Half-Year Ownership Cost of Cars.com's Subaru BRZ

It's hard to believe our one-year test of the BRZ is half over. With 6,343 miles on the odometer, we haven't had to open our wallet for repairs or maintenance yet, but we did fork over plenty of cash preparing our 2013 Subaru BRZ Limited for a Chicago winter and filling up with the required pricey premium fuel.

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We've poured just less than $2,000 into the BRZ in addition to the initial purchase price. The $1,978.34 spent on fuel, winter tires, WeatherTech all-weather floormats and swapping out the summer tires in spring breaks down to $329 per month in ownership costs. That could easily drop to $179 per month ($1,074.29) without the winter preparation needed for the rear-wheel-drive sports coupe. That begs the question: Is the BRZ worth it?

Tracking the Fuel Economy of Cars.com's 2013 Honda Civic, 2013 Subaru BRZ

The past month was a good mileage month for our long-term 2013 Honda Civic and 2013 Subaru BRZ. Both testers bumped up their average mileage, and the Civic has a new best-recorded single-tank mileage of 35.6 mpg.

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Our 2013 Civic was stuck in city loops averaging 28.53 mpg for the first 2,500 miles. Now with more miles accumulating we're starting to see the 39 mpg highway rating in our recordings. The Civic's overall mileage average increased 1.75 mpg since the last update 1,200 miles ago. All fill-ups tallied in above 30 mpg instead of the mid-to-high 20s from earlier tanks.

New Noises Lead to Dealership Visit for Long-Term Subaru BRZ

We recently noticed that our long-term Subaru BRZ had developed some new noises — or maybe we were able to hear them more now that it's getting warm in Chicago and we're driving with the windows down.

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We could hear a ticking sound and a squeaky whirring noise coming from the engine bay at idle once the four-cylinder had reached operating temperature, so we decided to take it to our dealership's service department.

Is the Subaru BRZ's Small Backseat a Big Inconvenience?

We knew full well the 2013 Subaru BRZ wasn't meant to carry more than a driver and a passenger when it became Cars.com's Best of 2013 winner. The BRZ and Scion FR-S got our vote for reasons you can read here. Still, we went through with a plan to buy one and live with the BRZ's small backseat.

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The four-seat BRZ has received plenty of use in its six months of ownership so far; the backseat has not. It remains something Cars.com editors have to live with considering the BRZ is a daily driver — even split a dozen ways — not a weekend warrior.

Tracking the Fuel Economy of Cars.com's 2013 Honda Civic, 2013 Subaru BRZ

Cars.com's long-term 2013 Honda Civic and 2013 Subaru BRZ have accumulated roughly 1,000 and 1,100 miles, respectively, since our previous update a month ago. Surprisingly, both are within 2.7 mpg of each other in overall observed gas mileage despite one being an enthusiast's sports coupe and the other a bean-counter's economy car.

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The Civic's highest tank average of 33.58 mpg is up from its previous best of 33.11 mpg and bumps the overall average up a few ticks to 28.53 mpg after 2,500 miles. Hold on: 28 mpg? The Civic has half the total miles of our BRZ; it joining the Cars.com long-term test fleet a few months after the Subaru and has far fewer highway miles under its timing belt. Our Civic's overall average hovers right on top of its EPA-estimated 28 mpg city rating.

Spring Showers Bring Summer Tires Back to Our Subaru BRZ

It has been a long winter here in Chicago. Even with the dawn of spring we experienced subfreezing temps, snow and just plain awful, gray days. That meant keeping our winter tires on Cars.com's long-term 2013 Subaru BRZ a bit longer than we wanted.

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Conventional wisdom in our office is to swap the tires on or around April 1 ... simply because Chicago weather can be so unpredictable.

We didn't do the deed until April 12. And it snowed the next day.

Subaru BRZ's Touch-Screen, Navigation Need a Reroute

Cars.com's long-term ownership of the 2013 Subaru BRZ aims to answer many questions about living with the spritely sports coupe year-round. Its winter proficiency was put to test right off the bat and impressed us, but we also wanted to know whether editors could adapt to the BRZ's quirky touch-screen stereo and navigation after repeated exposure.

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After five months of ownership, the stereo and navigation system have been a thorn in drivers' sides. The 6.1-inch touch-screen lacks the refinement of other factory systems with its aftermarket style. Worst of all, there's no avoiding the inconvenience because every 2013 Subaru BRZ comes standard with the problematic stereo and navigation.

Tracking the Fuel Economy of Cars.com's 2013 Honda Civic, 2013 Subaru BRZ

We welcomed a 2013 Honda Civic to Cars.com's long-term test fleet in March to evaluate the unheard of changes Honda made just one year after the Civic's complete redesign. Like our 2013 Subaru BRZ, the one-year ownership experience is tracked in numerous ways including detailed gas mileage logs.

The Civic's gas mileage was not one of the numerous alterations for 2013; the 2012 Civic's EPA-rated 28/39 mpg city/highway was already competitive.

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We've only just begun to put the LX sedan trim level with an automatic transmission through its paces after logging 1,400 miles in just over two months. The Civic is mostly being used as a commuter car in and around Chicago with city and suburban stop-and-go driving, a style of driving reflected by the observed 28.4 mpg average. Road-trip season is approaching quickly, and we expect to rack up quite a few trips this summer to test the Civic's 39 mpg highway rating.

Living Through Winter With a 2013 Subaru BRZ

One of the biggest questions we wanted to answer by purchasing a long-term 2013 Subaru BRZ tester was whether the sports coupe is capable of driving year-round in winter’s ugliest conditions. Our Chicago test location has potential for nasty wintry weather that could have been disastrous for our dainty 2,776-pound, rear-wheel-drive, low-slung BRZ Limited. 

A normal winter didn’t happen, however, and the BRZ faced just a few bursts of extreme weather. But it showed promise as a year-round daily driver given the right preparation and conditions.

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Our first preparation for winter happened long before we even took delivery of the car. As co-winner of Cars.com’s Best of 2013 award along with the 2013 Scion FR-S, we planned to purchase one of the two and put it through a yearlong evaluation. Deciding between the two was an easy choice given our cold climate: The BRZ has available heated seats, the Scion doesn’t. Done; BRZ ordered.

Quarterly Ownership Cost of Cars.com's Subaru BRZ

Prepping our long-term 2013 Subaru BRZ tester for winter wasn't cheap, but it was certainly necessary. Purchased on Dec. 12, 2012, the rear-wheel-drive sports coupe has emptied $1,348.94 from our wallet in the first quarter of ownership with a large chunk of change going to winter tires and utility floormats — that cost also includes fueling the car for 2,825 miles. The winter items proved invaluable despite a weak showing of snow through much of the Midwest's winter.

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Cars.com's BRZ performance has been flawless so far with nary a hiccup or any indication we need to schedule an appointment at the Subie dealership. Our BRZ rolled off the assembly line late enough in the production run (October 2012) to avoid the common problem of earlier models accumulating condensation in the taillights — our BRZ's taillights are condensation free so far.