Velvet Magazine June 2017

Motoring
please
Putting The
Back In To Driving
It’s tough work selling a proper sports car these days. Hot
hatches like the Volkswagen Golf GTi or Ford Focus ST
promise to combine all that’s exciting about the genre with
the practicalities that modern life demands - doors you can fit
through, a decent boot, cupholders and so on.
Even if you wanted an affordable sports car, the list is pretty
short and full of talent. There’s the Mazda MX-5 and its cousin,
Fiat’s 124 Spider, and the Toyota GT86. That’s made life tough
for Subaru, who introduced the BRZ back in 2012. It’s a fourseater
coupe that’s focused almost entirely on driving pleasure;
power is provided by a 2.0 litre engine up front and sent to the
rear wheels via a limited slip differential, with much effort made
to keep the weight and centre of gravity down. And it’s almost
identical to the Toyota, even being built in the same factory.
To keep it fresh, Subaru has facelifted the BRZ a little and, while
the changes seem subtle at first, they make quite a difference
overall. A new bumper and grille makes the car appear wider and
lower, with new LED headlights and taillights adding a modern
sparkle. The side vents look higher quality now, and a rear spoiler
has been added as well, although I’m sure that’s just cosmetic.
The BRZ wasn’t a bad looking car to start with, but it’s been
finessed beautifully now.
The same is true of the interior, at least partly. Home to too
many low quality plastics and dated design, Subaru argued that
the car was designed for those that focussed on driving. Buyers
Written by Phil Huff
disagreed, as no matter how enthusiastic you are about motoring,
you still have to deal with the car every day, so Subaru has gone
about giving it an update to improve perceived quality. There’s a
new steering wheel multifunction controls, less plastic and more
leather, a new digital screen in the instrument binnacle and red
stitching all over the place to remind drivers this is a sports car.
It goes some way to improving matters, but stepping out of the
Golf GTi into the BRZ will highlight just how far off the car is in
terms of material feel and quality.
You’ll also notice the change in practicality. The rear the seats in
the Subaru are a token gesture, but at least they fold down to
make the sensible sized boot even more usable, while a pair of
cupholders sit far enough back to be used by front or rear seat
passengers - assuming they can squeeze in! Just ahead of those
are some buttons for switching the stability control to Track
mode, or off entirely.
If you ever drive one of these cars, press that button. Every time.
Switching the car to Track mode simply transforms it from a car
that feels compromised to one that will make you smile on every
journey. The BRZ no longer just follows a line prescribed by a
computer but actually moves around and feels alive. It’s now that
I understand what the BRZ is all about.
The trend of recent years has been to hunt for ever increasing
96
Velvet Magazine | June 2017