2013 Subaru BRZ Driven Review

"Too fast" isn't a phrase automotive enthusiasts want to throw out in the Twittersphere too often. In the quest for constant improvement, adding speed is the easiest thing an automobile manufacturer can do. We now have hot hatchbacks producing 911-like lap times, family sedans with enough power to embarrass Thomas Magnum's Ferrari 328, and a hot-rodded Jeep that runs away from a stoplight like its hair is on fire.

The mere suggestion that a car is "too fast" implies a lack of control on the driver's part, perhaps even a bravery deficit. At the same time, the writer who postulates on the "too fast" theme is, in some circles, thought to be more of a Prius fan than a member of the sports car cognoscenti. 

Fortunately, we don't need to have this discussion here and now. The Subaru BRZ is not too fast. Nor is the Subaru BRZ too slow. Mind you, if the Subaru BRZ is travelling too quickly, legally speaking, it's unlikely to have exceeded its limits. And if a Subaru BRZ is moving too slowly, its driver is likely still enjoying the experience.

Reaffirm this fact, the 2013 Subaru BRZ isn't slow. You don't keep it on high boil in routine driving, not like you do a Honda Fit. To push the BRZ hard, however, you must actually apply maximum pressure to the throttle pedal. Treating Subaru's own Impreza WRX STi this way would land you in a cold, damp, and dark county jail. 

Not only does the Subaru BRZ allow you to give'er the actual beans, it provides you with a tactile experience in the process, regardless of speed. Sure, it's more fun attacking a twisty country road than it is dawdling around city streets. But high speeds don't need to be a core part of the BRZ's diet.

The BRZ's beauty lies in the fact that speed does not need to be scrubbed off in order to cope with corners. The speed to which you accelerate is a speed with which you can carve corners. While producing a car that would challenge mature drivers, Subaru obviously set up the BRZ to inspire confidence in drivers who are unfamiliar with rear-wheel-drive sports cars.

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Steering is expressive, but not quite to the chatty level. The ride is firm but perfectly tolerable. These roundabouts proved to me that the BRZ sticks like the safety grit grip tape I applied to our front steps a couple weeks ago: full of friction at first; prior to a gradual unhinging. In the BRZ's case, the rear end's release is pleasant and perfectly controlled. (The gritty adhesive came off one step at a time and my mother-in-law slipped on the bottom step soon after. Even so, she bought me Christmas gifts and dried dishes while I washed after a Christmas dinner for twelve people.) 

GoodCarBadCar.net's BRZ Drive Was Kindly Arranged
By Don Bragg At Steele Subaru In Halifax, Nova Scotia.

2013 SUBARU BRZ Price (CDN): $27,295-$29,295 Engine: 2.0L DOHC 16-valve H-4 Transmission: 6-speed manual Horsepower: 200 @ 7000 rpm Torque: 151 lb-ft @ 6400 rpm Curb Weight: 2776 pounds Drive Type: rear-wheel-drive Length: 166.7 inches Width: 69.9 inches Height: 50.6 inches Wheelbase: 101.2 inches Passenger Volume: 2166 litres Cargo Volume: 195 litres

Speaking of mothers-in-law, you won't be asking yours to sit in the back of the BRZ. Worse than the inadequate rear legroom - which you could add to by sacrificing space up front - is the lack of shape on the backrest. No BRZ buyer makes this purchase because of its rear quarters, of course. But a group of adults leaving for a night on the town will not likely depart the driveway in this car. 

A couple could travel for a significant amount of time with plenty of luggage. The simple navigation system, superb front seats, that easily-modulated clutch, and the BRZ's excellent visibility will undoubtedly help make long trips manageable. The naturally-aspirated 2.0L's buzz is the only factor that will have you thinking twice about driving cross-country.

Toyota and Subaru jointly developed this car, not to make boatloads of money but to bolster their respective images. In Toyota/Scion's case, that required signifiying to consumers that fun can be had in a Toyota showroom, decades after the 2000GT stirred souls. Subaru must have understood that rally cars only lend so much credibility to a road car manufacturer's sporting bonafides. You won't see a BRZ parked on every corner, but each BRZ should, theoretically, have you viewing the Subaru brand in a slightly different light.

There are those who think the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S are perfect. They're not. Because the car I drove around Halifax isn't perfect, some testers have found themselves in a state of deep disappointment. Subaru didn't make the BRZ as much fun to drive as the dearly departed Mazda RX-8. The BRZ isn't nearly as refined, either. But does that mean it's not a tremendous sports car value? Any buyer who would otherwise purchase or lease a Ford Edge SEL or a Honda Odyssey or a Nissan Altima 2.5 SL can instead drive away in a Subaru BRZ. 

