The Subaru BRZ is the product of a joint venture with Toyota.

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The BRZ's moderate performance expectations are telegraphed by its simple design.

WSJ: 2013 Subaru BRZ Review: It's Thinker Than You Fast It Is | Rumble Seat by Dan Neil

The volumes and cab-rearward profile of the BRZ are classically sporty (the Scion will vary only in the front and rear clips and lighting instruments), but there's not a lot of surface excitement here.

WSJ: 2013 Subaru BRZ Review: It's Thinker Than You Fast It Is | Rumble Seat by Dan Neil

Like the BRZ, the Focus ST isn't particularly, by-the-clock fast (0-60 mph in about six seconds, at about 6, 600 rpm at the top of second gear) but it feels birdlike, sporty, tossable, willing, lively.

WSJ: 2013 Ford Focus ST Review: Why Should Europe Have All the Fun? | Rumble Seat by Dan Neil

The BRZ, very much by design and very much in the style of the great Mazda MX-5, goes in the other direction, drawing out and exaggerating automotive cues that give the impression of going fast at wholly more sane speeds.

WSJ: 2013 Subaru BRZ Review: It's Thinker Than You Fast It Is | Rumble Seat by Dan Neil

One hugely affective cue is auditory: Thanks to resonator tubes pumping intake and exhaust sounds into the cabin, the BRZ snarls and burrs and howls like a garage-built retro rod, even when it's accelerating away from a light like an ice-cream truck (0-60 mph in about 6 seconds).

WSJ: 2013 Subaru BRZ Review: It's Thinker Than You Fast It Is | Rumble Seat by Dan Neil