View Photos of the 2018 Subaru BRZ tS

Subaru and STI engineers described their goal in tuning the BRZ tS as "pure handling delight," a mission easily stated but difficult to achieve in a car already well known for its precision and balance.

The visual amendments, when viewed in person, make the car look lower, while the larger wheel-and-tire package helps lend the tS a squat, purposeful demeanor.

The Sachs dampers of the BRZ Limited's available Performance package have been tuned to work with 18-inch STI wheels and—finally—stickier rubber, with the tS wearing Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires, size 215/40R-18.

All of the chassis upgrades combine to make everything that was good about the BRZ even better, including well-judged steering with about as much feedback as you could hope for.

In the BRZ tS, that great rack is even sharper thanks to the improved rubber and the chassis stiffening; the front crossmember specifically is said to reduce the delay between input and chassis response (we noticed no delay at all).

Even after subjecting the tS to repeated trips on our 10Best evaluation loop and making frequent forays to the car's 7400 rpm in the process, we still managed to match the EPA's 23-mpg combined rating.

The coupe's enhanced grip casts a bright light on the engine's shortcomings. The 2.0-liter flat-four at the heart of the tS still generates the same 205 horsepower that the standard BRZ has made since the 2017 model year.

If there's a problem with the tS, it's that the engine is unchanged.

The increased traction allows the coupe to be driven into and out of corners with more aggression.

The big brakes paired with the gummy Michelins deliver untiring performance throughout repeated abuse, and the pedal never threatens to go soft. The tS came to a halt from 70 mph in just 151 feet, 13 feet shorter than the regular BRZ.

Throttle-induced oversteer is now largely absent, and the BRZ's chassis balance is superb; carefully executed trail braking allows the driver to steer the tS with the middle pedal.

The world is full of turbocharged hot hatches in the BRZ's price range.

But if balance, grip, and turn-in are even a little bit your kind of thing, you're not going to find anything quite like the BRZ tS.

It's a product worthy of special-edition status.

There's a flexible strut-tower brace and a flexible lower-front-crossmember brace as well, both of which use ball joints (hence the "flexible" appellation) to limit noise, vibration, and harshness.

The fog lights in the front bumper are deleted in favor of more aggressive-looking faux intakes, and an STI front splitter visually lowers the nose.

It looks good enough that we're willing to overlook the Cherry Blossom Red accent around the grille.

The Brembo brakes from the Performance package also make their way over to the loaded BRZ tS, with 12.8-inch discs up front and 12.4-inchers at the rear.