New here? Come say hi =)

[North_GA_FRS]

Originally Posted by SCIONMONTREAL

Friend of mine got it with the TRD exhaust ... made the car sound like a Migraine drone ... haha ! some people like it though he does !

The FRS I purchased had the TRD catback already installed. It sounds great but 3 hours on the highway and the headache doesn't stop for hours after exiting the car. If I were to have purchased the catback, I would have purchased something else for 2 reasons: 1. Better values out there. 2. I love driving the car but the drone between 2-3k RPM (typical driving RPM I might add) is bad.

You can solve the drone with a Helmholtz resonator but there are less expensive catbacks with the Helmholtz resonator already integrated.

I didn't want to junk the TRD catback, so for now, I have sound dampened the entire car, which has helped tremendously. Not only is the drone less noticeable, daily driving is far more civilized.

[North_GA_FRS]

Originally Posted by Roto'sFRS

I purchased my new FRS two weeks ago. Loving it. I also appreciate the great resource that is this forum. Spent a lot of time reading the board before making my purchase and I have been amazed by the amount of information available here.


Jeramie

Congrats on the new car. I was lurking here for a few months while I was researching and taking test drives. Not only was I overwhelmed by how much information is available, but also very pleased to see how friendly everyone on this forum is. Some of the forums for other cars I was considering were not so friendly.

[MX73_GT86]

Hey guys


On Monday June 7th I bought a new 2015 FR-S in pearl white.



I am 23, single, originally from Atlanta, Georgia.



I have been longing for this car since it was first introduced. At the time (2013) I was graduating with my BS in nuclear engineering from Georgia Tech and decided to go to grad school rather than take a job. I spent the past 2 years in school making a paltry $20,000 research assistant salary and obviously could not afford a new FR-S. But that didn’t stop me from wanting one.



In August 2013 I was at a fair on the quad of Virginia Tech and the local dealership had parked on the field a new Hot Lava FR-S. I had seen the car in person a couple of times before then, and read all about it in the magazines, but that was the moment it took me. I was smitten. My roommates tried to pull me away from the car after a few minutes but I didn’t want to move. There was a raffle to win a car from the dealership and I pulled out my wallet and lustily threw every dollar I had after it. I went to the dealer shortly thereafter to drive the car, and loved it. Just couldn’t afford it. I graduated with my master’s in nuclear engineering this May and took a very solid job as a reactor operator with Duke Energy near Raleigh, North Carolina.



On my automotive history: I have owned a number of beaters over the years, mostly to flip: 1993 Olds Cutlass Ciera, 1986 Pontiac 6000 STE, 1995 Toyota T100, 1982 Datsun 720, 1993 Buick Park Ave, 2002 Chevy Blazer. Still have my first car, a 1996 Olds Cutlass Ciera wagon (I was 16 and I had $1000), which is great for hauling stuff around and makes owning a car like the FR-S more practical.


In 2012 I bought a 1985 MX73 Toyota Cressida. It is a straight car. I bought it from an old Toyota mechanic who rebuilt the engine (5M). I entirely rebuilt the chassis (every bushing, ball joint, you name it), swapped the transmission to a 5-speed, and swapped the rear to an LSD. Also, Celica Supra wheels. This was my daily driver before the FR-S. Awesome, amazing car. No plans to sell. In grad school I owned a 2005 ap2 S2000 for about a year. I bought it cheap with a salvage title and rebuilt it mostly out of frustration for not being able to afford an FR-S. Great car just not my style for a number of reasons (convertible, high-strung nature). Couldn’t force myself to fall for it the way I had for the FR-S.



I have put 2,400 miles on the car so far.


Impressions: This is a fantastically behaved car. I have no real desire for more power. Anyone who says this car is underpowered, in my opinion, doesn’t ‘get it’. I consistently drive with stability control in sport mode. Cornering is amazingly flat and the chassis is damn near perfectly balanced and neutral. This impresses and satisfies me more than high skidpad numbers ever will. And that just about sums up the magic of this car right there.



Ride is very compliant for such a handler. Seat is supportive and well bolstered. Interior material quality is very good despite a hint of hard plastic cheapness in the center stack, and that’s big in my book.



