Today I picked up a replacement BRZ. The weather cooperated, not too cold and no frozen stuff to be found, making the drive home on the stock tires a bit less nerve-wracking. The stock tires just aren’t cut out for snow. Overall impression: So much familiar, and yet a few things surprisingly different.
The first thing I noticed was the steering wheel is different! Sure, various controls and buttons are now featured (to control the radio and the multi-display in the gauge cluster), but the surprise was the wheel itself. It no longer is noticeably larger at the 9 and 3 positions, and it seems slightly padded. I can see that being nice on longer drives, but am curious whether it will reduce feedback at all.
The expected, and more obvious change is in the gearing. The car is less finicky to get rolling from a stop, especially in reverse. The stock suspension does not feel notably smoother than the aftermarket suspension I had last driven on, but I think some of the small discomforts are definitely smoothed over. Between that and the reduction in sound, I found myself going faster than intended somewhat easily. It’s not a subtle change. Most interesting is that it actually felt slow and sluggish – I’ve heard that the new engine and gearing aren’t a help, and I understand why. It just felt… off. Like it was having to work harder than it felt like. Some of that is likely the difference in the sound, and probably the power; after all, I had been driving a BRZ with a nice header and tune that substantially changed the shape of the torque curve for the better.
I’m excited to see how the car shapes up. Nearly all of the added parts from the old BRZ survived and will find their way over. It will be a long wait till spring, but there is so much to do to get ready! I’ll be making a few changes as I go along as well compared to the previous build, but nothing too substantial for now. First up: figuring out how to get the winter tire package I already own onto this car; according to the handy Tire Rack tools, it seems I have wheels that don’t clear those humongous Brembo brakes.