2024 Subaru BRZ

One engine across the whole 2024 line — the 2.4L naturally-aspirated FA24 SUBARU BOXER at 228 hp on Premium, Limited and the returning tS, with identical output on the six-speed manual and the Limited's six-speed automatic. 2024 is a carry-over powertrain year (the news was EyeSight going standard on manual cars and the tS's STI chassis work), and modest peak power is inherent to a light, price-conscious rear-drive coupe, so it sits near the bottom of the 130–520 hp coupe band.

184 lb-ft peaking at 3,700 rpm — a genuine usability gain over the first-generation FA20's 156 lb-ft at 6,600 rpm, but a small absolute number against turbocharged and larger-displacement coupe rivals. Identical on Premium, Limited and tS and on both transmissions.

Subaru publishes no official 0–60 figure for the BRZ, so an instrumented result for the volume manual is used. Year-matched published times span roughly 5.4–6.3 s depending on outlet, rollout and surface, and 6.1 s is the mid-range figure — the same value carried by the mechanically identical 2025 BRZ scorecard, since nothing in the powertrain changed between the two years.

The naturally-aspirated FA24 is completely lag-free and eager to its redline with far more low-end than the old FA20, but it stays mid-pack: the boxer is coarse and thrashy under load with a well-documented mid-range flat spot. 2024 specifically predates the standard Sport mode and sharpened throttle response Subaru gave manual BRZs for 2025, so delivery is a shade less linear than the later car — hence a notch below the 59 carried by the 2025/2026 BRZ.

The close-ratio six-speed manual is a class benchmark — short, precise throws, a well-weighted clutch and pedals placed for heel-and-toe — and it is the only gearbox on the volume Premium and on the new tS, so it is the reference for this rating. The performance-tuned six-speed automatic with paddles is a $950 option on the Limited alone and is competent but distinctly duller; rated a notch below the 2025 car, whose revised throttle mapping makes rev-matched downshifts easier.

Rear-wheel drive only across Premium, Limited and tS — no all-wheel-drive configuration exists anywhere in the 2024 lineup, which is unusual for Subaru and deliberate to the BRZ's rear-drive character. That is the right engineering choice for this car but scores at the bottom of this rubric; the standard TORSEN limited-slip rear differential is partial mitigation.

One engine, take it or leave it — the 228 hp 2.4L naturally-aspirated boxer in all three 2024 grades, with the only drivetrain decision being the six-speed manual versus the Limited-only six-speed automatic. No turbo, hybrid, PHEV or EV variant is offered; the tS returning for 2024 adds STI-tuned Hitachi dampers and Brembo brakes but no powertrain change.

The volume trim is the manual-only Premium, so the 6MT's 22 MPG combined is the representative figure. A naturally-aspirated boxer with no electrification, no cylinder deactivation and no stop-start, geared close-ratio for enthusiasm, lands near the floor of the 18–42 MPG gas-coupe band; the Limited's optional automatic is 3 MPG better.

EPA city rating for the volume six-speed-manual Premium, near the bottom of the 16–38 MPG gas-coupe city band and unchanged from 2023. There is no hybrid assist and no engine stop-start to recover anything in stop-and-go traffic — the high-compression boxer simply idles and revs its way through the city cycle.

EPA highway rating for the volume 6MT, close to the 24 MPG floor of the gas-coupe band. The manual's close-ratio sixth gear leaves the engine spinning faster at cruise than the automatic's taller top gear, which is worth a full 3 MPG on the highway cycle — buyers who choose the enthusiast transmission pay for it on long trips. Note the mechanically identical 2024 Toyota GR86 manual is rated 1 MPG lower here (26).

Derived from the BRZ's 13.2-gallon tank and the EPA combined rating for the volume 6MT, since the EPA record publishes no range figure for a conventional gas car (range = 0 on both entries). A small tank paired with modest economy makes this one of the shorter-legged cars in the segment on a single fill, below the 300-mile floor of the coupe band, and the mandatory premium grade makes each stop costlier as well as more frequent. Confidence is MEDIUM because the figure is a calculation over two confirmed inputs rather than a published rating.

EPA's own annual-cost estimate at 15,000 mi/yr for the volume 6MT. Low combined economy and a mandatory premium grade compound each other and push the figure well past the $3,200 top of the coupe cost band, so the item bottoms out; EPA projects $6,250 more spent on fuel over five years than the average new vehicle. This tracks EPA's fuel-price assumption as much as the car, so it is not a clean comparison against a scorecard built on a different model year's label.

