2015 Subaru BRZ Series.Blue - Review & Test Drive
# 2015 Subaru BRZ Series Blue: A Comprehensive Review
## Introduction
Welcome to this detailed review of the 2015 Subaru BRZ Series Blue, a two-door coupe that offers an exceptional driving experience. This particular trim is one of just a few thousand available in the U.S. market, making it a rare gem for enthusiasts seeking a lightweight, sporty vehicle with precision engineering.
## Exterior Design and Features
The 2015 Subaru BRZ Series Blue boasts a sleek and aerodynamic design. It features front side spoilers, rear under spoilers, and functional underbody panels that reduce the coefficient of drag from 28 to 27 UPF. The car also comes equipped with front fog lights and daytime running lights, along with a shark fin antenna on top. These elements not only enhance its visual appeal but also contribute to its aerodynamic efficiency.
The trunk space is modest, but practicality is ensured by the ability to fold down the rear seats for additional cargo room. Under the trunk, you’ll find a spare tire and tools, making it a well-rounded choice for everyday driving.
## Engine and Performance
Under the hood lies a naturally aspirated 4-cylinder flat boxer engine, renowned for its high specific output at 100 horsepower per liter—unmatched by other engines in its class. This engine produces 200 horsepower at 7,000 RPM and 151 lb-ft of torque at 6,400 RPM, delivering impressive performance with a redline of 7,400 RPM.
The engine is mounted low and towards the driver's side, ensuring optimal weight distribution. The flat boxer design keeps the center of gravity extremely low at just 18 inches, contributing to its exceptional handling characteristics.
## Suspension and Brakes
The BRZ Series Blue comes with a sport-tuned suspension system that includes strut braces for added rigidity. Up front, you’ll find a McPherson strut setup, while the rear features double-wishbone suspension with anti-lift geometry. This combination ensures precise control and stability during cornering.
Braking performance is excellent, thanks to 11.6-inch ventilated disc brakes up front with dual piston calipers and 11.4-inch ventilated discs at the rear. The刹车 system provides confident stopping power, especially impressive given its lightweight design.
## Interior Features
Inside the BRZ Series Blue, you’ll find a luxurious yet sporty cabin featuring blue highlights and stitching on leather and Alcantara-trimmed seats. These seats are both well-bolstered and comfortable, offering excellent support without compromising on comfort. The steering wheel is simple yet effective, with no unnecessary controls, allowing drivers to focus on the road.
The infotainment system is straightforward but functional, supporting Bluetooth connectivity, navigation, and a CD slot. Climate control is intuitive, with push-button switches adding to its sporty feel. The car also features heated seats, a 12-volt power outlet, and an auxiliary cable connection for added convenience.
## Test Drive Experience
The driving experience behind the wheel of the BRZ Series Blue is nothing short of exhilarating. The clutch pedal has minimal travel, making it easy to disengage smoothly. The six-speed manual transmission shifts with a notchy feel, reminiscent of Subaru’s WRX and STI models, offering a direct connection between driver and car.
Steering is precise with a very short ratio, allowing quick responses and minimal effort. Whether you're tackling tight corners or winding roads, the BRZ Series Blue feels incredibly agile, thanks to its low center of gravity and lightweight construction.
The throttle pedal is highly responsive, with no lag in acceleration. The engine’s rev hang is less pronounced than in other Subaru models, enabling smooth shifts and maintaining high RPMs during gear changes.
## Fuel Economy
Fuel efficiency is a standout feature for the BRZ Series Blue. Achieving 38.1 MPG on a test course primarily consisting of highway driving with some city and hills mixed in, it outperforms its competitors by three miles per gallon. This impressive mileage is a testament to its lightweight design and efficient engine.
## Conclusion
The 2015 Subaru BRZ Series Blue is an exceptional blend of performance and practicality. While it may not offer the low-end torque of all-wheel-drive models like the WRX, its lightweight construction and aerodynamic efficiency make it a joy to drive on both city streets and winding roads.
For those who prioritize driving dynamics and fuel economy, the BRZ Series Blue is an excellent choice. Its manual transmission option further enhances the driving experience, offering not just fun but also a significant weight advantage over automatic versions.
