Don't Bother Buying The 2026 Subaru BRZ For $37,055—Do This Instead

The thing we’ve always loved about the Subaru BRZ is that it offers an exhilarating driving experience for a reasonable sum of money. Except that for 2026, it’s starting to feel like only half of that recipe is still accurate.

There isn’t a lot of cheap speed available in the United States these days. There are plenty of reliable cars, efficient cars, and even fun cars. But there are hardly any cars that the typical consumer would consider cheap that offer better-than-average performance compared to their similarly priced peers.

The Ford Mustang is perhaps the last, best available option, with a base price of around $32,000 with a turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine making 315 horsepower. Sadly, it’s stuck solely with an automatic transmission, but it’s still a fun car for a reasonable sum. The V8-powered Mustang GT is (arguably) even more fun, but it costs dangerously close to $50,000.

The Subaru BRZ used to fall squarely into the cheap speed category, but for 2026, it’s gotten awfully close to the point where it’s simply too expensive for what it offers, which, for the record, is a 228-horsepower Boxer engine and an excellent rear-wheel-drive chassis.

It’s not the fastest car in the world, but it’s a blast on a tight, twisty road or racetrack. The thing is, it now starts at $37,055 (including the required destination fee), and that just feels like too much. While it would be easy for us to just suggest you buy a used BRZ that’s been well cared for by its previous owner (and yeah, you probably should), or suggest the Mustang EcoBoost we already mentioned, or the Mazda Miata that is probably the BRZ’s most logical direct competitor, we’re going to be a bit more interesting.

As we usually do when we consider these exercises, we’ve limited our picks to cars sold within the last several years and with no more than the average of 12,000 miles per year on their odometers. Until we throw in a couple of wildcards, that is.

Option 1: BMW Z4

Buyers considering a brand-new 2026 Subaru BRZ may be surprised to find out they could get a used G29 BMW Z4 for a similar sum of money. They’d also quickly find out that they have a decision to make. A 2023 BMW Z4 sDrive30i (the desirable M Sport package came standard starting in 2023) can be found on the used market for $35,000 to $40,000 without much trouble. A handful of 2020 BMW Z4 M40i models with the much more powerful inline-six engine are also floating around for a similar price with reasonable miles, but might require a buyer to drive a couple of hundred miles to acquire.

So we’ll stick with the 2023 Z4 sDrive30i (and complain about the overly complicated naming convention while we’re at it) for this comparison. BMW’s 2.0-liter turbocharged engine spins out 255 horsepower and 294 pound-feet of torque, which is quite a bit more than the BRZ’s 228 hp and 194 lb-ft, and the extra power is reflected in their 0-60 times.

The BMW does the deed in a tick over five seconds while the BRZ takes about a second longer. Straight-line acceleration isn’t everything, but the Z4 with its standard M Sport package also pulls a full 1.00 g on the skidpad, which means it’s no slouch in the cornering department.

Option 2: Nissan Z

At the time of this writing, there were 14 certified pre-owned Nissan Z coupes for sale through Nissan’s official online sales channel for less than $40,000. Removing the CPO requirement and searching through normal classified sites increases the number of Zs within our price cap, and with fewer than 30,000 miles on them, up to around 100. So they are out there for buyers willing to look a little harder than normal.

Those potential buyers will be rewarded with an excellent sports car. The Nissan Z’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 engine sends 400 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels through either a six-speed manual or optional automatic transmission. Like the BMW Z4 we suggested above, the Nissan Z seats only two passengers, which may be seen as a drawback by some.

Those people probably haven’t tried sitting in the back seat of a Subaru BRZ, though, which is really more of a place to store groceries than actual human beings. However, if you do need a legitimate four-person capability, we suggest you continue reading.

Option 3: Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400 Coupe

Want to enjoy the same 400 ponies that the Nissan Z twists out of its twin-turbo V6 but need a bit more room? Well, have we got news for you! Nissan’s VR30DDTT engine also found a home in the Infiniti Q50 sedan and Q60 coupe, both in Red Sport 400 trim. If you’re looking at a Subaru BRZ, we’ll just have to assume a sleek two-door shape fits your needs, so we’ll focus on the Q60 Red Sport 400 for this thought exercise.

The Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400 was sold in the United States from 2017 through 2022, and it could do 0-60 in less than five seconds. It was offered in both rear- and all-wheel-drive forms, and while it may not have been particularly popular as a new offering, in this case, depreciation is a secondhand buyer’s friend.

There were well over 100 Red Sport 400s for sale in the United States as this was written for less than $40,000, and multiple dozens of low-mileage examples for well under the asking price of the 2026 Subaru BRZ.

Wildcard A: Porsche Boxster

Now we’re just having fun. We wouldn’t suggest that every person who is interested in a new Subaru BRZ should buy an older Porsche Boxster instead. Still, surely some would-be BRZ buyers would be using the sporty little coupe as a second car instead of a daily driver. For at least a subset of those buyers, a Porsche Boxster could indeed be a realistic alternative.

Without delving into the world of Porsche’s well-documented Intermediate Shaft bearing failures—though that's really only a concern on older models up to and including 2008—we’ll just go ahead and suggest buyers who are considering a used Boxster stick to models starting with the 2009 model year. There were more than 50 such Boxsters with 70,000 miles or less within a grand or so of the base price of the 2026 Subaru BRZ, and at least 20 more Cayman models, at the time this was written.

Wildcard B: Honda S2000

So… Early Honda S2000 models feature a 2.0-liter inline-four engine that spins to 9,000 rpm, a sweet-shifting six-speed manual transmission, and a beautifully engineered rear-wheel-drive chassis. Later models got a slightly enlarged 2.2-liter engine that made a bit more torque and had a slightly lower 8,200-rpm redline, but were still high-strung beasts. Either way, the Honda S2000 is an absolute delight to drive on the kinds of roads that the Subaru BRZ is designed to conquer.

As a bonus, we’d expect the Honda S2000 to have a bit more potential as a future collectible than the BRZ, though both of them are pretty desirable cars. The S2000 truly feels special from behind the wheel, and we definitely think some would-be BRZ buyers would be charmed by the Honda S2000’s uniqueness.

It’s certainly not for everybody, but if it’s for you, well, have fun and keep a close eye on the speedometer.

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