**A Fun and Responsive Driving Experience**

The car I've been driving has a great feel to it, with the steering being one of my favorite aspects. It's responsive and precise, making it a joy to navigate through tight corners. The response is what makes it so nice, and I can feel the weight of the vehicle transferring to the road. This is especially noticeable when I'm shifting gears quickly, as the car reacts instantly to my inputs. The throttle response is also excellent, with the engine delivering power immediately when I need it.

**A Notable Exception: Rev Hang**

However, there is one notable exception in this car's drivetrain. Rev hang, which occurs when the engine hesitates before shifting gears, can be a real issue for some Subaru models, including my Crosstrek and WRX. But not so much with this particular car. The brake pedal is firm and progressive, with a good amount of travel to it, making it easy to modulate my braking. This, combined with the quick and precise shifting, makes for a very enjoyable driving experience.

**The Clutch and Shifting**

Now, when it comes to shifting, I have to say that this car's clutch is one of its strongest assets. The classic "nachi feel" that Subaru is known for is still very much present here, making it easy to coordinate with the clutch. There's no Rev hang or hesitation when shifting gears, which makes for quick and seamless transitions. This car feels like a precision instrument on the road, with the driver able to fully engage the engine's power.

**The Power Gauge**

Another feature that I appreciate is the new power gauge that's been added to the dashboard. It shows the dip in torque between 3000 and 5000 rpm, giving me a better idea of when to shift gears for maximum performance. With a rev limiter set at 7,000 rpm, this gauge helps me keep the engine within its sweet spot, allowing for peak torque output. This feature is particularly useful when I'm driving aggressively, as it gives me real-time feedback on my driving style.

**A Few Minor Complaints**

While I've thoroughly enjoyed driving this car, there are a few minor complaints to be had. The visibility out the back of the vehicle can be somewhat poor, making it difficult to see my blind spot. Additionally, the interior designs can feel a bit dated at times, although an updated touchscreen and audio system do help to mitigate this.

**The Big Question: Does This Car Need More Power?**

Ultimately, whether or not this car needs more power is up for debate. If I had to choose between affordability, lightweight construction, and high performance, I think it's clear that this car falls short in the latter department. To add significant power, you'd have to compromise on one of those other factors – perhaps sacrificing some weight savings or making a few compromises on cost.

**A Car That's Built for Fun**

For me, though, this car is all about having fun behind the wheel. It's a precision instrument that rewards driver input and encourages me to push it to its limits. By not trying to appeal to everyone, Subaru has created a vehicle that's uniquely suited to its target audience: drivers who value agility, responsiveness, and raw performance above all else.

