Launched in 2012, the BRZ is a sports car that resulted from a collaboration between Japanese manufacturers Subaru and Toyota. Launched alongside its identical siblings, the Toyota 86 and Scion FR-S -- the latter discontinued in 2016 -- the BRZ is sold globally with the Subaru-developed, 2.0-liter boxer engine and either a manual or automatic transmission. The coupe was updated for the 2017 model year, receiving revised exterior elements, various interior upgrades, chassis tweaks, and a mild power bump for models equipped with the manual gearbox.

While the BRZ, much like the Toyota 86 and Scion FR-S, has been deprived of significant upgrades in its four years on the market, the three companies have rolled out countless special editions as of 2016. The most recent one is the Series.Yellow Special Edition, which Subaru will put on sale for the 2017 model year. If the "Series" nomenclature sounds familiar, it's because Scion has also launched a couple of versions using a similar badge, most notably the Release Series 2.0. With Scion no longer operating in the U.S., it's now up to Subaru to provide customers with limited-edition models.

Much like previous special versions of the Japanese coupe, the Series.Yellow sports mild updates inside and out and a special exterior color. However, this model also features a few chassis upgrades that can't be had on the standard model, unless certain optional packages are selected. Find out more about that below.

Continue reading to learn more about the Subaru BRZ Series.Yellow Special Edition.

What makes the Subaru BRZ Series.Yellow Special Edition special

The first thing that catches the eye when looking at this special-edition coupe is the yellow paint that defines its name. Although the hue is by no means special, it is unique to the current BRZ, as Subaru is only offering it in black, gray, white, silver, red, and blue. The color has a nice, rich tone and gives the car a sporty look thanks to the black side mirrors and exclusive, 17-inch black alloy wheels. Although not exactly noticeable, the Series.Yellow ditched the standard blue "Subaru" emblem in favor of a black one. The "BRZ" lettering on the rear fascia is also black.

Other than that, the Series.Yellow is a standard 2017-model-year BRZ, meaning it benefits from all the updates that came with the most recent facelift. New features include a redesigned, sportier front bumper, new LED headlamps with integrated turn signals, new foglamps, new body-color-painted aluminum spoiler atop the trunk lid, and full-LED taillights, among others.

The interior received a bit more attention. Although finished mostly in black leather and Alcantara, the cabin sports yellow highlights in the form of contrast stitching on the seats, door panels, dashboard, steering wheel, knee pads, and shifter boot. Additionally, the front seat bolsters and the door panel handles feature yellow inserts, while the seat backs have embroidered, yellow "BRZ" logos. Subaru also added carpeted floor mats with yellow stitching and a silver embroidered "BRZ" logo.

The Series.Yellow is also equipped with all the goodies that came with the 2017 update. The instrument cluster has a 4.2-inch display that provides performance readouts such as lateral G force, accelerator pedal position, braking force, steering angle, oil and water temperature readouts, and features an integrated stopwatch for recording lap times. Customers also get the new 6.2-inch infotainment touchscreen with Subaru Starlik smartphone integration, Bluetooth, SiriusXM satellite radio, and rear vision camera. A dual-zone climate control, keyless access, and push-button start round out the convenience features list.

Not surprisingly, the Series.Yellow is a standard BRZ under the hood. For those of you who don't remember, the 2017 update brought the first output boost to the 2.0-liter boxer engine, but that accounts for a minor five horses and five pound-feet and it's available only on models with the six-speed manual transmission. Specifically, drivers who prefer to row their own have 205 horsepower and 156 pound-feet at their disposal, while those who favor automatics get the standard 200 ponies and 151 pound-feet. The final drive ratio on the six-speed manual has also been dropped from 4.1:1 to 4.3:1 to improve acceleration, but other than that, nothing major happened under the hood.

However, the Series.Yellow is offered with the new Performance Package, which adds Brembo brakes at all corners. The front axle gets four-piston calipers, while the rear features dual-piston clamps. The coupe is also equipped with Sachs Performance shock absorbers all around, updated coil springs, a larger rear stabilizer bar, and reinforced strut tower brace. These upgrades don't do much to give the BRZ more power, but they should come in handy at the track, where the Series.Yellow is likely to post quicker lap times compared to a standard model.

Subaru has yet to announce pricing information for this version, but did say that the Series.Yellow will arrive in dealerships in 2017 and will be limited to only 500 units. Given that the BRZ retails from $25,395, expect the special-edition coupe to fetch in excess of $29,000.

Subaru BRZ

The Subaru BRZ was launched in 2012 as a two-door, affordable sports car. Co-developed with Toyota, the BRZ was available with three badges globally until 2016. While the Toyota 86 was marketed in Europe, Asia, and Australia, the United States got both the Scion FR-S and the Subaru Subaru BRZ. This ended in 2016 when the Scion brand was phased out. North American models were originally rated at 200 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque, three extra horses over the Euro-spec vehicles, but the 2016 update added five more horses and five extra pound-feet of torque to the manual transmission models, bring the 2.0-liter boxer up to 205 horsepower and 156 pound-feet of twist. The Subaru BRZ retails $25,395 for the 2016 model year.

Read our full review on the Subaru BRZ here.