Denkigrve's FRS

[denkigrve]

I picked up my car this morning. It's now got 50some miles on it. Picked it up with 9 total. I love everything about the car so far. I'll post some more once I have some more time. This is simply a placeholder for now.

Here are the first two pics I took with my iPhone. First at the fountain by one of the buildings at work:


Second is from the Dealership when I was actually getting ready to drive it home:

[denkigrve]

So now that I'm less "overly excited," some thoughts.

The Clutch:
As most people have posted. It feels light. I'm used to my WRX and my AE86 had a 6 puck unsprung ACT. So this feels ULTRA light. It'll take some getting used to. Otherwise it's not bad.

Shifting:
Shifting feels great. Direct, short. Overall really really solid.

Not going over 4k RPMs:
OMFG This is hard. I just want to see what it can do. Take it to the limit. Must. Use. Restraint. I'm at 59 miles already. Only 941 to go!

Feeling of the suspension:
This car is VERY well composed. Hitting small bumps in the road it doesn't feel floaty. It feels solid, always connected. I'm shocked at how good it feels. I can't wait to do some spirited driving and see where it can go, and what it can do.

Quirks:
So in the BRZ forums they are talking about a "bang" noise in certain situations. I heard it on mine. It sounds like a rock hitting under the car. The sound is coming right from where the Cat is. So my guess is that it's the Cat breaking in.

Overall feeling?
I'm in love. I grew up on lower power NA cars. This feels like a return to my roots. My AE86 was also silver as well. I had totally forgotten since it was rattle can black when I bought it. Under that though? Silver. Very fitting color choice. My WRX is also silver. I think I have a silver obsession.

[Grateful Dave]

congrats
Looks clean!

[dvlnsyde]

I'm waiting for my dealer to see if he can get my Argento AT in his next allocation. It's KILLIN' me! Your car looks sharp!! Congrats!

[FRSCoupe]

I like the silver, very classy.
Can you make more comparisons to your AE86? Is it as tossable as the AE86, etc power to weight ratio is still higher in the FRS unless you have a highly modified AE86

[mines13]

great pics, I have an Argento coming myself.

[denkigrve]

Originally Posted by FRSCoupe

I like the silver, very classy.
Can you make more comparisons to your AE86? Is it as tossable as the AE86, etc power to weight ratio is still higher in the FRS unless you have a highly modified AE86

So far it feels more composed than my AE86 was. When you hit the gas you have torque. The pull feels good comparing. It with a stock 4AG. Going from 2k to 4K almost happened too fast but i stopped myself.

The suspension and balance are they key fators though. There is a lot less roll. I'm driving it very conservatively though for the break in. As soon as I hit 1,000 miles I'm going to kick the tail out a little on a track day to see how it compares. I'm expect it to be easier than the AE86, but still require the knowledge gained from that to make it look good.

I'm honestly not planning to drift it too much. I was to do a bunch of grip driving. I'm trying to estimate when I'm gonna hit my 1k so I can go do some auto x, and maybe a track day at Laguna if my buddy at work has it in time for the break in.

[PMok]

congrats! what dealership did you get it from? positive or negative experience?

[denkigrve]

Originally Posted by PMok

congrats! what dealership did you get it from? positive or negative experience?

Thanks.

I got it from One Toyota in Oakland. It was an awesome experience. The sales Manager, TJ is great. If you anyone is looking for a car I'd say hit him up. Not sure how long his list is at this point, but the buying experience was way worth it. I paid pretty much MSRP. The only add-ons I got were clear bra, rear appliqué, wheel locks, and trunk mat. Out the door with tax etc was 28009.

[russv]

Nice seeing a fellow Argento lover. Great color.

[denkigrve]

Here are a few pictures from the meet last night. I had 70 miles on the car at that point. :B Everyone was like "You picked this up when? THIS MORNING?!"





After driving the car to work today, I'm still in awe of how amazing the car feels. I also realized while trying to back into a spot in the garage that I need to learn the corners of my car. :P

I know a lot of you guys are going to hate on the M45, but that's my good friend's car. I think it looks amazing. It's built to be a show car. It's on bags, and I always see his car and am just amazed at how good it looks. He's also got an 89 miata with a full custom cage, wide body, and an LS1 waiting to go in. Also an S14 for drifting. Also an S13 sitting around. Also a miata parts car... He convinced me to come to the show. He wanted to show off the FR-S more than I did. lol.

[denkigrve]

Originally Posted by russv

Nice seeing a fellow Argento lover. Great color.