Premium is genuinely required rather than merely recommended — the FA24 is specified for 91 octane or higher to reach its rated output — which places the item in the 0–49 'premium fuel required' band. It sits at the top of that band rather than the floor because nothing exotic is involved: no E85, diesel or charging infrastructure, and 91–93 octane is available at essentially every US pump.

NHTSA publishes no NCAP rating of any kind for the 2024 BRZ — its ratings record returns "Not Rated" for overall, frontal, side and rollover alike, the second-generation ZD8 having never been selected for testing at this car's low US volume. Estimated at 4 stars from the Subaru Global Platform structure and the uniformly Good IIHS crashworthiness results where the car has been measured; the last BRZ NHTSA actually tested (2015, first generation) earned 5 stars overall, but that structure does not carry to this generation.

Every crashworthiness result IIHS publishes for the 2024 BRZ is Good — small overlap front (driver and passenger) and the original moderate overlap front test — and those ratings carry across 2022–26 cars. But the 2024 car holds no award and the published set is thin: the ratings page shows no side test (original or updated), no roof strength and no head restraint result, and the current Top Safety Pick criteria require the updated moderate overlap and updated side tests, neither of which has been run on this generation. The BRZ's Top Safety Pick+ is a 2022 result awarded under the old criteria and applied only to optionally equipped cars. All-Good where tested, unmeasured elsewhere, no current award — mid-band.

2024 is the change year: EyeSight Driver Assist Technology became standard across the whole BRZ line for the first time, including manual-transmission cars, bringing Adaptive Cruise Control, Pre-Collision Braking, Lane Departure and Sway Warning and Lead Vehicle Start Alert to every trim — a genuine gain over the 2022–23 cars, where EyeSight was automatic-only and IIHS had to caveat the 2022 TSP+ as applying to optionally equipped vehicles. It is held out of the top band because the volume Premium ($30,195, manual only) cannot be ordered with blind-spot detection or rear cross-traffic alert at any price — both are Limited/tS content — reverse automatic braking is tied to the Limited's optional automatic, and no lane centering is offered on any trim.

IIHS rates the standard EyeSight pre-collision braking system Superior for daytime pedestrian front crash prevention, and the track numbers behind it are strong: collisions avoided outright in the 12 mph crossing child, both crossing-adult runs and the 25 mph parallel adult test, with impact speed cut 23 mph in the hardest case (25 mph crossing child) and 35 mph in the 37 mph parallel adult run, warning issued 3.3 seconds out. Held below 80 because IIHS publishes no nighttime pedestrian result and no vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention rating for the 2024 car, so a substantial part of the current AEB picture is simply unmeasured.

The volume Premium trim scored here cannot be equipped with blind-spot detection or rear cross-traffic alert at all — both arrive only with the Limited and the new tS — which is a real gap behind a narrow greenhouse with thick C-pillars and a shallow ducktail rear deck. Even on the trims that do offer it the coverage is alert-only with no braking or steering intervention, no surround-view camera exists at any price, and the only active rear system, reverse automatic braking, requires the Limited's optional automatic transmission.

EyeSight gives every 2024 BRZ Lane Departure and Sway Warning plus lane departure prevention — a corrective nudge at the lane edge, which IIHS records as standard equipment on this car (unlike the twin GR86, whose page lists warning only). There is no lane centering: the ZD8 runs the stereo-camera EyeSight with the assisted-steering function deliberately deleted to suit the car's sporting brief, so nothing holds it mid-lane the way the wide-angle system in a Forester or Outback does. Subaru's own 2024 release names the Limited/tS bundle 'Blind-Spot Detection with Lane Keep Assist and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert', but no BRZ equipment list or review describes an active centering function, and the phrasing reads as the brand's usual lane-change-assist element of the blind-spot package rather than a steering-assist system. Functional warning-plus-nudge, not centering.

2024 is the year adaptive cruise reached the manual BRZ — EyeSight with ACC became standard on every trim including the manual-only Premium and tS, where previously it was an automatic-transmission feature. It stays mid-band because the manual implementation is inherently caveated: it is settable from 20 mph in second through sixth gear, will not engage in first, and cannot creep in stop-and-go traffic the way the automatic Limited can. No highway-assist package pairs it with lane centering, so it remains a distance-keeping cruise control rather than an integrated highway system.

