U.S. Buyers Still Overwhelmingly Choose a Manual for the Subaru BRZ and WRX
Autoblog wrote about one of those bright spots Tuesday—Subaru buyers. Subaru sent Autoblog its 2018 take rates, which were impressive: The company sold 78 percent of BRZs with a manual, and an incredible 90 percent of WRXs sold with a clutch pedal instead of the car’s optional continuously variable transmission.
The BRZ’s manual take rate even puts its 86 twin to shame. While their overall sales numbers are as identical as they are—Subaru reported selling 3,834 BRZs last year and Toyota reported selling 4,146 86s, including the adopted Scion FR-S—CarBuzz reported recently that only 33 percent of Toyota 86 buyers go for the stick compared to the BRZ’s nearly 80 percent.
The BRZ and WRX rates even beat those of the Miata, which few can fathom in an automatic—over the past year or so, Mazda reported that three out of four soft-top buyers went for a stick, while RF models were split at about halfway.