Tuesday 29th April 2014

Subaru BRZ price cut

Sounds like good news, right? Sort of...

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Subaru is reducing the price of the BRZ in Britain by £2,500. Brilliant, £25K always seemed a little steep, didn't it? But at £22.5K is becomes far more viable.

Except for one small thing. Subaru doesn't actually import the £24,995 BRZ SE currently, so the discount applies to the SE Lux, which costs £26,495. But then £23,995 is still less than a BRZ SE would cost, even if it's not the great saving it perhaps initially appears. And who wouldn't want heated leather/Alcantara seats?

Colours other than WR Blue are available

Subaru's reasoning behind the price cut is to put clear space between the BRZ and the new WRX STI, the cars now separated by £5,000 rather than £2,500. If it could just find a way to drop that WRX engine across...

Anyway, now that the BRZ is cheaper than its GT86 twin, surely it's the Toyobaru of choice? Don't forget the Subaru is taking longer to be delivered, and will Toyota respond with an incentive to match Subaru?

For those after a used bargain, this BRZ is £18K with less than 5,000 miles recorded. But there are nearly three times more GT86s for sale than BRZs on PH (27 v 10) and, oddly, they seem to be holding their value better. For the same £18K and again being privately sold, this GT86 had twice has many miles as the Subaru. How will this new price reduction change things?

 

[craig9367]

I think the 86 is holding its value better as it has a 5 year warranty

At around 22k with a bit of haggling I imagine, these are starting to look very tempting

[sturney]

Tough hopefully Toyota will do the same...

Also minor spelling error, put is instead of it in the first paragraph, last sentence.

[Escort Si-130]

As you say, drop the WRX engine in it, then it would be a screamer.

[dukebox9reg]

craig9367 said:

I think the 86 is holding its value better as it has a 5 year warranty

At around 22k with a bit of haggling I imagine, these are starting to look very tempting

I thought Subaru was matching the 5 year warranty. Thought they dumped the whole 3 years and I wash the car for you incentive and matched the Toyota.

[craig9367]

So they did, never knew that but always thought they would struggle to sell the same car with 3/5's the warranty

Its about time the 'premium' brands started offering a 5 year warranty

[Riyazc]

My mate here paid £24k for the GT86 with leather and nav from a main dealer ... represents much better value then the BRZ.

Do like the cars tho - with the litchfield supercharger bolted on its a serious weapon.

[kambites]

I've seen quite a few GT86s around now but still never seen a BRZ, I don't think. On that basis, I think the price cut is probably necessary.

[Zed Ed]

Both 86 and BRZ now have a 5 year warranty.

Anybody actually managed to buy the Litchfield SC kit; think not.

[Amirhussain]

kambites said:

I've seen quite a few GT86s around now but still never seen a BRZ, I don't think.

Yeah same here.

[matthias73]

It's very interesting. When these cars were first mooted, both Subaru and Toyota seemed to have the same amount of interest and publicity.


Now we only ever hear about the GT86. I actually keep forgetting that the Subaru even exists.

[kambites]

The GT86 owner I know didn't consider the Subaru, I think primarily because the nearest Toyota dealer is closer and Toyota has a better reputation for reliability and customer service (not that Subaru's is bad, it's just non-existent to most people).

The Subaru fans I know would never have considered either because it's just not the sort of car that they like.

[Ozone]

Amirhussain said:

kambites said:

I've seen quite a few GT86s around now but still never seen a BRZ, I don't think.

Yeah same here.

I read or was told that the agreement between the manufacturers was 10 Toyotas to be sold to every 1 Subaru. That could be the wrong figures but I know there is a ratio.

[Frimley111R]

I heard somewhere that Subaru have sold a tiny number of these compared to Toyota.

[Soupie69uk]

Yes could this be in relation to the 10:1 ratio deal nearing an end?

[TheJelley]

How many left has c3k toyotas registered to subarus 200.

[cliddell]

Don't forget that *all* Subarus are imported, but Toyota has both imported models and models made within Europe. So Toyota has a *lot* more "wiggle room" where the import quotas are concerned than Subaru does.

It would be interesting to see sales numbers from places where both companies are solely reliant on imported models.

Chris

[kambites]

TheJelley said:

How many left has c3k toyotas registered to subarus 200.

So 1/5 of the Toyotas are currently for sale on Pistonheads.

[Ali_T]

"If it could just find a way to drop that WRX engine across..."

I'd rather the new BRZ engine found its way into the STI. The EJ25 is rubbish.

[QuattroDave]

kambites said:

So 1/5 of the Toyotas are currently for sale on Pistonheads.

27 GT86's for sale from a pool of 3,000 sold makes it 0.9% not 20%

The BRZ's have 5% for sale on PH's though.

[kambites]

QuattroDave said:

kambites said:

So 1/5 of the Toyotas are currently for sale on Pistonheads.

27 GT86's for sale from a pool of 3,000 sold makes it 0.9% not 20%

The BRZ's have 5% for sale on PH's though.

Oops, good point. Typo.