In conclusion, the 2015 Subaru BRZ Series Blue is a car that delivers on its promise of being both fun to drive and efficient, making it a favorite among enthusiasts seeking a lightweight sport coupe.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome in this video we're going to be checking out the 2015 Subaru BRZ series blue this is a two-o coupe with four seats and as mentioned this particular trim is the series blue one of just a th000 for the US market the series blue features front side and side rear under spoilers as well as functional underbody panels which reduce the coefficient of drag from 28 to 27 UPF front fog lights and daytime running lights with a shark fan antenna on top MSRP for the BRZ starts under 26,000 with this particular trim coming in at 30,285 checking out the trunk it is fairly small uh that said you can fold down the rear seats for some additional space in there and then underneath you have your spare as well as tools okay let's have a look under the hood so overall things are looking pretty good here you don't have obnoxious engine covers you've got this flat boxer engine which is tucked down real low and then also towards the driver so from a weight distribution point of view very good keeping the center of gravity low this vehicle actually has an extremely low center of gravity at about 18 in uh so looking around here at some other things as far as serviceability you've got the battery on the passenger side tucked back as far as possible also great from a weight distribution point of view and it's also very accessible so I like that you've got these strut braces here for additional rigidity of the chassis you have your fuse box right here with a single Quick Tab to open that and access you've got your radiator cap and van coolant fill you've got your engine oil dip stick alternator right up here on top you've got your engine oil filter right up on top extremely convenient engine oil fill windshield washer fluid fill quick tabs to get to your air filter your brake fluid and then here your clutch fluid so essentially the same engine that you'll find in the Subaru WRX except with no turbocharger and a higher compression ratio this is a four-cylinder horizontally opposed engine aluminum block and heads dual over head cams four valves per cylinder variable valve timing on both the intake and the exhaust a compression ratio of 12.5 to1 it features direct and port fuel injection this engine produces 200 horsepower at 7,000 RPM and 151 lb feet of torque at 6,400 RPM and coming in at 100 horsepower per liter this is the highest specific output of any of the naturally aspirated engines that I've tested and has a 7400 RPM red line now following the path of the intake air we've got our air filter here up front which is pulling from the front it's got a resonator here on the left and then it looks like something which maybe is piping in some induction noises to the cabin uh the air passes to an electronically controlled throttle body which is located right here splits between the four cylinders in this intake manifold then heads back and a 421 exhaust so the exhaust travels to the rear through a single pipe where it then enters the muffler and then is split between one of two tail pipes engine power is sent from a six-speed manual transmission to a Torsen limited slip differential in the rear powering the rear we wheels these are 17-in special STI wheels for the series blue these are actually the lightest wheels and tire of any vehicle I've tested yet coming in just over 38 lb they're about 8 lb lighter per wheel in tire than the Subaru WRX both front and rear wheels wrapped in Michelin 215 over 45 tires up front 11.6 in ventilated disc brakes matched with dual piston calipers these are painted red same color as fire trucks in the US so I'm guessing these brakes have pretty good cooling as well this is matched with a mcferson strut style suspension you can see here the steering linkage the anti- roll bar which is connecting up with the strut and everything is pretty much painted or coated to prevent rust 11.4 in ventilated disc brakes in the rear with single piston calipers this is matched with a double Wishbone style suspension on the left here you can see the tow adjustment the lower control arm there and the upper control arm up here checking the other side you can see the coil over shock absorber the anti- rollar there behind fairly small 14 mm and then the control arm there at the bottom now this rear suspension has anti-lift geometry whereas the front suspension had anti-dive geometry now once again everything painted or coated to prevent rust and then in the center here you can see the drive axle coming in so let's check out the interior keyless entry to unlock the vehicle simply grab the door handle and you can open it and then to lock it you also have a button on the outside the series blue features a leather and Al contara trimmed interior with blue highlights and stitching so sitting in the interior these seats really well bolstered uh pretty snug in here but they're actually really comfortable as well they've got a nice amount of cushion to them they remind me quite a bit of the seats in my STI that I have uh as far as leg room plenty of leg room up front plenty of adjustability in the steering wheel uh perhaps you might be able to bring it a little bit closer to you that'd be kind of nice for taller people um but aside from that uh everything in here pretty good as far as space you also have leather cushion on both the left and right side so where both of your knees may come into contact is soft touch leather and cushioned you've got automatic windows left and right uh you can adjust your mirrors here electronically you've got your trunk release and you can adjust the brightness of your display as well as the level of your front lights now as