2023 Subaru BRZ earns Car and Driver 10 Best Award for Second Year in a Row.

The 2023 Subaru BRZ has made Car and Driver’s 10 Best Cars list, just as did the 2022 model.  Centennial Subaru is proud to offer this model which impressed the magazine’s judges with its dedicated and excellent execution of the light sports car mission, and was summed up by the phrase “utterly wonderful” by author Ezra Dyer.  The BRZ shares the award with the essentially identical Toyota GR86, which also uses the Subaru-designed boxer engine.

“BRZ” stands for Boxer, Rear-wheel drive and Zenith, the last being defined as the highest point a star reaches in the sky. Winning the Car and Driver 10Best for a second year certainly brings support to the Zenith concept. “Car and Driver is a legendary automotive publication, and we are honored that their experts again recognized the performance and value of the second generation BRZ,” said Thomas J. Doll, President and CEO, Subaru of America, Inc. “This accolade helps solidify our goal of providing customers with a pure sports car embedded with Subaru DNA.”

Unlike Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award, the Car and Driver awards are not limited to all-new or redesigned models, but rather new or existing models that represent something particularly special in their segment.  For this year, trucks and SUVs were separated into a following competition, keeping this match focused on sedans, hatchbacks, coupes and sports cars.  Rules specify that the vehicles must be on-sale by January 31, and there is a MSRP cut-off of $110,000.

Doing More with Less

With a base MSRP of $28,995, the BRZ certainly had no problem meeting that last qualification.  In fact, everything that kept the BRZ from being more expensive amounted to points in its favor as described in this passage:  “…more power would mean a beefier drivetrain, bigger wheels and tires, and additional weight.  All those things lead away from the reasons these cars are so great.  They’re light, sharp, unfiltered and inexpensive.” Elsewhere in the article:  “We don’t need anything more.”

In their testing, they found the BRZ’s  2.4-liter, 4-cyl boxer’s 228 horsepower delivered a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds and a 13.9 quarter-mile time with a trap speed of 101 mph.  Adding the “delightfully direct” 6-speed manual, limited-slip differential and rear-wheel drive, the BRZ has in their words “all the right ingredients for a rollicking good time”.  They like how it looks as well, showing the appreciation that the models “…eschew big wings and splashy graphics for a purposeful, tightly-wrapped rear-drive aesthetic.  They look fast but respectable which can be a tough trick to execute, especially for a small sports car.”

See for Yourself

The Car and Driver 10Best article can be found in the January 2023 issue on magazine stands everywhere with the BRZ featured on page 42.  And you can see the winner itself in either Premium or Limited trim levels here at Centennial Subaru.