**The Verdict**

Overall, I've thoroughly enjoyed driving this car, and I think it's an excellent choice for anyone looking for a fun, responsive driving experience. While it may not be the most powerful car on the market, its unique combination of weight savings, agility, and precision make it a standout in its class.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome in this video we are checking out the 2017 Subaru BRZ limited and this is of course the manual transmission now they have made some significant changes for the 2017 model year most of those apply as far as the engine just to the manual transmission version but some to both there is now more chassis reinforcements so a bit more rigid chassis you've got suspension tweaks they have up to the east size of the rear anti-roll bar and you also have a new spoiler there on the back which will add a little bit more downforce than the previous version now as far as the engine this is where a lot of the major changes came in so they've revised the cylinder heads the valves the camshafts they've also changed out the plastic intake manifold for an aluminum intake manifold which I like to see because pretty much everyone's going plastic these days and it's cool to see that they've switched back to aluminum for the intake manifold so you know it revised intake they've also revised the exhaust manifold and so all of these you know my new engine changes have added to about five extra horsepower and five extra torque so 205 horsepower 156 pound-feet now once again this is only for the manual transmission that sees these engine benefits so you know they're further separating the performance difference between the two cars and you know the manual honestly was the better performer already before these changes and another difference you know I got in this car and I started driving it and I thought you know it feels a little than the previous version what's the deal with that it can't be that I'm possibly feeling you know just five extra torque that's that's a very different you know very small change to be able to feel it wasn't that what I was feeling it was the rear differential change they've changed the final drive from a four point one to a 4.30 and that's going to be a bit more wheel torque and I love that I love aggressive gearing I'll take as aggressive gearing as the manufacturers willing to put in so I love the fact that they you know up the final drive ratio gives you a little bit more wheel torque so combined with that and the additional torque from the engine that certainly is a little bit quicker of a car now once again this is only for the manual transmission if you opt for the automatic box which you shouldn't do you're going to be getting the four point one differential and you're going to be getting the engine without that additional benefits that they've upgraded on the five additional horsepower and all these people biking up a hill that's just tiring you could have a boxer engine do it for you low CG have fun around the corners not be out of breath one of the other really cool things about the fact that they went from a four point one to a four point three to me is that it proves that an engineer wanted discussion out there rather than the marketing team because I believe what would have happened is the marketing team would have seen the four point three change they know that in their previous BRZ the four point one let it hit 60 miles per hour in second gear so it gave you a nice 0 to 60 time because you could hit it in second gear and you didn't have to gear shifts while changing to the four point three you'll top out at about 56 57 miles an hour in second gear and so you won't be able to get that you know better 0 to 60 time but this thing will accelerate quicker to 50 for sure and it will definitely accelerate quicker to 70 you know it's just that one small area which everyone focuses on is that zero to 60 time which it may be a slightly worse on just because you've got another gear shift in there even though it has more torque at the wheels you've got that additional gear shift and you have to compensate for that time and you know engineers they're not going to care about it zero to sixty whatever it's not that meaningful you can you can change bearing and and get a more fun car to drive and that's what they've done marketing sees this as you know that's what people read people read the zero to sixty times out there and so I think that's cool that they've actually switched to the four point three oh I don't know if it's actually quicker not to sixty my guess is that it would probably do better to just have it top off in second gear either way I love an aggressive gearing is the way to go it's what makes cars fun to drive like this and it gets them a little tail-happy another change they made is they've added a track mode instead of sport mode and you know that raises the threshold on the stability control so we gets you a little bit more sideways before it kicks in and starts saying hey you're going to kill yourself so it's exciting that they've added that change and of course you can turn everything off off if you would like to not worry about the traction aids and just get completely sideways and you know at your own peril track mode definitely lets you spin the tires so let's talk about what it's like to drive up front you've got the boxer engine with a low center of gravity this is a really well-balanced car and you know it's got a pretty stiff suspension all things considered so what this results in is something that's you know extremely playful and very responsive the steering is really sharp you've got a pretty tight ratio on it so turn in is very quick not too much weight to it but it definitely has you know enough weight that you can feel it pretty well and you know the response is what makes it so nice and you actually do get some feedback through it compared to some of the other vehicles out there for sure so I really do like the steering in this the throttle response is really good as well which is something that with electronic throttles you don't always get these days but you know you put your foot down and you definitely get the power very immediately so that's nice not too much Rev hang when you do shift gears which is unusual for Subaru a lot of them you know a lot of models my Crosstrek for example the WRX for sure has quite a bit of rev hang this tends to drop the revs a little bit quicker when you do shift gears so you know that's nicer for quicker shifting which is obviously desired in these quicker cars which are meant for more spirited driving the brake pedal doesn't have too much travel to it really firm nice progressive build as you press into a definitely good strong brake so I do like that and finally there's the shifting and it's