No hands-free highway driving is offered on the 2024 BRZ at any trim or option level. Subaru sold no hands-off system in the US at all in 2024, and a driver-focused sports coupe whose ADAS deliberately omits steering assist is the last place one would appear.

IIHS rates both 2024 headlight variations Good, so a Good-rated system is standard across the range and high-beam assist is present on every trim. The Limited/tS curve-adaptive LED projectors are the better of the two — low beams good on both sides of the straightaway and good in all four curve tests — while the volume Premium's non-adaptive LED projectors are good on the straightaway but fair on the sharp right and both left curves, with high-beam assist compensating on the gradual curves. Good across the range with an adaptive step available puts this in the top band.

The low cowl, low beltline and short hood give forward and over-the-nose sightlines that are a genuine strength of this generation and a repeated point of praise in reviews. Rearward and over-the-shoulder views are the weakness: Subaru's own description of the body is a 'narrow greenhouse' with a ducktail rear decklid, the fastback glass is shallow and the C-pillars thick, and on the volume Premium the only compensation is the standard rear vision camera — blind-spot detection is unavailable on that trim, no surround-view camera is offered on any BRZ, and reverse automatic braking requires the automatic Limited.

IIHS rates LATCH ease of use Acceptable for 2022–26: both rear positions carry complete hardware with easy-to-find tether anchors, low attachment forces and nothing confusable for an anchor, but the lower anchors sit too deep in the seat cushion. Physical access is the bigger problem — every installation must be threaded through a two-door aperture after folding and sliding a front seat, and the 2+2 rear bench has roughly 29.9 in of legroom, so a rear-facing seat cannot go in without pushing the front passenger seat to an unusable position. Workable hardware, genuinely difficult in practice.

Subaru's own 2024 tS specification sheet defines the vehicle type as a '2+2 sports car', and the four-seat layout is fixed across Premium, Limited and tS with no two-seat or larger configuration offered. Four seats sits at the floor of the 4–5 coupe band.

2024 is a carry-over year for the ZD8 body — no sheetmetal or packaging change — and Subaru's own trim comparison publishes the same 37.0 in for all three trims, with no sunroof anywhere in the lineup to erode it. It lands in the lower quarter of the 36–40 in coupe band.

41.5 in of front legroom is genuinely adequate for tall drivers despite a 167.9 in overall length — the very low hip point (17.95 in center of gravity, among the lowest in production) buys back what the fastback roofline takes away. Mid-band for the 40–44 in coupe range.

The ducktail fastback roofline holds rear headroom to 33.5 in, near the bottom of the 32–38 in coupe band. Anyone past young-child size has their head against the glass, which is why reviewers of this generation treat the rear bench as a parcel shelf rather than seating.

29.9 in of rear legroom is unusable for adults on any journey and cannot clear a rear-facing child seat without pushing the front passenger seat to a position no adult can occupy — IIHS's own LATCH assessment of this body reflects the same squeeze. It scores mid-band only because the coupe band runs down to 22 in for strict 2+2 sports cars.

6.3 cu ft is well under the useful part of the 4–26 cu ft coupe band — about two carry-on bags. The saving grace is architectural rather than volumetric: the flat-folding rear seatback is standard on every trim and opens a pass-through this platform is famous for swallowing a set of four track wheels and tires.

Subaru publishes the cabin's entire storage inventory in four lines: a center console with dual cupholders and a closeable lid, a single bottle holder in each door panel, a glovebox with a 12-volt outlet, and sun-visor vanity mirrors. There are no underfloor bins, no wireless-charging tray and — a complaint reviewers raise specifically — nowhere purpose-built to set a phone, with the cupholders sited awkwardly behind the driver's elbow. The flat-folding rear seatback is the one genuinely clever provision and it is aimed at track tires rather than daily life.

The performance-design front buckets are a real strength — Edmunds describes bolstering that supports the upper back and holds without squeezing, and testers report daily commuting and multi-hour stints without complaint. The score is held mid-band by the hardware rather than the shape: six-way manual driver and four-way manual passenger adjustment with no power, no lumbar and no memory on any trim including the $35,345 tS, and a rear bench nobody can sit in.

