Good sporty daily driver?
 

Hello, I am 22 and recently graduated college and started a good job. I have been shopping/researching cars, as I will be purchasing something this spring/summer. I really want something sporty and fun to drive. My current daily driver is an 03 Camry, which is about as opposite of sporty/fun as you can get.

Obviously, the frs/brz was designed to be a track car... I have never done any track stuff, but it is something I would like to try in the future if I end up with a car worthy of it. But predominantly, I want a car that I can drive to work every day, enjoy cruising around on the highway, and occasionally have some twisty back road fun.

The frs/brz stands out to me, I love the interior and exterior styling, design goals, specs, and every review I've read praises the cars. But basically, my question to you guys is do you think this would be a good choice for someone in my situation?

Other cars I have been looking into include: new genesis coupe 2.0T, veloster turbo, GTI, mustang v6, civic SI, Mazda 3.

Any opinions, suggestions, etc would be much appreciated!

What shall I say? Go buy an FR-S and have fun :burnrubber:

Well, considering this is FT86Club...


Get an FRS/BRZ!!!

LOL you are the person they are marketing too.....LOL

I plan to use it as a daily driver and don't see any real issues with that. Toyota and Subaru build their reputration on balancing performance and reliability. There's nothing I've seen that tells me it wouldn't be the same here.

Will it ride like a Rolls, no, but then that isn't what you're looking for I don't think. The test drive will tell that. Just be sure to cover the kinds of roads you ride on daily in the drive.

Of course, my idea of a "pure" track car is something like an Ariel Atom.

Yes. Next question.

The car will be fine as a daily driver if you can live with something with not much interior room. Dan

How often do you drive more than one regular-sized human friend around?

Opposed to my alien friends? :D

Since I graduated, I rarely have anyone but my gf in the car. The incredibly cramped backseat is one of the low points of the car for me, but I also don't want to put a ton of emphasis on it since I don't anticipate needing a backseat more than once every few months or so. I also only live about 30 min from my parents and could probably trade cars for a few days if I needed a lot more space for something.

I've noticed in some other coupes, (my roommate had a tiny 99 civic) that 4 people is a lot worse than 3 in a car with a cramped backseat, as with only one person in back, they can kind of lean and such. Also, the person in shotgun can scoot their seat up and provide a bit more legroom, without the driver needing to sacrifice his comfortable driving position.

You can't go wrong with the FR-S/BRZ.

The FRS/BRZ was designed to be a street car that would also be a lot of fun at the track. I don't think they designed to to be a primarily track-oriented car as-delivered. Very few people would want one if they did!

I expect that, stock, it will be about as sporty/track-oriented as a stock Miata, about a 75/25 street/track compromise. Another GREAT track car, but stock they're both going to be much more street-oriented than, say, an S2000 (~55/45 street/track), or a Lotus Elise (~40/60 street/track).

Numbers above are only to illustrate the point, not necessarily to scale!

nothings better for you

Alright, I was just concerned since every review I have read mainly talks about how amazing it is on the track. Definitely going to test drive both, and probably go with the better deal.. Pricing coming out soon I hope? Predictions seem to be all over the place.

The frs sounds like a good fit for you but may be a bit different then it sounds like you really want. I think you should test drive a genesis 2.0T and the frs. I think it will open your eyes to what is important to you in your daily driver. (when it is available for test drive of course)

Genesis 2.0t is probably 2nd on my list right now behind frs/brz. The changes for 2013 sound really good and it should be about the same price as them it seems. I guess it will mainly come down to power vs handling?

Have you already paid off your college loans? If you're still in debt, i'd recommend paying it off fully before you look at a new car.

Aside from that, in the price range the FR-S, BRZ or GTI would be the cars to look at. The Hyundais are ugly imo + you'll be stuck w/ the stigma of driving a Hyundai (not going to impress the ladies). The civic Si is FWD like the GTI, but the GTI has a really nice interior which the Si lacks (& a better engine).

The FR-S & BRZ have RWD, which puts them ahead of the the rest of the cars imo (well except the mustang which is also RWD), but i like how the FR-S looks more than the mustang.

Depending on where you live though, you might not want RWD (if you get a lot of snow during the year); in which case i would get the GTI.

:happy0180:

No student loans, I live in WV, we get some snow but not usually anything too crazy

FR-S=cheap as f#$k, fun to drive. Don't need backseat only a bitch shotgunning that's it. 22yrs old. Thats all car you need unless you suck at driving in snow then FWD is the way to go. GTI.

My daily driver is a Mazda Miata. To me what qualifies a car as a good daily driver is the comfort of the seat and how the seat can be adjusted to the steering wheel and the pedals. The size of the car has never been a factor to me.

Drive a GTI and Mazda3. Those are quick good handlers that will put a grin on your face and pocketbook. The versatility of the hatch and back seats you can take friends with is something to consider. The GTI especially has one of my favorite interiors.

I don't think SCION's impress the ladies either if that's what you want. You might as well buy something with a status badge.

