Subaru BRZ - My experience so far

I ordered my BRZ without ever having actually seen or driven one. This was typical for buyers last year and will probably continue into this year (2013) due to the still-diminished supply. I have absolutely no regrets. The car has not disappointed. I had researched it, had read personal reviews from owners, and felt that it would be a great car. It is.

I have a manual transmission, Limited edition in the Dark Gray Metallic. I had them install the mirror with the Home Link and auto dimming. I bought it from Subaru of Kennesaw, who were absolutely fantastic (see the details below). I've had it since Nov, 2012.

Appearance

The car looks great. I get so many compliments by people - both those who know what it is, and those who don't. It's small, looks very sporty and just has very clean lines. It's a simple car with only a few "fancy" design elements to it. I've had high school girls (much to my embarrassment actually) beg to sit in it and take pictures of each other in it. I've had the 20-something guy at a Publix who was bringing my groceries drool over it - he knew all the stats. It feels good to own the car and to be seen in it. It doesn't feel too obscene from a price perspective, but it appears like it should.

Comfort

The BRZ is surprisingly comfortable for being a dedicated sports car. The seats have great support when dancing with G-Forces around corners and are sufficiently comfortable for the daily commute. They are a bit stiff and not nearly as comfortable as the seats in my Lexus IS from a vertical perspective, but are much more comfortable from a lateral perspective. 

I am 6'4" - tall for such a small car. The seat is not all the way back. There is about 1.5 - 2" more it could travel back. Everything in the car is within easy reach - shifting is natural. While I don't care for touch screen in a car (too distracting), it is within reach and sufficiently responsive (see below). Steering and operating the pedals are all natural and comfortable.

Forget putting anyone but the family pet in the back seats. If the passenger seat is moved forward two small kids could sit in the front and passenger-side back. I can't imagine any adult attempting such a feat. I've dropped the rear seats to open to the trunk, however, and have carried all sorts of stuff (including runs to Home Depot!).

Passengers have commented that the felt the seats were comfortable and felt great while I was being stupid around corners. This includes my 14 year old son and 74 year old 200 lb dad. It is a little difficult for me and larger people to get in and out since it is so low, but easier than with my Mit. 3000GT - which has much larger and heavier doors.

Handling

This is, by far, the signature feature of this car. The handling is exactly as it is billed - superb. The car corners better than any car I've driven. While many complained that the car shipped with crappy tires, I've found them to be just fine. With the traction control enabled it is somewhat difficult to get any drift; even with sport mode enabled the car still just sticks around corners. When it does drift the feeling is very predictable and handling very responsive.

The car can be steered with the accelerator, just as you'd expect. Under and over steer can be achieved easily. I've come into corners faster than I would on my motorcycle and there was that moment of "oh crap, I'm coming in too hot" and I've just hit the accelerator a bit and power steered right through it. (Weeeee!) And yes, no tickets yet - one doesn't really have to go fast in this car to have fun.

I may give into the temptation to take the car onto the track, especially when I'm nearing tire-change time.

One final note - and a very important one. My Lexus IS-250 was absolutely horrible in the rain. It bordered on precariously dangerous. I hated highway driving in the rain in that car. My Camry did great, especially with rain tires. However, this BRZ is by far the best rain-driving car I've owned. Even with the stock tires everyone bitches about. I can drive at any speed in any rain on any road with total confidence. I've hit puddles (small lakes, really) and just splashed through them. Driving in the rain is an absolute (and surprising) delight.

Performance

The BRZ has about 200 HP and 151 ft lb of torque. The focus of this car is fun and handling, and is not intended to be a "hot rod". This is true. In my opinion the car is slightly underpowered. It will get up and go - my son loves when I wind it out. The shift between 1st and second comes too quickly, but between 2nd and 3rd there is a nice kick - if the RPMs are above about 4500. At the 9 second 0-60 rate it doesn't set any speed records, but is fun. And that is the goal.

I would like to see the car have about 20 to even 40 more HP simply for passing - there have been times when I wanted to get around a person who was too slow and the car really doesn't have enough "umph" to guarantee that you will safely get past them before they notice and subconsciously (or deliberately) speed up.

The biggest design flaw of the Boxer engine is that 4k torque dip - it is very much a factor in any sport driving.  It's like it starts to die at about 3800 and really doesn't kick back in until about 4400 RPMs. This is the primary reason I've considered dropping in replacement exhaust and intake - and maybe computer tweaks. For normal daily commute driving it's not a problem at all - I generally shift at around 4K for gas milage reasons. But for sport driving - meh.

