Consumer Report now lists the FR-S and BRZ as "Unreliable Vehicles"!

[BlaineWasHere]

Consumer Reports is written by sheep for sheep.

[feedbag]

I don't understand why you're all going crazy and raging about Consumer Reports?

The twins have a shitload of issues and the manufacturers are being pretty awful about fixing them. The cars have been on the market for a year and a half and they still haven't managed to produce a HPFP that doesn't make your car sound like a 10 year old hooptie. DI / cam issues much? How about the fact that our car, which has poor low end torque thus requiring you to wring out the engine, has an ECU map which causes detonation upon any sort of rapid throttle change -- including lifting? Or that there's a fixed version of the ECU but dealers aren't allowed to flash it? Tail light condensation. GPS issues. Rattles / squeaking from speaker grills, windows, the rear deck, etc. Windows scratching themselves or not sealing. The list goes on and on.

Toyota / Subaru absolutely, 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt deserve those reliability ratings for the twins, it'd be a crime to tell uninformed buyers (see: readers of CR) otherwise.

[Braces]

The CR article is not surprising ... almost to be expected. They look at the individual parts of the cars assessing build quality. Do they understand that this is a 1st year car that was purpously built light weight to handle well? Cars that are built light weight have to trim weight off of everything .... therefore the rattles, creaks, questionable build quality. Do they care .... NO. When most of these 1st year issues are taken care of .... I'm sure the CR ratings will improve. Until then .... who cares.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by feedbag

I don't understand why you're all going crazy and raging about Consumer Reports?

I don't think you read the thread, the vast majority of the people who posted so far have said they don't give a fuck and Consumer Reports is irrelevant when you're buying a sports car.

I also think you've got a case of the chicken little sky is falling internet forum syndrome, most 86's don't experience the problems you describe (aside from chirping, which is debatable as to whether or not it's a problem) and most are happy with their car. You make it sound like if you buy one of these you won't be able to drive it because it'll be in for service 75% of the time.

There are definitely issues and I don't doubt CR's rating based on what they survey but the burning question in my mind is why haven't you got rid of yours?

[Tromatic]

Originally Posted by wrussi

hey guys stop being fanboys, customer reports is right on most of its claims.. this car has more rattles than a 98 hyundai.

Mine is one of the quietest cars I've ever had.

the radio sucks (2013 bespoke is pretty much useless unless you have an iphone 4s. c'mon toyota!) and speakers rattle.

I knew it sucked after doing some research before I bought the car. Based on specs alone, it's a POS. My speakers don't rattle unless I am driving them beyond their ability, but then I'm not interested in having the people around me enjoy what I consider to be music. It's not that had to understand.

the chriping/crickets on the engine while harmless make a new car look pretty bad!

BFD. Cars 4 times the price of this one have had issues.

the engine RPM dips while using AC.

Seriously? What car does not do that when the compressor starts? You work for CR, right?

Originally Posted by stevemp5

Im not surprised.. piece of shit quality build!

Don't be a drive-by, tell us more. Two types of people seem to own this car, with no middle ground. People who knew going in what they were buying on one side, and idiots on the other.

[feedbag]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

I don't think you read the thread, the vast majority of the people who posted so far have said they don't give a fuck and Consumer Reports is irrelevant when you're buying a sports car.

I also think you've got a case of the chicken little sky is falling internet forum syndrome, most 86's don't experience the problems you describe (aside from chirping, which is debatable as to whether or not it's a problem) and most are happy with their car. You make it sound like if you buy one of these you won't be able to drive it because it'll be in for service 75% of the time.

There are definitely issues and I don't doubt CR's rating based on what they survey but the burning question in my mind is why haven't you got rid of yours?