Body control is excellent and reviewers repeatedly note the firm ride still soaks up most road imperfections, particularly at speed. It stays mid-band because a 101.4 in wheelbase, ~2,820 lb curb weight and summer performance tires on every trim make sharp-edged impacts genuinely sharp — passengers complain about the stiffness — and the tS's new STI-tuned dampers sharpen control rather than soften anything.

Noise is the most consistently criticized aspect of living with this car: an Edmunds long-term test found the cabin loud at 75 mph with engine buzz layered over wind and tire noise, and road and tire noise is described as loud and near-constant. There is no acoustic glass and no active noise cancellation on any 2024 trim, and the summer performance tires standard across the range are part of the cause.

Dual-zone automatic climate control with air filtration and its own physical controls is standard on every trim including the $30,195 Premium, which is generous at the price, and Limited and tS add dual-mode heated front seats and heated exterior mirrors. Beyond that the cupboard is bare: no ventilated seats, no heated steering wheel, no rear climate, and Remote Engine Start with Climate Control requires both the automatic transmission and a STARLINK subscription — so it is unavailable on the volume manual Premium and on the tS.

Subaru's own 2024 pricing release puts the entry Premium 6MT at $30,195 plus $1,120 destination. That is a roughly $1,600 jump over the 2023 car and the year the BRZ stopped being a sub-$30,000 sports car, but it remains one of the two cheapest ways into a new rear-drive coupe.

Limited is the mainstream volume grade and the only 2024 trim offered with the automatic, adding 18-inch wheels on Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires, blind-spot detection, steering-responsive headlights and Ultrasuede seating with red leather accents over the Premium.

Edmunds' True Cost to Own for the 2024 BRZ Limited breaks out $2,483 of maintenance and $1,862 of repairs over five years at 15,000 miles per year. That sits between CarEdge's markedly lower projection (~$330/yr in repairs) and Edmunds' own higher 2025 run, and is realistic for a car with no nationwide included-maintenance program, summer performance tires on Limited and up, and a driving style that consumes brakes and rubber.

iSeeCars puts BRZ five-year depreciation at 23.9%, the strongest retention of any Subaru and better than the 27.3% sports-car average and the 41.5% all-vehicle average. Confidence is held at MEDIUM because the ZD8 generation only dates to MY2022, so this reflects a supply-constrained enthusiast market rather than a completed five-year cycle on this body — and Subaru's own low BRZ volume in 2024 supports used prices.

Standard Subaru bumper-to-bumper coverage, unchanged for 2024 — level with Toyota, Ford and Nissan but two years short of Hyundai/Kia's 5-year basic term and at the floor of the segment band.

Subaru's standard 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain term sits at the bottom of the segment band — half of Hyundai/Kia's 10-year/100,000-mile coverage, though identical to the GR86 twin's Toyota coverage and to most mainstream rivals.

Included coverage is essentially roadside assistance plus a regional maintenance promotion. Subaru's "Maintain the Love" plan does cover 2 years / 24,000 miles of factory scheduled maintenance, but it is a retailer promotion limited to participating dealers in promotional areas and required delivery by 12-31-2024 — not a nationwide entitlement like ToyotaCare. That is the clearest ownership disadvantage against the mechanically identical GR86, which includes 2 years / 25,000 miles of scheduled maintenance and 2 years of unlimited-mileage roadside as a factory program on every car. Connected services on the BRZ are subscription-based rather than a headline multi-year trial.

$33,815 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (76% retained, or about $25,699) leaves about $8,116 in depreciation. Add the projected $4,345 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $12,461 in total.

Consumer Reports rates the 2024 BRZ more reliable than the average 2024 model year vehicle and keeps it on its Recommended list, and the second-generation car's carry-over mechanicals (2024 is a carry-over year apart from standard EyeSight on manuals and the returning tS trim) argue against new-model risk. RepairPal's owner-repair data is the dissenting source, so this lands above segment average but short of top-tier.

Subaru's 2024 standing with Consumer Reports is excellent — top mainstream brand in the February 2024 Brand Report Card (80 points, second overall behind BMW) and, later in 2024, the most reliable brand outright for the first time, displacing Lexus and Toyota. J.D. Power's 2024 Vehicle Dependability Study is the dissenting source, with Lexus highest overall, Toyota highest mass-market and Buick second at 149 PP100, and Subaru outside the leaders, which keeps this out of the top band.