Its mere existence is thus a boon to the auto industry. That it's a terrific and affordable performance car is a blessing to the industry's most valued stakeholder: you, the consumer.

So the BRZ is noisy and confining and a bit plain to look at. But it has a gearbox that shifts with this blissful mixture of delicacy and aggression, an engine that has plenty to say above 4000 rpm, and a chassis so lightweight it'll have you thinking you shed a few pounds. These factors would be more than enough to override faults of far greater magnitude than the Subaru BRZ actually possesses. 

Faultless, perfect, and peerless? No, it isn't. Pure, graceful, and tactile? Indeed, more so than any other car at this price point.

THE GOOD Raw experience Shifter/clutch duo Subdued styling Interactivity

THE BAD A bit noisy Missing torque Subdued styling FR-S Does Cost Less

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Historical Monthly & Yearly Subaru BRZ Sales Figures
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November 2012 Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In America

America's 20 top-selling SUVs and crossovers accounted for 219,682 of America's 1.14 million new vehicle sales in November 2012. The Ford Escape trailed the leading Honda CR-V by 1363 units, but was the highest-selling of four American brand SUVs in the top five. Year-to-date, the CR-V's 15,042-unit lead over the Escape is not something that can be overcome in December, particularly if CR-V sales continue to rise and Escape sales continue to fall.

The chief newcomer on November 2012's list of the 20 best-selling SUVs and crossovers in America is the Nissan Pathfinder. With 23% of its year-to-date sales coming in the eleventh month of the year, the Pathfinder nameplate owes much to the fourth-gen model that was recently introduced with more of a crossover angle. 

The best Pathfinder sales year in the last decade was 2005, when 76,156 were sold. It seems unlikely that Nissan could sell 8000 Pathfinders each month now, but if it did, that 96,000 annual rate would have a hugely negative impact on the Murano, or at least one would think. Ford is doing a fine job of selling a big crossover-that-used-to-be-a-truck, the Explorer, alongside the smaller Edge and the better-selling Escape. Perhaps Nissan can do the same with the Pathfinder, smaller Murano, and better-selling Rogue.

All 265 Vehicles Ranked By U.S. November 2012 YTD Sales
12 different auto brands are represented in this month's top 20 list, although they hail from just eight different auto manufacturing entities. The Lexus RX was the only premium brand vehicle to crack the top 20, although you will soon be seeing in this month's luxury SUV sales post that Cadillac SRX sales shot up 13% to 5340 and BMW had a great month with the X5 and X3. 

GoodCarBadCar makes all these sales figures readily available through the Sales Stats homepage where you can select any make, model, overarching manufacturer, or the total market. America's 20 best-selling cars have already been published along with brand-by-brand rankings and the country's five favourite trucks.

Rank	Best-Selling SUV	November 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Honda CR-V	22,333	+ 36.0%	255,919	+ 30.0%
#2	Ford Escape	20,970	- 3.9%	240,877	+ 5.3%
#3	Chevrolet Equinox	16,821	+ 12.6%	199,070	+ 13.7%
#4	Ford Explorer	14,940	+ 15.9%	146,963	+ 20.6%
#5	Jeep Grand Cherokee	13,619	+ 0.5%	137,613	+ 24.7%
#6	Nissan Rogue	12,662	+ 16.8%	130,861	+ 16.6%
#7	Toyota RAV4	12,423	+ 9.6%	157,526	+ 33.3%
#8	Kia Sorento	10,851	+ 12.2%	108,630	- 9.2%
#9	Jeep Wrangler	10,337	+ 12.1%	130,124	+ 17.2%
#10	Ford Edge	10,142	+ 4.7%	115,535	+ 5.4%
#11	Toyota Highlander	9474	+ 13.2%	108,864	+ 21.7%
#12	Honda Pilot	9366	- 10.7%	103,482	- 1.1%
#13	Lexus RX	8871	+ 17.0%	82,847	+ 16.5%
#14	GMC Terrain	8158	+ 44.3%	86,270	+ 14.3%
#15	Nissan Pathfinder	8097	+ 249%	34,682	+ 49.0%
#16	Hyundai Santa Fe	6754	+ 10.2%	63,737	- 8.0%
#17	Dodge Journey	6569	+ 77.0%	71,875	+ 42.5%
#18	Chevrolet Tahoe	5895	- 29.8%	60,302	- 16.4%
#19	Subaru Forester	5703	- 2.2%	67,583	- 0.02%
#20	Chevrolet Traverse	5697	- 20.3%	78,176	- 20.1%

