Dadhawk's FR-S (6AT Firestorm)

[Dadhawk]

Well, the Scion rep did spend quite a bit of time looking into an angle to do repair out of warranty, but its a no-go unless it becomes a "safety" issue and recall, in which case I could be reimbursed for the repair. I see no reason why that would happen so I guess I'm on my own.

My response (with a conversational, relatively pleasant tone since the guy actually did spend 3 days trying to help, including calling the original dealer) to the rep when he called was

"Well, I guess I either can fix it myself or maybe add a sticker below it that says "Yes, I know there is water in it but Toyota won't fix it because I actually drive my car instead of letting it sit in a garage". He thought it was hysterical and even made a note in the report.

In the end, it's not that big a deal to me. I'll give it a few days and decide whether I want to just replace the gaskets myself or go aftermarket with the tails since they are probably my least favorite part of the car.

[Dadhawk]

Well, pretty much right on schedule my warranty powertrain warranty is done for....


So, on day 1,058 of ownership, that means I've averaged 56.71 miles per day in my car.


I took it out for a little spin with the nannies turned off to celebrate the fact as you can see.


Now its time to decide if I want to start saving for that supercharger I always planned to install after warranty, or to leave it unmolested and save for some other toy.


Right now though, I still need to address the tail light condensation issue from above. Decisions...Decisions....

[civicdrivr]

I think I'd just get a quality header and a flex fuel kit and call it a day. When you get bored of that power, then get the supercharger. You'll have the right bits already on the car

Sent from my XT1095

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by civicdrivr

I think I'd just get a quality header and a flex fuel kit and call it a day. When you get bored of that power, then get the supercharger. You'll have the right bits already on the car

Makes sense. Honestly at this point, I'm quite happy with the car as it is. It fits my DD needs better than I originally thought it would, and I've settled into the power band over the time I've driven it. Rather than spending the $5K or so on the supercharger I may just put it in the "next big toy" fund.

[Dadhawk]

Year three comes to close today (5/11/2015), my how time flies!

The FR-S continues to meet my expectations in most ways, and exceed them in a couple. Primary in the exceed category is fuel economy, although I still expect that will drop when I switch it to all-seasons this month (still running the original tires at 60K+ miles!)

As documented at the top of this thread I'm averaging 32.6MPG over the 61,451 miles on the car, and have "saved" $4,602 in fuel costs over my previous daily driver.

Biggest disappointment continues to be the paint for all the reasons we all know. Also the late development of taillight condensation is a bummer but nothing I'm too concerned about. Tails are cheap enough now that if it becomes chronic I'll replace them with aftermarkets and add the existing ones to the "box of original parts".

Here's an update to my projection of when the car will hit certain milestones based on my average run rate of 57 miles per day:


Purchased.......................7..05/11/2012
Once Around The Earth......24,901..09/04/2013...Complete!
Warranty...................32,000..01/06/2014...Complete!
PowerTrain.................60,000..03/30/2015...Complete!
..........................100,000..02/28/2017
..........................200,000..12/19/2021
Distance to the Moon......238,857..10/31/2023
Astro (Previous DD) Miles.289,000..03/29/2026
..........................300,000..10/08/2026

[Dadhawk]

Well, after 62,582 miles Olivia finally got a new set of tires this weekend. Hard to believe I got that many miles out of the Primacys but they were definitely worn down to the wear indicators and maybe just a bit past.

Since Olivia is a daily driver, and I drive a little over 20K miles a year, I decided to go with Touring All-Seasons rather than performance tires. I also wanted to get something with a long mileage warranty and if possible low rolling resistance to keep the mileage up.

I also wanted something that was a little quieter and provided a better ride than the Primacys. After some research, talking to folks and then price shopping I ended up with a set of Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus tires.

After getting them installed and warmed up, I took them for a drive to see how they handled. They are definitely stickier than the Primacys in the corners, and make a more subtle sound when breaking loose not the screeching in the corners like the Michelins did.

The ride is marginally more comfortable. Definitely quieter and I think more forgiving in the bumps. I could tell a difference in extreme situations (highway grooves, railroad tracks, etc) but of course it doesn't turn the FR-S into a luxury car ride, its just a little less jarring.

I've got a 30 day drive and try guarantee on these so I'll decide in that time if I will keep them but after a couple of hundred miles so far, I'm satisfied with them. I haven't had them in the wet yet though, and that will be the determining factor.

What I really wanted was a higher ratio tire (I really hate low profile tires on a DD), but I didn't want to go to 16s to get it, and it was going to be more than I wanted to "correct" everything if I changed the 17s up to a 55 or 60.

Oh well, the good news is that even with a 70,000 mile rating, I'll probably only live with these for 3 years!

[MTeator]

Dang, I've been through 8 sets of tires and I'm at 1/3 your mileage

My paint has lasted the 3 years pretty good, but the problem I have is lots of dings from small hail, acorns, etc.

For street duty I decided on the Michelin PS AS/3's. Good ride, quiet, handle well. Would have been a great OEM tire.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by MTeator

Dang, I've been through 8 sets of tires and I'm at 1/3 your mileage

My paint has lasted the 3 years pretty good, but the problem I have is lots of dings from small hail, acorns, etc.

For street duty I decided on the Michelin PS AS/3's. Good ride, quiet, handle well. Would have been a great OEM tire.

I'm guessing that since most of my miles are at near highway speeds the tires tend to last a bit longer, but dang you like to change tires!

My paint is about the same as yours, although I think it will pit by just running into fairy dust sometimes.

[Dadhawk]

Finished the first tank of gas with the new tires on Olivia. This was a good comparison run since the entire week was "normal".