The 2024 BRZ carries zero NHTSA recalls. The generation's one serious campaign — improperly manufactured FA24 valve springs, NHTSA 22V-879 — was confined to early 2022-2023 BRZ/GR86 builds and does not reach this model year. What holds the score below the top of the band is the service-bulletin pattern that still shadows the FA24: excess factory RTV sealant migrating into the oil pickup, an early-build issue rather than a 2024-specific one.

The naturally aspirated 2.4L FA24 (228 hp) is an unstressed design with no turbo to age, paired with a proven six-speed manual or Aisin six-speed automatic, and there is no widespread street-use failure mode. Two documented weaknesses keep it out of the proven-durable band: oil pressure falling sharply under sustained high-g right-hand cornering, a bearing risk for tracked cars, and oil-starvation failures traced to factory RTV sealant clogging the oil pickup screen, with repairs quoted at $8,000-$12,000 and a class action filed over FA20/FA24 engines.

Hard plastics dominate the 2024 cabin and reviewers are blunt about it — The Drive's tS test called every surface and material scratchy plastic — though the minimalist, driver-focused layout is generally forgiven at a ~$31K sticker. 2024 gets no material upgrade (the improved Ultrasuede upholstery arrives for 2025) and the returning tS trim spends its money on Brembo brakes and STI-tuned dampers rather than the interior.

Assembly at Subaru's Ōta, Gunma plant is consistent, with tight panel gaps and no initial-quality red flags recorded against the 2024 model year. Owner forums report scattered interior rattles and squeaks accumulating with miles — typical for a light, stiffly sprung coupe, and enough to keep this below the top band.

Coverage is thinner than Toyota's or Ford's at roughly 640 US retailers, but service satisfaction is a genuine brand strength: Subaru tied for second among mass-market brands in J.D. Power's 2024 Customer Service Index at 877, just behind Buick's 887 — strong, though a step below the outright #1 finish the brand posted the following year.

Aftermarket support is exceptional — the BRZ shares nearly all its hardware with the Toyota GR86, so wear and tuning parts are abundant and cheap. Actual repair economics are only average: RepairPal puts average annual repair and maintenance cost at $672 against $456 for subcompact cars, and flags an 18% chance a given repair is severe versus 11% for the class, which pulls this back to mid-band.

A single Subaru 8.0-inch Multimedia Plus head unit is standard on every 2024 trim and no larger display is offered anywhere in the range, not even on the $35,345 tS. That is near the floor of the 7–15.5 in coupe band at a time when rivals fit 10–12 in screens.

Reviewers describe the 8-inch unit as small and dated-looking — it is the older Subaru head unit rather than the large portrait system in the rest of the lineup. It still scores solidly mid-band because the ergonomics suit the car: physical knobs for volume and tuning, hard buttons for common shortcuts, and a dual-zone climate system with its own separate physical controls, so nothing important lives in a touch menu.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on all three trims, but wired only — projection runs through the console's dual USB input ports and no wireless option is offered at any price, including on the tS. Reviewers call the missing wireless projection out by name as one of the car's key omissions, so this sits at the wired-standard rung of the rubric rather than above it.

No factory navigation is offered on any 2024 BRZ trim — the Multimedia Plus system has no embedded maps, so every route runs through a phone on CarPlay or Android Auto. Voice control is limited to the basic embedded commands for audio and phone plus whatever the projected phone assistant provides; there is no natural-language assistant.

The volume Premium gets six speakers with no amplifier; Limited and tS step to eight speakers with a two-channel amplifier. There is no branded premium system — no Harman Kardon, Bose or equivalent — at any price, and the loud cabin works against what is there, since the stereo has to fight near-constant tire roar at highway speed.

A 7.0-inch fully digital, customizable gauge cluster is standard on every trim including the base Premium, with a digital speedometer and tachometer, G-force meter, lap timer, engine power curve and oil temperature — genuinely purposeful content for a driver's car, and the tS gets an STI-design variant. Two things keep it out of the top band: at 7.0 in it is small and lower-resolution than the 12-inch clusters common in the segment, and the Sport display mode requires the automatic transmission, so the volume manual Premium is left with Normal and Track.

There is no meaningful over-the-air update path on this car: the legacy 8-inch head unit has no embedded navigation to push map updates to, no vehicle-system OTA capability is advertised for the 2024 BRZ, and the connected-services hardware that would carry it is confined to the Limited and tS. Software updates are a dealer visit.

