How satisfied are you with your FR-S/BRZ?

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

Here's to another year (and more) of great things to come!

Couldn't agree more. I am amazed by all the friendships made as a result of this car and forum!

Even with the second best color, yours looks great.

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Couldn't agree more. I am amazed by all the friendships made as a result of this car and forum!

Even with the second best color, yours looks great.

Made me laugh...

*insert kim jong il pic here*

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Sport-Tech

^If you are thinking of eventually going for a Cayman, get in now before the 718s with their turbocharged 4-bangers hit - they sound like #$%^ . (Or buy used.)

All the latest dedicated Porsche publications are trying hard to play down this sound issue (basically saying it still sounds better than a Subaru... humm not too sure about that).

Chris Harris wrote a piece on the latest Top Gear Magazine and he was quite blunt in saying just buy the old car lol!

I feel I've made the right choice more than ever now knowing my short legs don't feel quite right driving a Porsche.

[slyphen]

I moved to seattle not long ago with no social connections in this area. Now nearly all my close friends here are BRZ/FRS owners. It took me a while to pull the trigger, even a long reddit post about if i'm making a good decision buying a new car. I dont regret it a bit.

[PollosHermanos]

After about two years I decided to use the car in the way they intended ... at the track.

I've been out at three separate events now and it's been amazing. I'm hooked real bad and this car has really allowed me to find a passion I didn't know I had.

Now the wife has agreed to let me keep the BRZ as a 3rd car for funzies only. Now I just need to build a garage or buy a new house ...

Used to get tired of cars real fast and it just hasn't happened with the BRZ. No ragrets at all.

[SLVRSRFR]

Yeah, it could use a bit more power. We all know that. I also knew that coming into it, but honestly it's not as bad as some people make it out to be.

I had a 400hp+ 335i before this, so yes there was an adjustment period, but I don't find myself missing that power any more after 2 years. As some people said, it was a liability. That car almost got me into trouble too many times, and having that kind of power under your foot is like a little voice in your head, constantly saying "go ahead; stomp on it".

As happy as I am with this car over-all, I have a few minor problems that nag at me:

-I have the squeaky windows when it's damp outside, and my glass is now scored on the driver's side from that.
-My windows periodically freeze in the winter.
-The 2013 Pioneer head-unit is one of the worst head-units I have ever personally used, and Pioneer should be ashamed to put their name on such a shitty product. It's hard to use, the menus are poorly laid out, the graphics look dated and cheap, the hard buttons are too difficult to use while the vehicle is moving because they're too small and I often miss and hit a "soft" button on the screen by accident because they put them RIGHT BESIDE the hard buttons, the touch-screen is slow to respond and sometimes doesn't respond at all, and good luck with the microscopic volume knob.
-Bluetooth connection seems to be fine for me, but Bluetooth audio will randomly cut in and out every so often.
-Interior looked cheap from the factory, but a few changes on my part have spruced that up (namely the awful, insanely-cheap-looking silver trim). Has anyone ever played with the plastic A-pillar cover inside the car? It feels like it's held on there by pressure alone, and you can move it around easily with your bare hand.
-Passenger window switch on driver's door has to be pushed VERY deliberately to engage the auto up/down feature; sometimes have to try 3 or 4 times before it finally works. Driver's side does not have this problem, and the passenger door switch itself is also fine.
-Seat-belt retractor is a pain in the ass and sometimes locks itself in the worst position possible, and that stupid little leather strap they put on there to hold your seat-belt is a cheap fix, and pops out easily. The snap to hold it on to the seat is also rusting a bit already.
-The little orange light in my driver's side heated seat switch burnt out, and you have to replace the whole switch, so now I have to live with that or cough up $50 plus labour to replace.
-No arm-rest, although I've gotten somewhat used to this now.
-Sun-visors and vanity mirrors look like they came from a 10-year-old Corolla (and the light in my driver's side one is already acting up, plus the vinyl around the mirror has cracked), as well as the cheap-looking, cheap-feeling, and extremely dim main interior light. I've seen economy cars with better.
-Trunk light may as well not be there because it does nothing to help illuminate the trunk.
-I have a massive stone chip by my headlight because the paint is flimsy.
-I have the crickets and there really is no known fix, which is maddening for a car that has been out for 4 years now. They should have an updated part by now, but they don't, and according to Subaru, the crickets are "normal operating procedure" for this vehicle. Really? It's normal for a new-ish performance/sports car with a sophisticated fuel injection system to sound like it has a squealing accessory belt??
-My A/C condenser chirps every time it cycles over, which can get incredibly annoying if you're sitting stationary in the car with the A/C on for a long period of time. The windshield also seems to fog up at the drop of a dime.
-Blind spots are tricky, but I got a wide-angle interior rear-view mirror that alleviates most of my concern. Should have had a standard back-up camera, or at least blind spot detection.
-Stock tires are shite, and stock wheels are ugly and do not suit the car and also sit way too deep in the wheel-wells, even for OEM. Problem solved by replacing wheels and tires.
-Too quiet from stock but that's nothing an exhaust didn't fix, and the 2013 OEM exhaust tips are pitiful. I also plugged the stupid "sound generator" tube because WTF?
-OEM tail-lights are ugly as hell and have the condensation issue, which I did not personally experience, because I changed my lights within 5 days of getting my car. The OEM ones are just nasty and cheapen the whole look of the car; car should have come with an all-red lens like the 2017 models that are coming up, instead of the clear-lens/chrome housing BS that belongs in the late '90s/early '00s.
-Factory BRZ spoiler is disgusting and looks like an after-thought. Another problem solved by doing a trunk swap.