Efficiency - Gas Milage

Let's face it - one doesn't buy a sport car to get great gas milage. But it's delightful when your daily commute is supported by efficiency. The modern Corvettes can get 26+ for pokey driving. I'm currently averaging 27.3 overall. My current commute is suburb to suburb, so there are a number of lights requiring stop and go.

The decent milage is nice since Subaru/Toyota requires premium gas.

Sound System, Nav, Climate Control

The sound system is decent. The sound is ok. It's stock. You're not going to win any boom boom awards. I play hard rock, classical and talk and all are sufficiently good. It comes with the preview subscription to XM, which has a few decent channels.

The climate control works great. It has a dual mode (though in such a small car really only means that one will have a higher fan output than the other side). It warms the car up very quickly and cools it off very well. I've generally just left it at about 70 and forget about it.

I have the heated seats and set to the rapid heating mode will fry your behind in a matter of only a couple minutes. I hardly ever leave it on - it's just to get things warmed up initially in a cold morning.

The navigation/maps? Worthless basically. It locks out features when the car is moving and I've never been able to successfully enter an address. If you do happen to get a destination entered it does perform fairly well - the speaking is helpful and the display readable. It will show large highway signs when you're coming to a split. But generally I simply use my Google maps on the iPhone which will (usually) speak through the sound system.

Naturally, I did change the ugly Subaru stock startup navigation screen with a Bart Simpson one.

Dealership Experience

If this car was only available through Toyota as a Scion I would have probably never bought it. I absolutely hate Toyota dealerships. The only way I would have bought it would have been if I could have purchased it through my Lexus dealership, which I love.

I've also been in Subaru dealerships - there generally is none of the high pressure, slick sales pitch you find at a Toyota or Nissan place. But, you can also often wander into a Subaru dealership and not see signs of life. I bought my BRZ through Subaru of Kennesaw - they were absolutely great. No pressure, great information and just all around good people. They presented the options available, but never tried to manipulate me into a decision. I had forgotten my checkbook since they'd said I could just use my debit card for the downpayment - but they didn't know I was going to drop $10K. No problem. We completed the deal, and the finance manager - who lived near me in Cumming - just had me drop off a check at their sister dealership in Cumming the next day. It reminded me of old fashioned country business - based on character and trust.

In Closing

I love the car so far. The quality and feel is solid, handling is fun and the overall package has reignited my love of driving. Until I can afford a Ferrari, this will do very nicely :)

Updates

• Feb 21, 2013 I took the car in last week for the first service, which is mostly just an oil change. The odometer reads just past 3K - I think they recommend it at 5K but don't recall. I didn't have the time to drive to Kennesaw for the service, which I intended due to my good experience with them. But my office is literally across the road from the Gwinnett Subaru dealership. In a word, they were also great to deal with. I got an appointment the day after I called and they even dropped me off and picked me up from my office. (I'd have walked, but playing "Frogger" on Satellite Blvd in the rain sounded too exciting to me.) Jill was my service rep and took good care of me - including calling multiple times to remind me my car was done and urge me to hurry since they were closing.

Securing weapons - a grave responsibility

My previous post on gun control is already one of the highest traffic postings. And judging by the few responses and email's that I've gotten (I generally don't post responses) the readership reaction will pretty much fall in line with the general positions on the subject: those who are for stricter controls on guns will hate it, those for gun rights will approve.

What must be remembered is that ownership and operation of any tool that has the potential to harm or kill a person comes with a grave responsibility. To own a weapon is to accept a responsibility to control its use. "Gun control" starts with the person who owns the gun.

The stories of children and and adults who have killed with weapons owned by a parent or friend are cases which could almost certainly have been prevented. There are very affordable and very effective products to secure guns. These include the very good products from GunVault (my personal choice)- who has a great lineup of product to secure hand guns, to more full-sized cabinets. There are other strategies such as locking the bolt of a rifle in a safe and gun locks. (You can buy 3 of them at Amazon for $22.)

The sad reality is that too many people own guns but have not secured them. It's simple: if we have a right, but with that right comes a grave responsibility. I personally favor two things: 1) Require that gun owners must demonstrate that they've handled their tools responsibly and taken care to secure them from wrong or unlawful use, and 2) The courts must hold parents and others responsible where they have not and their tools are used to kill others. No, I don't mean that the police can come knocking on your door and do surprise inspections, but if care was not taken then they must suffer sever penalties. This would send the chilling message that having a cache of guns sitting in the corner is a recipe for a deadly disaster.

We don't allow dynamite to sit around. We don't leave nuclear weapons unsecured. We don't leave the keys in the F-14. We simply do not provide the temptation or access to those who would use them for harm. We also should not leave our tools of protection, of sport, and of historic collectable significance freely available to the chemically induced mood swings of angry teens.

