Subaru BRZ Coupe Announced!

[BoxerFanatic]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

Center diff isn't the problem, it's the front diff. Removing it allows them to mount the engine several inches lower and farther back. Lower C of G, better weight distribution...

For a RWD car, this will be a fine chassis. It would have been even better, if they had gone with a rear transaxle like a 944, Alfa GTV, or C5/C6 Corvette. or even gone a mini-Cayman route, and made it mid engined, and succeeded the MR2, rather than the AE86. But they didn't.

Too heavy and unnecessary. The car is supposed to come in sub-3000 lbs, and a well tuned 4-cylinder is plenty for that.

Plenty. or otherwise "sufficient". How many legendary cars are "sufficient", though?

A 300-350 tuned EZ-series engine would be all the much better in this car, and could be considered a successor to the Mark II or Mark III Supra, compared to the RWD Celica or Corolla of those days.

Sometimes a bit too much, is just enough.

Impossible using Subaru's current systems, the engine will literally sit where the front axles would normally go. Unless you can figure out a way to put a differential inside a crankcase it's not going to work.

Agreed. Plus it would be pointless to have done all the R&D to change this chassis from the other Subaru platforms.

It would be easier for a manufacturer to just build a coupe body on the Impreza's floor plan.

Changing it from AWD to RWD drastically, as the FT-86 project has done, and then back to AWD would be a bit odd.

And what's so wrong with it not having AWD? Yes, I know that's Subaru's signiture feature, but has anyone here ever driven a lightweight, well balanced, RWD coupe? S2000, 240SX, Miata... In terms of fun to drive these cars will stomp every modern Subaru all day long. And as for winter... Throw a set of snow tires on it. If you still get into trouble you're doing something wrong.

I have a Miata. It trudged through 8 winters, on snow tires, with it's torsen LSD, before I rescued my SVX, and it became the second winter car, with the Legacy, and allows the Miata to now hibernate for the winter.

Fun to drive applies to the dry weather, when traction levels endorse having fun. Driving home in the snow is not the time to be seeking fun. That is when I seek control. AWD traction offers that control.

A miata is not more fun when the conditions aren't good. it is cold, cramped, loud, and possibly too light. The things that make it GREAT in some conditions, make it miserable in worse conditions.

Have you ever tried to drive a Miata in a big winter coat, and snowy boots? Not good. It isn't even all that easy to stow a winter coat in a Miata, without putting it in the trunk, and clamoring in and out of those tiny door openings, and low window seal. SVX is low at the roof, but not THAT tight to get in and out of, and you can drive it with boots on, and toss your coat in the back seat, with the plentiful heat from that EG33, being held in the cabin by a fixed roof and glass.

BOTH Subarus that I have STOMP the Miata in all-weather capability and competence.

And if I could only have one car...

I would want an AWD performance coupe. Every ounce of competence in the winter, and still fun every other day of the year, too.

Going the other way, with a VERY fun summer sports car, and then trying to extract more winter competence than it is capable of, in winter conditions, is not as positive a compromise. Especially if lack of control in those conditions causes damage to the car, in an accident, or a rough trip into the ditch.

Those not in the snow belt may not have to make such compromises.