MODEST energy and torque features from a larger-capacity (however nonetheless naturally aspirated) engine, a brand new, barely longer platform with a wider rear monitor and the addition of extra normal options… Effectively, whoop-de-doo, if that’s the sum of the enhancements a automotive producer has carried out on its alternative product for a 10-year-old mannequin… that’s not progress, man – it’s stagnation.
We jest, in fact, however within the present automotive panorama, during which turbocharged downsized powerplants, electrification and autonomous driving expertise are all the fashion – and compact sportscars appear effectively and actually on the endangered species listing – merchandise such because the second-gen Subaru BRZ appear impossibly slim in focus, singular in goal and, effectively, a bit of indulgent.
Subaru Australia’s newly launched BRZ, nonetheless, has merely saved strictly to the temporary. Like its predecessor, it has a lightweight, compact bundle with a non-turbocharged motor that drives the rear wheels by way of a limited-slip diff. Though based mostly on a brand new platform, it retains the weather that made the first-gen mannequin such an elemental and, importantly, inexpensive sportscar.
Underpinned by the Japanese marque’s modular world platform, the brand new BRZ’s wheelbase and general size has elevated by 5mm and 25mm respectively, whereas its top has been decreased by 15mm. The newcomer’s physique provides about 60 per cent extra entrance lateral bending rigidity and 50 per cent extra torsional stiffness and the rear monitor has notably been widened by 10mm.
As anticipated, the brand new BRZ provides much more normal specification than earlier than, but it weighs solely 3kg and 8kg extra (the guide and computerized variations, respectively) than its predecessor, as a result of aluminium has been used extensively for the newcomer’s bonnet, entrance fenders and roof pores and skin.
Underneath the bonnet, a 2.4-litre flat four-cylinder petrol motor with direct injection and port injection has changed the two.0-litre unit of the earlier mannequin – it develops 174kW at 7000rpm and 250Nm at 3700rpm and is paired with a both a close-ratio six-speed guide gearbox or a six-speed computerized transmission (increase with steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles). These figures symbolize enhancements of 22kW and 38Nm for manual- and 27kW and 45Nm for computerized automobiles.
All derivatives function self-levelling and steering-responsive LED headlights and 18-inch alloys, whereas inside, Subaru Australia has fitted smart-key entry with push-button begin, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and equipment/transmission lever, dual-zone computerized air-con, a 7.0-inch, customisable digital instrument cluster and an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system that helps Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and consists of DAB+ digital radio and built-in satnav.
Together with the anticipated lively and passive security tools, the brand new BRZ options blind-spot monitoring, lane-change help and rear cross-traffic alert, whereas computerized variations profit from selectable Sport and Snow transmission modes, reverse computerized braking, in addition to the Shibuya-based marque’s proprietary EyeSight stereoscopic digicam driver-assist system.
The all-new Subaru BRZ comes normal with Subaru’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre guarantee, five-year capped-price servicing program and twelve-month roadside help program.
