Full Photo Gallery Here

I got a call from my local subaru dealer (Fairway Subaru, Greenville SC) from my lovely sales lady Jan Doss that the Subaru BRZ was at the dealer and if I wanted to come up and take a look at it and see what it was all about to get on out there because this is a "Demo/PR" car that the regional sales rep has been bringing around to various dealers.  If you want to know when it maybe in your area please contact your dealer.

Interior:

My initial thoughts seeing the car was it looks really nice, Subaru didn't skimp on the outside except for the vents in the fenders could be more real but not a huge deal.  When i got in the car i was amazed on just how well the seats fit.  I would actually love to own these seats for my current car(s) lol they kept you planted in the seats during hard cornering and were actually quite comfortable even for me being 6' 3.  I like the fact that the interior was all covered in leather with most of it in red stitching, the console reminds me of carbon fiber but it's just plastic but still you feel like you are sitting in a car that is well made.  The one thing that annoys me the most about newer cars is the plastic feeling for the money you pay, at least this car won't have that issue.

Radio & HVAC controls – I'm not a huge fan of the navagation option but I do however like the idea that you can remove the radio unlike they did to the 05-09 subaru legacy gt owners.  What i thought was actually cool was the heater controls and switches in the center console.  It reminds me of a cockpit control panel which I have seen in some of the newer chevy cars.  The interior doesn't look cheap although there is always room for improvement.  I would love to see the black trim offered in carbon fiber.  This car is also has the engine start button and i didn't hear him start the car he just reached down and pushed the button and we were off.

Exterior:

I absolutly love the looks of the outside of the car minus the fake side vents, if I were to get one I would want the HID lights, and some other options that the toyota FRS will not have.  Here is a quick few pictures of the outside:

Engine & Transmission:

The subaru brz has been equipped with the Subaru Boxer D-45 motor which puts out 200 horsepower from a 2.0 liter motor but does not come with a turbo charger option (for now) but during the ride along I never saw a need for a turbo charger of course it would be nice but this 2500 lb car had no problems during acceleration or passing.  It even stuck to the road in the corners & accelerating at the same time with no problem.  Something that I think would be a must is to have the 6-speed manual transmission, that is what this model had and maybe i'll write another review once i see one with a automatic.

One of the interesting things I noticed about the engine was due to it sitting so low in the engine bay they had to relocate the engine oil filter to the top of the motor, i personally wish subaru had done this long before now but we will tell in the long run how well this does.

Handling:  I thought the car did amazing though the curves and even when we punched it the car never broke loose or even hinted at tire squeal and trust me we pushed it.  The suspension did quite well but I would like to see some spt upgrades for this down the road.  Maybe next time we can get a look at it we'll try to put it on a lift and get some good pictures of the under body to show the suspension.

Bottom Line: Yes I would love to have one of these but the price point at the moment doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy considering you can get a WRX for about the same price that has a turbo charger.  I think something Subaru should consider for this model is to come out wtih a track ready version that includes Brembo brakes, and maybe some suspension tweaks because after all most of the people purchasing these will most likely be taking them to some form of track day.

Car Specs:

Oh yea if I were to ever own one of these this is the color it would have to be:

Location & Time

Quaker Steak & Lube
10 Chrome Drive
Greenville, SC 29615
4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

I got a few pictures, there are over 400 pics total so here are a few highlights, keep in mind my photo skills are the best and I need a lens for my camera.

BlackLake Shootout 2009 Pictures

some highlights:

Some excerpts:

If you want to attend just let me know so we have a idea of how many people are coming to eat food and get some cool stuff! Also if you have something to sell let me know!!! If you have a company that would like to become a vendor shoot me a pm so I can get it organized

If you do not want to sign up on nasioc you can use method 2 here

Nasioc Link:  http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1763293

Well I got the thinking if we don’t meet at the importnationals place what are some things everyone would like to see at the next meet? besides a 20g give away lol.

So far I have:
1. Inside gathering place for the cooling off
2. name tags with our forum screenname on them, so we actually know who people are

I have to go by sometime next week to talk to jan and daniel so I’ll give them some suggestions. The idea is a big swap meet of any cars…… then this could become a “big” once or twice a year thing then regular subie meets other times.

update: 4/28/2009 – Went by and we think we solved the issue with cooling off, jan said we could use the service area and that end of the store. I talked about some other stuff with Daniel and Jan and I guess the next thing is dates, do we do a meet or a meet ride, or a swap meet. I’d still like to see what other cars we could get to come.

Proposed dates:
July 18th

August 1st
August 8th

I know these dates are usually really hot outside so another thing would be should we meet earlier in the day? I don’t think people would show up if the meet started at 9am lol but figured I’d throw it out there. So with all that said lets hear what ya’ll think. I’m up for opening the event up for all cars, might beat the record again

Fairway Subaru now on facebook

Well enough of that here are the pics, this is a link to my photogallery if they don’t work for some.
Full Photo Album of Event