2013 AutoGuide.com Car of the Year: the Scion FR-S
 

The AutoGuide.com Car of the Year has to be a stand-out winner among its competitors, and whether it’s a compact car, a luxury sedan or a sports car, it must set new benchmarks in its class. It must also be an important car, for the automaker, for consumers and for the automotive history books.


For those reasons the winner of the first ever AutoGuide.com Car of the Year is none other than… the Scion FR-S.

A sports car should be agile, well-balanced, responsive and intuitive, responding to driver inputs. The FR-S takes these qualities to an impressive level and flatters the driver, making almost anyone look and feel like a professional behind the wheel.

An engaging daily drive, hit the track and it’s easy to make this car fly. And yet going fast is hardly the primary objective, of the FR-S, or of any sports car for that matter. Those who think so, as well as those who criticise the fact that it makes “just” 200 hp, have missed the point.

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IT’S NOT ABOUT SPEED, BUT FUN

The big misunderstanding about sports cars is that their most important feature is their ability to go fast. On the contrary, the single most important aspect of a sports car is that it’s fun. Speed is merely a byproduct.


Fun can’t be measured in horsepower, or 0-60 times, or lap records. A qualitative value, what can be quantified is how much you’ll pay. And at just $24,200 the FR-S is the democratization of fun. Regularly compared to sports cars twice its price, the level of driving bliss it delivers has for the most part been unattainable to those outside the one percent.

That same price is also part of the reason why the FR-S has been a hit with younger buyers, with Scion claiming the average age of an FR-S owner is just 31 years old. But it’s far from the only reason.

A GEN Y MAGNET

The Generation Y demographic is one every automaker is trying to crack, packing cars full of novelties, tech features and buzz words in the hopes so-called “millennials” will approve. Generally, they don’t.

And yet here is a car that does get their attention, and their cash, despite having a notoriously nostalgic interior. Instead it delivers a level of fun and coolness that no smartphone can.

If the FR-S has a message for those looking to crack Gen Y, it’s: “If you build it, they will come.”


Long known as a company run by bean counters, lawyers and focus groups, company boss Akio Toyoda says it best, celebrating that fact that the FR-S is, “Built by passion, not by a committee.” The FR-S embodies a philosophy championed by a man who literally risks his life each year to compete at the world’s most daunting race track, the Nurburgring.


The antithesis of modern hypercars, it’s a purists machine. Where its merits really show through is when compared to modern sports cars in its class, which we did, pitting it against the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec on the track. Yes, the Hyundai was faster, but we unanimously said this is rare case where the slower car is the better car and the one we’d buy.

The FR-S isn’t perfect, but what flaws it has are not directly related to its primary purpose. It’s also for this reason that the FR-S beats out the Cadillac ATS and Honda Accord for the 2013 AutoGuide.com Car of the Year.


As impressive as the Accord is, it’s not a game changer and regardless of our accolades, its reward will come in the form of sales figures and profits for Honda. Considering the ATS, while a major coup for Cadillac in the luxury sports sedan segment, forcing a seismic shift in the notion that BMW is king when it comes to driving dynamics, it is, simply put, a vastly more complex beast. With so many critical areas in which it had to be amazing in, it’s just not amazing in all of them.

True, the FR-S is a complete niche product, but rather than have that detract from it, it just further emphasizes how impressive (and important) we think it is. With no other car this year were our opinions more concrete. Never once did we suggest the FR-S was one of several sports car to consider. Rather, we said it was the sports car to buy.

WHAT ABOUT THE SUBARU BRZ?

But what about the BRZ? With both it and the FR-S engineered and built by Subaru, surely the Subie should get the praise? To that we say: no. And here’s why.

It’s not just that Toyota funded the project, but that the folks at Toyota dreamed it up and carried it through. Left to its own devices, Subaru would never, ever have built this car.

If you want to build the sports car of a generation, you need to hire the right engineers. Toyota just hired a whole automaker.

There are a lot of good cars. But there are very few exceptional ones. The Scion FR-S is an exceptional car. For $24,200 the FR-S doesn’t just live up to the hype, it exceeds it.

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...cion-fr-s.html

YACOTYA

Great read, makes me proud to own one.

Good stuff, but stupid comment about the BRZ. Did they forget to look under the hood at what made this car possible? The awards should be jointly received.

while i agree with the statement 'left to its own devices, subaru would have never made this car' but the fact is they did help make it so they should get credit too.

"It must also be an important car, for the automaker, for consumers and for the automotive history books."

I think that's the reason by Subaru was specifically not given the award. Initially, Subaru wasn't on board with the project because they wanted an AWD car (sticking with the status quo, nothing significant for automotive history).

Thing is, if Subaru said no it would have gotten made anyways. It would have been massively different and probably wouldn't have been a boxer but it would have been built. Subaru was a means to an end. Not being down on Subaru here, just further rationale behind their closing statement.

Off topic, but if Subaru had backed out what motor do you guys think Toyota would have used instead?

(hot damn!) why is it,the japanese ALWAYS get it right! what the f**k is the reasoning why we (americans) cannot do this? i realize that corporate greed
is a factor,BUT we could certainly build something like this,if they wanted to!
just sayin'

i agree! one has to consider that subaru "quality control" got it done! if it isn't built right,then it doesn't make 2 sh*ts worth a difference,if it's engineered well!..just sayin"

Very nice! I like Colum Wood! He sounds very Canadian!

Nice! But then you get to the Subie comment which is just unwarranted. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors? Still, the BRZ exists and if not for it, I would not have one because I find the current FRS options lacking.

*Wakes up* Huh, what? Oh look, another award. *goes back to sleep*

;)

Great read! Thanks for sharing.

LOL

BRZ owners don't have car of the year!

P.S. auto>manual

I have to think they were just going for controversy with the BRZ statement. If the award goes to the car, and both cars are the same, it makes sense that the award should be shared unless they found some shocking differences that made one version better / worse.

-Justin

+1

hahaha sorry brz, not this time... j/k:D

supra engine

They still would have used the Subaru Boxer engine as Subaru had already committed to providing it [the FA20] but I think if Subaru had backed out the joint program to develop the car then the suspension design, brakes and other chassis components (designed by Subaru) would be different and the car would have been built in another factory. The big question is... If Subaru had back out would Toyota have done the rest of the car in-house or partnered with a 3rd manufacturer?

And as a general statement;

Why are people acting like Subaru had much of a choice in the matter? Subaru had already committed the engine but said NO to the build, it wasn't until later they were "convinced" to change their minds. Subaru themselves (think it was the CEO) who said if it weren't for Toyota, Subaru most likely wouldn't exist today. Toyota is a major shareholder in Fuji Heavy Industries.

I don't agree that Subaru "made this car possible", as Subaru (FHI) is sort of a business asset of Toyota and if this business asset wasn't available to them I think Toyota still had the means to see it through albeit it the end result may have been different (AKA; different suspension/chassis and maybe even no boxer). It's just that the designers wanted a boxer engine and the existing partnership between FHI/Subaru and Toyota already existed, so exploiting that was a no-brainer. From what I've read Subaru wasn't necessarily excited about this and some arm twisting had to be done.

From Road and Track:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/columns/...-but-different

From WIKIPEDIA:
Reference article for WIKI: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...-bad-idea.html



So yeah, I 100% agree with the comments by AutoGuide on why the FRS and not the BRZ deserves the car of the year.

Pretending that this was two equals working together is just not accurate.
Y Subaru did not get much say in the twins.
You don’t say no to a company 10 times your size that owns a significant amount of your stock and helps you keep some of your most important factories open.