Fun because drift car?
 

I love what the frs and brz is all about and I plan on test driving one this weekend. But after watching the countless video reviews out there, I'm a little curious as to what the core factor is that leads to so many calling it a fun drivers car. It seems like the number one thing that gets referenced is how easily it drifts and how tail happy the car is. Which I'm sure does lead to a lot of fun on the track, but on the street?

Personally I typically like cars that handle like they're on rails. Can the frs still provide that? I guess I'll get an idea for myself soon, but interested in what you guys think beforehand.

Because :search:

The FRS is primarily a car that handles like it's on rails. When you're watching or reading reviews in magazines about how "tail-happy" this car is, realize that the prior review for that writer/journalist was in something like a Focus ST or the new 911 or Ferrari or whatever that was made to get good lap times and compare well in those magazine "competitions" and have stickier wider tires and suspensions tuned for maximum grip around the nurburgring or whatever.

It's cliche but it's the second closest to "telepathic" steering I've felt, the car just does what you want it to and it begs for more.

I think the car is very neutral. It depends mostly on driver input. If you go into a turn too fast, coasting in a lower gear, the car will push a little. If you go in a little slower and apply generous amounts of throttle, you can get it to oversteer. It's all in how you drive it. If you're even a reasonable driver, you should be able to get the car to handle like its on rails.

You dont need to go fast to get the rear end to fly at all and has no tendency to oversteer itself out of control. Real fun. A corvette would feel on rails at those speed...and I don't see why it would be more fun.

every driver has his own definition of fun, but what any of us say in this forum will not be equivalent to your own experience with this car. So I say go test drive, and then come back and let us know what you think. I test drove an FRS and I can say that this thing feels so planted to the ground. With stickier tires you'll feel like you're on rails

It's fun as hell on the street. You'll quickly find yourself looking forward to certain corners and then you'll seek out alternate routes just to find new ones.
With a few minor upgrades like tires, rims, and even just conservative drop with a good alignment, it has the potential to exceed your expectations more than once if you do things right.
And by right, I mean choosing the ideal or best upgrades based on your intended use.

Reviews mention the drift thing because it gives them an excuse to slide around for the camera and get more attention because we are all keen on watching the hoonage.

To me, what makes these cars fun is a lot more than that. Good dynamics, not too heavy, tactile feedback, sporty without sucking down 12mpg. And enough room to actually live with it everyday. Part of my fun experience is carefree feelings and these cars are easy to enjoy.

YMMV. :-)

:thumbsup: I learned that the first day I had the car, I was more on the careless side during the test drive so getting it sideways is extremely fun

I don't drift, track or race my car but that doesn't change the fact it's the best handling car I've ever owned. One of the fellows here on the forum best described it when he said "when you take a corner you feel like your spine is the pivot point".

I have found that if you leave the nannie systems (VSC, TRAC) engaged (which is the default), coupled with the ABS (with EBFD & BA), the car will corner and slow down quite nicely.

Be aware that tire pressure can make quite a difference. For examplewith 45 psi (like it was delivered with) it was somewhat skiddish. Whenthe pressures were lowered to 35 psi, it was more stable.

humfrz

I agree to all of you. The biggest reason why i am attracted to the FRS now is it ability to drift without burning money. You can drift on a prius tires lol...cant beat that.

I would best describe the handling as balanced and very communicative. If you care to listen (ie. feel) what the car is doing, it allows the driver superb control.

Like Whaap quoted, you feel like the pivot point perfectly lines up with the driver.

It is the perfect marriage in that you get just as much as you put into it.

The car rewards a good driver; however, it will equally point out your shortcomings as a driver if you are less than skilled. When you get it right, it feels fantastic.

In short, it is tossable and to quote Carlos Lago "It is such a willing and playful thing".

To me, the FR-S is fun to drive because it can be pushed so hard with confidence. It's also really easy to get sideways but it's not like you're dealing with a Viper or something. Great car in any scenario, except in traffic (manual).

For the 25 millionth time, they're not "prius" tires...

My FR-S is a grip car, not a drift car.

one word after you test drive it is "WOW":burnrubber: this car is a drivers car..in the end its how your driving style fit on what you want the car to do.. traction control on and it will handle nice on corners.. traction off and sports mode you will get drifting action or if you know how to drive it with it off you can take the car to its limits and be one with the car...knowing when the car will break lose without any help with traction control/computer helping you makes you a good driver :clap: thats what its all about and not them high horse power where all you do is push the pedal to the floor and let the horse power shoot you on the straight away..anyone can do that:bonk:


this is the best car i owned .. light weight with enough HP great MPG and i can drive the car 80/100% most the time and its still great on gas:party0030: in the end you can tune the car for what you like it.. this car will do both drift and grip that the beauty of this machine

have fun with the test drive..:burnrubber:

This car is not a drift car.