pretty much the classic story with Subaru where you've got you know the classic nachi feel that they have you know it's secure it feels good it's not the smoothest shifter out there by any means but you know plenty of control with the clutch and nothing really major to complain about I do like the shifting in this much better than some of the other super models where you have that Rev hang and it's not smooth as a result pretty nice and the track notice a nice added definitely lets you trip around a bit with the rear end definitely get too crazy but allows you to have some fun with it from this kind of road that's what this car was made for you've also got a new power gauge that they show in the front to the right of the speedometer and the tachometer which actually shows you that dip of torque which you have between about 3000 and 5000 you really want to keep this engine above 5,000 if you want peak torque available all the time keep it in a sweet spot but with that 4.3 rear differential it definitely helps you stay there chef's light blinking on there when we're getting about 7,000 rpm redline at 7400 I really don't have many complaints I mean it's a fun car it's a fun solid car of visibility looking out you know to your blind spot is pretty poor other than that you know I mean some people might complain the interiors a little dated but they have updated the screen here so you've got a nice decent touchscreen the audio systems nothing to brag about for sure but when you're buying these kind of cars you're more looking forward to the audio system of the engine and it has a nice tone to it so I've quite enjoyed driving it so the question everyone always asks and you know everyone claims does the BRZ need more power and really I think it comes down to you have to choose two out of three things you can have affordability you can have lightweight and you can have high power you can only pick two of those you can have an affordable lightweight car like this or an mx-5 you can have an affordable high powered car but it's going to be heavy it's not going to be lightweight in order to get the cost down you have to use cheaper materials and cheaper materials end up being heavier it's expensive to build lightweight cars and so really if you wanted this car to have more power let's say they throw a turbocharger on it well then they've got to up the drive shafts they've gotta up the differential they've got to up the rear axles they've got to change the rear tires make those wider you know there's a lot of changes that have to be made in order for it to be safe and reliable with more power and so every time you add power you have to add all this weight to it so you really have to choose you know do you want a lightweight fun sports car or do you want something high powered you know that everyone would enjoy and I think that's kind of the beauty about this car is that it isn't built for everyone you know not everyone is going to like this car and that's a good thing we need more cars that everyone will like we need cars that have their very specific niche that you know certain people will enjoy driving and if you enjoy driving cars you will have fun in this thing because it's lightweight it's so responsive and it's just a really sharp predictable machine around these tight corners and that's what makes it so fun and I think adding power would add weight and consequently it would take away the joy of this car and what's so great about it so I hope you guys have enjoyed watching thank you all and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them belowhello everyone and welcome in this video we are checking out the 2017 Subaru BRZ limited and this is of course the manual transmission now they have made some significant changes for the 2017 model year most of those apply as far as the engine just to the manual transmission version but some to both there is now more chassis reinforcements so a bit more rigid chassis you've got suspension tweaks they have up to the east size of the rear anti-roll bar and you also have a new spoiler there on the back which will add a little bit more downforce than the previous version now as far as the engine this is where a lot of the major changes came in so they've revised the cylinder heads the valves the camshafts they've also changed out the plastic intake manifold for an aluminum intake manifold which I like to see because pretty much everyone's going plastic these days and it's cool to see that they've switched back to aluminum for the intake manifold so you know it revised intake they've also revised the exhaust manifold and so all of these you know my new engine changes have added to about five extra horsepower and five extra torque so 205 horsepower 156 pound-feet now once again this is only for the manual transmission that sees these engine benefits so you know they're further separating the performance difference between the two cars and you know the manual honestly was the better performer already before these changes and another difference you know I got in this car and I started driving it and I thought you know it feels a little than the previous version what's the deal with that it can't be that I'm possibly feeling you know just five extra torque that's that's a very different you know very small change to be able to feel it wasn't that what I was feeling it was the rear differential change they've changed the final drive from a four point one to a 4.30 and that's going to be a bit more wheel torque and I love that I love aggressive gearing I'll take as aggressive gearing as the manufacturers willing to put in so I love the fact that they you know up the final drive ratio gives you a little bit more wheel torque so combined with that and the additional torque from the engine that certainly is a little bit quicker of a car now once again this is only for the manual transmission if you opt for the automatic box which you shouldn't do you're going to be getting the four point one differential and you're going to be getting the engine without that additional benefits that they've upgraded on the five additional horsepower and all these people biking up a hill that's just tiring you could have a boxer engine do it for you low CG have fun around the corners not be out of breath one of the other really cool things about the fact that they went from a four point one to a four point three to me is that it proves that an engineer wanted discussion out there rather than the marketing team because I believe what would have happened is the marketing team would have seen the four point three change they know that in their previous BRZ the four point one let it hit 60 miles per hour in second gear so it gave you a nice 0 to 60 time because you could hit it in second gear and you didn't have to gear shifts while