![\"Road](\"http:\/\/www.gtspiritmedia.com\/gtspirit\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Road-Test-2013-Subaru-BRZ-by-Litchfield-Motors-01.jpg\" "\\"Road")
\r\n
This is the brand new 2013 Subaru BRZ Coupe. A Japanese sports car developed in conjunction with Toyota and Scion and sold on the market under the name GT86, FR-S and BRZ with the three cars being differentiated by barely more than badging, wheels and the shape of their radiator grilles. The purist sports car is the latest from Asia and available to us for a drive test at Litchfield Motors, one of the first tuners selling upgrades. <\/p>\n
The Subaru BRZ is a sports car built the way sports cars used to be built: lightweight, visually appealing, near surgical steering precision and rear-wheel drive. It’s clearly not the fastest, the most powerful, nor even the sexiest two-door coupe in the business, but somehow it has the ability to share its sheer driving pleasure in a way not many cars are able to. Everything is focused on the joy of driving, and we had the chance to find it out. <\/p>\n
The name BRZ is the acronym for Boxer Rear-wheel-drive Zenith. The main mechanical difference with its brothers – the GT86 and FR-S – is the slighter stiffer suspension for the BRZ. Other than that the technical setup of the cars is similar. This means that our tester was fitted with a 2.0 liter direct injection petrol engine in the nose producing a stock performance of 197bhp and 205Nm. The available transmissions are either a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual gearbox. Our blue BRZ had the latter option!<\/p>\n
The BRZ awaiting our arrival at the farm located between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire was not a stock version available via the local Subaru importer, but a right-hand drive model used by Litchfield Motors in the UK as their benchmark for new parts and improvements. <\/p>\n
\r\n
The technical upgrades already fitted to the car featured the Litchfield Stage 1 ECU remap (+14bhp) and a more prominent sounding Milltek performance exhaust system (+11bhp). The British specialist found roughly 25bhp over the standard car. Future performance stages are being development as we speak with a range topping kit featuring a supercharger and a horsepower level close to 300bhp.<\/p>\n
Other parts added to the stock setup were a performance air filter, an Eibach Spring kit lowering the car by 30mm, a fast road geometry setup and performance friction fast road brake pads. The stock wheels were inner changed with Litchfield Nurburg 18 inch lightweight alloy wheels shod in wider Michelin Supersport tires sizing 225\/40\/18 all around. The standard size is 215\/45\/18. <\/p>\n
An additional range of chassis and brake upgrades was already available, but not yet installed at the time of our road test. New anti roll bars by Eibach are on their way allowing a smoother transition into and out of oversteer without upsetting the ride quality. Litchfield is also working on new chassis bushes, which will allow them to increase both caster and camber which are currently fixed at low level with barely any front camber and about five degrees of caster. These bushes will also remove some of the slack in the rear subframe giving it a more direct response. A new transmission bush will provide a more positive feel during gear changes.<\/p>\n
All these enhancements are part of a package creating an even better setup than the stock BRZ, which doesn’t offer any groundbreaking technology making it for tuners like Litchfield a highly tunable sports car and a popular choice for weekend track excursions, because there’s not only a DSC Sport mode for the stability control but also a full-off mode and a Torsen limited-slip differential.<\/p>\n
![\"Road](\"http:\/\/www.gtspiritmedia.com\/gtspirit\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Road-Test-2013-Subaru-BRZ-by-Litchfield-Motors-02.jpg\" "\\"Road")
\r\n
![\"Road](\"https:\/\/gtspirit.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/road-test-2013-subaru-brz-by-litchfield-motors\/thumbs\/thumbs_road-test-2013-subaru-brz-by-litchfield-motors-003.jpg\" "\\"Road")
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n \t\t\r\n\t![\"Road](\"http:\/\/www.gtspiritmedia.com\/gtspirit\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Road-Test-2013-Subaru-BRZ-by-Litchfield-Motors-03.jpg\" "\\"Road")
<\/p>\n