2022 Subaru BRZ Reviewed vs. Toyota GR 86

[Music] this is the all-new 2022 subaru brz we finally get behind the wheel to see how it drives in the countryside and on the track that's coming up right now on driving sports tv [Music] the brz has been a surprise hit for subaru though not nearly as popular as the outback the brz has managed to surpass the brand's modest sales goals and grow a loyal following in the nine years since its introduction so this lightweight rear wheel drive coupe is back for a second generation and somehow subaru has managed to keep the price of entry to only 28 955 dollars including destination for a base premium trim today we're in connecticut to drive the 2022 subaru brz limited with a six-speed manual transmission as the top end of two trim options the limited features 18-inch alloy wheels wrapped in michelin pilot sport 4 summer tires blind spot detection steering responsive led headlights and heated seats wrapped in ultra suede and leather prices you see it here 31 455 us dollars including destination if you opt for the six-speed automatic transmission you also get subaru's eyesight advanced safety system that bumps the price to 33 255 with destination epa rates economy on the six-speed manual version at 20 miles to the gallon in town and 27 on the highway automatics earn one extra mpg in the city and three more on the highway all models feature the same functional aerodynamics these ducts and vent work to direct air around and over the vehicle helping to keep it planted at speed it also has an exceptionally low center of gravity thanks to subaru's horizontally opposed engine placed low in the chassis this is a 2.4 liter boxer engine that produces a peak 228 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of pork that's up to 28 additional horses when compared to the outgoing 2-liter model so why didn't subaru go with a turbo we'll let subaru's car line planning manager michael reddick explain their thinking so as you know the turbo for subarus are packaged underneath so if we take that turbo and now that means that we have to move the engine up so we've now increased the cog on on the vehicle which also means moving the engine up we have to move the cowl up which also increases the cog on the vehicle which means now the driver isn't able to see outside of the vehicle as well over the hood which means we're raising the seat up so that's also raising the cog on the vehicle and then you think as well we worked really hard to make sure that a driver could fit in this vehicle with a low roof with a helmet on so that means if we raise the seat up then we also have to raise the roof up so all of this contributes to all the things that we would not want to do for brz so our goal was to get that naturally aspirated smooth power out of the vehicle and maintain the lowest cog that we possibly could the trunk is larger than it looks as you see it here that's 6.3 cubic feet but fold the second row down and you have enough space for two golf bags or four race tires and a helmet also i want to note that it has pistons to hold up the lid so it doesn't eat up valuable internal space as a two plus two coupe the second row isn't very functional so the back seat really wasn't designed for adults but i'm gonna give it a try now i have to push the for the seat forward there's no other way ah sit on my phone it'll break it oh my gosh feet don't so um this doesn't work i'm not exaggerating like there is no humanly way i can sit back here i mean my feet won't so one of the downsides apparently of the seats getting lower is the fact that there's no way you can put your feet under the seats anymore um yeah there's there's not room for an adult foot there could you put an infant probably [Music] having owned miatas rx8s i had an acura gsr i mean i've had a lot of sporty cars i think this is one of the nicer interiors and that's in terms of function the seat is comfortable everything falls to hand the steering wheel doesn't only tilt it also telescopes which is good the shifter just feels amazing and then in here i have two usb sockets as well as an analog and two cup holders i kind of got everything i need you know oh another cup holder in the door too if you need it so if you're doing a long interstate trip to go to a track you got your beverages covered man start it up and i get a little boxer video effect on the main gauge cluster i am also greeted by the display giving me my safety information now this is a new 8-inch panel and it is using subaru's software but it's just a little muddy it's a little flat it's not great you can control xm satellite radio using the same interface if you've used any subaru in the last several years this will be very familiar media phone if you're doing just bluetooth you have my subaru which covers maintenance and roadside assistance and then of course you also have apps which you can add via your mobile but you'll notice there is no navigation for that you have to use phone integration and this will do either apple carplay or android auto plugging in carplay i get carplay screen it's all very obvious and this is how i get my navigation find the nearest starbucks the closest one i see is starbucks on touringford street in torrington works fine obviously moving on the panel gives us a big rear view camera with tracking lines however like i said the panel's a little muddy and this camera is also pretty low resolution so it's not great at looking at details but it does give you the information that you need while backing up now as far as visibility goes it's actually quite good in this the c-pillar is a little thick but it's not too bad especially for a sports car where sometimes visibility isn't key i do like that i have the two humps over the wheel so i can really feel where my wheels are mirror is in a good position and the seating position this new seat it is nicer than the old one it's lighter and it fits me better i feel like there's a lot more support all the way up and down my back and it's bolstered really nicely now you get the same seat design whether you buy this limited trim or you buy the premium which is the base but this