SUBARU BRZ S – THE ‘S’ STANDS FOR SIMPLY BRILLIANT

 

Slammed look works brilliantly on the new Subaru S pack, and it works as well on our favourite driving roads.

Slammed look works brilliantly on the new Subaru S pack, and it works as well on our favourite driving roads.

Subaru Australia has brought the BRZ S pack downunder to further enhance its stunningly successful new sports coupe. As soon as the announcement of the local availability of the pack was known we put up our hands to spend a week road testing one. It arrived in Subaru WRX Blue and has spent a lot of time being fanged around some of the special roads in our local area. In a couple of words – we love it.

All the BRZ S pack components are made by Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru’s performance arm.

MY13 Subaru BRZ
The Subaru BRZ S has lowered suspension that’s visually enhanced with a body kit consisting of a front spoiler, a rear diffuser and side skirts. The 17-inch black alloy wheels are an STI design and tie in neatly with the lower-body add-ons. A boot mounted spoiler adds to the tough look.

Inside, the cabin is enhanced by a gear lever with a Duracon knob on manual boxes; the engine gains a push-button start with the large button done in brilliant red – excellent!

The BRZ S pack isn’t only available to new-car buyers, owners of existing BRZs can have a sports pack retrofitted. Subaru Australia says the installation should be done by an authorised Subaru dealer.

At $7195, including fitment, for the automatic BRZ, and $7995 for the manual the S pack is pretty well priced when you consider the serious engineering effort put in by STI and the high quality of materials in a very Subaru manner.

BRZ Sports Kit
The full specifications of the Subaru BRZ S sports pack can be viewed on http://subaru.com.au/brz/subarubrz/option.

Power for the BRZ comes from an all-new 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated flat-four engine that puts out 147 kW of power at 7000 rpm, and 205 Nm of torque at 6600 revs. Though 200 horsepower is nothing to be sneezed at in a car like this, the engine feels much stronger than the numbers suggest. That’s partly due to the highly responsive nature of the engine and the fact that it’s willing to nudge the redline without the slightest of fuss.

The great throaty sound of the Subaru boxer engine when you get stuck into the pedal on the right – something that we did at every opportunity during our review period – is a joy to the ears of those how like their cars to sound exciting.

 

About Ewan Kennedy

Ewan Kennedy, a long-time car enthusiast, was Technical Research Librarian with the NRMA from 1970 until 1985. He worked part-time as a freelance motoring journalist from 1977 until 1985, when he took a full-time position as Technical Editor with Modern Motor magazine. Late in 1987 he left to set up a full-time business as a freelance motoring journalist. Ewan is an associate member of the Society of Automotive Engineers - International. An economy driving expert, he set the Guinness World Record for the greatest distance travelled in a standard road vehicle on a single fuel fill. He lists his hobbies as stage acting, travelling, boating and reading.
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