I think my gamble paid off

[pantdino]

I wanted a car that would be fun to throw around canyon roads and I suspected an FRS would be that.


Obviously, a test drive in an urban area does not allow any driving that would really put that theory to a test, so I bought my red 2013 in hopes that I was right


I think I was. I took the car to my favorite canyon this AM and it was really fun-- on its crummy OEM Bridgestones the car was sliding around a bit with the stability in Sport mode and I could feel it cut in once to catch power oversteer. (With my E36 M3 on high perf summer tires the limit of adhesion is so high you really can't get it to break loose at anything resembling a sane speed.)


The engine sounds good around 5K, so the sound track was good too.


Good job, Scion!

[Mini Cooper S]

Was it at Mulholland Drive

[pantdino]

Originally Posted by Mini Cooper S

Was it at Mulholland Drive

No, but a nice road anyway.

[DarkSunrise]

Welcome! Love E36 M3's btw.

[z3ro]

Originally Posted by pantdino

It was made by a small company near Munich, Germany.
Guess you've never heard of it .

actually i used to live about 1 1/2 hours from munich

[Mini Cooper S]

Serious question. Does the FRS handle better than the E36 M3? I'm 31 years old so I always wanted the the E30 or E36. M3 versions

[synchromesh]

Originally Posted by Mini Cooper S

Serious question. Does the FRS handle better than the E36 M3? I'm 31 years old so I always wanted the the E30 or E36. M3 versions

To be honest with you, when the E36 came out for you, it might be around the same time the E30 M3 came out for me. They are both pretty good cars. IIRC, the E36 took more than a handful of years to finally win that euro-series or something some-thing. I'm surprised the e36 has retained so much value, but it did used to be my high-school dream car.

[djmm]

Hell I bought the 86 without ever test driving it.

[pantdino]

Originally Posted by synchromesh

I'm surprised the e36 has retained so much value, but it did used to be my high-school dream car.

Each generation of the M3 has been bigger and heavier than the one before. Recent ones are simply too big to be much fun, IMO.


Car and Driver determined the E36 M3 to be the best handling car in the world regardless of price in 1995. These were the days before stability control, so if a car handled well it was because it was designed that way from the ground up, not made so by electronic nannies.


I have only driven my FRS on its crummy stock tires while the M3 has summer high perf tires, so it's not a fair comparison. But with those tires the FRS is more fun and tossable and you can break the rear loose and slide it a bit on a canyon road at reasonable speeds. With the M3 you have to be at track speeds to get it loose and it's very stable-- I suspect you'd have to TRY to get it sideways.


But the M3 is a more practical car-- it has a rear seat that actual people can sit in, much bigger trunk, etc. The FRS is a car you own because its FUN!