Room for improvement: Steering wheel could telescope further toward me. This could be solved with an aftermarket wheel. Torque dip on either side of 4000 rpm is noticeable to me, particularly coming from the near-perfect linearity of the 5MGE in my Cressida. I read that a tune and headers can help this, but I am hesitant about voiding the warranty. Again, no desire for more power, just that feeling of linearity would be nice. I have Toyota front and rear emblems for the car which will be painted black and installed Monday.



Also test drove: 2014 V6 Mustang (new) in Sept. 2014. Car was not bad and very cheap at $15,900 before TTT. 2015 Genesis R-spec coupe: had many of the things that I like from an objective standpoint like good seats and linear engine pull but failed to come across as fun and tossable. 2015 Mustang GT (new bodystyle, slightly used) I drove this back to back with the FR-S shortly before buying. The new Mustang is very tight and controlled-feeling but still too big and isolated for my tastes. Wish the 2016 Camaro was on sale to compare, but pretty sure it would not have swayed me from the FR-S.



I will stop here. Sorry for the information overload. Thanks to everyone who participates in this forum; I have found forums to be awesome resources for helping me get the most out of the cars I have owned over the years. Still have a lot to learn about this one.

[HKz]

Originally Posted by HKz

Hey all!

Hakeem here from Arizona. Glad to finally join I got my 2013 Hot Lava FR-S in November of 2012, feels like forever now, but she is definitely a keeper...sadly she has an automatic tranny, one of the many disappointing "compromises" from once being married, haha.. While I would love to have one with a MT the automatic actually has proved to be very enjoyable especially since it is my DD and I am on the road commuting for at least an hour a day.

I have only owned 4 cyl Japanese coupes, had a 240SX, CRX, MR2 and Celica GT, so when the FR-S/BRZ was announced I immediately knew I wanted one and boy, I have not been disappointed at all, I love everything about the car. Looking to pay the FR-S off hopefully soon and just keep it for my son when he turns 16 one day and then work my ass off to get the new Supra/FT1 if it ever comes out.

My car is completely stock right now, I was considering modding it a bit, maybe adding a supercharger, but now that I'm divorced, I'm slightly torn about trying to get one with a MT, but I don't think financially that would make sense since my baby has 30,000 miles already and I do want to work towards that Supra one day :p the automatic has been surprisingly really nice, shifts are crisp and quick and while the gearing is a little longer than the set on the MT it isn't too noticeable. I’ll hope to collaborate and learn as much as I can on this forum about the AT for the FR-S to see what I will be able to accomplish.

Well hilariously just a few weeks ago on my way home for lunch, a woman in an older Impala ran a red light while I was making a left and made a mess of my girl.



Totaled. She was about to hit 50 K too ...

...but at the same time

So my dilemma with having to lug that automatic is finally over!....but meh, it does somewhat screw up my original plans as I was hoping the FT1/Supra replacement would arrive as soon as I paid the FRS off..first world problems up the ass.

And I don't mean my previous comment regarding the auto gearbox in any bad way. In fact for my two cents, the auto gearbox was actually pretty nice, a lot better than what most reviewers made it out to be; but the manual is obviously what the car is about. My issue was looking at and using that automatic reminded me of my poor life decisions everyday

Fortunately everything went smooth in the accident. A tow driver was right behind me when it all happened so he was able to tell the cops exactly what happened, gave me ride back to work, towed my car to my insurance co's shop and I was totalled and settled within the week.

While I wanted another FRS, I did do some test driving for the new Ecoboost Mustang as that had been the only under $30 K coupe I had yet to try. With the redesign, hype and since some (questionable) ex-86 owners like subaruwrxfan got one, it was worth taking a peak even though I usually have the same conclusion for the current Detroit 3 muscle cars. Though the current gen Mustang looks great, got a great interior upgrade and has solid power, it still feels not as tight and snug compared to the FRS when it comes to the driving aspects. And while the Ecoboost makes the Mustang a bit quicker in the straights, it by no means felt any quicker. Also, while our FA20 has that torque dip in the middle of the band, at least it never feels breathless at the end of the the RPM range like that Ecoboost...I know for these modern day turbo setups they purposely tune much of the power in the lowest revs but why on a sports car or rather why such aggressive eco tuning?