one also is covered in alcantara and the alcantara continues covering the cluster as well so you don't get reflections and then because this is a limited you also get leather wrapped with contrast stitching on the handbrake which yeah it's a hand brake as well as on the shifter boot and around the steering wheel and that is really nice feeling leather i gotta say that stuff is good if you looked at our gr86 review you will see that the climate controls are identical between the two cars but i think that's okay this is a good looking setup and then right below that we have some additional stuff like aircon mirror warmers as well as different air conditioning controls so recirculate sync all that it is dual zone which is cool the main gauge cluster is mostly digital now it's actually split up a little bit there's a multi-color digital panel on the left and then there's an lcd on the right the lcd gives some good information it shows the current outside temperature the current engine temperature the time and the fuel gauge that stuff you never change so they put an lcd there on the left we have all sorts of information and it is useful we have everything from torque and power curve stop watch we also have g forces i can also look at you know what's on the radio but that's not all if i click on this button it goes into a special track mode which gives me my tack centric looking display and if i rev really high it'll flash it to show that it's shift time i really like that on the track that's really useful stuff [Music] [Applause] [Music] that is also of course tied into the traction control system you see if you do track mode it'll back off traction control by i'd say like one level and then you can also optionally hold down traction off on the left and it'll completely defeat traction control if you don't want to do big smoky burnouts for example there is a hill holder for people who are uncomfortable with sticks on hills it's a feature that my 1990 subaru legacy even had so super has been doing that for a long time if you get a manual you get a hill holder you'll note there is no sunroof it's not an option on this car but we do get two bumps and that gives me room for a helmet and then up here we also have subaru's telematics starlink which is for the first time on this vehicle that provides a concierge service that you can subscribe to it also gives you a digital link to the vehicle oh there's two other things so tire pressures if you go to the track you run tpms on your track tires and then you switch your tires out on your car to your daily tires and then you have to reset tpms again you don't have to go to the dealership subaru actually provides a little switch down here to reset your tpms the moment you switch the tires out and then beyond that there is a 12 volt dc socket in the glove box i look all over for it but i found it in the glove box okay with all those things taken care of let's go for a drive [Applause] now you might be even surprised to learn that a 2022 brz is a thing because in this world of electrification and crossovers there's just not a lot of interest in rear-wheel drive simple sports cars however this car actually blew away expectations yeah they sold more than they had anticipated and so that is what has earned it a second round what is new well actually quite a lot the chassis is more rigid even though they did add a little weight in improving that rigidity they actually removed weight in other spots so you end up with a vehicle that actually doesn't weigh a lot more than the outgoing model and yeah power it is more powerful thank god the new 2.4 liter engine derived from the subaru ascents turbo engine yeah no turbo in here unfortunately is a banker i mean it produces torque and holds it the horsepower dip is gone mostly so not only did they manage to keep it light they moved the center of gravity even lower and one of the key things about the center of gravity is the fact that i'm actually sitting below the center of gravity line in the vehicle and that gives you a very special feeling that is a feeling of you know control and command like the whole vehicle moves around you and even though it is roughly the same size as the old model they made some surprising changes it's a little bit longer the wheelbase in the back is a little bit wider and the cabin is actually a little bit tighter and they do that to get you more control and for quicker turning much like they illustrated with the arms of a figure skater as she brings her arms in she spins faster with the subaru it's the same concept bring those seats together pinch that roof in just a little bit and you not only make it turn better but you make it slightly lighter because you're using less material oh and speaking of material there's a lot more aluminum on this year's model front fender aluminum roof is aluminum the hood was already aluminum in the last model there's a little bit of give a little bit of take the net result is a car that only weighs a little bit more than the outgoing model yet has more horsepower and it also has more horsepower per pound than the old model so it's a noticeable improvement in horsepower plus you have extra rigidity all of these things are very very good so are they enough to really elevate the brz to the next level of performance now a couple weeks ago i did drive the new toyota gr86 and the gr86 is super fun on the racetrack on the surface the brz and gr86 seem almost identical and in many ways they are in the development of both cars subaru took charge of engineering and production and toyota handled planning and design but before they were finalized there were a number of decisions that could result in dramatic handling differences when pushing the limits again subaru carline planning manager michael reddick the main differences between the subaru brz and the gr86 that i know of are first of course you see the styling differences with different headlights and a different grille but also there are some changes to the characteristics of the vehicle such as the transmission tuning engine tuning power steering tuning and the damper rates as well so those are