Subaru BRZ review: Why a car that shouldn’t exist is so great

Pras Subramanian
·Senior Reporter
Updated ·4-min read

The all new Subaru BRZ shouldn't even exist.

What use is there for Subaru and Toyota (which helped co-develop the car and has its version, the 86), for a gas-powered, and not even turbocharged, sports car in this day and age when it's all about EVs?

Believe it not the BRZ has been around for over decade, and is still popular among enthusiasts of pure, stripped down sports cars. So when Subaru and Toyota announced they would be updated the prior gen BRZ and 86, there was much rejoicing among manual transmission aficionados.

And Subaru is throwing one last bone to these fans, with one more iteration of this pure sports car. My colleague Rick Newman and I decided to put the new BRZ through its paces.

2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)
2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)

A new design, but now too new

The BRZ looks very similar outgoing model, in fact I would bet casual fans would not be able to tell the difference. But there are differences. Subaru has made the car look more slippery, with a taut front end flanked by aggressive air intakes, all flowing back to a wide rear three-quarter panel. The rear hatch then flows back leading into aggressive, though welcome, "ducktail" rear spoiler.

Inside the cabin is where Subaru worked its magic. The outgoing BRZ looked positively ancient inside, with aging digital readouts and plasticky trim. Subaru has upped the game here, with a nicer cockpit display and center stack with a 7-inch digital display in the center console. To the left of the tachometer are programmable displays for tracking performance oriented metrics, and even a g-meter.

2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)
2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)

Our BRZ even contained some suede, alcantara-like inserts in the doorcards and in other spots, and all together felt premium for a car that starts at $28,595 - which is very cheap in the world of new cars. I was also a fan of the seats, which were very comfortable and bolstered in the right areas for support. There’s also two small seats in the back for more convenience in such a small package.

The drive

2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)
2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)

Powering the car, that Subaru now says is 50% stiffer, is an updated 2.4-liter naturally aspirated engine "boxer" 4-cylinder engine, with 228 hp (over 20 more hp than before) and 184 lb-ft of torque (15% increase). More importantly, Subaru says the torque-dip that once plagued the engine in the midrange of its RPM band is now gone.

After slipping into those comfortable seats and giving our car, here equipped with the 6-speed manual, a run through the gears, we immediately felt that added power versus the outgoing model. Power was linear and it even came out at higher RPMs, and the notchy manual transmission with short-travel clutch made driving this thing a breeze - both in New York City traffic and north in Westchester County, New York. The BRZ also includes a limited slip differential, which certainly aids in getting the power down to the rear wheels.

2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)
2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)

Rick Newman is a Subaru guy. He owns a Subaru Impreza with a manual transmission, and enjoys the simplicity of the cars. He's also a big fan of the BRZ, though he knows its days are limited.

“We’re now entering the final lap for every model of gasoline powered car … We’re going to see a declining pace of new ICE models, and this is going to be a collector’s model in a few years,” Newman says of the BRZ.

2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)
2022 Subaru BRZ (credit: Subaru)

But, he says, “we need more cheap, fun cars.” And these cheap, gas-powered cars are certainly going away. And that’s really too bad because the BRZ is great to drive, in a go-cart, flat handling, point and shoot type of way. And it gets around 30 mpg, which is quite amazing for a performance-oriented car.

The electric revolution is here, and for the most part EVs are generally better all around compared to gas-powered equivalents. That being said, I’m all for a car you can ring out, have fun, blast through corners with and not break the speed limit. And at around $31,000 in Limited trim this car is a steal, and you're not going to find an EV at that price that can match this car's performance.

As enthusiasts, we want to see more cars like BRZ, even though the industry and governments across the globe want to see them in the history books.

—

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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