For the volume Premium there is effectively no companion app at all — STARLINK Safety and Security is Limited and tS content — and the remote functions that matter most (Remote Engine Start with Climate Control, Remote Lock/Unlock) additionally require the automatic transmission, which excludes the Premium and the tS by name. Where it does work, on the automatic Limited, it is a competent subscription service with ACN, SOS, roadside assistance, vehicle health reports and concierge, carrying a 3-year Safety Plus and 6-month Safety and Security trial. No digital key is offered on any trim.

Two USB input ports in the center console, a 3.5 mm auxiliary jack and a 12-volt outlet in the glovebox is the entire complement. There is no USB-C anywhere in the car, no wireless charging pad on any trim, no household outlet and no rear-seat power — though in a 2+2 whose rear seats function as a parcel shelf, the last of those matters least.

Keyless Access with Push-Button Start — including touch-activated door unlock — is standard on every 2024 trim including the base Premium, alongside a power fuel-door lock, welcome lighting and auto-up/down windows, which is full proximity convenience at the entry price. It is kept out of the top band because remote start exists only as a subscription feature on the automatic Limited, and no phone-as-key or digital key is offered on any BRZ.

A standard rear-vision camera is the whole of the parking hardware on the volume Premium — no front or rear parking sensors, and no surround-view camera is offered on any BRZ at any price, which is a real gap behind a narrow greenhouse with a raked fastback and thick C-pillars. The only active reverse aid, Reverse Automatic Braking, is Limited-only and comes bundled with that trim's optional automatic transmission.

No head-up display is offered on any 2024 BRZ trim, including the new tS. The 7.0-inch digital cluster with its Track layout, G-meter and lap timer covers some of the same driver-information ground, which is the only reason this is not at the absolute floor.

Both rear positions carry complete LATCH hardware, but everything else about the exercise is hostile: two doors, so every installation is threaded past a tipped-and-slid front seat, lower anchors IIHS rates as buried too deep in the cushion, and 29.9 in of rear legroom that cannot clear a rear-facing seat without making the front passenger seat unusable. There is no stroller-friendly cargo space behind it either — 6.3 cu ft.

2024 is a genuine improvement year here: EyeSight became standard across the whole BRZ line for the first time, including manual cars, so adaptive cruise, pre-collision braking, lane departure and sway warning and lane keep assist all reach the $30,195 Premium, and High Beam Assist is standard too. What holds it mid-band for family duty is that the car carries no current IIHS award — the updated moderate-overlap and side tests have not been run on this generation — blind-spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert cannot be had on the volume Premium at any price, and there is no rear-occupant alert.

For anyone past toddler size this is a two-seater on a long trip: 33.5 in of rear headroom, 29.9 in of rear legroom, no rear vents, no rear USB ports, no rear climate and no rear amenities of any kind. Luggage capacity with four aboard is 6.3 cu ft, because the fold-down seatback that rescues cargo space is only available when the rear seats are empty.

A ~2,820 lb, 167.9 in coupe with light controls, good forward sightlines over a low cowl and — new for 2024 — standard EyeSight adaptive cruise on every trim is more livable in traffic than most sports cars, and the FA24's 184 lb-ft at 3,700 rpm is tractable at low revs. But the volume Premium is manual-only, since the six-speed automatic is a Limited-exclusive option, so the daily commute includes a clutch, and summer performance tires are standard equipment on every trim regardless of climate.

The volume manual returns EPA 20/27/22 mpg and the FA24 requires premium 93 AKI fuel, so EPA's own annual estimate is about $3,450 a year at 15,000 miles — poor per-mile economics even before the summer tires, which wear faster and cost more than all-seasons and make a second winter set effectively mandatory in a snow state. Consumables are otherwise ordinary and the car is light on brakes in normal use.

This is where the BRZ's size pays off every day: 167.9 in long, 69.9 in wide, ~2,820 lb, a 35.4 ft curb-to-curb turning circle and 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, with a low cowl and short hood that make the front corners easy to place. It falls short of the top band only because rearward visibility through the raked fastback glass is poor and the volume Premium has nothing but a rear camera to help — no parking sensors, no surround view, no blind-spot detection at any price on that trim.