So yeah, I still think the FRS has no real competition for under $30 K in terms of driving aspects. I had a great experience with mine and had literally zero issues come up other than the famous chirps, so I gladly ordered a manual 2016 Steel FRS through my local dealer!

Drive on friends

[wjr1991]

Hey guys! I just got my Ultramarine 2014 FR-S (Yes, MT) and promptly drove it from Texas to Maine. 5k miles in a month, and I think I'm in love.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by wjr1991

Hey guys! I just got my Ultramarine 2014 FR-S (Yes, MT) and promptly drove it from Texas to Maine. 5k miles in a month, and I think I'm in love.

Great lighting in that pic!

[wjr1991]

Thank you! Instagram did provide a little saturation boost, but that was closer to what it looked like in person than the original photo was. Even an iPotato is still a potato.

[cameron10377]

I'm new here as well. My name is Cameron and my wife and I sold our Nissan 350 Z and bought a 2013 FRS. We live in Northeast Alabama .We are looking for advice on how to do some work on it. I'm especially interested in finding out how to get the right rims and tires (19 inch) to help in achieving the slammed look that so many FRS seem to have. I plan on putting an air ride suspension system to aid in lifting it up and down when in hard to maneuver areas. Thanks for having me here and I'm looking forward to learning all I can.

[Crashdummy]

hello all!

I am Scott from Howards Grove, WI!

Picked this nice 6sp RS 1.0 on June 30th, put about a 1000 fun miles on it already.



I was looking for something new and one you don't see everyday, that's when I came across the RS 1.0. For the past 2 months, I have been lurking on this forum, reading up on it before I pulled the trigger and now #714 is mine. I have to say you all really know how to make a guy want to spend some money! Such a lot of great looking cars on here!
So I have a pretty good mod list worked up, lots of parts on the way!


Laterz

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Crashdummy

hello all!

I am Scott from Howards Grove, WI!

Picked this nice 6sp RS 1.0 on June 30th, put about a 1000 fun miles on it already.

Congrats, Scott! Looks fantastic. My wife wants an RS-1. Take your time to enjoy it. It's a driving masterpiece in its stock form. Give yourself time to let that sink in. For instance, you'll read all the stuff about clunky transmission blah blah...

It literally takes 10 Kmi to break in. Baby steps.

[wjr1991]

Congrats, Scott! It came down to a RS1.0 or my base Ultramarine for me... the yellow looks amazing, it just doesn't fit my style.

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Congrats, Scott! Looks fantastic. My wife wants an RS-1. Take your time to enjoy it. It's a driving masterpiece in its stock form. Give yourself time to let that sink in. For instance, you'll read all the stuff about clunky transmission blah blah...

It literally takes 10 Kmi to break in. Baby steps.

I've been slightly bugged by the clunky shifting too. (Heck of an improvement over my old Silverado I had, though!) Good to know I'm not quite broken in yet!

[Crashdummy]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Congrats, Scott! Looks fantastic. My wife wants an RS-1. Take your time to enjoy it. It's a driving masterpiece in its stock form. Give yourself time to let that sink in. For instance, you'll read all the stuff about clunky transmission blah blah...

It literally takes 10 Kmi to break in. Baby steps.

thanks!

I am sticking to appearance and convenience mod for now, till I get a feel for the car.

[Crashdummy]

Originally Posted by wjr1991

Congrats, Scott! It came down to a RS1.0 or my base Ultramarine for me... the yellow looks amazing, it just doesn't fit my style.



I've been slightly bugged by the clunky shifting too. (Heck of an improvement over my old Silverado I had, though!) Good to know I'm not quite broken in yet!

thanks

My break in style is drive it like you stole it!!

[vbaez24]

Hello everyone. Rookie here from Miami, FL. My gf and i recently got into a 2014 Raven FRS and i love it! It's mainly hers but I'm gonna be modding it and whatnot. I ride a 78 Yamaha XS750S and have a project e30 as well. Last car was a Mazda RX8 and I gotta say..the handling on both these cars are amazing!
Looking forward to learning about these cars!