far as the steering wheel very straightforward very simple leather wrapped feels pretty good to the touch and you know no controls on it it's just very straightforward to the point this is a driver's car I personally do like controls on steering wheels I think it allows you to keep your eyes on the road and not necessarily worry about messing around over here but that said I do admire the Simplicity of this uh you've got your light controls on the left and your windshield controls on the right for your windshield wipers the display you know somewhat um basic up here you've just got your Tac uh and speedometer and then your fuel gauge and your coolant temperature and other than that it's just pretty much very straightforward you do have a little computer uh down here which you can select between different things outside side temperature instantaneous fuel economy your average fuel economy and so some different things to look through in that and you can also switch between miles per hour and kilm per hour if you want to improve your 0 to 60 time now moving on to the infotainment system this is a very basic setup uh but it does everything you need to do you can connect up your phone you've got Bluetooth control and and you have navigation on it other than that pretty straightforward it does have a CD slot and then down here you've got your climate controls with kind of a you know sporty feel to them this little these little push down buttons uh which are kind of cool and then you've got your fan adjustment there for the speed and then you do have two uh climate zones which you can change between so kind of nice and then of course you have this engine push stop start button now moving beyond the gear shift you've got some buttons here which I am a fan of so you can turn your traction control off here with a single touch uh but that doesn't actually seem to do much if you just do a single touch then it just turns the traction control on the second you start to lose traction which kind of defeats the purpose um and so then if you hold it you can actually turn it all the way off so if you're going to a track or something like that and you want to get totally sideways uh you can do that by holding this button down you also have this sport button which is kind of a nice uh in between area where it does let you kick the rear end out a little bit but it doesn't get it let it get too scary you know it just just enough to make it a little bit fun uh and then it'll sort everything out and keep you going in your intended path so that's what I like to drive it on it's pretty fun with that you do have these heated seats right here and then also uh you've got this little Center compartment it does have this kind of removable cup holder which you can adjust and put in different locations um it's not 100% secure you know it kind of does wobble in there a little bit depending on where you have it so not exactly uh the most robust design but uh you know you can take it out and you've got a nice little storage compartment there and then put it in and I'm sure if you have the weight of drinks in there you know it's not going to be kind of wandering around so it's okay and then you do have this 12volt power outlet in there as well you also have a US an auxiliary cable connections up here and you know one of the things that I do like is the steering wheel the gear shift and the emergency brake are all in the same plane so you're pretty much just in this plane right here uh and it's very easy to switch between them I think that was definitely intentional you know you're going into a corner you can yank that up and be right on the gear shif or the steering wheel right immediately after so it is kind of nice the way they have this set up definitely with the driver in mind and then of course you do have a glove compartment over here on the right now as far as visibility looking out the front and looking to the sides is fine looking at the rear not too bad good large window back there checking your blind spot it is a bit cramped so not really much visibility here but that said it's a pretty small vehicle so you can just kind of Lean Forward give a quick glance and you can see what's in your blind spot you also do have this frameless mirror which I do find to be quite nice nice modern look to it so I do like that now as always I will attempt to get into the rear seats as you can see there's not really any room for legs or feet or anything like that but regard L we're going to move this seat up uh and come back here now sitting in the front seat I actually have plenty of Headroom uh even though I am 61 so I I do have to admire that the fact that I can sit up in the front you can see this kind of arch so you do have plenty of headro as the driver uh sitting in this back seat here is not really possible um as you can see the seat comes right up to the back of the seat so there's not really any point to these rear seats you know this is going to be a car for up to two people you can fold this down you can have a decent amount of cargo space back here and then you've got a nice little practical Coupe for two okay let's go for a test drive go ahead and put it in sport so let's just kind of talk through the different systems in here uh starting with the clutch so the clutch pedal uh it has a little bit of travel towards the end where it's not actually doing anything once it's already disengaged so it's not that similar to the WRX or the STI uh where the the full clutch pedal travel is actually doing something it's more towards the end that said you still do have control with it it's not bad you just don't have quite the range that you do in the WRX or the STI now the gear shift itself is actually uh fairly notchy feels very similar to the WX or the STI where you just kind of have this kind of clunky feel as you put it