The updated 2022 Subaru BRZ debuted a month ago with a slick new design, some interior improvements, and a tasty power bump up to 228 horsepower. Since the car still sits on relatively thin tires and is rear-wheel drive, even Subaru’s press office couldn’t help but get the car sideways in many of the official photos.
The key to the Subaru BRZ’s reputation for getting a little sideways if you kick it right comes down to it being a small car. In its base spec, with a manual six-speed transmission, the 2022 BRZ weighs just 2,815 pounds. The 2.0-liter Toyota Supra, by comparison, has a curb weight of 3,181 pounds and only about 30 more horsepower than the new BRZ.
The BRZ’s light weight means it can run a slightly thinner tire width than, say, the Supra, since there’s not as much weight for the friction of the tire patch to have to move. You could keep fatter tires on the BRZ, and you would likely get more grip, but you wouldn’t get the driving experience seen in these pictures. The base Supra’s tire width is staggered at 255 millimeters in the front and 275mm in the back on 18-inch wheels. Those are significantly beefier compared to the new BRZ, which is 215 millimeters on 18-inch wheels in these official photographs.
If there’s anything that’s been drilled into our head from the discourse about the first-gen Subaru BRZ, it’s that 1., the car needs more power, or 2., you don’t need much more than 200 horsepower in a light enough car to have a good time. Especially with a stick and with rear-wheel drive. I live in a world where I choose to believe both can be true, and we should have a normal BRZ and then a powerful BRZ trim. Call me crazy.
The new 2022 Subaru BRZ comes with a 2.4-liter flat-four motor making 228 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. Let’s not even bother ourselves with wondering if there’s more power coming with this generation. Buy the car happy as it comes if you want it now. A manual six-speed transmission is still standard, but you can also option a six-speed automatic and get yourself some nice paddle shifter adornments for your steering column.
If we take a look inside the new BRZ, you will see a few keys to success on why so many enthusiasts liked the first-gen BRZ, and why many more will probably fall in love with the new car. To the right of the driver is the shifter — this image shows a car with a manual transmission. Controlling your own gears is crucial in revving your wheels up to spin fast enough to get loose.
The second key we see is the manually-operated handbrake. Those are rare on new cars, and the ability to flick the brake to break traction is what sets the Drift Kings apart from the heaps of scrap at the bottom of the mountain. Unfortunately, it’s the interior where Subaru could have maybe touched up the materials a little bit more with the update. But manual car controls are nice.
The final element to the 2022 BRZ’s success in endeavoring non-linearly is that it’s sitting on no-nonsense rear-wheel drive, so all the power has to go through those skinny wheels in the back to get you moving, which is a lot of pressure to take on sometimes. That locks in the recipe for a fun, relatively low-speed sideways car and fairly inexpensive ride.
Are you considering buying or leasing the new BRZ? Do you have a color picked out yet?