changing to the four point three you'll top out at about 56 57 miles an hour in second gear and so you won't be able to get that you know better 0 to 60 time but this thing will accelerate quicker to 50 for sure and it will definitely accelerate quicker to 70 you know it's just that one small area which everyone focuses on is that zero to 60 time which it may be a slightly worse on just because you've got another gear shift in there even though it has more torque at the wheels you've got that additional gear shift and you have to compensate for that time and you know engineers they're not going to care about it zero to sixty whatever it's not that meaningful you can you can change bearing and and get a more fun car to drive and that's what they've done marketing sees this as you know that's what people read people read the zero to sixty times out there and so I think that's cool that they've actually switched to the four point three oh I don't know if it's actually quicker not to sixty my guess is that it would probably do better to just have it top off in second gear either way I love an aggressive gearing is the way to go it's what makes cars fun to drive like this and it gets them a little tail-happy another change they made is they've added a track mode instead of sport mode and you know that raises the threshold on the stability control so we gets you a little bit more sideways before it kicks in and starts saying hey you're going to kill yourself so it's exciting that they've added that change and of course you can turn everything off off if you would like to not worry about the traction aids and just get completely sideways and you know at your own peril track mode definitely lets you spin the tires so let's talk about what it's like to drive up front you've got the boxer engine with a low center of gravity this is a really well-balanced car and you know it's got a pretty stiff suspension all things considered so what this results in is something that's you know extremely playful and very responsive the steering is really sharp you've got a pretty tight ratio on it so turn in is very quick not too much weight to it but it definitely has you know enough weight that you can feel it pretty well and you know the response is what makes it so nice and you actually do get some feedback through it compared to some of the other vehicles out there for sure so I really do like the steering in this the throttle response is really good as well which is something that with electronic throttles you don't always get these days but you know you put your foot down and you definitely get the power very immediately so that's nice not too much Rev hang when you do shift gears which is unusual for Subaru a lot of them you know a lot of models my Crosstrek for example the WRX for sure has quite a bit of rev hang this tends to drop the revs a little bit quicker when you do shift gears so you know that's nicer for quicker shifting which is obviously desired in these quicker cars which are meant for more spirited driving the brake pedal doesn't have too much travel to it really firm nice progressive build as you press into a definitely good strong brake so I do like that and finally there's the shifting and it's pretty much the classic story with Subaru where you've got you know the classic nachi feel that they have you know it's secure it feels good it's not the smoothest shifter out there by any means but you know plenty of control with the clutch and nothing really major to complain about I do like the shifting in this much better than some of the other super models where you have that Rev hang and it's not smooth as a result pretty nice and the track notice a nice added definitely lets you trip around a bit with the rear end definitely get too crazy but allows you to have some fun with it from this kind of road that's what this car was made for you've also got a new power gauge that they show in the front to the right of the speedometer and the tachometer which actually shows you that dip of torque which you have between about 3000 and 5000 you really want to keep this engine above 5,000 if you want peak torque available all the time keep it in a sweet spot but with that 4.3 rear differential it definitely helps you stay there chef's light blinking on there when we're getting about 7,000 rpm redline at 7400 I really don't have many complaints I mean it's a fun car it's a fun solid car of visibility looking out you know to your blind spot is pretty poor other than that you know I mean some people might complain the interiors a little dated but they have updated the screen here so you've got a nice decent touchscreen the audio systems nothing to brag about for sure but when you're buying these kind of cars you're more looking forward to the audio system of the engine and it has a nice tone to it so I've quite enjoyed driving it so the question everyone always asks and you know everyone claims does the BRZ need more power and really I think it comes down to you have to choose two out of three things you can have affordability you can have lightweight and you can have high power you can only pick two of those you can have an affordable lightweight car like this or an mx-5 you can have an affordable high powered car but it's going to be heavy it's not going to be lightweight in order to get the cost down you have to use cheaper materials and cheaper materials end up being heavier it's expensive to build lightweight cars and so really if you wanted this car to have more power let's say they throw a turbocharger on it well then they've got to up the drive shafts they've gotta up the differential they've got to up the rear axles they've got to change the rear tires make those wider you know there's a lot of changes that have to be made in order for it to be safe and reliable with more power and so every time you add power you have to add all this weight to it so you really have to choose you know do you want a lightweight fun sports car or do you want something high powered you know that everyone would enjoy and I think that's kind of the beauty about this car is that it isn't built for everyone you know not everyone is going to like this car and that's a good thing we need more cars that everyone will like we need cars that have their very specific niche that you know certain people will enjoy driving and if you enjoy driving cars you will have fun in this thing because it's lightweight it's so responsive and it's just a really sharp predictable machine around these tight corners and that's what makes it so fun and I think adding power would add weight and consequently it would take away the joy of this car and what's so great about it so I hope you guys have enjoyed watching thank you all and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below\n"