After seeing the specs and pricing I'd rather get a used Lotus Elise.

Really seems like the author had his mind made up before he even did the comparison.

Fair points, but it is also 10k cheaper! Car is just overrated.

Thats an interesting point... suggests the Miata is better set up. Very, very interesting seeing its the slightly heavier car too. Corner speed has always been a strong point for the Miata/MX5 but its getting a bit long in the tooth now, I would have thought the FRS would be aiming to beat it in all areas.

All in all, its very VERY tame for what the OP article calls a 'sports car'. I think it will sell a LOT though, and good :) maybe they will bring out the version they should have had on day one; forced induction.

I didn't think it was such a bad comparison. After all, on public roads it is much more about the subjective experience than who can spank whom.

There's certainly a whole lot to be said for an extremely low center of gravity. I still miss my RX-8's handling compared to the Z. And once I had a Porsche 914-6 which was spectacularly good on the track at Lime Rock. I suspect that the biggest advantage the BRZ offers is the flat-4 being so low in the chassis.

Of course, our cars will spank it in a straight line, plus the tires on the BRZ are not very sticky (Prius tires!), so we should be able to outcorner it too. Yet the subjective experience -- like that of the Miata -- could be a whole lotta fun.

Around here on winding Connecticut back roads, it is often hard to get above 30-40mph. At these speeds the Miata & the BRZ have a huge advantage over the Z and the Corvette, which are a much better experience at higher speeds than either of the small-engine cars. But at low speeds, Miata's & BRZ's are just a lot of fun! Furthermore, I'm glad to see another sports car in the market. Competition reaffirms to Nissan that this kind of car is important and will help the corporate bean-counters justify future versions of the Z for the faithful.

My $.02

Totally agree with you. I love great handling cars, but I NEED that power for the times I'm not in the twisties (which is most of the time). Plus, like you said our car has plenty of handling and with a few mods can crush the canyons.

Mergnthwirker - Also agree, everyone needs to keep making fun, affordable sports cars.

I LOVE the Z - You can't beat its looks and performance at the price.

While I have yet to see the FR-S/ BRZ in person, it definitely isn't as good looking as our coupe. Curves are sexy! ;)

I saw them both at the dallas auto show. Both were silver (how dumb is that displaying them both in the same color.) The FR-S has a sharper looking front end. The BRZ is kinda dull up front. The brz has a few standard faux luxury features. But the other 3 corners are identical. Honestly, they are sharp looking cars. On the exterior, they are the next nicest thing to a Z. They make gencoupes look like garbage. On the interior, the auto-shifter looks official. Love it. But the dash and cabin materials are wrx cheesy. The Z, borders infiniti quality. Hyundai still uses better interior materials, or at least they look that way from the way they form the pieces.
The pics don't do it justice but the Z still looks flashier.

From the pics, I'd agree - I prefer the looks of the FR-S over the BRZ (Better front fascia). The rear of the car just doesn't look special. The profile looks decent, but again the rear fenders and back just seem like after thoughts. Again, I think the front end looks great on them. There were some pics on the net for a Greddy modified FRS in black and it looked mean! Maybe it's just the ugly stock wheels that is throwing it all off.

The Hyundai interior is shaped well, but the materials are shitty. Shape is more important to me, but the plastics really feel cheap and scratchy. I think the Gen coupe looks great from the outside (the rear and is fantastic, front is ok). The updated version is ugly though.

Very good input, reminds me of when I used to have a honda hawk GT, that little bike had all of 35 or 40 hp but in the twisties I would smoke the R1's which at that time were king of all bikes. I could just pin the throttle and scoot along through most turns, in the straights the other bigger bikes would smoke me. But I still had a blast on that small bike.

EDIT:

I added some videos to my OP

I am not sure. The car needs another 50hp imo. 200hp and 6s+ 0-60 these days, not so attractive for a sport car. Honda did that years ago - RSX-S although it's a FWD, it still handles well.

On the plus side, the BRZ looks good, light, and RWD. I'd probably go with the Subaru version if I were to buy one of these.

Why not just get a WRX?

its not a RWD, 4dr, not as balanced as the BRZ.

The RX-8 is easier to drive and it is better at transition, but it is hardly a faster car than the Z. I had two...

That Autocar comparison to the Z doesn't seem fair. If the BRZ can't beat the Z on this autocross track, then I doubt it can beat the Z on any other track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POPiUCtytqc

The BRZ/FR-S seems to scream two things, cheap and fun! A new base level Z will cost more than the BRZ. One thing that will be interesting to watch, the Z's aftermarket has grown slowly, we had to wait a long time for forced induction and the S/C kit and elements such as VVEL remained locked with no solution in sight. The BR-Z will have an astounding aftermarket available from what I've seen thus far. If you plan on staying stock, then I'd go with the Z, but if I was going to build a nice Jap Tuner car with strong aftermarket support and many options that is a thrill to drive even at 40-50mph, I'd go with the BRZ.