Ok, so I’m looking at a new Subaru BRZ, test drove one a few days ago, and am trying hard to talk myself out of an impulse decision to buy.
Pros: very, very fun car to drive. I drive a lot (long commute), and a lot of times when I get home and have nothing to do, I’ll drive some more. I just love driving (in a fun car). Also, it gets great fuel economy and has the great Subaru/Toyota quality I’m used to (on my 4th Subaru now).
Cons: it has rear seats in name only; there is literally no leg room if an adult is sitting in the seat in front. Another con: rear wheel drive in the N.E. winters. Not a huge deal, given I work from home when it snows. Also, I don’t mind the expense of snow tires.
The no back seat part is really making me question it. Granted, if I did the math, I’d see that probably 85% of my yearly driving is alone, with another 14% with one other person, and that last 1% with a total of 3 in the car. It’s also true that every time there is more than one passenger, it is always possible for one of the others to drive us all.
Hmmm… what a fun little car! So has anyone else made due with only two seats? better yet, anyone here own a BRZ?
I drove a Honda del Sol for 8 yrs and never had an issue with it as a daily driver. My husband had a car with a backseat and my mother in law had an SUV if we needed more room.
Are you really trying to convince yourself not to buy it? It’s a fun car to drive but it could use a little more low-end grunt. I believe Toyobaru recommends 93 octane fuel. Apparently it doesn’t handle that well in the winter.
A couple of weeks ago I went from a Nissan 350Z convertible (NO back seats) to a Lexus SC430, which has the kind of back seats you are considering: technically someone could ride there, and my teenage nephew has for short rides, but no adult of any size could ride there for more than a half-hour, tops. At least in the SC, the issue isn’t just about leg room; the back of the rear seat is near-vertical, which looks torturous.
I went several years and many cross-country trips with a Sprite. But considering I did the same basic thing for more years with just a Harley I could be a bad example. How often are you going to buy a large something (bookcase, stove, whatever) and actually haul it home yourself rather than have it delivered? If the answer is rarely, go for it!
I have a 2012 Mustang coupe as my daily driver, in Chicago. Part of the reason I got it was that I had changed jobs, and went from a train commute, to a 35-minute drive each way to my new office…I wanted something fun to drive. And, it definitely has been great fun to drive; I love this car!
With traction control and good winter tires on the rear, traction has generally not been a big problem in the snow, though I would be a little hesitant to take the 'Stang out in seriously snowy conditions.
It’s just my wife and me in our household, so the little rear seats don’t come up as an issue very often. They’re habitable enough for at least some adults on short trips (15 minutes or less). If we know we need to have room for more than the two of us for any length of time, we take her car (a Mazda CX7 crossover SUV).
How odd, I was looking at one of those cars myself earlier (though its badged differently over here as the GT86). It looks like a really fun car.
I used to own a Toyota MR2 Turbo, no rear-seats at all and rear-engine and that was a great little car, not very practical but really fun to drive (if ‘exciting’ at times as it lacked any sort of electronic stability control or even ABS :eek: )
Unfortunately my dad ended up putting it over a hedge when out for a drive in it…still only fair as I wrought-off one of his cars a few years before that.
It was repaired but never drove quite the same since and I sold it to ‘upgrade’ to a Mitsubishi Evo VI, which while technically the better car in almost every sense wasn’t nearly as much fun to drive.
Anyway, I digress, you know my opinion already…buy it!
First thing I did in my van was take out the second row of seats and fold down the third row to make room for my dogs to ride, so I essentially have a two seater. Strangely, very few people ask for rides in the mutt-mobile, so I haven’t missed the extra passenger capacity.
If you want the car, buy it, enjoy it and if you need something bigger to haul cargo, rent it for a day with all the money you saved driving a small car.
A long commute and mostly alone? A 2-seater that gets good mileage and is fun is a no-brainer.
Personally, I’d spring for a convertible, but that’s me. Some folks are topless folks, the rest want to be couped up. Heh, heh.
Mrs. takes our topless 2-seater most days, but I’ve got more where that came from.
The Yukon is for hauling people and stuff, the sedan is for dinner for 2 or 4, and most of the rest is 2-seat fun. If you have to drive, it may as well be fun.
Can I interest you in motorcycling? Great handling and mileage to be had!
Plus, if you take anyone to lunch, they have to hold you tight. Just make sure it’s not Bob from accounting.:eek:
Good decision. I also had a motorcycle as my only transportation for four years, a series of Triumphs. A friend of mine had an Austin Healey Bug Eyed Sprite as his only transport for two of those years. Talk about small!
When either of us needed to haul something larger, we would borrow my brothers 1962 Chevy pickup. if we wanted to haul more then four folks, we borrowed his sister’s Volvo wagon. Neither of these rigs were borrowed by us very often.
Since you have other rigs, you are good to go. Happy hunting, I hope you find just the right BRZ.
Not sure I see the problem. I had a CRX too and I’m pretty sure you could get after market roof racks for them.
Sparky, I’ll admit I’m biased, but I would urge you to check out a Civic Si. It has the same horse power, is about $2-3k cheaper assuming that you can even get a BRZ at list price and according to Kelly Blue Book, the 5 year cost of ownership is about $6k cheaper.
I have a 2008 that has an engine with the same rated horsepower. Didn’t check the curb weights, but even with my spastic shifting, I can squeeze out 0-60 times in the 6.5 area. It’s technically a 4-seater but a coupe, so not nearly as sexy, but if the practical aspect ends up keeping you awake . . .
Plus, the 6 speed is as slippery as an extra from a bad 70’s porno (BOW-CHICKA-BOW-WOW!)
