BRZ vs 370Z vs MX-5 Review

crazyyankfan · 04-15-2012, 05:38 PM

http://http://www.autocar.co.uk/News...llCars/262247/

What do you guys think of this review? I don't know, but doesn't it seem a little bias?

Quote:

Subaru BRZ vs Nissan 370Z vs Mazda MX-5

12 April 2012

Is the simple Subaru BRZ as effective on the road as early reports suggest it is on track? Matt Saunders finds the answer on the Route Napoleon, with an MX-5 and 370Z in tow.

We’ve come to the Cote d’Azur to find out one thing. Has the Subaru BRZ earned its place at the top table alongside the likes of the Mazda RX-7, Nissan 200SX and Toyota Supra.

All the early signs have been good. Handling-related superlatives flowed after a track test in a prototype last year; just as they did after a circuit session in the Toyota GT 86. But you couldn’t say for sure without spending time on really testing roads, could you? Preferably with a couple of other modern Japanese sporting greats along for the ride.

And with the promise of a BRZ on the mountain roads of the Cote d’Azur, a pair of modern Japanese sporting greats is exactly what we’ve lined up.

The inclusion of the Mazda MX-5 is justified not only by the uncomplicated amusement value it offers, but also by the fact that it is the world’s biggest-selling sports car. If the Subaru can match the Mazda’s for smiles-per-pounds-spent, it’ll be doing very well indeed.

Mirroring that ‘less is more’ appeal is the Nissan 370Z, which remains one of very few sub-£30k, six-pot, rear-drive performance cars on offer. Could it confirm nagging doubts that the Toyobaru’s 197bhp, four cylinders and 7.5sec 0-60mph aren’t sufficient?

How it came to be?

Although both Subaru and Toyota would take credit for the originality and authenticity of their sports car, the fact is neither company could have produced it on its own.

Four years ago, Toyota had the will, the vision and the investment. But nowhere to build it and no capacity to develop it beforehand. Subaru had the production and engineering facilities, many of the mechanical building blocks you’d need for a great sporting rear-driver and the desire for the brand development that such a car could achieve. But without greater potential sales volume, it could never have made the sums work.

Then in 2007, Katsuaki Watanabe, ex-president of Toyota secretly met with Ikuo Mori, president of Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries. In 2008, as Toyota announced an increase in its minority stake in FHI, the Toyobaru plan went public. Toyota would design the car, and put up the lion’s share of the finances; Subaru would engineer and develop it, and produce it at its plant in Gunma. They would develop their own marketing strategies, but Toyota’s bigger cash pot would deliver them the majority of production.

That’s how Subaru ended up with a sports car that looks unlike anything else in its line-up – exactly like a modern Toyota sports coupé, in fact. It does have one of Subaru’s inimitable throbbing boxer engines under bonnet; an engine with a massive influence over the motive character of the BRZ. Its

size, shape, location and output all make contributions to a dynamic repertoire that makes this car as distinctive as it is effective on the road.

But before probe at the periphery of its range of abilities, there are some static considerations understand. As much as lightness and compactness are key in the modern car-making business, they are also BRZ cornerstones. It measures 4240mm from nose to tail, so it’s within a foot of the length of the Mazda MX-5. More remarkable still, it weighs just 1202kg, or 1239kg if you go for a Premium version like our test car. Our diminutive 2.0-litre MX-5 Coupé Cabriolet – a car held as the most convincing argument for lightness and simplicity in a mass-market sports car – is heavier than our test BRZ by around 10kg.

Our 370Z carries a penalty of almost 300kg compared with the BRZ – something its brawny V6 and wide, 18-inch tyres may struggle to cover.

Equally confusing is the BRZ is the only four-seater here. They’re usable, too; big enough for a medium-sized adult on a short hop, which seems a bit of a masterstroke in a car with a longways engine, driven rear wheels and the same wheelbase as a Mini Clubman.

The front seats are comfortable for touring yet supportive for hard driving, and its seating position is spot on. You don’t feel constrained in it, as bigger drivers will in the Mazda. Unlike in the Nissan, the pedal and wheel positioning is absolutely perfect.

