Low quality construction
 

So Ive only owned three cars previously to this that Ive had the ability to get truly intimate with, and after my 7 hour detailing session today, ive noticed the car's construction quality is absolute shit compared to everything else ive owned.

I understand these are big words (I love this car - I really do), but this is nothing that I am used to. My previous cars were a '99 Ford Taurus, '00 Ford Mustang, and '05 Audi A4.

I noticed several issues and I hope you guys can put my mind at ease on this... The last thing I want to do is worry about the car falling apart on me. So, heres a list of issues ive discovered so far.

Rear reverse assembly - is this literally hanging in there? there is seemingly NOTHING holding it to the rear bumper on the bottom. I can fit my entire finger between the assembly and the "under-assembly" piece. This entire area is essentially hanging on the car. A "love tap" from another motorist will undoubtedly cause the assembly to fall out of the bumper.

Rear bumper - there are NO supports for this thing in the reverse light area. its a floppy piece of shit.

Side vents - it literally makes a SQUISHING sound I press on it. Is this normal??? My Mustang's side vents were held on with double sided tape, but this is nuts.

Windows trim - everything flexes when I push on it. How is this a standard of quality? Im not talking Audi quality here - I would be happy with Ford quality at this point.

Side mirror base - same thing with the window trim. flexes easily and not sturdy at all. a rock at any speed would cause this to shatter.

turn indicator housing in front bumper - feels like they are literally placed in there with no mounting. Any force at all causes these to flex and move like wet card board

weather stripping - every bit of it on the car feels like it would rip in half if i sneezed on it. the front hood area where it meets the front bumper is terrible.

mud flaps - feel like theyre barely held on. I know its a few screws, but really, they feel like they could rip off with ease.

steering column base - feels like everything else. an asthmatic blowing through a straw could send this thing flying.

Everything else doesnt seem too bad.... but its little bugs like this that annoy me. Im considering taking double sided tape to everything in hopes of "reinforcing" the exterior trim and steering column shroud. the rear bumper is a whole other issue...

I stopped reading after "previous ford taurus and mustang owner" ....you sir have high standards huh?

The Mustang got me more punanny than the FR-S has. No regrets on that one.


But seriously, at least on those vehicles the rear bumper cover was attached to something.

Sadly i read this post and (even after having detailed my car several times so i should already know) went out to my car and checked everything listed...
With exception of reverse light housing i have none of these problems :iono:

Let's be real here. I have YET to get a female to offer her "accompaniment" in exchange for a ride in this car. Needs more power!

more power in the car wont get you a female companion. big **** will.

What made you want to push on your side vents? :iono:

I don't really see any of these as issues.

Applying pressure when buffing out the haze from the wax.

And how do you not see the rear bumper cover as an issue? I feel like this thing was rushed to meet production.

I haven't looked under the car to see what it looks like yet, but bumper covers are just that, they cover the bumper. It's never really introduced to any stresses. Unless it gets blown off from the wind/drag i'm sure it's fine. Remember one of the goals of this car was to have it be light. It's not going to be built like a Bentley.

There-in lies my concern.

I think you're overreacting...

"Wallet" has six letters, not four :)

Hah! That's what's warranty is for. You want to list real issues, buy a Chevy.

sounds like good ol jap crap! ^_~

none of your previous cars weight 2600+ lbs did they?

you bought this car for all the wrong reasons.

hahahaha 2000 Mustang was a quality car, eh? I stopped reading after that, sorry man.

They all do/did..................

im sorry i meant around 2600 lbs. i know for a fact none of your previous cars weighed near 2600 lbs.
This car was manufactured and marketted as a lightweight low horsepower fun good handling car. It's not an audi (i own one as well) It is a lightweight tossable enjoyable car.

Here's an idea. Sell it.

The lightest car you listed weighs over 3,300 pounds, dude.

edit: lawlz, saw the typo

Dropped panties quicker than a 2006 Rally Red Honda Civic Si with a black vinyl hood ;)

Or a nasty black Hyundai Accent with lime green calipers and plum purple wheels

Or a white VTAKKED CRX

I didn't buy my car for female accompaniment...but somehow the chicks dig it.

anyone that tries to place a value on their cars by the amount of female undergarments that fall off by looking at the car clearly has other problems..imjussayin

in related news however i have had two females ask for rides in the car and laugh went it got loose in the turns...P.S. their panties stayed on. I dont want to clean the seats.

Sorry, but I'm not really into picking up chicks by showing them how much I overcompensate by trying to drive a super cool car.