So far the Bridgestones have not disappointed. They are definitely grippier and quieter than the OEM Primacys. In fact, to make them slip I have to turn off traction control, something that was not required before. The road noise level is also definitely down, and the ride is marginally softer as they seem to soak up small stuff a little better.

I can't really speak to how they handle in the wet yet though, as we have not had a good rain in the last week since I had them installed.

One preliminary thing I'm happy with is they seem to have had zero impact on fuel economy. The first tank was 345.50 miles at 32.43MPG which is well within the range I saw with the Michelins, and right at the overall lifetime average of 32.6MPG.

All in all, so far I'm calling this a win for a commuter tire.

[Dadhawk]

Had the third full fill-up with the new tires. The mileage over those 1,080 miles (32.58MPG) is almost exactly the average I had with the OEM tires over the first 60,000 or so miles (32.60).

In my opinion, and I'm far from a "tire guy", the new all seasons are much better tires than the original summer Michelins. They are stickier, not nearly as noisy or bumpy and seem to give me the same "advantages" as the Michelins in terms of "low rolling".

It remains to be seen if they last as long, but there are supposedly 70K mile tires so I've got my fingers crossed on that.

Anyway, for what it's worth the Bridgestones seem to be an excellent choice as a commuter tire.

[Dadhawk]

As I've mentioned before my other "personal car" is a 2004 Z71 Suburban. I purchased her used a couple of months after purchasing the FR-S as a replacement for the previous family car (a 2010 Chevy Astro with 289,000 miles on her when she decided to eat her own motor bearings).

$49,894 when new, we bought the Suburban at around $11,000 with right at 100,000 "easy" miles on it. It's an occasional driver as most of my family no longer lives at home, 1 son is off the payroll and lives 150 miles away, one is in college and not at home most of the year, and the third enters college this Fall. However, when we need it, we need it. In addition, I have some "weekend activities" that require a bit more room than the FR-S.

An example of where the Suburban excels was our recent vacation to the beach. We packed 5 full-size suitcases, 4 boogie boards, a week's worth of groceries (including a 20 gal cooler) several misc. other "carry-ons", 4 adults, one 125lb Newfoundland puppy and her fold-down crate all INSIDE the vehicle. We could have taken more (there is a luggage rack on top, and of course it can tow half a house) but we didn't need to go there.
With all that we rode in leather bound, 3 air zoned, BOSE surround comfort cruising effortlessly at 70 to 90MPH and still managed to average about 18MPG in upper 90 degree comfort.

The 4WD came in handy at the beach, and while traveling through monsoon like weather on the way there. Once we arrived, we were joined by my oldest son and his lady friend, and the 6 of us all did the touristy stuff again in comfort only having to use the one car.

It does have its downsides. The nice soft ride leaves you completely disconnected from the road, you can't ever really be sure the sunroof is closed, and magically somehow it never is when you go through a carwash with it. Also, the headunit, while great, needs to be updated for NAV and a much needed backup camera (MomHawk has to sometimes perform that function in a very crowded parking lot).

For a 12 year old vehicle though it still performs well and is a useful member of the fleet. I think I'll update her a bit, and keep her for a while. I might even give her a name.

[Wheelsoffracing]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

(fuel log updated in original post)

Since I was at the last oil change before the end of the 60K warranty I decided to go and have the fuel pump TSB done on Olivia.

Mind you, I have no clue if I have "crickets" or not. I don't think I did, and if I do I wrote it off as "character" and ignored it. I think every car I've ever owned had some kind of quirky noise that I managed to tune out but others would notice.

Regardless, I made an appointment with the dealer and dropped off the car the night before. Having read the TSB I knew the proper words to say and they dutifully jotted it all down on the work order.

Next day by Noon, the car is ready, all the parts changed out. Go to get the car and the service cashier inadvertently hands me both copies of the invoice (mine and the warranty copy). So, I get to see that I just had a little over $1,600 worth of parts and labor done to my car.

Go out, check the parts, and see the work appears to have been done. Start the car, and it sounds the same to me. That's OK because Mission Accomplished since I went from parts with over 50,000 miles on them to 0 mile parts.

Still no idea if I have crickets or not.

I just went to the dealer today to get a state inspection (yearly) and display my crickets (loud & clear) with TSB in hand. They are ordering parts for the work so we'll see. I was hesitant but hopefully they won't mess it up. The service advisor told me it had to be done within the 36 month warranty - even though it says 60 months on the TSB. I was a bit upset when I opened the hood & found the hood support twisted & loose, not clamped in position. Not a warm fuzzy feeling. I have a feeling that once it's done the crickets will return as long as I use gas with ethanol.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Wheelsoffracing

The service advisor told me it had to be done within the 36 month warranty - even though it says 60 months on the TSB. I was a bit upset when I opened the hood & found the hood support twisted & loose, not clamped in position. Not a warm fuzzy feeling. I have a feeling that once it's done the crickets will return as long as I use gas with ethanol.

It's a drive train issue so it should be covered under the 60K warranty. My dealer had no issue making the change.


I'm always amazed at the number of folks that seem to have dealer mechanic issues, I've honestly never had one. I've had my share of issues at other shops (oil caps left off, parts not actually replaced or an over-estimate on what was really wrong).


I have a couple of small shops locally I deal with now if its outside warranty where I make it a point to know the owners/mechanics. Gives me better piece of mind.

[Dadhawk]

(Fuel log and mod list updated in my original post)

It has been a year since I last posted a "Gas Price" chart based on my purchases, so I thought I'd post an update. Prices have once again fallen to low levels after surging up during the year.


This reflects "lifetime" gas price since the first purchase in the FR-S. About 90% of the fuel is purchased from the same station, about the only time I don't get gas there is when traveling, not commuting, which I rarely do in this car.