some of the big changes but we also have differences in suspension the rear suspension for instance has the stabilizer bar mounted to the body on the brz whereas on the 86 it's a carryover suspension where the stabilizer bar is mounted to the subframe also we have a lot more aluminum parts for the suspension on brz versus steel parts on the 86 we also try to take a lot of the weight that we would have in those suspension bits like i said using more aluminum to help improve the unsprung weight situation for the vehicle as well though you can't get the brz with all-wheel drive all trims do get a torson limited slip differential in the back to help distribute power between the two rear wheels thankfully subaru hooked us up with some time at the historic lime rock park in lakeville connecticut to get a better grasp on the limits of this new brz limerock is a 1.5 mile road course that hugs the appalachian terrain with seven turns and a fast front straight the track does require windows down and helmets on when running at speed so apologies for the wind tunnel audio effects so today's not about making any lap records it is just about feeling what the changes in this vehicle do to the way that it handles i mean subaru's done a lot to improve the handling lower the center of gravity lower the driver's position below that center of gravity and to improve unsprung weight which of course improves handling so does that add up to a car that is you know noticeably better than the outgoing model that's what i'm gonna find out so if you are a regular at this racetrack you know my line's not gonna be great today i'm not gonna learn this track in like one go some people can do that not me but what i am feeling for is how this vehicle is responding to my inputs it really just feels like it's glued to the road and that is of course partially due to the fact that this has the sticky pilot sport tires ooh that was a little light right there but also changes in the suspension i would say i think the down the hill i think the toyota feels a little more tossable but this one feels way faster because i can i'm more planted 102 105 frank down shift four staying settled tires are still gripping as i'm going through the corner at about 60 the pedals are nicely placed for heel toe it's kind of like seamless it's going exactly where i'm pointing feels really good oh man this is fun so there's not a lot of cars where you can drive them every day to work drive it to the track on the weekend laugh all weekend and then drive it home this is one of those cars and you will have a great time doing it it's just so much fun okay 84 that's a little hot let's smooth it out there a little bit even at speed i feel like it's really controlled oh so nice and this is my cool down on this cooldown lap i am kind of surprised with way these two vehicles feel that the toyota version and the subaru version the toyota version it feels a little more tossable but this one feels like it's in more control it feels like i really know what's going on and that kind of makes sense because the old version was more tossable and the old version the rear suspension setup is very similar on the toyota however this one has a revised suspension setup and i just find this to be way more competent way more able i feel like i could go much faster if i knew the lines here i definitely had a lot more my envelope was much bigger in this car than it was in the toyota and i'm not sure if that's just a confidence thing but it definitely feels better this one feels better and i did drive the pilot sport version of the gr86 with the manual transmission a lot of stuff feels very similar but you know at speed i just felt more confident in this car the old brz was a very fun car this one sheds the training wheels this one feels like a bonafide sports car it has the looks it has the feel um the the way that everything kind of speaks to me as a driver here is just brilliant i love this thing i'm not like regretting the power in this one like i did in the old one the old one you were constantly you know struggling between gears to find power and then once you had it the torque dip would take it away and it was just kind of a bit of a hassle it was a fun car but it had problems and they were almost all related to that so in this car not only did they improve the power they just improved everything else too but how does it do with a 0 to 60 let's find a flat bit of highway here and find out i'm in track mode it's 80 degrees 3 2 1 go a little spin and shift and shift i had to do that third gear right before i got to 60 but 6.37 seconds there you go of course your 0-60 will not be as good if you have the primacy tires they just don't have a lot of grip i'm in a limited that comes standard with the pilot sports now the pilot sports are not all seasons you do not want to really drive them in the winter time they don't do well with cold temperatures but for a day like today 80 degrees they're great so that's my first look at the new 2022 subaru brz like its predecessor this is still a great little sports car if you're looking for something fun on the weekends that is also very practical to drive day to day all the improvements make the 2022 a much better car all around whether you should get the new brz or its twin the toyota gr86 that comes down to how you like to drive to really boil it down the toyota feels more tail happy and the brz more confident but either way you're getting one of the last great gas powered driving experiences for a price that won't break the bank for driving sports tv i'm ryan douthit thanks for watching 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Channel: Driving Sports TV

Views: 325,209

Keywords: car review, driving sports tv, toyota 86, 2022 toyota gr86, subaru brz, toyota gr86, new brz, subaru brz review, 2022 toyota gr 86, gr86 vs brz, 2022 gr86, toyota gr 86, 2022 subaru brz, 2022 brz subaru, 2022 brz test drive, 2022 brz interior, 2022 brz 0-60, 2022 brz exhaust sound, 2022 brz review, new brz 86, 2022 brz vs toyota 86

Id: TM7KSPn6Q58

Length: 21min 41sec (1301 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 30 2021