Problems with the FRS-BRZ platform
 

I am posting this to hear thoughts from the community. I am looking to buy a BRZ. After reading a decent amount of posts, I was pretty sure, the discovered issues were sorted out or could be sorted. This video link is making me rethink my decision. Any commentary is appreciated.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT717HBSSNE"]The Last Supercharged FR-S Video (GT86 86 BRZ) | Problems Detailed - YouTube[/ame]

In my brief search, I did not find a post with this video link, so here goes. If there is an existing topic, please dup this.

I put this in Issues, but please move it to the appropriate sub-forum.

Quoting wise minds on this forum (and various other parts of the internet):

Quoting from the description on the video:

People on this forum are FI'ed without major issues at all. When you do go FI, there could always be issues.

Just in case any FI'ed people don't see this thread, ask away in the FI section.

So, to summarize the video, if you are an early adopter for adding FI to a car that wasn't designed for it, you will have problems.

To the OP, are you planning on going FI? If not, then nothing in the video applied to you.

Well, this may seem far fetched. I am in the process of buying a fun car. I have driven the usual lot Mini, NC Miata Fiesta ST etc.
I am doing some research before putting down my savings. This forum has been a source of great information.
If I buy the BRZ, I will do some autocross / canyon, some track. It would help if the car is FI.
Long story short, yes I will FI the car if I end up buying the BRZ.

Are you buying a fi car?
Then prepare to inherit a headache.
Are you a whiz with cars and fixing them?
Then get out your wallet.
Guy in the video is a Whiny *****.
Thought he was gonna buy the first frs off the lot and
Slap on the first supercharger kit he could find and everything was gonna have factory fit and it was gonna run smooth as silk with a email tune
And have factory warranty and reliability.
Dude has his head up his butt.

If the car is stock you should be fine. Even simple things past stock are fine.
If you don't know how to maintain and repair and deal with the headaches that come with slapping a turbo/supercharger on a car that didn't have one to begin with, then your digging your own grave

Haha.. Well put sir..

I had similar thoughts. Early production issues on the FRS. Add to that the first FI kit with unknown quality and testing.
It's not going to be smooth.
Some issues are valid like heat mgmt, cooling and fitment. There are numerous posts on this too though.

any car will start having problems after you start heavily modifying it, not just the 86. do people expect to slap on an extra 100HP on a car that was not designed to take it and have OEM reliability? it seems pretty ridiculous to me.

if you are going to buy this car and immediately FI it out the bat, then this car might not be the right car for you. sounds like you want a WRX or STI, or even the focus RS. you will end up paying around the same as those cars (or even more) after you FI and get the supporting mods.

If you want to be competitive in autocross stay away from forced induction, it will put you in a class that you wont be able to be competitive in.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

That guy's videos always made me laugh. He found every reason not to like the car IMO. Everything he says is a negative, and it all seems to be his fault. Maybe its just me.


I did learn something about belt routing on the vortech though when I was first looking in to FI.

FI and expected engine to last like stock, is like doing steroid hoping there's zero side effect.

Please do not read as angry. Legit questions not a call out:


How do you know that you even want FI yet? Have you put many miles on behind the steering wheel? Have you based this decision on the paper racers or "more power" crowd's comments?


I also thought that I would be going FI from the start until I started actually driving the car. Is it a speed demon? Hell no, but it is also not the "slow" snail that many make it out to be. There are many much smaller mods you can do that will give a modest bump in HP and based on your plans they may be more appropriate.
Now, if you want to kick some 'Stang butt at stop lights or just want HP bragging rights (both perfectly legit reasons for an individual to want) then FI is your answer.

Driver mod would be your cheapest, most reliable upgrade. The only thing that puts a bigger smile on my face than a blown or boosted 86 passing V8 is a capable driver with aNA platform.
As you know these things have only been out for a few years and you can see companies coming out with updated versions form their original designs. ie; V.2 FI kits/ headers.