into gear shifts uh good and bad with that good is uh you really have this uh good sensation of you know it's in gear bad it just doesn't feel all that smooth um and it's something I like about my WRX STI but it's something that I could definitely see being somewhat irritating to someone if you wanted it to be a little bit more smoother of a transition now the throttle pedal I actually really do like very responsive you don't have any play with it you know the second you're on it it starts accelerating and the other thing is it doesn't have rev hang like you have with the WRX uh so when you are shifting gears you can do it very quickly uh and you don't have to worry about the RPMs dropping they just dropped the second you let off uh the gas versus in the WX where they kind of hung up there a little bit and stayed up so you'd have to wait a decent amount if you wanted a smooth shift with this you can get very smooth shifting very quickly now moving on to the steering and this is probably one of the strongest points of this vehicle uh phenomenal steering you have a very short steering ratio so you don't have to turn the wheel all that much to get the vehicle to turn much and it's also extremely responsive so the second you start turning in it's starts to turn in some Vehicles you kind of notice a delay between turning the wheel and the vehicle turning this one you don't notice a delay it's very responsive tight steering ratio which makes it feel really good in the corners uh phenomenal overall so we're going to come up to some Corners right here pop it down into second and we'll go through this and so as I mentioned I've got that BSC on sport so it allows for a little bit of slip uh for the rear tires this thing is seriously fun in these tight Corners this is what this car was made for these really small low speeed Corners you can press the throttle down and get the rear to kick out a little bit with it in sport mode uh and you just can't help but smile while you're doing it seriously fun coming up on another corner here really low body roll even though this vehicle has the smallest anti-roll bars front and rear of any of the vehicles that I've tested there we go it really doesn't roll and that's due to a couple things first it's really lightweight so it can get away with smaller anti- roll bars the second thing is it also has a really low center of gravity and so that really helps uh in order to minimize roll now compared to the other vehicles on my channel this vehicle is a lot of Firsts it's the lightest weight vehicle at under 2800 lb it's the shortest vehicle in length and in height so it's a pretty small vehicle it has the lowest drag coefficient of any of the vehicles I've tested and it has the highest horsepower per liter of any of the naturally aspirated engines that I've tested so it's a very purpose-built vehicle uh for these kind of environments and it just does phenomenal in these Corners it's just so much fun to drive okay let's try and get a quick Highway pull in I will turn off the traction control and hopefully I just don't smoke the tires and we actually get a usable run out of this if I botch it I'm sorry so I'm going to go ahead and straighten out come to a stop bring the Rams a little over 2,000 so you can hit 60 in second gear and so I will take the time that it took from zero to the end of second gear and that essentially is 60 and then we'll bring it up to highway speeds here I'll set the cruise control at 65 and you probably are already noticing that you do get a decent amount of noise in this cabin it's not the quietest interior you're looking at about 81 82 DB which is definitely on the louder end of the vehicles that I've tested and that's just kind of one of the trade-offs of you know removing weight from a vehicle you're going to get something that gets a little bit more noise in it and so you do have a decent amount of tire noise and a little bit of wind noise as well now this vehicle is priced very similarly to the WRX so it makes you ask the question you know if you're going to go for performance vehicle and practicality and all-wheel drive aren't necessarily A need um because you can fit more people and more stuff in the WRX obviously and it has all-wheel drive which one is more fun to drive uh and they're both very fun in their own ways there's something about this vehicle where it's just incredibly lightweight and so that just makes it so responsive and you don't quite get that responsiveness in the WRX which is about 500 lb heavier than this so it is a really really fun car to drive the WRX on the other hand you've got that low-end torque with the twin scroll turbocharger so you're going to have this really fast vehicle uh and so you know that's on the other end you do have speed in the other one so this is definitely more handling the WRX is more overall speed but not quite as good of handling and you know they're both very different in that sense which one made me smile more while I'm driving it honestly this one has and I think it's just the way that rear end behaves when you have it in sport mode it just lets you play around a little bit uh and it's really really fun to do so I think both cars are phenomenal both cars are actually capable of pretty good gas mileage and so I I think neither of them are necessarily a bad choice and they're both very fun so you know pick kind of what you're more interested straight line speed and decent handling or not as much straight line speed uh and very good handling just really responsive uh everything about this you know weight towards the center good distribution front to rear and just very responsive in the corner so it's an absolute blast to drive and it also kind of is a little bit tail happy which makes it fun as well now if you are trying to decide between the manual and the automatic and I'm not