FR-S/BRZ vs. Genesis Coupe

[2Cool]

I have been test driving vehicles as I wait to drive the FRS, just to make sure it is what I ultimately want.

So I drove a 2.0t GC as well as an optioned out 3.8 Track package. I also drove a 370Z touring.

The 2.0t GC was crying out for a tune to fix Hyundai's craptastic boost taper as RPM increases, as well as the stutter on shift, all seemingly designed to save wear and tear on the clutch and transmission. Otherwise it was fun, handled nice, but was squishy and had body roll. THis was a regular 2.0t, no R package.

The 3.8 was a totally different animal. The interior was very very nice. IT was a paddle shift auto, seemed sluggish until I put it in sport mode. Then it was much much more fun. Tons of torque, very good handling, overall a joy to drive. Not sure how I would like it for track days or autocross though as it still felt big.

The back seat had no problem holding the 6' salesman, though his hair was up against the sloping roof. Definitely a lot of room, which was great for a dailie, but added to the heavy feel for any performance fun.

So very nice, but a non-starter for me to trade out of my current ride.

[Sport-Tech]

Originally Posted by SUB-FT86

Some people would rather not have a turbo and have better sound,smoothness, and great power out the box. I would never consider a turbocharged anything for fear of laggy feel and possible reliability issues with that extra piece added to the engine(BMW is notorious for turbo issues). I also feel the Genesis Coupe was best designed for a V6 and not a I4 or V8.

There are arguments both ways. A few reviewers have preferred the revised 2.0T as it has better turn-in and a little less understeer, having less weight over the nose. In the in-car video from both models in one review, the 6 was far louder, more noise than I would want. It was a nice sounding roar, just too loud. The turbo sounded spot on.

Also up here they only sell a fully loaded 3.8 that is $8k more than a 2.0T R-Spec - a huge difference.

[koyv90]

http://www.gencoupe.com/general-disc...thread-21.html
look at the gencoupe forum. They all talking about how good the fr-s is and some are happy for it ha. Others dont like it but some are wanting it to renew the way people felt about car enthusiasm.
Good read overall.

[chulooz]

Originally Posted by dsgerbc

You are free to find a job down south and move.

No you arent? Ever heard of immigration policies?

Like many folk on here, I too will be trying to test drive comparable setups. I have no interest in the Hyundai but it sounds like it needs a good hoon just to see what I could wring out of it.

[Dimman]

At our local autoshow even Hyundai is talking up limited availability with the GenCoupe. They claim the new one has pre-orders plus there is a planned factory changeover in the summer which will reduce supply. Don't know how much is bs but...

Side note is that the regional guy I talked to seemed very accomodating about getting me a test drive of whatever exact spec I want on the same day as the FR-S. Just pre-arrange with the dealer and regional will arrange for the closest R-Spec manual to be available. Even seemed to encourage the direct same day test drives. He was also by far the best of the 3 sales reps. Scion was reasonably close second. Subaru was a very, very distant third. But that could be because I asked about pricing and mentioned WRX US to Canada pricing (which would put a BRZ ,~$33k in Canada).

[Mr.Jay]

Originally Posted by Dimman

At our local autoshow even Hyundai is talking up limited availability with the GenCoupe. They claim the new one has pre-orders plus there is a planned factory changeover in the summer which will reduce supply. Don't know how much is bs but...

Side note is that the regional guy I talked to seemed very accomodating about getting me a test drive of whatever exact spec I want on the same day as the FR-S. Just pre-arrange with the dealer and regional will arrange for the closest R-Spec manual to be available. Even seemed to encourage the direct same day test drives. He was also by far the best of the 3 sales reps. Scion was reasonably close second. Subaru was a very, very distant third. But that could be because I asked about pricing and mentioned WRX US to Canada pricing (which would put a BRZ ,~$33k in Canada).

Thats pretty funny cause the Hyundai guys did not seem interested in talking to me about the GC after I mentioned I thought it was butt ugly even tho I said I wanted to test drive it. The Subaru guys were my fav of the car show they gave me access to the BRZ when Scion wouldn't. They let me in the driver seat, passenger, back seats even pop the trunk however the hood remain closed tho

I still want to set up a test drive of the GC I will say it looks better in person but the face is still too busy for my liking and those hood vents are really really bad

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by Mr.Jay

Thats pretty funny cause the Hyundai guys did not seem interested in talking to me about the GC after I mentioned I thought it was butt ugly even tho I said I wanted to test drive it. The Subaru guys were my fav of the car show they gave me access to the BRZ when Scion wouldn't. They let me in the driver seat, passenger, back seats even pop the trunk however the hood remain closed tho

I still want to set up a test drive of the GC I will say it looks better in person but the face is still too busy for my liking and those hood vents are really really bad

Heh, my first questions to the Subaru guy was about pricing and the US/Canadian difference and it was all downhill from there...

With the Hyundai guy I told him that I wasn't fond of the new looks either but that I pretty much came to see the GenCoupe and the FR-S/BRZ twins. And, like I said, he seemed very accomodating for the same-day test drive. He sounded like he was a regional guy because he mentioned the dealers would be requesting specific cars from him.

Edit:
One GenCoupe issue for me is the clutch pedal placement could be further from the brake for my feet. The shifter felt better than the old Supra but that's just moving it through the gate no real engagement.

[CoryUyede]

I drove a Genesis Coupe 2 weeks ago. 2.0T r-spec. VERY disappointed honestly, That car left Absolutely NO impression on me whatsoever. It also had bad dash rattle/creaking and the exhaust was making a bad vibration noise.

