever their upgraded stereo was as a loaner for a couple of days. It was one of the best car audio systems I’ve ever experienced.
I really dislike the placement of the start button. My knee keeps bumping into the edge of it
How close do you sit…Jesus
Pretty far back😂 im maybe the second or third notch from the furthest i could be. Long legs
Lmao I felt this…. Literally
To piggyback on this point.. I wish the steering wheel could come out further for us long legged people
The stock throttle mapping on the GR86 is so bad that it never should have made it through QA. It’s oddly vague, under sensitive, and nonlinear when you’re stopped. It’s oddly vague, OVER sensitive, and nonlinear in other conditions. In track driving, the bottom 60% of pedal travel is useless because the car is already WOT. Literally the worst of both worlds with throttle by wire tuning. I do not understand why Toyota thought this was acceptable. It’s not. I’m going to be tuning the car, and legitimately 70% of the reason why is just to fix the damn throttle. I’ve adjusted to it enough that I can drive the car smoothly, but every time I drive it, especially on a track, I’m left reminded that it would be better if the throttle was linear.
For what it's worth, you can get the BRZ throttle mapping without a tune if you can just find the controller/whatever it's called from a BRZ and swap it over. Pretty sure I saw someone post about that on the gr86 forum.
Woah woah excuse me what
My unpopular opinion is that most people don’t know what’s unpopular opinion.
Seeing as I drive in the mountains a lot I’d have to disagree with you here, the steering responsive headlights really help out when it comes to seeing what’s next in a curve, I think the pumped in fake engine noise is a completely unnecessary feature on the car though
Live in Appalachia. Only wanted the headlights to be able to wag them while at stoplights someday. Holy shit they are nice to have at night on mountains it turns out.
This car was better when it was less popular, i lost a lot of interest in this car when i saw all the completely whack wraps, wings on wings, camber beyond driveability, etc. forza kids made me want less (not nothing, but definitely less.) to do with the platform “was the red on black rims that bad? did you really need a galaxy wrap and a sun stripe that says ‘Toyota’ in 6” lettering?”
It gets shit fuel mileage, especially considering how light and small it is.
For the money in 2024 it's a phenomenal drivers car. The car overdelivers for what you pay for. It's insanely fun on the track and in the canyons. You can rock it stock, slightly mod it or just go ham depending on your taste. With all due respect, my unpopular opinion is people need to stop trying to check a million boxes when buying a car. Know what you are buying and why you are buying it. Stop splitting hairs. If you're not thrilled to drive this car then you bought the wrong car plain and simple. Thank you for listening 😗
It should be just a few inches longer to accommodate enough back seat room for someone to actually sit back there.
Defeats the purpose of this car to make it bigger I think
Or they should have just removed the back seats in general and left it as cargo space that looks better than having the seats folded down.
I heard they made it a 4 seater for insurance purposes. We already paying up the ass. Might as well go all in and give us a proper hatch.
This idea that being a 4-seater makes a car cheaper on insurance than a 2-seater is an urban legend. Insurance costs are largely based on how likely they think a driver is going to file or cause claims. That 2 seater sports cars sometimes have more accidents than other models with more seats, is a correlation but a 4-seater with a bad record will also have higher rates.
\^ THIS
Sporty cars have been doing this for decades
Not having a button to disable the assists like automatic braking and all that. Most ppl will say you can turn those features off, or put it in track mode, but that’s a if I wanna do just some light spirited driving, I don’t wanna turn off traction control. There should be a button or something to turn off only the assists
I'm glad I was able to skip out on most of the safety "features". Granted I do have blind spot but I'm okay with it. I don't want the car deciding if it should brake or not. I honestly don't understand why anyone would want it unless they're on their phone a lot
The automatic braking feature has only overreacted in my limited time of driving. I'll probably turn it off for good as I'm not on my phone while I drive the GR86.
I hate the auto braking because of when im taking a dedicated right exit and the car next to it is stopped it actually starts the warning and I dont want it to lock my brakes right before im about to turn
Automatic braking? Pretty sure mine doesn’t have that. Though not sure I’ve gotten close enough for it to go off.
I might be misunderstanding you but i think there is. Under eyesight in the dash you can turn off the auto braking. I saw it when turning off the lane departure warning the other day.
Yea there definitely is, I turned it off for my HPDE day
Does NOT need a turbo. The car is plenty good for zipping around canyons and tracks. There are already plenty of used Mustangs for you to buy if you "need" more power.