First due to current and upcoming emissions regulations it has a small displacement boxer engine that doesn't have a ton of torque and horsepower for drifting. So in that regard it is a throwback to '80s sports cars.

But what it has that those cars didn't is an incredibly low center of gravity design in a FR package. Right out of the box it doesn't handle on rails the way a double wishbone car with aftermarket springs/struts does (i.e. S2k, Miata, EG Civic.)

But the stock suspension really surprises you because of the low COG, it isn't a super stiff suspension and is comfortable over potholes, railroad tracks, speed bumps. But it handles amazingly well with the stock suspension, its very unique. It is much more stable at highway speeds than the little double-wishbone cars, it feels more like a Grand Touring car than a sports car, yet it is lightweight and tossable.
Hard to explain, best thing is to drive one, but I know its hard to get a feel for a car at a dealer test drive.

All in all it is a great package, the 6 speed Aisin manual and Torsen rear are expensive pieces for a car in this price bracket.

I fully expected it to handle like on rails with the sharp/harsh suspension and that razor sharp quirkiness at high speeds, but this car manages to redefine good handling and is nothing like that. Its like they took the good handling characteristics of a Supra and combined with an AE86 if that makes any sense. Overall what this car has is excellent balance, something that has disappeared from the market.

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/...fts/ToGood.gif Agree but they are Prius sized tires......

From the reviews I've seen/read, the FR-S is a smoother ride overall as a daily driver. The BRZ rolls a little more on the track but has a tighter, more predictable feel, whereas the FR-S may whip around more....perhaps making it more "fun" rather than "on rails".

I've test driven FR-S manual, FR-S automatic, and BRZ automatic. I'm ordering a FR-S automatic 10 series. I had more fun in the FR-S's than I did in the BRZ. I'm no expert, so I can't explain it any better.

That's what the FR-S does. I actually have a really hard time getting it to slide, but I'm used to more torque/hp, coming from a GTO

yours was delivered with 45 psi?!?! wtf?!

Spot on! :thanks:

As far as the handling, I really wanted to calm the tendency to drift down a lot after I put in the supercharger. @CSG Mike was correct, he said all I needed was wider/stickier tires. I had just put some 17x9 RPF1's on with some PSS@245, so I went and powered around some hilly mississippi back roads, and the car was absolutely glued to the ground. I really have to gun it at a corner to get any drift at all. My car handles like it's on rails now! You just need better tires.

If it handles like it's on rails, it means you're not driving it had enough :eyebulge:

Just drive it and your questions will be answered..

No more desire for coilovers? :thumbsup:

I keep telling people... better tires give your car more absolute grip; better suspension will let you use a larger proportion of total potential grip (but only if it's set up properly).

Well said. :happy0180:

Other than the drive by wire drive train lag my steering is like its on rails :)

It's a real lightweight sports car by my definition (60's and 70's) with a hard top.
Don't have to worry about anybody with a pocket knife slicing a rag top to rifle through the interior.
Miata (do not want) and S2000 (more than I wanted to spend) had/have hardtop options, but they were too small for my intended use (interior / trunk storage).

Most of the new cars in the US over the last 20 years have been too damn big / heavy / 4 door only.
This has been the first car that even got close to what I really wanted for that long.

What? Most expensive S2000 in my area is $24k and that's an outlier, the rest are between $10k-$22k, cheaper than any 86 in North America that I know of.

it's like driving a large go-kart! ;0)

That's used prices. All of them are used now.
Was implying that I didn't want to spend that much on a new one when they were new.
(and the limited space for all that dosh)

Love everything I'm hearing about the FR-S and I did have the opportunity to test drive one... kinda. Was only able to ride along. So all I can really say right now is that it's faster than what I thought it would be, and pulls pretty hard for the amount of torque it has. I definitely don't think I'll ever feel the car is "too slow" especially after some mods.

I'm pretty much sold on it just from the comments, but I think I'll probably wait till the end of the month to make a bigger down payment.

Appreciate all the feedback.

The car is fun because for some key things that it does well that other cars cant, or wouldn't do because they're too expensive to maintain (porsche), such as the tires, clutch, brakes, or another car that is too powerful for the asking task(camaro mustang vette), such as drifting down a togue run and getting from the car as much as you are giving while feeling confident with the car's balanced power to weight ratio.

Cheap. Lightweight. Balanced. RWD. Blank canvas.

First of it's kind since the 90s.

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LOL, me too. I am used to driving AWD cars so I about floored it out of some corners and got the tail out and had to countersteer on my test drive. So I would say that is actually the most entertaining thing about the car. You can get the rear to come around and slide out easily.

A lot of people tout the feedback and such, which is probably decent for a new car, but it's not nearly as good as older sports cars like my Eclipse GSX, so that's not something that really stood out to me as fun.

But yeah, the driftability and the feel of the seating position, shifter, and seats and everything adds up to make it a pretty fun car. I need to do another extensive test drive though before I buy one.