If you think the FR-S is cheap and made with terrible quality compared to a 90s Taurus or Mustang, you are either a troll or just confused. I've had a Taurus and boy was it a piece of junk... Buddy of mine had a 2001 'stang and it was an even bigger piece of junk.

I used to drive a light blue BMW z3 convertible which got plenty of female attention. I even dated a girl for a year because she saw my car and wanted to ride to the beach with me. It was still a crap car.

You're judging the quality of your car by the reactions of people who probably don't know anything about cars.

False. Im judging the quality of this car based on the lack of quality control when it rolled off the line. I dont expect much - maybe a nylon fastener where needed.

Off topic, but all non-M package Z3s are shit. Any BMW tech will tell you that in a heartbeat.

.

I'm going to guess you were a lot younger when you had that 00 mustang

Reasons:
1) you say you got more ***** in the mustang. Girls don't really care about cars so it probably just means you're fat now.

2) you clearly didn't poke around the mustang much, or else you wouldn't be complaining about the frs construction. When you're young you don't really care about these minor things, as long as it gets from a to b. Now you're old and cranky and wasting our time with threads like this.

Lol. Youre ****ing around on the internet and you claim im wasting your time. Whatever youre on this forum for, im sure your recent login time has been amazingly productive.

Dude bought the wrong car and now he is mad about it and trolling on the forums. Should have bought an automatic V6 Convertible Mustang in bright red.

http://media.tumblr.com/8427aa700e03...qd71qz4rgp.jpg

http://cdn.cheftalk.com/d/d8/d881c3e...n-animated.gif

Yup this has troll written ALL over it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csLgaK20SSY"]The 'Vette gets 'em wet - YouTube[/ame]

I think what you are forgetting is that automotive engineering has changed radically over the past 20 years. Automakers, lead by the Japanese, have figured out the difference between robustness and resilience. Robustness was the traditional path. You made an object heavier and stronger than it needed to be in order to resist powerful forces. That's why you find 1950's car fenders in junkyards with very little wear, just surfaces pits and pockets of rust. The irony is that robustness is not the ideal quality in a mobile object that endures millions of stress events in its lifetime. The reason is two-fold, you want an object to absorb and distribute stress, not concentrate force and become brittle. Secondly, there is a cost, both in resources and in wear in making an complex, mobile object more robust than it needs to be.

Then, starting in the 1980's with the gas crisis, car makers suddenly had to get the weight out of vehicles while simultaneously cutting emissions and keeping prices low in a highly inflationary environment. The results were bad, cheaper lighter parts, and new poorly-tested fastener systems frequently failed prematurely. This damaged the public's perception of light cars and nearly ruined the American auto industry.

However, the Japanese learned smarter. They built plenty of shoddy cars at first, but they looked at what went wrong. The result was that they figured out how to make cars last by building in resiliency. The result is that parts flex, attachments seem simplistic and flimsy, but in reality, they hold up for a really long time. The plastics and fasteners can take a lot of abuse and the lightweight sheet metal actually lasts, even when it has taken some dents and creases. The result is cars that are lightweight and resilient. That is why there are so many Camrys with their lightweight metal, cheap fasteners and huge expanses of plastic, still on the road. The Europeans have not learned the lesson as well. Their cars, while generally well-constructed have gained huge amounts of weight and complexity. A smallish BMW now weighs as much as one of the iron behemoths that Detroit made by the millions in the 60's and 70's. Now they are trying to cut weight by adding lightweight steel, aluminum and carbon fiber. But this just adds to the costs of the vehicles.

So, don't make the mistake of feeling flex and give in a vehicle and deciding that it is cheap and poorly made. In fact, it reflects decades of smart quality engineering, that has created cars with greater resilience and longevity with cheaper, simpler assembly, more easily replaced parts, and that are much more economical to operate.

This. I've never understood the need to have a car that attracts girls. First, if I need a high end car to get a girl, that's probably NOT the girl I want anyways. Not into spending tons of cash on them to keep them "happy". Second, if your car is your best chance of picking up a girl you may want to focus on other skills....

So much troll in this thread...

I can honestly say I have none of those problems minus the window trim, but it holds out the water. I don't expect the car to be built like my E92 M3 and I don't understand why you do.

Did you want Audi build quality or a 2,7xxlb curb weight? Your choice. You can't have both for less than $30k.

Thank you for the ease of mind and a legitimate reply. 99% of this forum can't take a punanny joke

That was a joke? It wasnt funny.

If you're going to throw up a major O/T distractor you shouldn't be surprised when the bait gets taken up and the thread gets waylaid.