The BRZ’s fascia is functional but does the car credit. It escapes a bargain-basement feel with a tactile sculptural platform of a dashboard, and some uncomplicated, modern design on the climate control console and in the instrument cluster. The Nissan’s feels like a more stylish and special, whereas the Mazda’s is showing its age. But rich and stylish cabin ambience has never been what the MX-5 is all about, and the BRZ just feels like a slightly larger and newer car from the same mould.

In search of fun

This Subaru is a slow-burner, and in more than one sense. Crawling and bumbling around city streets en route to the epic Route Napoleon, it does little to pique your fun receptors. It’s an easy car to drive, and fairly comfortable. The chassis is firm but quiet and the damping is a bit hard-nosed over uneven town asphalt, but it’s compliant enough most of the time. Despite its offbeat growl, that atmospheric boxer engine doesn’t serve the kind of torque to make the car hint at the amusement you might be having elsewhere. Which is something the Nissan is very adept at.

There are signs – telltale suggestions of the restrained athlete you’ve yet to reveal. The BRZ’s power steering is one of them. It’s medium heavy, but even around urban bends and roundabouts, it provides immaculate feedback from the front tyres direct to your palms. You know exactly how much you’re asking those contact patches to do, and how much they could offer. The brake pedal feel is excellent; progressive, easy to modulate, strong but not over-assisted. Proper sports car brakes, these.

When you leave the urban grind and the road empties and starts to climb, however, you’re worried about only one thing: is it quick enough?

The Zed certainly is. You don’t need much more than 3000rpm before the Nissan’s 3.7-litre V6 hurls this long-nosed throwback forward with inscrutable urgency. It’d bolt away from the other two cars down any straight, and on less perfidious old mountain roads than these, it would quite soon be in a completely different département altogether.

But Nissan’s Z-car has always monstered its opposition on bang for your buck. It’s grip, delicacy and composure that it lacks. Should a 370Z appear in the rear-view mirror of your Subaru BRZ, you’ve got every chance of keeping it there providing you’re on the right road. And you’ll have a whale of a time in the process.

The Subaru needs to be wound to at least 5000rpm before the car will lunge onward like a fully-fledged performance car. Below that, you could even be overtaken by a mid-range Peugeot 205.

Above that, with peak torque chiming in between 6400rpm and 6600rpm, Subaru’s flat four takes is fizzy and flamboyant. Enough to excite the BRZ’s driver and enliven its chassis. Enough to make our little Mazda feel distinctly lower-rung, even though it’s still rewarding. But not so much to make you feel irresponsible about giving the BRZ its head on the road.

Exercising the same commitment corner after corner, you discover all that fuss was 100 per cent deserved. A low centre of gravity means roll control is first rate. That enhances the sense of accuracy you get from the BRZ’s steering, and contributes to balance and agility of genuinely breathtaking order. Turn-in is instinctive. The BRZ takes no time to settle into a steady cornering state, even under high lateral loads. The engine’s linear power curve gets together with the torque-sensing limited-slip differential to allow you to play with the car’s cornering attitude in a spellbindingly delicate and precise fashion.

This is a sports car first and a fast car second – which is refreshing to report. While the BRZ’s limits are impressive, it’s more the breadth and habitability of the margins of its handling that end up holding your imagination hostage. You don’t need to goad it. Just drive it with the same smooth composure and exactness that characterises the car vividly. Once you’re on terms with it, it becomes playful, subtle and totally beguiling. You can’t help falling for it.

Neither the 370Z nor the MX-5 can thrill at that level. Compared to Subaru, they look like blunt, dull communicators here, outclassed by a new affordable driver’s car of amazing delicacy and extraordinary talent. One that could be the best sports car to come out of Japan since the Honda NSX, and that must be worth £25k from anyone who knows what sunny weekends and great roads were really made for.

kenchan · 04-15-2012, 05:40 PM

kinda like comparing an orange, apple, and tangerine.

shadoquad · 04-15-2012, 06:39 PM

I don't trust mag reviews. They're full of crap.

Spikuh · 04-15-2012, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenchan

kinda like comparing an orange, apple, and tangerine.

All very different cars for different purposes despite there being some level overlap.

Isamu · 04-15-2012, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spikuh

All very different cars for different purposes despite there being some level overlap.

mjd77 · 04-15-2012, 08:39 PM

I'm not sure I've ever seen a new vehicle hyped like this BRZ...I still believe after the initial wave of demand is met, dealers won't be able to get rid of them.

