Car Shopping - "Fun Daily Driver"

[R_E_L]

yeah based on your needs (sportiness, practicallity, ~35k) the STI and Lancer Evolution are what fits those catagories best with the exception of RWD. otherwise the germans are the only ones really making practical yet driver focused RWD sedans, and they unfortunately come with the expensive cost of repair once the warranty is out.

[Toyota86Fan]

Originally Posted by R_E_L

yeah based on your needs (sportiness, practicallity, ~35k) the STI and Lancer Evolution are what fits those catagories best with the exception of RWD. otherwise the germans are the only ones really making practical yet driver focused RWD sedans, and they unfortunately come with the expensive cost of repair once the warranty is out.

Yeah - the WRX (didn't drive in the STI tonight) definitely fit the needs.

There was one thing interesting - my sales guy mentioned that he definitely likes the 5-MT better than the 6-MT - so he recommended the WRX over the STI.

I'm tempted to break out a discussion of 5MT vs. 6MT into a new thread so as not to hijack my own discussion. I searched through the forums - didn't see such a thing. If anyone knows of a good discussion on it already on the forums point me that way - otherwise I'll kick one off later this weekend.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Toyota86Fan

Yeah - the WRX (didn't drive in the STI tonight) definitely fit the needs.

There was one thing interesting - my sales guy mentioned that he definitely likes the 5-MT better than the 6-MT - so he recommended the WRX over the STI.

I'm tempted to break out a discussion of 5MT vs. 6MT into a new thread so as not to hijack my own discussion. I searched through the forums - didn't see such a thing. If anyone knows of a good discussion on it already on the forums point me that way - otherwise I'll kick one off later this weekend.

I think the deal with the 5mt vs STI 6mt is that the STI's 6 gears are so much closer spaced and shorter as well so that you have both higher cruise rpm and a more shifting to do.

I would expect the new WRX to have a 6 speed with slightly wider spread than the current STI to make it more street friendly and all. Personally I like shifting and I'm a nerd so it makes me happy to see more gears, but I can understand why some people want less gears, less shifting is certainly easier (but then, why not just get an automatic that shifts for you? :P).

[Toyota86Fan]

Originally Posted by diirk

That's exactly what I was thinking. Havng owned one and a WRX before that.



It takes a lot of HP to get an AWD to drift. But if you hit a track day, you will love it. The WRX or STI go where you want them too. They start sliding in a corner just feed it more gas and it hooks up. It's really a ton of fun.

After tonight's great experience I went looking around YouTube and found a video of Petter Solberg drifting a stock Subaru STI. Pretty cool!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmy3AXqhILI"]STi Drift Session by Petter Solberg - YouTube[/ame]

[einzlr]

^^Also check out Ken Block's vids

[diirk]

Originally Posted by Toyota86Fan

Yeah - the WRX (didn't drive in the STI tonight) definitely fit the needs.

There was one thing interesting - my sales guy mentioned that he definitely likes the 5-MT better than the 6-MT - so he recommended the WRX over the STI.

I'm tempted to break out a discussion of 5MT vs. 6MT into a new thread so as not to hijack my own discussion. I searched through the forums - didn't see such a thing. If anyone knows of a good discussion on it already on the forums point me that way - otherwise I'll kick one off later this weekend.

I've owned both. They're both fantastic machines. I don't know that I have a preference between the 5mt or the 6mt. The WRX did get better mileage then the STI, but that's to be expected. The performance of the STI stock is obviously better, and I really liked the ability to adjust the center diff. If you're just looking to play around the WRX will be more than enough and is super tunable. If you're planning a lot of track time I'd suggest the STI, it's more durable from that standpoint.

I'm happy to answer any questions about them.

[Toyota86Fan]

Originally Posted by diirk

I've owned both. They're both fantastic machines. I don't know that I have a preference between the 5mt or the 6mt. The WRX did get better mileage then the STI, but that's to be expected. The performance of the STI stock is obviously better, and I really liked the ability to adjust the center diff. If you're just looking to play around the WRX will be more than enough and is super tunable. If you're planning a lot of track time I'd suggest the STI, it's more durable from that standpoint.

I'm happy to answer any questions about them.

I will definitely take you up on that!

The track time questions is really up in the air. I'm still reading and processing the threads in the track day section. The costs seem to vary pretty heavily and I haven't really seen something akin to what I'd be looking for - a few hours on a clear track to just run the car and get a feel for how it handles and work my way through the turns. I'm not sure that I'm interested in multi-car races just yet - I'm nowhere near skilled enough and feel like I'd be a danger to the cars around me until I have a good amount of track experience under my belt.

I poked around google a bit and found http://www.clubwrx.net/. If you or anyone else have good links for JDM parts vendors or other community boards I would be very grateful.

[diirk]

NASIOC is by far the largest Subaru community. Clubwrx is also decent. Between the two, there's tons of info available. And NASIOC also has some BRZ threads too.

[einzlr]

Originally Posted by Toyota86Fan

I will definitely take you up on that!