The Argento does a great job of providing the nice light color so the lines of the body have some nice sharp points like the white, but without causing the same types of contrast issues in bright sunlight. I'm super glad I got this instead of white at this point. At night especially it really seems to pick up the lights and play with them.

I'm trying to plan some places to shoot photos of my car in a similar manner to what Hanzo did with his car.

[Capt Canuck]

Originally Posted by denkigrve

Thanks.

I got it from One Toyota in Oakland. It was an awesome experience. The sales Manager, TJ is great. If you anyone is looking for a car I'd say hit him up. Not sure how long his list is at this point, but the buying experience was way worth it. I paid pretty much MSRP. The only add-ons I got were clear bra, rear appliqué, wheel locks, and trunk mat. Out the door with tax etc was 28009.

That's good to hear. After One Toyota's dodgy CL postings I was wondering. Now I know just to ping him directly if I get to the point I want to pick one of these up next year

[denkigrve]

2012/06/12 Update:
The fun of getting a new project car is how much research and time you spending on it. Thinking about your next steps, where you want to take the car, what else you can do to fine tune the car.

Over the past week I've been doing homework. Looking at upgrade paths, looking at what I've been wanting to do, and what's feasible to do. I've also made some hard choices on how much money I want to put into this project, and what my goals are. Originally I was going to get the car and just daily drive it, and turn my WRX into a project car, but after driving the FR-S I don't want to do that. I want the WRX to be my daily car and instead start learning to drive better and do Auto-X and HSDE type stuff with it.

As a result I've since been doing some homework, and have decided on some basic upgrade paths. I talked to a few companies about their coil-overs and explained what I'd like to do an what I'd like to get out of the car. RS*R is winning at the moment. The feedback they had was awesome, and the quality of their parts seem to fit what I'm looking for as a novice driver.

Next up are wheels. I had my sights set on some 18x8.5 wheels for a while. I was trying to find the best application that would work, but I realized how foolish that was, and the fact that I could save almost 3 pounds per wheel by getting 17s. So I've instead opted for some Enkei RP03s. I'm looking for a set of those now.

Finally, to complete my "first steps of tuning" I've got the Cusco strut bar with the brake cylinder stopper on the way. I figure by the time I finish hashing out locations, prices, installs, tuning of everything I'll be ready to start placing each component on the car and moving on up.

My goal was to start thinking ahead, but not too far ahead so my parts replacement doesn't outpace my skill growth.

The ONLY clincher right now are some back pains I've been having. I got into an accident in may. Someone rear ended the van we were in on our way back from the airport, and since then I've been having some back pains. Saw the doctor this morning, had some x-rays done, and have a follow up on Thursday. The goal is to get everything in proper alignment, healed up, and make sure I'm fit to drive. I'll be heartbroken if I can't do any heavy driving, but I'll still be there in my FR-S cheering on everyone else.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by denkigrve

2012/06/12 Update:
The fun of getting a new project car is how much research and time you spending on it. Thinking about your next steps, where you want to take the car, what else you can do to fine tune the car.

Over the past week I've been doing homework. Looking at upgrade paths, looking at what I've been wanting to do, and what's feasible to do. I've also made some hard choices on how much money I want to put into this project, and what my goals are. Originally I was going to get the car and just daily drive it, and turn my WRX into a project car, but after driving the FR-S I don't want to do that. I want the WRX to be my daily car and instead start learning to drive better and do Auto-X and HSDE type stuff with it.

As a result I've since been doing some homework, and have decided on some basic upgrade paths. I talked to a few companies about their coil-overs and explained what I'd like to do an what I'd like to get out of the car. RS*R is winning at the moment. The feedback they had was awesome, and the quality of their parts seem to fit what I'm looking for as a novice driver.

Next up are wheels. I had my sights set on some 18x8.5 wheels for a while. I was trying to find the best application that would work, but I realized how foolish that was, and the fact that I could save almost 3 pounds per wheel by getting 17s. So I've instead opted for some Enkei RP03s. I'm looking for a set of those now.

Finally, to complete my "first steps of tuning" I've got the Cusco strut bar with the brake cylinder stopper on the way. I figure by the time I finish hashing out locations, prices, installs, tuning of everything I'll be ready to start placing each component on the car and moving on up.

My goal was to start thinking ahead, but not too far ahead so my parts replacement doesn't outpace my skill growth.

The ONLY clincher right now are some back pains I've been having. I got into an accident in may. Someone rear ended the van we were in on our way back from the airport, and since then I've been having some back pains. Saw the doctor this morning, had some x-rays done, and have a follow up on Thursday. The goal is to get everything in proper alignment, healed up, and make sure I'm fit to drive. I'll be heartbroken if I can't do any heavy driving, but I'll still be there in my FR-S cheering on everyone else.