Naw, inner-confidence and game impresses the ladies. F status badge BS, you're better off investing in a gym membership and trendy clothes.

Just buy the FR-S.

compared to the Hyundai, not compared to a BMW.
all things being relative.

& i disagree about the brand. scion is supposed to be toyota's 'hip' youth brand.

hyundai is just considered bottom of the barrel & has always made pretty ugly cars, tied w/ KIA. Though i suppose Suzuki could be considered worse.

Truth.

To OP: Go ahead and buy it if it's what you want; when I graduated I went and bought a Celica because there were no new cars that I could see myself going into debt for. If the FR-S was around when I got my job I would have bought one in a heartbeat.

I was really interested in the GTI a few weeks ago, but there isn't a local VW dealer here and I have heard they can be expensive to repair/upkeep?

I have also been wanting to test drive a Mazda 3 for awile. My issues with it are that I worry about a lack of power on non-speed versions, and honestly the speed is probably more power than I need (combined with pretty bad fuel economy)

I'm also not crazy about the 3's looks.. I think I could live with the sedan but the hatch version looks goofy to me. None of them hold a candle to the Fr-S looks for sure.

Trust me when I say this most people on this site hated the idea of it being a Scion in N.America. Scion is not as respected as you think.

I would of much rather it been Toyota instead of scion, but I'm not willing to pay 2-3000$ for the same car with Subaru badges either.

"brand snobbery" is something men do usually. Most women don't even know what brand car you drive, all they see is if it is clean and if they think it is cute.

But if having a "status badge" makes you feel better then there is no reason not to get it, it is your money you are free to buy whatever you want for whatever reason you want.

:iono:

I think that's probably because reviewers have so far only been allowed to drive the car on the Subaru or Toyota test tracks. As the car becomes more accessible to reviewers, we will see more situations covered.

As others have said, you're straight out of school, so may not be the best time for a new car. I wish I'd saved more money right after graduation (10 years ago). Just my two cents.

Take care,
Brett

I have to buy a car, as my current vehicle belongs to my dad and he wants to let my sister, who recently turned 16, drive it. So it's more a question of how expensive of a car to buy. I really don't trust used cars as my family has had some reliability issues in the past. I've set a ~20k-25k target for my purchase, which should give me very reasonable payments with the current low interest rates available.

That's one reason the GTI is kind of off my list. It MSRPs for 24-25k but I havnt been able to find one at a dealer for less than 26-27k. I am worried the BRZ will have a similar issue, but im hoping the base FR-S falls into my range.

Well in that case, this is a great car to get. It's trunk is almost a hatchback, rear seats fold flat. so it can help you move which you will probably do a couple times at least while you own it (especially right after college).

If history is any indicator it will also last you for as long as you need. You could buy it & drive it until you're ready for the retirement home (or until gas hits $50 a gallon, whatever comes first; probably the gas).

The rear seats are actually pretty roomy for a 2+2, so even if you get married & have kids; it still remains a useful car.

My girlfriend likes the way the Scion looks. She thought it was a sexy car and I'm pretty sure the majority of girls don't care what brand the car is as long as it looks hot.

Alright cool thanks, frs is definitely at the top of my list. Now I just have to cross my fingers that the msrp is reasonable and I can get my hands on one befor my sister steals my car lol.

Op i am in the exact same shoes as you...
awaiting MSRP on this car, literally looking at the same exact cars.

just do what i am doing, be selfish, its a car YOU want and YOU will drive, i don't care if the backseats are good for nothing haha.

I will also be using this as my daily driver.

Lol cool. I occasionally have thoughts like "maybe I should be more practical and get a Mazda 3 or a focus or something..." but I have my whole life to drive boring cars and be responsible when's there a better time to get what we really want?

Wanna impress the ladies -er.. sorry the gold diggers (because worthwhile women don't base attraction on material goods) then you'll need to start with BMW/Audi/Mercedes and finish somewhere in the Lambo/Ferrari/Porsche/Bugatti range. Buuuuut when you don't have a "money room" that you only enter to roll around in your middle-class crushing pocket change then realistically it's not the car it's the person inside it.

Hopefully the fr-s is significantly cheaper (1.5-3k range) otherwise I'll be really tempted to get the brz... Standard features on brz are really good and I think it has a bit more mature look, plus Subaru is pretty respected I think.

I am also 22 and recently graduated college and started a good job and my current daily driver is an 05 Camry lol but I'm thinking on getting the BRZ just cuz of the awesome blue

Lol that's pretty funny how close our situations are. If the BRZ is less than 25k I'll be very tempted... But that would also probably put the fr-s in the 22-23k range. Color wise I like the black, blue, and silver on both cars so it's not a big factor for me. I would prefer brz from a style/features/brand standpoint but idk how much extra money that's worth.

You guys think we will be able to talk Subaru dealers down a bit by threatening to get the cheaper fr-s across the street?

My dads also thinking of getting a Subaru outback or legacy... Wonder if we could get some kind of deal for buying 2 cars on the same day :P