sure why you're asking that question uh you should get manual but if you are trying to decide between them uh the automatic does have the benefit of slightly better gas mileage and this is due to two things it does have an automatic transmission fluid warmer uh which Heats it up so you can get a bit more efficiency from it and it also has uh slightly uh lower gear ratios and so that enables it to be at slightly lower RPMs um especially on the highway where it's rated for MPG better now that said the manual is cheaper it's 50 lb lighter which may not sound like much but it's actually almost 2% of the vehicle's weight so it makes a difference the fact is the manual is the way to go with this vehicle it's a ton of fun and it would be my recommendation now I've completed my fuel economy test course this is approximately 53 Mi primarily Highway with some City and Hills mixed in this vehicle is rated 22 in the city 30 on the highway and as you can see it achieved 38.1 MP gallon on my test course this is three miles per gallon better than the WRX that I tested which isn't all that surprising considering that this is two wheel drive and is also significantly lighter so one of the biggest complaints that pretty much everyone has about this car is that it's low on power and it is kind of low on power uh you know it's not a tremendous amount and you're not going to go flying when you put your foot down that said it's still plenty enough to get the rear tires to kick out and it's plenty enough at low speeds where it does feel pretty good as far as how much acceleration it has now I think there's two questions that I have to ask myself when I'm driving this one do I wish had more power and I think the answer is yes you know it's it's kind of hard for me to say that for many vehicles that I wouldn't want them to have more power and I definitely would want this to have a little bit more power I think a little more StraightLine acceleration would make it uh a little bit more fun that said you know this is a tremendously fun car to drive and I think one of the critical questions is do I think that it's worth the money for how much power this has and I absolutely do this car is phenomenally fun to drive you can kick out the rear end very easily uh in first or second gear and you can get excellent fuel economy so it's kind of a little Coupe that does it all as far as Track Performance it's uh super capable if you want to modify it go ahead and do it you'll have a monster of a car with a really great base setup as far as handling and if you want to get great fuel economy you can do that in this so I do admire that about it uh and I think the power level is perfectly adequate for its price range it's a very fun car to drive uh through these corners and so I have to admire it for that and how purpose built it is the fact that uh finally a modern car is kept lightweight relative to other modern cars and so ultimately I've really enjoyed driving this if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below thanks for watchinghello everyone and welcome in this video we're going to be checking out the 2015 Subaru BRZ series blue this is a two-o coupe with four seats and as mentioned this particular trim is the series blue one of just a th000 for the US market the series blue features front side and side rear under spoilers as well as functional underbody panels which reduce the coefficient of drag from 28 to 27 UPF front fog lights and daytime running lights with a shark fan antenna on top MSRP for the BRZ starts under 26,000 with this particular trim coming in at 30,285 checking out the trunk it is fairly small uh that said you can fold down the rear seats for some additional space in there and then underneath you have your spare as well as tools okay let's have a look under the hood so overall things are looking pretty good here you don't have obnoxious engine covers you've got this flat boxer engine which is tucked down real low and then also towards the driver so from a weight distribution point of view very good keeping the center of gravity low this vehicle actually has an extremely low center of gravity at about 18 in uh so looking around here at some other things as far as serviceability you've got the battery on the passenger side tucked back as far as possible also great from a weight distribution point of view and it's also very accessible so I like that you've got these strut braces here for additional rigidity of the chassis you have your fuse box right here with a single Quick Tab to open that and access you've got your radiator cap and van coolant fill you've got your engine oil dip stick alternator right up here on top you've got your engine oil filter right up on top extremely convenient engine oil fill windshield washer fluid fill quick tabs to get to your air filter your brake fluid and then here your clutch fluid so essentially the same engine that you'll find in the Subaru WRX except with no turbocharger and a higher compression ratio this is a four-cylinder horizontally opposed engine aluminum block and heads dual over head cams four valves per cylinder variable valve timing on both the intake and the exhaust a compression ratio of 12.5 to1 it features direct and port fuel injection this engine produces 200 horsepower at 7,000 RPM and 151 lb feet of torque at 6,400 RPM and coming in at 100 horsepower per liter this is the highest specific output of any of the naturally aspirated engines that I've tested and has a 7400 RPM red line now following the path of the intake air we've got our air filter here up front which is pulling from the front it's got a resonator here on the left and then it looks like something which maybe is piping in some induction noises to the cabin uh the air passes to an electronically controlled throttle body which is located right here splits between the four