The track time questions is really up in the air. I'm still reading and processing the threads in the track day section. The costs seem to vary pretty heavily and I haven't really seen something akin to what I'd be looking for - a few hours on a clear track to just run the car and get a feel for how it handles and work my way through the turns. I'm not sure that I'm interested in multi-car races just yet - I'm nowhere near skilled enough and feel like I'd be a danger to the cars around me until I have a good amount of track experience under my belt.

I poked around google a bit and found http://www.clubwrx.net/. If you or anyone else have good links for JDM parts vendors or other community boards I would be very grateful.

That's good thinking being considerate of other drivers, but renting an entire track for yourself would be prohibitively expensive. What you want is a lapping day in a novice group with an instructor. There *are* other cars on the track, but it's not a race; everyone is driving for himself within his own abilities. Driving with an instructor has myriad advantages - you learn both proper driving technique as well as learning your car, and... it's much more fun (and safer!) than bumbling around on your own. Ask in the track section and/or your regional section how to find clubs in your area and get started.

[Toyota86Fan]

We had the pleasure of putting 20 miles on a Raven FR-S AT this morning.

My wife thought the car was a little too tiny for her own taste, however, she agreed that it would "work in a pinch" for our little family. Our little guy easily fit in the back seat; she is a lot shorter so it worked out okay.

I found the driver's seat to be alright once adjusted to its minimum height maximum rear position. I will have to drive it again as it was just too exciting to really be nitpicking details on this first test drive.

The paddle shifter / "fake manual" technology on the FR-S and the Subaru Forester/Legacy have a snappy feel. I'm sure I may feel differently after I learn to drive a stick, however, for a guy who coming from AT with zero input control it's a total blast! I noticed a very distinct difference between the FR-S and the Camry/Corolla - the Camry/Corolla definitely had a spongier "fake manual" that hesitated when changing gears after my input. Can anyone "technologically in-the-know" confirm that the FR-S has the Subaru shifting technology in addition to the Boxer Engine? The difference was very pronounced.

My son repeatedly told us on the way home that driving in the FR-S was "like being in a roller coaster". I got so absorbed into the car that we missed the turn off back to the dealership twice! It definitely recaptured that feel I have missed since driving the AE86. The coolest part - it has that feel even though I kept it under 3,000 RPM the whole time out of respect for whoever actually buys it.

I am still really new to driving a sporty coupe so I have to ask - how do you guys back into a parking spot? The rear pillar is in a really awkward place and I wasn't quite sure about how to best position the side mirrors. I'm sure I can practice it once I have the car - but it was quite the awkward moment in both the tC and the FR-S when I had to re-park the car at the dealership.

It's tough to rank the FR-S against the WRX directly because I didn't actually drive the WRX. The main differences were the FR-S and its handling versus the WRX and its practicality for family driving. I am going to leave them as a dead heat for now because I really liked them both.

The wife and I had a brief side conversation today - what if we buy the FR-S now and the WRX later as the family car - that's how much we liked them both.

I really want to drive a BRZ too - I want to feel that difference in suspension for myself.

[einzlr]

^^I'm envious that they let you test drive one. Around here that's completely out of the question

Don't worry too much about finding a BRZ to test drive; the differences only express themselves at the limit. For street driving, it comes to which features you prefer (leather vs cloth seats etc).

Parking is like you said; after a while of driving a car you get a feel for where its corners are. Before that you just have to go real slow

Congrats on your test drive; good to hear you had so much fun!

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Toyota86Fan

The paddle shifter / "fake manual" technology on the FR-S and the Subaru Forester/Legacy have a snappy feel. I'm sure I may feel differently after I learn to drive a stick, however, for a guy who coming from AT with zero input control it's a total blast! I noticed a very distinct difference between the FR-S and the Camry/Corolla - the Camry/Corolla definitely had a spongier "fake manual" that hesitated when changing gears after my input. Can anyone "technologically in-the-know" confirm that the FR-S has the Subaru shifting technology in addition to the Boxer Engine? The difference was very pronounced.

I think it's just the usual 6 speed Toyota gearbox found on a bunch of cars, but the manual mode is programmed to well, actually listen to your commands. lol. I've driven a newer Camry and the only thing the Manual mode does is change the gear you start in from 1st to 2nd if you have it in "4" for example at a stop, and then if you have it in "5" on the highway it'll use 5 when it should be using 6 instead. It's just a pointless little gimmick.

[Toyota86Fan]

I tried to set up a test drive for the EVO and was told by several dealerships that they don't sell them in the US anymore.

Didn't see that anthing to support that claim on Mitsubishi's North America website tonight. Anyone know why the dealers believe that? One of them told me that the only dealers who might have it are importing it "through the side door". Another tried really hard to sell me a used Buick LeSabre as a comparable vehicle...

[muffinman]

thats unfortunate that u cant find new evos near u. mitsubishi's dual clutch sst transmission will blow ur mind if u thought the fr-s' automatic was cool.