I love the Subaru BRZ. It is such a focused driver’s car thanks to is tight steering, stiff suspension, snickety shifter, smooth clutch take-up, and overall tossibility. Its heavily bolstered seats hug you like your mamma and the adjustable steering column allows the perfect driving position to be achieved. Okay, so the BRZ’s 2.0-liter flat-four cylinder might be underpowered at 205 horsepower and desperately low on torque at only 156 pound-feet, but the car isn’t slow by any means. It’s not about straight-line performance, but all about cornering and enjoying the visceral driving experience as every touch point sends feedback. The BRZ is a great drivers car.

The BRZ is a terrible car. Take out the “driver” portion of my sentiments, and we’re left with a cramped coupe with laughably tiny back seats, a trunk reminiscent in size to a Tesla’s “frunk,” a cabin filled with the buzzy drone of four-cylinder in need of a throatier exhaust system, and a stereo system that doesn’t sound any better.

Yes, I have a love/hate relationship with the BRZ. On one hand, it continues to impress from behind the wheel, rowing through the gears. But on a random afternoon when you’ve got to fetch your friends from the airport or stop by Home Depot, the BRZ fails miserably at being a daily driver. Granted, Toyota and Subaru didn’t design the BRZ to be a family car or some do-it-all crossover. This is an honest sports car. Still, it’s hard not to find the faults when you’re trying to shove that bundle of mega-sized paper towels past the trunk opening.

I guess it could be worse… I could be driving a Miata.

Stick around for the full driven review on TopSpeed.

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