cylinders in this intake manifold then heads back and a 421 exhaust so the exhaust travels to the rear through a single pipe where it then enters the muffler and then is split between one of two tail pipes engine power is sent from a six-speed manual transmission to a Torsen limited slip differential in the rear powering the rear we wheels these are 17-in special STI wheels for the series blue these are actually the lightest wheels and tire of any vehicle I've tested yet coming in just over 38 lb they're about 8 lb lighter per wheel in tire than the Subaru WRX both front and rear wheels wrapped in Michelin 215 over 45 tires up front 11.6 in ventilated disc brakes matched with dual piston calipers these are painted red same color as fire trucks in the US so I'm guessing these brakes have pretty good cooling as well this is matched with a mcferson strut style suspension you can see here the steering linkage the anti- roll bar which is connecting up with the strut and everything is pretty much painted or coated to prevent rust 11.4 in ventilated disc brakes in the rear with single piston calipers this is matched with a double Wishbone style suspension on the left here you can see the tow adjustment the lower control arm there and the upper control arm up here checking the other side you can see the coil over shock absorber the anti- rollar there behind fairly small 14 mm and then the control arm there at the bottom now this rear suspension has anti-lift geometry whereas the front suspension had anti-dive geometry now once again everything painted or coated to prevent rust and then in the center here you can see the drive axle coming in so let's check out the interior keyless entry to unlock the vehicle simply grab the door handle and you can open it and then to lock it you also have a button on the outside the series blue features a leather and Al contara trimmed interior with blue highlights and stitching so sitting in the interior these seats really well bolstered uh pretty snug in here but they're actually really comfortable as well they've got a nice amount of cushion to them they remind me quite a bit of the seats in my STI that I have uh as far as leg room plenty of leg room up front plenty of adjustability in the steering wheel uh perhaps you might be able to bring it a little bit closer to you that'd be kind of nice for taller people um but aside from that uh everything in here pretty good as far as space you also have leather cushion on both the left and right side so where both of your knees may come into contact is soft touch leather and cushioned you've got automatic windows left and right uh you can adjust your mirrors here electronically you've got your trunk release and you can adjust the brightness of your display as well as the level of your front lights now as far as the steering wheel very straightforward very simple leather wrapped feels pretty good to the touch and you know no controls on it it's just very straightforward to the point this is a driver's car I personally do like controls on steering wheels I think it allows you to keep your eyes on the road and not necessarily worry about messing around over here but that said I do admire the Simplicity of this uh you've got your light controls on the left and your windshield controls on the right for your windshield wipers the display you know somewhat um basic up here you've just got your Tac uh and speedometer and then your fuel gauge and your coolant temperature and other than that it's just pretty much very straightforward you do have a little computer uh down here which you can select between different things outside side temperature instantaneous fuel economy your average fuel economy and so some different things to look through in that and you can also switch between miles per hour and kilm per hour if you want to improve your 0 to 60 time now moving on to the infotainment system this is a very basic setup uh but it does everything you need to do you can connect up your phone you've got Bluetooth control and and you have navigation on it other than that pretty straightforward it does have a CD slot and then down here you've got your climate controls with kind of a you know sporty feel to them this little these little push down buttons uh which are kind of cool and then you've got your fan adjustment there for the speed and then you do have two uh climate zones which you can change between so kind of nice and then of course you have this engine push stop start button now moving beyond the gear shift you've got some buttons here which I am a fan of so you can turn your traction control off here with a single touch uh but that doesn't actually seem to do much if you just do a single touch then it just turns the traction control on the second you start to lose traction which kind of defeats the purpose um and so then if you hold it you can actually turn it all the way off so if you're going to a track or something like that and you want to get totally sideways uh you can do that by holding this button down you also have this sport button which is kind of a nice uh in between area where it does let you kick the rear end out a little bit but it doesn't get it let it get too scary you know it just just enough to make it a little bit fun uh and then it'll sort everything out and keep you going in your intended path so that's what I like to drive it on it's pretty fun with that you do have these heated seats right here and then also uh you've got this little Center compartment it does have this kind of removable cup holder which you can adjust and put in different locations um it's not 100% secure you know it kind of does wobble in there a little bit depending on where you have it so not exactly uh the most robust design but uh you know you can take it out and you've got a nice little storage compartment there and