No factory tow rating exists for the BRZ in the US, there is no payload utility beyond two adults and a 6.3 cu ft trunk, and a high-revving naturally aspirated boxer making 184 lb-ft at 3,700 rpm is the wrong powertrain for load. This is not a shortfall so much as a category the car was never designed to enter.

The FA24 boxer and the ring-shaped reinforced unibody have a hard-use track record — this chassis is a staple of one-make racing, HPDE and driving schools — and the BRZ is the strongest resale performer in Subaru's lineup, which implies owners are not breaking them. But nothing in the car is built for work abuse: cloth or Ultrasuede trim, no washable surfaces, 5.1 in of ground clearance, a ~2,820 lb structure, and no commercial or fleet variant or duty history at all.

There is no bed, no factory roof rails or roof rack (the roof panel is aluminum and Subaru publishes no roof-load rating), no trailer wiring, no 110V outlet, no cargo tie-downs and no work-oriented upfit ecosystem — the 2024 accessory catalog for this car runs to mud flaps, a cargo tray, a shift knob and graphics. The flat-folding rear seatback is the only load-carrying provision on the vehicle.

The front seats are genuinely good for multi-hour stints and EyeSight adaptive cruise is standard on every trim for 2024, which takes some load off, but everything else fights the mile-eater case: an Edmunds long-term test found the cabin loud at 75 mph with engine buzz over wind and tire noise, and a 13.2-gallon tank at 22 mpg combined gives roughly 290 miles between fills — one of the shortest cruising ranges of any gas car in the segment.

Rear-wheel drive only — no AWD version of the BRZ exists, deliberately — with 5.1 in of minimum road clearance, summer performance tires standard on every trim, no factory tow rating, no roof rails or published roof load, and a tire repair kit instead of a spare. A gravel forest road in dry weather is about the limit, and the tires are the binding constraint before the clearance is.

6.3 cu ft is tiny in absolute terms and the liftover is a low 27.1 in, but the flexibility is better than the number suggests: the flat-folding rear seatback is standard on every trim, and owners report fitting golf clubs with one side down plus a duffel, suit bag and backpack on the other — the same pass-through this platform is known for swallowing four track wheels and tires. Everything above that — roof boxes, bike racks, hitch carriers — is unsupported by the factory.

The ZD8's whole engineering brief is cornering: a 17.95 in center of gravity — among the lowest of any production car — a ring-shaped reinforced unibody with a V-shaped strut tower bar, anti-dive front and anti-lift rear geometry, and a standard TORSEN limited-slip differential, all at about 2,820 lb. Car and Driver measured 0.99 g of roadholding on the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires fitted to the Limited and tS, and 2024 adds the tS with STI-tuned Hitachi dampers on both axles.

A quick 13.5:1 rack at 2.5 turns lock-to-lock gives sharp turn-in and naturally building weight, and Car and Driver's 2024 10Best citation singles out the car's 'faithful steering' and 'plentiful feedback' as reasons it keeps winning. It sits just below the top band because the recurring criticism of this generation is that the electric assist transmits less surface texture than the rest of the chassis communicates, and reviewers find it nervously sensitive at interstate speeds.

Braking hardware scales with trim for 2024 and both ends of the range work: Premium and Limited run 11.6 in ventilated front and 11.4 in rear discs, and the newly introduced tS steps to a Brembo system with 12.8 in four-piston fronts and 12.4 in two-piston rears in gold. Car and Driver stopped this generation from 70 mph in 152 ft with no fade, and testers report the tS's Brembos do not shorten a single stop much but resist fade far better through repeated triple-digit runs. The score reflects that the strongest hardware is the $35,345 tS rather than the volume Premium.

The FA24's dual injection puts 184 lb-ft at 3,700 rpm rather than the old FA20's 6,600 rpm peak, so it is lag-free off idle and pulls cleanly to a 7,000 rpm power peak, and the close-ratio six-speed manual is well matched to it. It stays mid-band for the well-documented mid-range flat spot, for a naturally aspirated boxer that gets thrashy rather than smoother as revs climb, and because in 2024 the Sport drive/display mode still requires the automatic transmission — the volume manual Premium has no sharpened throttle map at all.

Refinement is the clearest cost of the light, cheap, naturally aspirated formula: the flat-four is coarse under load and buzzes at highway cruise, and an Edmunds long-term test pairs that engine buzz with wind and tire noise as what makes the cabin loud at 75 mph. There is character in the noise on a back road, but no isolation from it anywhere else, and no acoustic glass or active cancellation on any trim.