Source: Manufacturers
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In America - December 2012
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U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings - November 2012
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - November 2012
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - November 2012
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - November 2012

November 2012 Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America

The Focus Is Now America's
Best-Selling American Brand Car

America's 20 best-selling passenger cars accounted for 326,816 of America's 1.14 million new vehicle sales in November 2012. Knocking the Toyota Camry off its normal top spot was the Honda Civic, sales of which shot up 76% in November. Presumably the result of a clear out of 2012s, the Civic's 30K month was only part of American Honda's November surge.

The Accord is also in the midst of a model changeover, and as customers clamour for the new model, others enjoy the deals they found on the outgoing midsize Honda. Accord sales jumped 83% in November 2012. Although there are some mighty big year-over-year improvements in this top 20 list, none beat the Accord's, and only its better-selling little brother comes close. 

2012 was the first year since 2008 that Honda's sold more than 300,000 Accords, and the year isn't over yet. With a half-decent December, 2012 will also be the first time since '08 that Honda's sold more than 300,000 Civics to American customers. Toyota looks likely to sell 400,000 Camrys for the first time since 2008, as well.

All 265 Vehicles Ranked By U.S. November 2012 YTD Sales
That's the podium discussed. Move past the top three and you'll find two more Toyotas, including the four-pronged Prius lineup, which was ranked ninth in November. The best-selling American brand car was the sixth-ranked Ford Focus. The Focus is now 1338 sales ahead of its big brother, the Fusion, in the race to end 2012 as the best-selling Detroit-badged car. There are three Hyundai/Kia products in the top 20, three Germans, one Subaru, and one Mazda.

You can find detailed historic monthly and yearly sales figures for any of these models by selecting a make and model (or just a make, or a manufacturer, or the total market) at GCBC's Sales Stats home. GoodCarBadCar ranked more than 30 brands by November 2012 U.S. volume earlier today. America's five top trucks were posted only minutes ago, and the best-selling SUVs and crossovers are coming up.

For now, get to know these 20 cars, America's favourites in November.

Rank	Best-Selling Car	November 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Honda Civic	30,075	+ 75.5%	284,791	+ 41.9%
#2	Toyota Camry	28,765	+ 22.7%	373,479	+ 35.8%
#3	Honda Accord	26,248	+ 82.8%	302,444	+ 38.8%
#4	Toyota Corolla/Matrix	22,616	+ 40.3%	266,268	+ 21.4%
#5	Nissan Altima	20,305	- 1.5%	278,968	+ 14.8%
#6	Ford Focus	18,312	+ 56.0%	223,318	+ 38.3%
#7	Hyundai Sonata	17,660	+ 12.7%	209,779	+ 0.6%
#8	Chevrolet Cruze	16,807	+ 27.0%	216,528	+ 0.7%
#9	Toyota Prius	16,505	+ 8.5%	216,619	+ 81.3%
	Prius Liftback	8925	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Prius C	3124	-----	32,562	-----
	Prius V	2690	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Prius Plug-In	1766	-----	11,368	-----
#10	Hyundai Elantra	15,923	+ 28.3%	183,010	+ 5.6%
#11	Ford Fusion	15,125	- 24.0%	221,980	- 2.0%
#12	Volkswagen Jetta	14,259	+ 10.6%	154,763	- 5.0%
#13	Kia Optima	12,715	+ 33.4%	140,391	+ 90.0%
#14	Chevrolet Impala	11,163	+ 2.9%	159,710	- 0.8%
#15	BMW 3-Series	10,776	+ 42.4%	88,857	+ 3.5%
#16	Volkswagen Passat	10,544	+ 75.2%	102,561	+ 545%
#17	Chevrolet Malibu	10,227	- 0.4%	199,321	+ 3.9%
#18	Subaru Outback	10,124	+ 38.8%	105,481	+ 16.0%
#19	Mazda 3	9841	+ 43.2%	113,064	+ 21.4%
#20	Nissan Versa	8826	- 5.0%	102,709	+ 14.4%

Source: Manufacturers
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - December 2012
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - October 2012
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - November 2011
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings - November 2012
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - November 2012
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In America - November 2012
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - November 2012

October 2012 Top 10 Worst-Selling Vehicles In America

It's not hard to look at these lists of America's worst-selling vehicles and find perfectly worthy and unsurprising examples. 