then put it in and I'm sure if you have the weight of drinks in there you know it's not going to be kind of wandering around so it's okay and then you do have this 12volt power outlet in there as well you also have a US an auxiliary cable connections up here and you know one of the things that I do like is the steering wheel the gear shift and the emergency brake are all in the same plane so you're pretty much just in this plane right here uh and it's very easy to switch between them I think that was definitely intentional you know you're going into a corner you can yank that up and be right on the gear shif or the steering wheel right immediately after so it is kind of nice the way they have this set up definitely with the driver in mind and then of course you do have a glove compartment over here on the right now as far as visibility looking out the front and looking to the sides is fine looking at the rear not too bad good large window back there checking your blind spot it is a bit cramped so not really much visibility here but that said it's a pretty small vehicle so you can just kind of Lean Forward give a quick glance and you can see what's in your blind spot you also do have this frameless mirror which I do find to be quite nice nice modern look to it so I do like that now as always I will attempt to get into the rear seats as you can see there's not really any room for legs or feet or anything like that but regard L we're going to move this seat up uh and come back here now sitting in the front seat I actually have plenty of Headroom uh even though I am 61 so I I do have to admire that the fact that I can sit up in the front you can see this kind of arch so you do have plenty of headro as the driver uh sitting in this back seat here is not really possible um as you can see the seat comes right up to the back of the seat so there's not really any point to these rear seats you know this is going to be a car for up to two people you can fold this down you can have a decent amount of cargo space back here and then you've got a nice little practical Coupe for two okay let's go for a test drive go ahead and put it in sport so let's just kind of talk through the different systems in here uh starting with the clutch so the clutch pedal uh it has a little bit of travel towards the end where it's not actually doing anything once it's already disengaged so it's not that similar to the WRX or the STI uh where the the full clutch pedal travel is actually doing something it's more towards the end that said you still do have control with it it's not bad you just don't have quite the range that you do in the WRX or the STI now the gear shift itself is actually uh fairly notchy feels very similar to the WX or the STI where you just kind of have this kind of clunky feel as you put it into gear shifts uh good and bad with that good is uh you really have this uh good sensation of you know it's in gear bad it just doesn't feel all that smooth um and it's something I like about my WRX STI but it's something that I could definitely see being somewhat irritating to someone if you wanted it to be a little bit more smoother of a transition now the throttle pedal I actually really do like very responsive you don't have any play with it you know the second you're on it it starts accelerating and the other thing is it doesn't have rev hang like you have with the WRX uh so when you are shifting gears you can do it very quickly uh and you don't have to worry about the RPMs dropping they just dropped the second you let off uh the gas versus in the WX where they kind of hung up there a little bit and stayed up so you'd have to wait a decent amount if you wanted a smooth shift with this you can get very smooth shifting very quickly now moving on to the steering and this is probably one of the strongest points of this vehicle uh phenomenal steering you have a very short steering ratio so you don't have to turn the wheel all that much to get the vehicle to turn much and it's also extremely responsive so the second you start turning in it's starts to turn in some Vehicles you kind of notice a delay between turning the wheel and the vehicle turning this one you don't notice a delay it's very responsive tight steering ratio which makes it feel really good in the corners uh phenomenal overall so we're going to come up to some Corners right here pop it down into second and we'll go through this and so as I mentioned I've got that BSC on sport so it allows for a little bit of slip uh for the rear tires this thing is seriously fun in these tight Corners this is what this car was made for these really small low speeed Corners you can press the throttle down and get the rear to kick out a little bit with it in sport mode uh and you just can't help but smile while you're doing it seriously fun coming up on another corner here really low body roll even though this vehicle has the smallest anti-roll bars front and rear of any of the vehicles that I've tested there we go it really doesn't roll and that's due to a couple things first it's really lightweight so it can get away with smaller anti- roll bars the second thing is it also has a really low center of gravity and so that really helps uh in order to minimize roll now compared to the other vehicles on my channel this vehicle is a lot of Firsts it's the lightest weight vehicle at under 2800 lb it's the shortest vehicle in length and in height so it's a pretty small vehicle it has the lowest drag coefficient of any of the vehicles I've tested and it has the highest horsepower per liter of any of the naturally aspirated engines that I've tested so it's a very purpose-built vehicle uh for these kind of environments and it just does phenomenal in these Corners it's just so much fun to drive okay let's try and get a quick Highway pull in I will turn off the traction