Gun control does not solve the problem

I don't hunt. I simply do not like the idea of killing something. Were it necessary to hunt to feed myself and my family, I'd hunt. I do find it fun to shoot but that is not why I am "pro gun". I have a carry permit and carry a gun to protect myself and those around me. It's that simple. It's a dangerous world and there are crazy angry people in it, and I have a right to defend myself. I know how to use it, and I think calmly under pressure. If I find myself in a situation where there is an "active shooter" you can be sure that I'd respond. And I'm not alone - there are thousands like me (like stats?).

The idea of police protection is a myth. The NY Times published a revealing article on the climb in violent crime due to an increase in police response times. They cite a statistic of an increase from 7.5 to 8.4 minutes in the average response time - that's 8.4 minutes until the police show up (14 minutes in Milwaukee, 12-48 minutes in rural Virginia areas! Atlanta took slowest at 11 minutes, 11 seconds in a survey). Start a timer (I'll wait) and see just how long 8.4 minutes is. At the Colorado theater shooting the police showed up in 1.5 minutes. This was too late. Why did no one there defend themselves?

In Detroit, which has suffered from one of the worst economies in the Nation, the police are simply unable to protect the citizens, who have taken to defending themselves. While this is not a good situation, it is a necessary one. When (and where) the police can not defend the population, they must defend themselves and their families. If a person - crazy or not - knows that a location has people who are armed they will choose another location to attempt their crazy killing spree.

We must change our way of thinking. We need to stop this trend of relying on the government to provide and protect us. We are Americans - we have always been self-reliant and courageous. We have always fought hard for what was right and valued our individual rights. Why the people today want to give up their rights for the myth of security is beyond me. But the fact remains, if there were trained, armed people at or near these situations less people would have died. The response time for someone already at the scene is immediate - they are already there and ready to respond.

• Texas, man stops brutal stabbing.
• Parking lot in Salt Lake
• 71 year old absolutely halts armed robbery at an Internet Cafe. (See the amazing video)
• Store owner makes would-be robber think twice
• Auto parts store in Indy. Future would-be robbers will think twice
• Troy, MO bank president defends his bank, customers.
• Milwaukee - Nazir Al-Mujaahid calmly defends store, patrons from armed robber. (Watch the video of his press conference. I'd love this guy to live near me. Well trained, calm, focused.)
• Hialeah, Florida man foolishly attempts to rob business owner.
• Texax - assailant with shotgun meets man with handgun. Shotgun 0, handgun 1

Gun control is not the answer - it is an ineffective solution to a rare (though admittedly a highly emotional) problem. The recent mall shooter in Oregon used a stolen AR 15. He broke the law twice - once when he stole the weapon and another time when he walked into the mall and began shooting. We have laws in this country about assault and about murder. They're both illegal. Were we to pass a law that makes gun ownership illegal the old mantra kicks in: "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns". There is simply no way to prevent the flow of weapons into our large country. See how well our war on drugs [sic] has fared with preventing the flow of illegal chemicals.

I live in a safe area. There isn't much crime in Forsyth County. But I work in Duluth and travel into Atlanta. I feel it my responsibility to be able to defend myself and those around me. I do not have  "cowboy" mentality. I find it very sobering to think that some day I might need to respond with violence. Yet, I believe that all able American's need to be empowered and be held responsible to help make our society a safer place. Arm the citizens and they will be protected.

Fun with ADB

It seems you can connect and debug the Android tablet over WiFi. Way cool.

Enable it on the Android device running 4.1.1+ under Developer Options, Debugging and check ADB over network.

Then on the desktop in my android-sdk\platform-tools folder:

adb connect 192.168.0.106:5555

connected to 192.168.0.106:5555

Viola! Neat stuff

Hacking Samsung Galaxy 2 7.0

I mean leave the stock Samsung kernel? pfft! Where's the fun in that? Besides, I want to get Android 4.1.1 on this puppy.

• Odin - Samsung Flashing Application
• ClockworkMod - ClockworkMod directions
• I downloaded the "P3113 - 6.0.1.0" one
• Follow the steps in the ClockworkMod directions
• CyanogenMod 10 - directions
• I downloaded the Google apps and nightly build for P3113
• Copied zips to the internal card on the tablet. I just put them in the root.
• Booted into recovery and flashed CM10 zip - love the confirmation screen!
• Did a wipe, reboot

Let me say, this community is great. There is a ton of work going on and good creativity. This is one thing that is seriously missing from the iOS community - different target, I know. But there is more of an adventurer/hobbyist feel to this one.