Other than that, all of which is pretty trivial, I really have nothing major to complain about. The handling is, of course, stellar, and this comes from a guy who has owned 2 E90 BMW's, a Porsche 944, multiple 240SX's, an FC3S RX-7, and a few other cars that were renowned for their handling. The fuel economy is great; I'm averaging about 9.3L/100km right now, compared to about 13L/100 in the BMW. It's actually way better in the snow than I was expecting it to be. The shifter is sublime. I love the blank steering wheel from the factory with no buttons. I'm 6'5 and change, and I fit in the car very comfortably, although the back seat is now even more useless than it was to start. BUT, the cargo capabilities are better than I expected. I was not expecting to fit my gigantic 22"-frame mountain bike in the car, but I did just that (with the front wheel removed, of course). 3 cottage trips so far too, and I can fit everything, even though the cooler has to go in through the side door. Great long-distance car too, with a few stops to stretch. The car attracts attention like crazy, especially now after lowering and wheels, but even when it was still bone-stock, I would get thumbs up and comments everywhere. The aftermarket support is endless, and this is one car that you really can make "your own" because of the amount of differing options for every possible part. I can't remember another car that had so many different options when it comes to things like exhaust, or tail-lights, etc. When I was in the E90 community, half of the cars at our meets looked exactly the same, because the options for mods are comparatively limited. And, of course, the wonderful brother/sister-hood of the twins! We have the "twin wave", like the "Jeep wave", and that is pretty unique.

Now that I've got it looking the way I want, a lot of my initial concerns have been alleviated. I'm going to wait until my warranty is done before addressing anything else engine-related; then it's time for MO POWA!!

Over-all, 2 years and 77,000km later, I am still a happy camper. She still puts a smile on my face every day, and I still turn around and look at it every time I walk away. If you don't do that, you've bought the wrong car!

[spralwers]

I took a 3 year lease on the car, ends this dec. But I was mentally done with the car last year I barely drive it anymore.


It's really just a mismatch between the car's handling purpose and the 30k+ miles of straight highway driving I do a year. The car's suspension and road noise fatigues me greatly, unfortunately this was my first foray into a sports car and it seemed smooth enough on a 10 min test drive that I wouldn't think ahead and notice these issues.


I had real fun in the winters up here in MA with snow tires. Going crazy in the snowy parking lots, I eventually got a crazy intuition of how to handle this thing. And the occasional time I'd slightly lose traction while driving, those instincts kicked in and it was easy enough to control the car. We've had some crazy snowstorms over the last couple years and this car handled those easily.

Some day, if I live in an area where at least half my driving is low speed twisty roads, I'll pick one of these guys up again. I took a trip to Japan early May and that gave me all the perspective I needed to get the most out of this car.


Edit: OH, I forgot to mention, it was extremely cool driving a brand new FRS around at age 23 huehuehue

[everythingsablur]

Originally Posted by SLVRSRFR

-Interior looked cheap from the factory, but a few changes on my part have spruced that up (namely the awful, insanely-cheap-looking silver trim). Has anyone ever played with the plastic A-pillar cover inside the car? It feels like it's held on there by pressure alone, and you can move it around easily with your bare hand.

I think that houses an airbag. I assumed it's like that so that it would blow off in the event the side air bag deployed. That said, I've seen better A-pillars, but I'm honestly mostly trying to see around it and not looking at it. 😀

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Tapatalk

[Norcalft86]

i love my frs. the only thing i miss is the sound of vtec. stupid right? lol thank god i still have my ep3 for my honda fix

[Alltezza]

Originally Posted by Norcalft86

i love my frs. the only thing i miss is the sound of vtec. stupid right? lol thank god i still have my ep3 for my honda fix

I miss VTEC too......

[NyC Zn6]

waiting for a new supra so i can part ways....love the car but too much issues as stated in this thread.

[FX86]

it's so slow and i can't take it anymore so i need to get something faster like a mustang

[mazeroni]

Originally Posted by SLVRSRFR

It feels like it's held on there by pressure alone, and you can move it around easily with your bare hand.

I run my radar detector wire behind the a-pillar trim and into the glovebox. Yes, they are pressure clips. Give it a good squeeze top and bottom and it comes off. You can put the wire up under the headliner as well. Nothing to remove, it just sits in the gap then runs down the pillar, behind the dash piece. Completely hidden! + 1 for cheap interiors being useful!


My issue...

Does the engine have to sound so shitty? /rant

[SLVRSRFR]

Originally Posted by mazeroni

I run my radar detector wire behind the a-pillar trim and into the glovebox. Yes, they are pressure clips. Give it a good squeeze top and bottom and it comes off. You can put the wire up under the headliner as well. Nothing to remove, it just sits in the gap then runs down the pillar, behind the dash piece. Completely hidden! + 1 for cheap interiors being useful!


My issue...

Does the engine have to sound so shitty? /rant

A previous poster mentioned that it's probably to make it easier for the air-bag to pop out, when necessary. So I can see the logic behind that.

But still, I don't remember having a car where you can grab the A pillar cover and freely move it around like that. If you don't touch it, it's fine, and most people likely won't ever touch their A pillar over the course of ownership, but once you notice it, it can't be UN-noticed...

Anyways. To solve your second problem, get an exhaust. Doesn't even have to be expensive. I literally have a $150 single-exit track-pipe muffler delete on mine, and it made a world of difference. I put it on less than a week after I got the car, as I couldn't stand how QUIET it was from stock. Over 2 years on now, and I still have not tired of the sound. It's intoxicating.

I've literally had guys with 4-figure titanium exhaust systems say that my car sounds better. LOL