Red__Zed · 04-15-2012, 08:46 PM

in before the lock for posting a comparo that the 370z doesn't win.

shadoquad · 04-15-2012, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red__Zed

in before the lock for posting a comparo that the 370z doesn't win.

Has the 370z ever won a comparo in a major mag?

Most of them bang it over its niggling issues that can be fixed with maybe 2k in mods.

Red__Zed · 04-15-2012, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadoquad

Has the 370z ever won a comparo in a major mag?

Most of them bang it over its niggling issues that can be fixed with maybe 2k in mods.

beat the 2010 mustang. which is why there are like 9000 threads about it.

shadoquad · 04-15-2012, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red__Zed

beat the 2010 mustang. which is why there are like 9000 threads about it.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Well, have they improved the Mustang since then? Probably not a whole lot, right?

Red__Zed · 04-15-2012, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadoquad

Oh yeah, I forgot. Well, have they improved the Mustang since then? Probably not a whole lot, right?

inside line mustang GT vs 370z 03.11.09

I actually think this is the only comparo thread still open.

Isamu · 04-15-2012, 09:28 PM

IBTL oh wait, I was in here already

LakeShow · 04-16-2012, 12:47 AM

IBTL, VTECH makes all those cars look stupid, including Mustangs.

bvl · 04-16-2012, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenchan

kinda like comparing an orange, apple, and tangerine.

I'd liken it to a orange, tangerine and clementine.

So what 3 rear drive sports car/coupes for 30Kish would you put into a
comparison? Genesis is the only other model I can think OTTOMH to include and its not known as a world class *handler*. 2 of the 3 cars are with the third being hailed as well balanced. The germans would be 40-60K.

The miata is a bit of the odd duck here (pretty sure they evaluated the PRT, heaviest model) though its track record of being a well balanced package makes sense to give them a baseline.

The Z almost takes on the american car position of past: for similar price you get a much bigger engine.

I own and enjoy my Z...but its not perfect. I can see how it would not win a comparison from most major car magazines. They tend to focus in this segment on package, balance, and performance. Balance is good in the Z but there are some niggling things that make other cars a better package to those magazine folks (who often ignore price, ala Cayman)

You are not going to correct the engine quirks for 2K of bolt ons unfortunately. For a pure sports car, the engine loses major points above 5K. And given the price point and comparison, the engine is one thing that is supposed to shine.

That's a fact, jack.

- b

Lug · 04-16-2012, 08:40 AM

To sum up, the BRZ is to the 370Z what the 370Z is to the Mustang.

04-16-2012, 12:47 AM	#13 (permalink)
LakeShow A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: L.I., NY Posts: 5,307 Drives: Everything Rep Power: 25	IBTL, VTECH makes all those cars look stupid, including Mustangs. __________________ \|2013 Audi S4\|Ibis White/Black\|S-Tronic P+\| \|2013 370z\|PearlWhite/Persimmon\|Touring/Sport/Nav\|F.I. CBE 18" CF\| \|Sold\|2011 370z\|Gun Metallic\|Touring/Sport/Nav\|

04-16-2012, 08:40 AM	#15 (permalink)
Lug A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 1,926 Drives: 2006 350Z Rep Power: 19	To sum up, the BRZ is to the 370Z what the 370Z is to the Mustang. __________________ keep Chubbs in your pocket - Chubbs

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04-15-2012, 05:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
kenchan A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: N/A Posts: 76,801 Drives: N/A Rep Power: 141520	kinda like comparing an orange, apple, and tangerine.

04-15-2012, 06:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
shadoquad A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: . Posts: 42,608 Drives: . Rep Power: 3886	I don't trust mag reviews. They're full of crap.

04-15-2012, 08:39 PM	#6 (permalink)
mjd77 Base Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Port Washington, WI Age: 47 Posts: 183 Drives: 2004 RX-8 Rep Power: 16	I'm not sure I've ever seen a new vehicle hyped like this BRZ...I still believe after the initial wave of demand is met, dealers won't be able to get rid of them.

04-15-2012, 08:46 PM	#7 (permalink)
Red__Zed A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: window seat Posts: 28,940 Drives: Mostly on two wheels Rep Power: 119	in before the lock for posting a comparo that the 370z doesn't win.