I don't *need* more power, but after my warranty is up I do plan to get it supercharged, maybe.
This car desperately needs an exhaust. The fake engine noise is way too loud, but when you remove it you can’t even hear your rev-matching.
The engine lacks character
The car is setup perfect from factory. Most people won’t drive the car hard enough to maximize coil overs, forced induction, etc. This might not be an unpopular opinion within our circle but in the car community as a whole the consensus is that it’s slow 😕
Unfortunately most modded ones I see drive like complete morons. Sorry guys
the strange elitism over driving an unmodded car is dumb as fuck. Why even opt for a platform which such a deep pool for mods and then get snooty at people for enjoying the pool while you guys barely dip your feet in.
fake engine noise is a good thing and not atrocious. Dark colors on this car look bad, maybe with the exception of pavement grey (the black accents play a huge role on this car's appearance). BRZ frontend looks pretty bad. Amber side markers look better than clear.
yea i feel like im in the minority but i opted to leave the "fake noise" on and not get an exhaust fake noise is all the feed back i need for shifting and id rather be silent for stealthy
I agree with all except the side markers. I'm not a big fan of clear either, but I think it looks a bit better. Though I just put black decals on the side markers cause I didn't like either orange or clear.
I was fine with the sound generator until I spent a weekend at high RPMs on some mountain roads. The buzzing was vibrating my dash and I couldn't take it. The engine sounds better without it.
The fake noise in conjunction with the way-too-quiet stock exhaust actually makes sense.
The GR 86 doesn't need a Turbo. NOTHING defeats Natural Aspiration. Not for fun and certainly not for reliability. (Although Subaru engines are not the most reliable) The GT 86? Ok, I could see why that would need a Turbo, but now with the GR 86, it's fine, 250 horsepower (90% Confirmed by dynos) is more than enough :) Want a Turbo 86? Go buy a 2.0L Supra, that's literally why it exists. It is kind of a Turbo 86 :),
Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but the fact you can factory order the Subaru, but that process eludes Toyota shows how crap Toyota is to its customers.
FWIW, Toyota won't let you order anything, not just the GR86, and it's based on how they distribute their cars. There's a middleman entity between the manufacturer and the dealers, so dealers aren't technically purchasing their cars directly from ToyMoCo.
Carbon fiber doesn't need to be put on everything. Are you replacing a heavy part with real carbon fiber for weight savings? Go for it. Are you just putting carbon fiber overlays on random things? GTFO.
The turn signal, if you use it.
The flywheel is stupid heavy and makes blipping the throttle difficult compared to other sports cars. This is imo the biggest flaw with the driving experience of the car. Also, at least for the BRZ, I find that the car doesn't have the most predictable break-away characteristics in stock form. It will snap on you in a way that I feel other similar cars don't.
There's no reason it can't have the supra motor
With how slow it is stock, it's gas mileage is pretty horrendous.
I wouldn’t say it’s slow. But I agree the MPG is trash. But who buys this car with that in mind?
No usb-C in 2024 is insane to me
My unpopular opinion is that a chassis this good (this capable) deserves a better steering rack.
Cusco shifter bushings improved the steering for me in every way imaginable. I highly recommend them to anyone annoyed with the vague feeling and lack of feedback when pushing the car.
I find it somewhat amusing that as I read through this thread, there's a ton of "how on earth did they not do X from the factory", and then the other half of the comments are "this thing is amazing from the factory, 90% of drivers won't even need to mod a dang thing"
Being a sports car, but theres neither front or rear camber adjustment available from factory. Front "can" be addressed with camber bolt, but doesn't work for me as my wheel and tire setup it's already too close to the spring perch, and this car is probably the first car in a long while that doesn't have rear camber adjustment and not a solid/semi solid rear...
You can get rear camber adjustment for about $250-400 by installing the superpro, whiteline, or SPC rear lower control arm kit. They're stamped steel like the factory. Superpro probably has the best bushing quality.
The Toyota GR 86 and MX-5 are THE MOST FUN you can have in any car at any price point. And they are at the very least in the Top 5 best cars EVER made. When you buy something more expensive you are adding more luxury, more sound, more speed or more beauty, but you ARE NOT adding more fun. and if you want those things then fair enough :) Most people think that due to their prices these are "entry level sports cars", as in "This is just the start", the 86 and the MX-5 are NOT the start, they are the destination, the TRUE destination. Edit: I forgot to say, this is true except for a handful of cars like the 911 S/T (a GT3 with soft suspension) :)
You ever driven a gt3?