The Suzuki Equator doesn't sell well because it's a Suzuki, because Suzuki doesn't try to sell Equators, and because you could just buy the real Equator, which is a Nissan Frontier. Again, the Mitsubishi i MiEV doesn't sell well because it's a Mitsubishi, because it is all-electric and thus has the range of a well-trained Labrador Retriever, and because it looks like a crazy concept from a counterculture Japanese auto show.

But then there are cars which are simply punished by numbers. The current Porsche Cayman, for example, is no longer current. Cars.com says Porsche only has 17 Caymans in stock in the United States. (Compare that to Porsche's 559 units of Boxster inventory.) The Land Rover Range Rover is about to be replaced and, year-to-date, isn't selling that badly for an aging, soon-to-be-replaced SUV. Mercedes-Benz's $189,600-$198,400 SLS AMG actually sold significantly more often this October than last but, rather obviously, is not going to sell often at that price point.

If Ferrari and Lamborghini rivals suffered from a proper sales release you'd see they don't sell often, either. And unlike the identical Scion FR-S, the Subaru BRZ unfortunately isn't sold in more heavily-trafficked Toyota showrooms and thus doesn't sell as frequently. But does that mean Subaru USA has been disappointed with the BRZ's 3120 sales in the last six months? Not at all.

Every Vehicle, All 265, Ranked By U.S. October YTD Sales

As will always be the case in the future, historic brand and corporate totals (monthly and yearly going back to 2002) are now available through the dropdown menu at GCBC's Sales Stats page, along with results for more than 260 currently sold vehicles. That's where you'll find out that Mercedes-Benz sold 13,717 SL-Class roadsters in 2002, when Americans bought millions more cars each year. Chevrolet Corvette volume won't be much stronger than that this year, a year in which M-B might not sell 5000 SLs and SLS AMGs combined.

Below you'll find America's worst-selling vehicles ranked three different ways. Find it in yourself not to be too negative. And if you just can't help it, check out the best sellers in order to get some positivity into your life.

Rank	Worst-Selling Car  By Percentage Decline	% Change	October 2012	October 2011
#1	Porsche Cayman	- 96.7%	4	122
#2	Toyota Yaris	- 62.0%	2579	6792
#3	Mazda 6	- 55.9%	1515	3438
#4	Volvo S80	- 53.3%	163	349
#5	Land Rover Range Rover	- 49.3%	403	795
#6	Honda Insight	- 49.0%	251	492
#7	Infiniti EX	- 47.3%	247	492
#8	Acura TSX	- 47.0%	1577	2977
#9	Mercedes-Benz CL-Class	- 46.5%	54	101
#10	Jaguar XF	- 45.1%	278	506

Rank	Worst-Selling Car  By Volume	October 2012	October 2011	% Change
#1	Suzuki Equator	135	203	- 33.5%
#2	Subaru Tribeca	184	266	- 30.8%
#3	Honda CR-Z	244	289	- 15.6%
#4	Honda Insight	251	492	- 49.0%
#5	Suzuki Kizashi	310	480	- 35.4%
#6	Volkswagen Eos	331	564	- 41.3%
#7	Nissan 370Z	383	442	- 13.3%
#8	Subaru BRZ	402	-----	-----
#9	Mazda MX-5 Miata	461	354	+ 20.2%
#10	Nissan Cube	475	198	+ 140%

Rank	Worst-Selling Car  By Volume (All Vehicles)	October 2012	October 2011	% Change
#1	Porsche Cayman	4	122	- 96.7%
#2	Acura RL	21	22	- 4.5%
#3	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	28	13	+ 115%
#4	Mitsubishi i MiEV	30	-----	-----
#5	Audi R8	47	69	- 31.9%
#6	Mercedes-Benz CL-Class	54	101	- 46.5%
#7	Nissan GT-R	86	101	- 14.9%
#8	Audi TT	129	194	- 33.5%
#9	Suzuki Equator	135	203	- 33.5%
#10	Mercedes-Benz G-Class	160	80	+ 100%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC 
Vehicle must have been on sale throughout October, must not have been officially cancelled by its manufacturer, and must have been showcased on manufacturer's website in October. No longer deemed eligible: Chevrolet's Caprice PPV, Lexus LFA, Honda FCX.

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Top 10 Worst-Selling Vehicles In America - November 2012
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