You know you drive an FRS/BRZ when...e driving an FRS

Asked over on the FRS forum but I thought my reply would be of some interest to the collective:

You know you drive an FRS/BRZ when:

When you fire the thing up and start looking for the John Deer tractor making the noise in your garage.

When you have to make excuses to your car friends for how ugly the engine looks in this car. No one will ever open the hood on these things to show of anything under there!

When it feels like the rev limiter comes on at 3000 rpm but then gets over it until it hits it again at 7000 rpm. And you are only going like 25 mph

When you wonder how long it would take to get rid of the sound tube that makes the horrible moaning noise into the cockpit

When you wonder if the second gear you are about to pull will finally be the one that kills the gearbox with whatever bad stuff is going on every time it graunches into that gear.

When you need a flagman to back out of your driveway so you don't run over the munchins walking to the school next-door.

When the goldfish living in the taillights seems perfectly happy with the water level.

When your realize that this is a three gear car on any autocross course that should only need 2 gears.

When you can't wait for the OE tires to die so you can justify getting some real rubber.

When you have to hit the traction control button for sport mode before the car is worth driving.

When you sure as hell need to make sure traction control IS fully engaged when it is wet.

When despite all the above crap, you still enjoy driving the car because they got the weight and handling matrix down perfect.

Take that, Toyota. And for the rest of you OEMS: don't try to foist any more cheap sports cars on an unsuspecting public ever again.

You know you have too much time when...

I like this comment, especially after seeing the BRZ at the last rainy autocross.

"When the goldfish living in the taillights seems perfectly happy with the water level."

I didn't know they were having that many problems with them. I saw my first one in person this past weekend, I still love the way it looks.

I've had my BRZ for almost a week. I like it :) And I like whatever they did with the sound tube thing. I don't think it sounds like a John Deere; my tail lights don't leak (so far); if the gears were taller, I don't think it would be as much fun to drive; I don't find the engine to be ugly (it's still pretty clean being so new); the tires don't bother me for street driving; my transmission doesn't grind or crunch; I've run with the traction/stability on and off without complaints; I find it to be a fun car overall :)

SupraWes wrote: I didn't know they were having that many problems with them. I saw my first one in person this past weekend, I still love the way it looks.

Would not look upon the list so much as "Problems" but rather as "Personality"; a lot of the stuff like the crappy sound that Subaru engines make is subjective, and I am sure a lot of 18 year olds love the sound tube that pipes the drone into the cabin. I figure pretty much every vehicle would come up with a similar list.

Also keep in mind that this is a first year model, yet only the fish-friendly tail lights represent a manufacturing issue. OK, and the second gear shift thing is annoying.

Also please take note of the last line. I still very much enjoy driving the car because I think they got that big part not only right, but better than any other car out there for the price.

subaru factory shifters generally suck anyways. My 09 WRX shifter was sloppy and long-throw and not easy to get into gear quickly. A stiffer lower bushings fixed that issue, now it's excellent.