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The original was posted on /r/cars by /u/nukelauncher95 on 2025-07-16 05:06:43+00:00.
Last winter I got injured after a woman failed to see me in a crosswalk and hit me with her SUV. Luckily I have no long lasting injures and was awarded a nice settlement. I knew I wanted a sports car and I'm a Porsche fanatic, so I was shopping for the first generation Porsche Cayman. I then began looking into the 2nd gen BRZ when I realized just how old the 987 Caymans are. This was going to be my only car. I started having second thoughts and began focusing on the 2nd gen BRZ. They are virtually the same size and weight as a 987 and in the real world, the Porsche isn’t all that much faster than the BRZ either. The BRZ is a lot newer, safer, cheaper to insure, cheaper to maintain, has more cargo capacity, and I won’t have to install an aftermarket head unit for Android Auto. I do all of my own work, so having something easier to work on than a mid engine Cayman is a big plus too. I found a 2022 BRZ in World Rally Blue with only 24,000 miles. No accidents. It had 2 owners although the 2nd owner only had it for 9 months and drove it less than 2,000 miles. I bought it in April and it just ticked over to 28,000 miles last night.
I’m absolutely in love with it. I love the way it looks. It has nice curves and wide hips. It has a digital gauge cluster with a decent amount of information to display. It has big, simple, easy to use controls for the HVAC. It’s automatic with dual zones too, which is nice. I prefer the Subaru front bumper over the GR 86 and I like not having the ducktail spoiler too. I have the base model with the 17 inch wheels. They have some mild, repairable curb rash, but I’m buying aftermarket wheels and using the stock set for winter tires.
The engine likes to rev. Redline is just about 7500 RPM and it pulls strong all the way to the top. The stock intake is very quiet unless you’re wide open throttle and over 4K RPM and the exhaust is pretty quiet too. None of the aftermarket intakes beat the stock intake in performance. Most reduce power, but all of them are a lot louder. I don’t think I’ll change it, but I do plan on getting a slightly louder muffler. Nothing obnoxious, but I just want to hear it a little more. I like the way it sounds. It doesn’t sound special. It just sounds like every other 4 cylinder engine, but it doesn’t sound bad either. The shifter is nice. Smooth and direct. No complaints with the shifter, but the actual transmission itself can be a little temperamental shifting into 2nd and 3rd. Really only at slower speeds. You just have to rev higher. The transmission really would prefer if you shift over 4,000 RPM. The higher the better.
This car has minimal sound insulation. You hear every little bit of mechanical sounds the engine and transmission make. You will think the car is broken from all the sounds it makes, but you’ll get used to it. The high pressure fuel pump and direct injectors are the loudest I’ve heard in any car, even common rail diesels. The clutch and transmission itself are very chattery too. I’ve learned to stop worrying and enjoy the mechanical sounds, even though it sometimes sounds like you’ve blown something up.
The best thing about this car is how it drives. It is playful and wants you to push your limits. This is the perfect first RWD sports car to learn vehicle dynamics. It is set up to slide progressively and will never catch you off guard. It will always understeer if you push the car too hard. You have to invoke oversteer and it will never be unpredictable. This car will teach and encourage you to become a better driver. It will reward you for doing well but won’t punish you for doing something wrong.
All of that being said, here’s what I don’t like about the car.
The clutch pedal is this car’s biggest weakness. It engages too high and the assist spring makes you feel like you’re a beginner. I have adjusted my pedal so the clutch bites closer to the middle of travel and I installed an aftermarket assist spring. It helped a lot, but the clutch pedal in my ancient Elantra felt better than the one in my BRZ. Like many modern manual transmissions, there is a lot of rev hang. It takes some getting used to so your 1st to 2nd gear shifts can be smooth. The throttle response could be a bit quicker as well. I recently saw in a Throttle House video that the 2026 GR86 Hakone Edition reportedly improved this.
The Infotainment system can be buggy, especially Android Auto. It sometimes takes multiple unplug and replug attempts to get Android Auto to load. When it does, it usually runs fine and it has never dropped out, but establishing that initial connection is a bad experience. It’s not my USB cable or the ports or my phone. And the system has been updated to the latest firmware. It’s better than it was before the update, but not much. To be honest, the sound system as a whole just plain sucks. The speakers are awful and I plan on replacing them soon. A speaker upgrade and subwoofer install are going to be my first mods to the car.
I know this is a low cost lightweight sports car and compromises needed to be made, but the interior build quality just sucks. The door panels in particular. They’s so flimsy and squeaky and the speakers rattle the plastic. I’ve knocked the driver side air vent and dashboard end cap off multiple times already from rather light taps with my knee when getting out of the car. I feel like the previous owners have done the same because that part of the dash has always been super squeaky.
I feel like the engine should have a bit more low end torque. Its engine really is happiest at 3K RPM and above, but it will cruise at 2K with no complaints on flat ground. But if you need to accelerate even a little bit or just maintain speed up hill, it will let you know that it doesn’t like that and you’ll have to drop down a gear. The car is rated for 20 MPG city, and I consistently get that during my daily commute, but I feel like if it had more low end torque, you can get better fuel mileage. But I didn’t buy this car to save gas. I bought it to have fun. I’m always revving it to redline and loving every minute of it.
Some other little nitpicks are that this car doesn’t have an oil pressure gauge, but it does have an oil temperature gauge. This car doesn’t have automatic door locks! I couldn’t believe it. No, it’s not a setting that isn’t enabled. It literally doesn’t have the feature. It also doesn’t have rain sensing wipers. Such a weird thing not to have. The seats should also be more adjustable and have lumbar support too. And the steering wheel doesn’t telescope very far. The trunk opening is tiny but the car has a lot of cargo capacity. The back seats are useless for transporting people, but they hold a ton of stuff. With the seats folded down, you can fit a full set of wheels inside the car. They also got rid of the spare tire. The previous generation had one and there’s still space in the car for it and a jack and tools. You can just get any 17 inch Subaru space saver and it will fit. I plan on doing that too. I never owned a car without a spare. I feel so vulnerable without one lol. I drive a lot. I usually get a flat tire once, sometimes twice a year.
All in all, this is a fantastic car. It’s by far the best car I’ve ever owned. I would definitely recommend buying one if you’re looking for an inexpensive well handling sports car.