The upgrade went smoothly and it all appears to work as it should. I don't care for the default keyboard - the Samsung one was a little nicer. I also expected the device to tell me it had 8GB but still reports only 4 - Samsung must have absconded with the other 4. But I have a 16 GB external card so storage should be sufficient.

Are you really, really sure?

Samsung Galaxy 2 WiFi

I picked up a Galaxy 2 to play with. Partially I wanted to see how Samsung's iPad knockoff performed, and partially because I want a real Android device to explore development with.

So far I like it - not an iPad by far, but not bad either. The biggest issue that I've experienced so far is the horrible performance of the WiFi radio. One floor above my newish Apple Time Capsule router and I'm hardly registering signal. Compare this to every other computer from iPads, Mac laptops, iPhones and HP laptops - all of these get sufficient signal even at the far reaches of my property and two floors above.

This device came with Android Ice Cream Sandwich (aka, 4.0). I'm going to try to upgrade it to Jelly Bean (4.1) though this might be a little more difficult than had I bought the Nexus. It's an 8 GB device, but there's only 4 left after the Samsung bloatware footprint.

Those who know me know that I'm a borderline Apple Fanboy. I've not bought the new iPhone 5 though unfortunately I did upgrade to my phone and iPad iOS 6 (I hate the maps, but overall like it on my new iPad). So why fool around with Android? Because it's fun. Because I suspect that corporate users will ultimately be more comfortable with it over being tied to Apple, who they might feel is too much of a consumer company.

So, we'll see how this goes - but so far, I really like the little Galaxy 2.

Death from the sky; death demanding a "why"

The personnel of the US Military hold within their highly trained and motivated hands the technologically advanced tools of death. Their ability to take a life has repeatedly been illustrated over the past decade with our many battles in the Middle-east. This power, when supported by solid and accurate information and in the hands of responsible humans is still frightening in its severity.

Never has this been driven home for me more than the recent video of military operating from a flight platform delivering death to innocent civilians and media far below on the ground. While this story has been told and an investigation has been urged by Reuters officials, only now do we have actual video from the perspective of the helicopter and the soldiers who delivered death from the skies. (Fox News, MSNBC, WikiLeaks ) The video that has been released is obviously from an internal military source who feels strongly that this is wrong and took the risk to leak the video.

This video and the associated dialog of the soldiers is sickening. They are disassociated from the scene, and it is obvious - especially from our hindsight perspective - that they have misunderstood the situation. Where they saw AK-47's and rocket launchers we now know were really cameras and tripods. Where they saw a gathering of "insurgents" we now know was simply a gathering of civilians totally oblivious to the fact that death was hovering just over their heads with weapons of mass destruction targeted on them.

The very best that we can say is that we "F'd" up - we very badly screwed up in that situation. Unfortunately, I'm sure that what will be said by terrorist group recruiters is that this is further evidence of the terrible wickedness of the United States and decadent Western nations. They will see in that video the absolute depravity of our soldiers and their lust for murder and destruction. Too harsh of a description? I might have thought so before watching the video; now I feel that their accusation might have merit. The soldiers are desperate to kill; repeatedly they beseech their handlers for permission to rain down a hail of death and destruction. To the man who has a hammer everything appears to be a nail. To the man in an armored attack helicopter with a powerful machine gun everything appears to be a target and an insurgent.

The US - Obama and his administration - must not bury this. We must not ignore it. We must not deny our mistake. We must address this direct and fully. We must admit our mistake. We must admit our overzealous rush to determine that this was a situation that required a deadly response. We must bring those involved into a court marshall - we must decide if this was justified, if it was a mistake, or if it represents a failure of our entire policy and approach in that region.

If we do not approach this correctly I fear that the next generation of reaction out of that region toward we Americans will be more vicious and much more terrifying. Far from providing security for Americans the US Government has just guaranteed far more of a threat than we previously had. This episode will recruit strong and zealous young men and women into a war that will have no end; a war that will continue to spray the blood of the innocent across the pages of history; a war that will have no meaning or purpose except to make more wealthy those manufacturing the weapons of destruction and to make more frightening an existence on this lonely planet in a cold galaxy.

Properly addressed, however, and this situation could spell a turning point for America with the people of Arab states. Will we have the courage and the character to do the right thing? Will Obama? Will the Republicans? Will anyone?

Update 4/11: Gates on the Sunday circuit - "killing was justified". Me: "Bullsh*t". And, not only will this in fact effect our image abroad, it damages our image here. As a life-long Republican, fiscal conservative, and one who voted for Regan, and every Bush to come along - it damages my image of the U.S. policy. It just stinks, Mr. Gates. Bullsh*t.