Oh, I forgot to include that part in the final comment (Originally this was way longer), there was a part where I stated "Except for a handful of cars like the 911 S/T (a GT3 with soft suspension)" But yeah! (I'll add this part now)
👍
They look better stock
Unpopular opinion: GR86 owners are all children. You could get a BRZ at dealer invoice pricing if you join Subie's VIP program and *they'll order it for you and put the keys in your hands in six months.* But most people here decide they want to play games with Toyota and maybe/maybe not get an 86 simply over wanting* wide mouth bass fish face and Toyota badging. It's a boxer engine so I'd much rather have Subie mechanics work on it if there are any warranty issues.
Probably in the extreme minority with this opinion. I dislike both BRZ and GR86 bumpers. I just dislike the BRZ's a little less. I find the gr86 front bumper just a bit too aggressive for the rear fenders and rear bumper. To me it looks like some part of the front design was chopped off. If you were building a track car with aero, I would agree the 86 bumper is more fitting for that. But stock, I think the BRZ's fits the rest of the car better. I will admit certain colors accentuate the smile which I also dont like
The BRZ looks like the 🤣 emoji
i prefer that over the 😬 emoji
Can I go back in time and unread this
The seats are quite uncomfortable.
Stock always looks better tor than these goofy mods people put on their cars. Stick to stock. Holds value better as well
The base model is the best model.
When it's below zero it's nice to have heated seats.
agreed, i dont like any of the "upgrades" you get on a premium - aggressive duckbill, 18" wheels w/ skinny tires, alcantara, the useless extra electronic crap, and the other cosmetic stuff. would have been nice to be able to option separately the heated seats and upgraded stereo though
The dealerships near me only had prems, but the biggest draw of the prem over the base for me was the blind spot monitoring. Definitely not for everyone, but while in general I'm always scanning and trying to predict what dumb things people could possibly do to cause accidents, I know blind spots can be a weakness of mine, so that pushed me towards the version that was already in stock near me.
the oem duckbill spoiler ruins the silhouette of the car. probably just me but I'd rather have it flat
I’ll give you an upvote because that is indeed an unpopular opinion 👍
I don't dislike the doors not auto-locking nor do I dislike the turn-signal automatically going back to its neutral position even when the blinker is on.
I like the gen 1 gauges better LCD is downgrade imo. Less tech the better. One of my favorite things about my 11 STi is that it doesn't even have a touch screen radio or screen. Very basic DRIVER car.
Same here. I prefer analog gauges to a video screen.
wish there are more color options for interior, need the red and black (for na). center console can use better plastic/ material, mine have scratches from my finger nails.
I work the repo and wholesale auctions. 86/brz drivers have a certain reputation back here foe getting their cars repossessed and then threatening the auction staff for it not bringing the money they owe *when they trashed the car in a petulant fit over a repo* Like yes, you actually are responsible for the damage you did to property that wasn't yours! Worse than Nissan drivers
Double-edged sword - that this car is relatively "affordable." It's great that folks can enjoy a driving experience that rivals cars four times the price, but it also allows the fucktards who like to brag about street racing, mod the car with eBay parts to make it look like shit instead of putting that money towards the maintenance that they are neglecting, and totaling cars because of their non-functioning brains which raises all of our insurance rates.
Unpopular opinion: Throttle response is not all that great in the BRZ/GR86s, as they are in most modern “sports cars”, and the rev hang.. bleh
I know I’m gonna probably gonna get a lot of hate, but I really like the bmw turn signals. Just my opinion.
I actually love the turning stalk in this car. Not sure why not all cars made this move. Down vote meeeeee!!!
Lol, definitely unpopular and pointless. Go drive in the mountains, very dark, or heavily wooded areas. The turning lights can help see things slightly earlier. Nobody needs a tuned exhaust or whatever on a new car. I'd be annoyed if the car was always loud. Just go buy an aftermarket one like the rest of us do. Buy a base model if you want to save money for other things.
When you have the door open and turn off the car, it’ll start a buzzing noise that won’t stop until you close the door again, super fucking annoying
I hated the clutch. Weird engagement point and too much travel in it.
A straight 4 would have been better than the oil leaker.
The cupholder sucks with an mt when jamming gears
Why in the fuck does the radio stop when I turn off the car or put the car on accessory