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Subaru BRZ: Underpowered, under-tech, but overwhelmingly fun (CNET On Cars, Episode 16)

Experience a real sports car, get blinded by what's next in headlight tech, and meet five cool, connected cars you can actually afford.

Brian Cooley Editor at Large
Brian Cooley is CNET's Editor at large and has been with the brand since 1995. He currently focuses on electrification of vehicles but also follows the big trends in smart home, digital healthcare, 5G, the future of food, and augmented & virtual realities. Cooley is a sought after presenter by brands and their agencies when they want to understand how consumers react to new technologies. He has been a regular featured speaker at CES, Cannes Lions, Advertising Week and The PHM HealthFront™. He was born and raised in Silicon Valley when Apple's campus was mostly apricots.
Expertise Automotive technology, smart home, digital health. Credentials
  • 5G Technician, ETA International
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Brian Cooley
2 min read
Watch this: Episode 16, Subaru BRZ: Underpowered, under-tech, but overwhelmingly fun.

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Few cars have inspired as much hope as the Subaru BRZ: Hope that cars can still be unvarnished, affordable, and directly connected to the road and the driver. The BRZ isn't overwhelmingly powerful, it doesn't raise the bar on tech -- hell, it barely meets it in many areas -- but it's a lot of fun to drive in a classic fashion that harkens to the 240Z, 2000GT, and S2000.

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2013 Subaru BRZ

We did a video on the Scion FR-S a while back, but waited for a BRZ to arrive for the real performance romp because these stablemates are more Subie than Toyota: Boxer engine and basic Impreza platform are its DNA. I think you'll enjoy our hopeful video.

I've detected a lot of confusion over the array of new headlight tech that has cropped up in the last few years, so that's our Car Tech 101 this time around. On the other end of the car is your rear-view camera, which is common today, possibly ubiquitous tomorrow if a new federal law takes effect. That's of interest to the smarter driver.

Plenty of high-tech cars in the $40K to $60K range, but how about something that isn't a huge investment? After all, in an age when a $200 phone leads in innovation, a car starts looking like the lowest value way to get tech. This episode, I run down my Top 5 cheap connected cars, all in the $15K to $25K range.

As always, reach me at oncars@cnet.com.