I've owned Cagalli Yula [2014 Subaru BRZ Limited] for one week now.
After driving her for a day I took her on a trip back to Chicago through a blizzard. She's a bit messy, I do not seem to have any coin washes in the area, but I do have one car wash with great reviews nearby, so, hopefully she'll be clean by Sunday.
In terms of driving experience, at first she was very very stiff and bumpy. Now, either I've gotten used to it or she's loosened up some.
Steering wise she is very responsive, you feel everything. I compare driving her and the feel you get as the difference between sneakers and Vibram FiveFingers on your feet. We've had some snow and ice and I have no complaints so far. The Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires are doing their job.
Last night there was about an inch of snow on the ground and some ice and I wanted to figure out how she slides so I now how to get out of it. To explain further, when I was first learning to drive my dad would take me out in Harmony [2001 Subaru Outback] to an empty-ish parking lot with snow on the ground, tell me to accelerate, take a tight turn down an isle, and then yank the parking on brake on me with the instruction: "Don't hit anything." So... while on my learner's permit I was taught how to deal with a slide and get out of it. Later, when our family got Coyote [1995 Toyota Corolla] and I had a car to drive to high school I would try and get her out of shape in a corner any time it rained or there was snow and ice and get myself out of it. This has served me well as I was doing road trips during winter breaks in college and be driving between Miami and Chicago in Ceras Victoria [1994 Honda Prelude Si]. Every time I would hit a blizzard in northern Indiana, usually all the way from Indianapolis to Chicago. Also present would be black ice. I would just take the roads at the speed limit and let my trained reaction to slide and slips handle any loss of traction I had on the way. So, I was a bit nervous about a rear wheel drive car in the snow and ice as the only cars I've really driven for extended periods of time thus far were all wheel drive or front wheel drive.
Back to last night, with traction control and vehicle stability control the car would only slide so long as you were putting real effort into it, she was trying her best to regain traction and stop sliding. With traction control and vehicle stability control off you could hold a slide or doughnut, but could regain control as soon as you wanted to. Now, granted, I was only doing this between 10 and 30 miles per hour, but Cagalli Yula was very controllable. I'm slightly disappointed that I did not find a limit because I'm still not sure what they will look like. I was impressed by how balanced and in control I was though, no matter what I did.
In other aspects of ownership...
Being a small cabin it heats up well.
I've greatly appreciated the integrated hands free telephone calls.
It's nice to have radio again (I broke the antenna on Ceras Victoria a long time ago).
Fuel economy has been around 31 MPG so far. I've also been varying engine speed and shifting gear a lot as part of break-in.
The whole keyless entry, and push button start system is quite convenient and I never leave my key in the car, so I greatly appreciate that.
All that said, I look forward to the weather being less crappy.
Also, Weather Tech floor liners were a great idea, keeps the mess in one nicely rubber lined location.
And lastly, soon I'll do a first oil change, probably to Royal Purple just for a nice coating.
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