I've experienced every single issue in my above post except for the DI / CEL and the windows scratching themselves. I still own it because it's a fun car to drive and I like it. (and it's somewhat issue free after collectively having spent two weeks in service)

Regardless of my personal opinion of the car, CR's opinion on their reliability is absolutely warranted. You guys seem to think that if an issue doesn't directly affect the drivetrain then it doesn't count against a car for reliability, but the fact of the matter is that every time you have to unnecessarily spend a couple of hours taking your car to the dealership to keep your car in the same condition you assumed it'd be in when you spent ~$30K on it, it counts against the cars reliability -- particularly in the criteria that CR has always judged products on.

Yes, it's the first model year. Yes, they skimped on certain things to make the car more lightweight and affordable. That doesn't mean that CR should be making allowances based on that. If they gave car X a 10/10 on reliability, and they gave the twins a 10/10 also, any reader would make the reasonable assumption that both cars are going to need to be taken in for service equally as much. This isn't rocket science. Go poke around in the Issues / Warranty forum and you'll see that the Twins have a LOT of common issues that require warranty work, and it's not like you're just rolling the dice on what you're going to get either. A lot of the issues pop up extremely reliably.

By the way, quit acting like this is a Bad Thing. If Subaru and Toyota start taking more heat for this stuff, maybe they'll start being more prompt about fixing things and supporting their paying customers.

[stevemp5]

Originally Posted by Tromatic

Mine is one of the quietest cars I've ever had.

the radio sucks (2013 bespoke is pretty much useless unless you have an iphone 4s. c'mon toyota!) and speakers rattle.

I knew it sucked after doing some research before I bought the car. Based on specs alone, it's a POS. My speakers don't rattle unless I am driving them beyond their ability, but then I'm not interested in having the people around me enjoy what I consider to be music. It's not that had to understand.

the chriping/crickets on the engine while harmless make a new car look pretty bad!

BFD. Cars 4 times the price of this one have had issues.

the engine RPM dips while using AC.

Seriously? What car does not do that when the compressor starts? You work for CR, right?




Don't be a drive-by, tell us more. Two types of people seem to own this car, with no middle ground. People who knew going in what they were buying on one side, and idiots on the other.

You forget the third person.. the person Know everything about everything!..

[forzajuve]

I have had none of the issues you are having and many others have. What do you people do to your cars?

[thill]

I bet the crickets are the main culprit.. Crazy as outside of the crickets my car is rock solid. No other rattles or squeaks..

And yes the touchscreen radio sucks, but come on people! It is a fu%$ radio! Most stock radios suck...

[tennisfreak]

Love my car but she has issues (none severe and I'm too lazy to take it in and get them fixed plus I dont like other peoples hands on my car).

Crickets (come and go)
Dash rattles (come and go)
Right door speaker rattle on low bass sounds (persistent)
Rear deck popping (persistent)
Rear taillight condensation (only happened last time I washed the car but when away quickly)
Weird motor vibration and smell one time ~1000 miles. After shutting the car off and restarting it stopped and has not come back since. WTF was that????????????????

Out of my Tacoma, Corolla, Prius, Mazda 3, Lexus RX350, Ranger, Lincoln MKZ I would say this is the 2nd most unreliable/problematic car behind the Lincoln MKZ.

Not surprised to see the ratings for our car take a dive.

[GTHachiRoku]

No issues 5000 miles in, and most of that has been sideways. My shift knob started to rattle a bit at higher rpms, so I tightened it one full turn and now it's silent.

[Spartan65]

I miss my Hot Lava FR-S, but either way it was and still is a Lemon.

[DylanFRS]

Consumer Reports is spot on. I love my car along with all of its flaws, but I wouldn't recommend it to the average consumer. Nor would I tell anyone that I think it is reliable.

[jblmr2]

We shouldn't be jumping on CR. Their reliability ratings are based on surveys of owners like us, and are compared to the problems reported by owners of other makes and models. Obviously, we as owners, have reported more problems.

By the way, just because we chose a sports car doesn't mean we should expect lower levels of quality than the guy who spent $25K on a Camry or a Legacy.