control and hopefully I just don't smoke the tires and we actually get a usable run out of this if I botch it I'm sorry so I'm going to go ahead and straighten out come to a stop bring the Rams a little over 2,000 so you can hit 60 in second gear and so I will take the time that it took from zero to the end of second gear and that essentially is 60 and then we'll bring it up to highway speeds here I'll set the cruise control at 65 and you probably are already noticing that you do get a decent amount of noise in this cabin it's not the quietest interior you're looking at about 81 82 DB which is definitely on the louder end of the vehicles that I've tested and that's just kind of one of the trade-offs of you know removing weight from a vehicle you're going to get something that gets a little bit more noise in it and so you do have a decent amount of tire noise and a little bit of wind noise as well now this vehicle is priced very similarly to the WRX so it makes you ask the question you know if you're going to go for performance vehicle and practicality and all-wheel drive aren't necessarily A need um because you can fit more people and more stuff in the WRX obviously and it has all-wheel drive which one is more fun to drive uh and they're both very fun in their own ways there's something about this vehicle where it's just incredibly lightweight and so that just makes it so responsive and you don't quite get that responsiveness in the WRX which is about 500 lb heavier than this so it is a really really fun car to drive the WRX on the other hand you've got that low-end torque with the twin scroll turbocharger so you're going to have this really fast vehicle uh and so you know that's on the other end you do have speed in the other one so this is definitely more handling the WRX is more overall speed but not quite as good of handling and you know they're both very different in that sense which one made me smile more while I'm driving it honestly this one has and I think it's just the way that rear end behaves when you have it in sport mode it just lets you play around a little bit uh and it's really really fun to do so I think both cars are phenomenal both cars are actually capable of pretty good gas mileage and so I I think neither of them are necessarily a bad choice and they're both very fun so you know pick kind of what you're more interested straight line speed and decent handling or not as much straight line speed uh and very good handling just really responsive uh everything about this you know weight towards the center good distribution front to rear and just very responsive in the corner so it's an absolute blast to drive and it also kind of is a little bit tail happy which makes it fun as well now if you are trying to decide between the manual and the automatic and I'm not sure why you're asking that question uh you should get manual but if you are trying to decide between them uh the automatic does have the benefit of slightly better gas mileage and this is due to two things it does have an automatic transmission fluid warmer uh which Heats it up so you can get a bit more efficiency from it and it also has uh slightly uh lower gear ratios and so that enables it to be at slightly lower RPMs um especially on the highway where it's rated for MPG better now that said the manual is cheaper it's 50 lb lighter which may not sound like much but it's actually almost 2% of the vehicle's weight so it makes a difference the fact is the manual is the way to go with this vehicle it's a ton of fun and it would be my recommendation now I've completed my fuel economy test course this is approximately 53 Mi primarily Highway with some City and Hills mixed in this vehicle is rated 22 in the city 30 on the highway and as you can see it achieved 38.1 MP gallon on my test course this is three miles per gallon better than the WRX that I tested which isn't all that surprising considering that this is two wheel drive and is also significantly lighter so one of the biggest complaints that pretty much everyone has about this car is that it's low on power and it is kind of low on power uh you know it's not a tremendous amount and you're not going to go flying when you put your foot down that said it's still plenty enough to get the rear tires to kick out and it's plenty enough at low speeds where it does feel pretty good as far as how much acceleration it has now I think there's two questions that I have to ask myself when I'm driving this one do I wish had more power and I think the answer is yes you know it's it's kind of hard for me to say that for many vehicles that I wouldn't want them to have more power and I definitely would want this to have a little bit more power I think a little more StraightLine acceleration would make it uh a little bit more fun that said you know this is a tremendously fun car to drive and I think one of the critical questions is do I think that it's worth the money for how much power this has and I absolutely do this car is phenomenally fun to drive you can kick out the rear end very easily uh in first or second gear and you can get excellent fuel economy so it's kind of a little Coupe that does it all as far as Track Performance it's uh super capable if you want to modify it go ahead and do it you'll have a monster of a car with a really great base setup as far as handling and if you want to get great fuel economy you can do that in this so I do admire that about it uh and I think the power level is perfectly adequate for its price range it's a very fun car to drive uh through these corners and so I have to admire it for that and how purpose built it is the fact that uh finally a modern car is kept lightweight relative to other modern cars and so ultimately I've really enjoyed driving this if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below thanks for watching\n"