Limited availability too ..heh..i find that funny...when i test drove one, the salesmen was able to setup a test drive in ANY model trim i wanted, and I saw at LEAST 7 2013`s sitting on the lot that weren't spoken for. At that was just the immediate lot, I didn't look at their satellite lot.

Limited to how many they can sell maybe?...lol

[Dimman]

We'll see... My image of Hyundai is still automatically the 'old' POS ones. But given what they are trying I'm going to give them a shot. My recent performance cars have all been turbo Supras which the GenCoupe is quite similar to size-wise. So it may be more familiar to me (boost). Conversely I'm more expecting the FR-S to explode my mind in the handling/response department. But back to back same day test drives are in order...

[iff2mastamatt]

I saw a new gen coupe the other day on the road; it's not too shabby from the looks of it.

[coop3422]

Originally Posted by CoryUyede

I drove a Genesis Coupe 2 weeks ago. 2.0T r-spec. VERY disappointed honestly, That car left Absolutely NO impression on me whatsoever. It also had bad dash rattle/creaking and the exhaust was making a bad vibration noise.

Limited availability too ..heh..i find that funny...when i test drove one, the salesmen was able to setup a test drive in ANY model trim i wanted, and I saw at LEAST 7 2013`s sitting on the lot that weren't spoken for. At that was just the immediate lot, I didn't look at their satellite lot.

Limited to how many they can sell maybe?...lol

just a question about your past to present cars. You went from a hawk eye sti to an 11 wrx? Just curious why? I've got a MY07 wrx, and am debating between stage 2, 13 gen coupe turbo, FRS/BRZ. I'd get a new WRX but prices new in canada are painful

[CoryUyede]

Originally Posted by coop3422

just a question about your past to present cars. You went from a hawk eye sti to an 11 wrx? Just curious why? I've got a MY07 wrx, and am debating between stage 2, 13 gen coupe turbo, FRS/BRZ. I'd get a new WRX but prices new in canada are painful

Fair question. My '06 had literally days of warranty left, when the Transmission went on it. Luckily i had the Transmission replaced without a dime spent. I was without my sti for about 2 weeks though, since subaru canada is super picky about sti warranty work. The transmission had to be removed, sent out to ontario to be inspected and then was fixed and sent back.

After i got the car back with a refurbished tranny, i noticed the front and rear diffs were starting to act up. I also had $3000 racecomp coilovers on it that were blown( car with the car used). I decided this car will start to be a money pit and i can't be paying repairs on a car i'm still paying $600 a month on just to Have. I had a regular '11 impreza sport for a loaner for the 2 weeks, and started to really like it. I basically wanted to wait for a GT86 but at the time didn't know when it was coming, so i jumped on a brand new WRX. Same payments, NEW car, 5 years warranty. A few weeks later, I heard news about this GT86 coming spring 2013...i was a little pissed..lol

as for WRX instead of the STI, i didn't want to spend the $5000+ difference. Plus i always mod my cars so i figured the money i saved could be used to make the wrx more "decent".

Just a disclaimer, the STI's are awesome cars and usually quite durable, i think mine was just really beat on unfortunately

Yea, i wish i waited for the fr-s/brz, but who knows what i would've spent on repairs up until now..plus on a positive note my '11 WRX hasn't appreciated too badly, so Im not losing much giving it up so soon.

On a side note, the Genesis drove like crap compared to my WRX. The clutch feel was crap, the shifter was clunky, the steering was forgettable. Before you invest anything in your current ride test drive a brz/fr-s if you can..guaranteed you will want one. My '11 wrx is stage 1, my sti was stage 2, more power is always amusing for while, till you realize you can't use it for anything on the street. I'm willing to give up sheer power for a little more balance and fun..consider it

[SUB-FT86]

IMO some cars are more fun to drive on public roads without having to go past 4500 rpms and I love that. From my experience 4 cylinder high revvers is not one of them. When I test drove a 2011 3.8 track I was grinning from ear to ear without surpassing 4500 rpms because handling was good and power was great. In the FRS/BRZ it loses torque in one of the most important parts of a DD powerband around 3k-4800 rpms. Hell even most reviews say the car is boring to drive unless you wring its neck. If I have to do that all the time I would be pissed.

[dsgerbc]

Originally Posted by CoryUyede

I drove a Genesis Coupe 2 weeks ago. 2.0T r-spec. VERY disappointed honestly, That car left Absolutely NO impression on me whatsoever. It also had bad dash rattle/creaking and the exhaust was making a bad vibration noise.

Same here. Test-drove '13 r-spec 2.0t today. I could only sit with the seat elevated almost to the max. Otherwise my elbow was hitting the center-console during shifts. Clutch was weird. I test-drive quite a bit of manual cars and usually have no problem taking off smoothly, with GC I couldn't. Exhaust tone annoyed me, steering response was quick but the car felt more 'boat-like' then Mustang GT w/o sport suspension. On top of that there was vibration in the steering wheel on the hwy. But what most surprised me - power felt weird. Either the car was filled with regular gas or there was quite a bit of turbo-lag. Turbo in my spec.b spools faster @3k rpm and pulls about the same in the mid-range. I was kind and didn't rev it above 5k, maybe it's more lively there.
Brakes felt nice. Shifter is unremarkable, did not annoy me, but didn't feel better than Subaru's 6mt short-throw one. So if BRZ purchase somehow falls through, it's not gonna be 2.0t GC for me. I'll try the '13 3.8 Track when I get a chance.