Subaru publishes 35.4 ft curb-to-curb, unchanged across Premium, Limited and tS despite the wheel size stepping from 17 to 18 in. That lands in the better part of the 34–40 ft coupe band and, combined with 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, makes U-turns and tight garages genuinely easy.

A textbook sports-car cockpit: a very low hip point, wheel, shifter and pedals in natural alignment, a tilt/telescoping column, a leather-wrapped three-spoke wheel carrying cruise, Bluetooth, display and audio controls, and separate physical climate controls so nothing important sits in a menu. It is kept out of the top band by six-way manual driver adjustment with no lumbar or power on any trim, cupholders placed awkwardly behind the driver's elbow, and the ingress and egress a 51.6 in roofline demands.

This is the item the whole car exists to win. A ~2,820 lb rear-drive coupe with a standard close-ratio six-speed manual, a TORSEN limited-slip differential, a 17.95 in center of gravity and Vehicle Stability Control with Track Mode is as pure an enthusiast proposition as $30,195 buys, and 2024 adds the STI-fettled tS on top. Car and Driver put the BRZ on its 10Best list for 2024 — its third consecutive win.

2024 is the year the BRZ's content case got made: for the first time EyeSight Driver Assist — adaptive cruise, pre-collision braking, lane departure and sway warning — is standard across the whole line including manual cars, something the mechanically identical GR86 still restricts to the automatic. The $30,195 Premium also includes a Torsen limited-slip differential, 8.0-inch STARLINK touchscreen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, dual-zone climate, LED headlights, keyless access with push-button start and Track Mode stability control. Held short of the top band because the $1,600 price rise for 2024 partly paid for that content.

A $31,315-delivered rear-drive coupe with a 228 hp naturally aspirated 2.4L boxer, standard six-speed manual, Torsen LSD and now standard active safety is among the strongest performance-per-dollar propositions on sale, costing tens of thousands less than a Nissan Z, GR Supra or Cayman. Held just below the GR86's mark because the BRZ asks roughly $900 more delivered for the same hardware.

2024 widened the range with the return of the STI-tuned tS as a nationwide top trim (Hitachi dampers, Brembo brakes with gold calipers, 18-inch Michelin Pilot Sport 4s), giving three well-spaced grades from Premium to tS. Still a single powertrain, rear-drive only, and the automatic is offered on the Limited alone — a buyer wanting two pedals cannot have the base or the tS car.

A deliberately low-volume halo car having a bad year: 3,345 US units in 2024 against 4,188 in 2023, a roughly 20% decline, while the identical GR86 sold several times as many — the ratio ran about five to one through the first half of 2024. Reporting attributes the gap to Subaru prioritizing Forester production and Toyota's much larger retail network rather than to the product, but the market result is the same.

Subaru carries genuine enthusiast credibility from WRX/STI heritage and consistently top-tier owner loyalty, and the BRZ is the strongest resale performer in the lineup. But the mainstream brand halo is outdoors-and-utility rather than sports car, so the badge does less for this model than Toyota's Gazoo Racing sub-brand does for the GR86 — visible in the 2024 sales split between two identical cars.

Real but modest buyer support: Subaru ran subvented financing on the 2024 BRZ at 2.9% APR over 48 to 72 months, advertised leases around $399/month on the Premium, and a $500 lease-loyalty allowance — better than the essentially incentive-free GR86, though short of the 0.9%/75-month money that followed on the 2025 car. Low volume keeps dealer-to-dealer competition thin and cash on the hood scarce.

The second-generation ZD8 BRZ arrived for MY2022, making 2024 the third year of the cycle — but it is a genuine change year rather than a carry-over, adding the tS trim and making EyeSight standard on manual cars. Mid-cycle rather than new, with no announced replacement and no imminent-redesign risk for a buyer.

Among the most decorated affordable performance cars on sale: the 2024 BRZ took Car and Driver 10Best for the third consecutive year, and it is a regular comparison-test podium finisher against the Miata, Z and Supra where balance, steering feel and price make it the value pick. Reviewers' consistent reservations — modest power, coarse engine note, marginal rear seat and cabin materials — are the reason it sits below a perfect score rather than at it.