It’s finally official: the 2022 Subaru BRZ has made it to our islands of the Philippines. It was displayed on the first day of the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) at the World Trade Center. It quickly became one of the biggest stars of the event due to the boatload of hype that has followed this car.
This all-new iteration of the sports car sees a lot of improvements, both in its aesthetics and performance enhancements. On the outside, it retains its compact form factor but is admittedly rounder on some parts. A longer wheelbase also leads to the car having more length overall. All these make the car look wider and give it a more aggressive stance.
Performance upgrades include a bump in engine size from 2.0 to 2.4L, now producing a healthy 234 horsepower and 250 Nm of torque. It’s still a naturally-aspirated engine, since turbos have a bit of lag which may take away from the purists’ enjoyment. This change could be caused by controversial opinions on the previous generation BRZ, calling it “gutless” for its lack of power. Despite all those though, the core ethos of the 86/BRZ has always been balance and lightweight agility. This car should feel right at home when cornering through the mountain twisties, especially if you have some tofu in the trunk. Give proper thanks to the engineers for adding 50% more torsional stiffness through chassis engineering innovations.
The interior has also been updated to meet 2022 standards. However, it would be a stretch to call it anything other than utilitarian in any way. This is a pure-bred sports car after all. The example we have here is with the automatic transmission. Most touch-points in the cabin are a mix of soft materials and plastics, although we feel that the ratio for the former is greater than in the past.
Screens are aplenty though – you now get a 7-inch instrument cluster with an 8-inch head unit with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard. Previous-generation owners might see some familiar areas though such as the automatic shifter and certain buttons. As the saying goes: “If it’s not broke, why fix it?”
Sitting in the cabin will definitely lead you to notice that there is now more space for you and your passenger. The rear seats are still a little bit iffy though. It may be good for short drives, but out-of-town excursions in the rear seats may prove to be a bit of a stretch.
Speaking of the GR86, Toyota and Subaru have gone to great lengths to explain how the two models are different in their own ways. A report by Subaru stated that the BRZ is built more towards a grip setup, while the GR86 is centered on drifting out of the factory. Most of these changes are in suspension settings – but we all know that major tweaks in suspension rates can dramatically alter a car’s driving characteristics.
2022 Subaru BRZ Price Philippines
The 2022 Subaru BRZ will be sold in the Philippines with 2 transmission options: a six-speed manual that starts at PHP 2,399,000 and the six-speed automatic for PHP 2,499,000.