Don't get discouraged. I was rear-ended 12 years ago, and my back was wrecked. I was at a stopped at a light and geezer hit me going at least 30 mph without braking

I slowly rehabbed with a lot of pool work, ibuprofen, warm bath therapy, and I started lifting weights (very gradually) to strengthen my back and supporting muscles. Within a month and a half the pain had subsided substantially and I was able to do all the things I used to do before...just a heads up, you will probably always have some residual pain at times.

[denkigrve]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

Don't get discouraged. I was rear-ended 12 years ago, and my back was wrecked. I was at a stopped at a light and geezer hit me going at least 30 mph without braking

I slowly rehabbed with a lot of pool work, ibuprofen, warm bath therapy, and I started lifting weights (very gradually) to strengthen my back and supporting muscles. Within a month and a half the pain had subsided substantially and I was able to do all the things I used to do before...just a heads up, you will probably always have some residual pain at times.

My backs okay. I just have sore spots that come and go. It's not TOO bad, just annoying. Watching my posture is the biggest thing that's helping. Also not sitting like some decrepit troll while using my computer is making a HUGE impact in the right direction.

I drove a bunch tonight and now that I've found a good seating position in the car all is well. I'm taking two big drives this weekend as well, so I'll know how the seats/suspension will impact it soon.

[denkigrve]

My Beatsonic fin arrived today, and my coworker and I spent 20 minutes in the garage obsessing over how to make sure it was centered perfectly. It looks okay to me on the car at this point, much better than the RC antenna. I don't even use the Radio though, so hopefully I'll find a way to just delete the entire thing at some point.

On the suspension front, RS*R now has my money, so those coils should be arriving soon to install on the car. I'm going to have D&M Auto Salon in Livermore, CA do the corner balancing. I'm also going to get some Enkei RP01s from them for auto-x/track usage. They should be there when the coilovers arrive. My Cusco strut bar is also in transit, and should be here on Friday-ish.

Everything is coming together quite nicely... This weekend is drive it all over the bay weekend, so I should be at or close to 1000 miles by Monday. This car is seriously something I can't stop obsessing over. I've even considered getting a second job so that way I can afford to buy more toys for the car. I'm waiting on doing any engine/exhaust modifications until after the ECU situation is figured out, and people do some more work that allows me to do some more homework before I start pouring money into it.

Man... I just can't stop... the FR-S really is a platform. I can't wait until mine is setup just how I want it to be.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by denkigrve

My Beatsonic fin arrived today, and my coworker and I spent 20 minutes in the garage obsessing over how to make sure it was centered perfectly. It looks okay to me on the car at this point, much better than the RC antenna. I don't even use the Radio though, so hopefully I'll find a way to just delete the entire thing at some point.

On the suspension front, RS*R now has my money, so those coils should be arriving soon to install on the car. I'm going to have D&M Auto Salon in Livermore, CA do the corner balancing. I'm also going to get some Enkei RP01s from them for auto-x/track usage. They should be there when the coilovers arrive. My Cusco strut bar is also in transit, and should be here on Friday-ish.

Everything is coming together quite nicely... This weekend is drive it all over the bay weekend, so I should be at or close to 1000 miles by Monday. This car is seriously something I can't stop obsessing over. I've even considered getting a second job so that way I can afford to buy more toys for the car. I'm waiting on doing any engine/exhaust modifications until after the ECU situation is figured out, and people do some more work that allows me to do some more homework before I start pouring money into it.

Man... I just can't stop... the FR-S really is a platform. I can't wait until mine is setup just how I want it to be.

You know we're going to need pics of all this after its installed right?

[denkigrve]

Just got a rather large box at my desk, opened it up and saw this:




Can't wait to put it on the car tonight.

[denkigrve]

Oh man another large box showed up on my desk...

RS*R Coilovers have landed! (This was a picture but I don't have it any longer and the link is busted)

[russv]

You're weekend is cutout for you.

[denkigrve]

So last night I met up with some folks that were at the car meet the night I picked up the car. They are a couple of friends that wanted to start a car blog. They do it in their spare time, and just love cars. The site is cargabs.com we spent the next 3 hours taking pictures of my car, and asking me questions about it, as well as just shooting the shit about cars.

They're gonna do a feature on the car when they get through all of the photos they took, and their writer puts his ideas down on paper. Overall it was fun. It was nice to just meet some new friends, and hang out for a bit. I've informed them of the upgrade path of the car, and they're gonna want to do a follow-up as well to see it and cover the changes.