High Mileage Toyobaru's how are things holding up?
 

I'm thinking about selling my car and moving into a BRZ but having lurked on these forums for a while, I have horrible nightmares about DI seal failures, popping drive shafts, crunching gears, and crickets that are giving me cold feet.

So here's my question, those with higher mileage cars - even better if you're out of warranty range - how are things holding up?

Do you have a car you can drive any time you want and enjoy it? Or are you constantly running back to the dealership to get things fixed cursing the day you said no to the extended warranty?

just buy one. all the reports of failures are the minority. the only reason you hear so much is because there is a section to complain about issues.

Popping driveshafts, now that's one I haven't heard until now. lol. And seriously, these are all very very rare and if they were going to happen they'd happen within warranty. Every car is like this in some way, shape, or form. Buy the car for the reasons you like it :)

Coming up on third oil change (22.5k miles), over one year of ownership and I never had to go back to the dealership, I would claim zero issues (some may disagree, I haven't had to do anything other than regular maintenance). Haven't even heard the crickets in 6 months.

Every car has issues, even Prius' and Corollas, might as well have one that's fun. The only worrying issue was the cam position thing that has a sticky which seems to have been greatly reduced after the first run mid-2012.

The most annoying part about ownership is some people's reactions (y not subie/mustang/practical) and any contact with the dealership.

The first to second gear "crunch" in manual transmission equipped cars is very real, very wide spread and, at best, very annoying.

Gear crunch in tight transmissions with synchros of this type is a fairly wide-spread issue. The transmission in my Mustang is a reluctant bitch in every gear when it's cold. Swapping fluid helps, but every shift has to be very deliberate and requires the force of a tug boat.

Some of it is, "You could've designed this better and charged a bit more," and some if is, "it comes with the territory."

Only problems I've had are transportation dents which the dealership had fixed with some paintless dent removal and then I had crickets from the fuel pump at 300 miles on the car, had the fuel pump changed under warranty and haven't had crickets in about 3000 miles now so even with all the stories i've had very little problems. You got nothing to fear but fear it's self right?

Honestly,

It drives fun. VERY VERY MUCH fun.

All the little noises ARE annoying, but once you start modifying the car you won't be able to hear them over your new 400hp engine ^.^

Please do buy this car AND modify it. In my opinion, this is what the car was designed for.

Bought in May 2012. Currently getting close to 22K. No major issues. Drives and runs great. I have a borla UEL, OP, Perrin CB, and OFT with E85. Just got my rota's with MSSP tires and Project Mu break pads. Could not be any happier with the car.

32 000 KM+ on mine, no issue except a tailight changed. Drove it in very shitty weather condition and very cold temperature (-20 celcius) often. Works great! Though I think I might have blew a shock...

25k, oil and air filter changes and not a problem more

other than crickets, which i was thas rjklgnjkbasdjkfhasdhkasdhkasdhkasdhkasdhkasdhkasdh kasdhkasdhk

fucking crickets.


But really, if you can't stand them that much IF you get them, a cap of no ash 2 smoke oil clears then up for like 3 tanks for me.

~34k miles. Drivetrain fluids changed out around 20k miles. Oil and oil filter changed out every 7.5k miles. OEM tires replaced at ~30k miles with Goodyear all seasons (because winter, not because they wore out).

Crickets? Yup.
Rattles? Yup.
Transmission grind? Sometimes (non-OEM fluid).
DI seal failure? Nope.
Popping drive shaft? ¿lolwat? I think I've only ever read about this happening on "stanced" cars, aka cars that are too low to even go over a shoelace.

I think you hear a lot about the issues because the market for these cars are usually for enthusiasts who look into their car's health more than a Corolla, Civic, etc. crowds.

53000 plus miles of vortech supercharged smiles on one of our brz

I'm "only" at 15K, but mine's a DD and coming up on a year old.

I have the minor issues of crickets and some rear deck rattle, but the crickets are just going to stay until there's a permanent/real fix and the rear deck is only noticeable if I turn the stereo down/off at 55+mph.

Yes, it is a car I can just get in and drive whenever. Which I'm going to do in 15min or so! Let's hope the gnarly rain we had last night hasn't caused all of the roads to be a total mess.

36,000 miles... not a care in the world.

15k-ish DD here too, no major issues besides having to have the transmission taken apart at 12k miles to find that I had a defective throwout bearing which caused [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zsPn6YMf5g"]this noise[/ame] while the clutch was pressed all the way in and the engine was revved to like 3-4k RPM.

Haven't really had to deal with crickets all that much since no ethanol gas is readily available in my area. For the next fill up I plan to stick Shell vpower in it (only available in an ethanol blend around here :mad0260:) to see if the crickets come back.

36k Miles. Only ongoing issues I've had is with taillight gaskets and people that don't know how to open their doors.
Considering supercharging once I have the cash and some more confidence.

33k here and no issues so far besides the usual crickets, driverside window seal, rpm drop, and random popping sounds during very cold startup (below 32degrees F which is apparently normal). Not sure what to expect at 50k.

The only problem Ive had in 8000 miles is my car rattling to death. Not even crickets. Hopefully my dealer can help with this a little but I havnt even asked yet.

1 year, 5,000mi, no issues with the car. You can't use forums as a good guage of reliability because people more often come to gripe and seek advice for issues than brag how reliable their car is.

Is it the rear deck rattle? this guy has a solution
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13699

I have nearly 25K miles on the car. The only "issue" I have is the chirping. Most of the issues people have reported are cosmetic at best. You can barely hear the chirp, and it's only at idle or low speeds. The car is worth it IMO. The RPM drop I've seen reported appeared to be an issue with 2012 models and were fixed with an ECU reflash from the dealer.

Barely hear the chirp? My wife, who is not a car person, asked me what that squeaking noise was last night. With the windows up. And music playing.


Barely hear the chirp.

So basically no one has gotten to the high mileage point with these cars yet. That is, 75k miles minimum. That's barely "high mileage" territory. When one of these cars crosses 100k miles, then that's actual high mileage.

Never had it to that degree where I heard it inside the cabin, stock or modified.

Just under 30k miles. I've had the HPFP chip on/off but it's not all that common or that loud. Had the rear decklid area popping/squeaking noise but I fixed that my self. No other issues. Car is AutoXed regularly.

Rear suspension after lowering, drivers side window, and glovebox/radio area. I did the rear deck fix before it had a chance to happen already lol

20k miles ( i know not much ), early 2012 bought it in july.
idle dip issue ( will be fixed soon with OFT, i think they have the new ecu updates in em )
chirps on 94 oct.
I beat the living shit out of it everyday, i have a heavy foot..... and no real issues yet:O

Yeah, this is what I was curious about. Occasionally there are road warriors out there who will put 20 - 40k on their car in a year. (e.g. my Dad put 120,000 miles on our diesel golf in 3.5 years.) Was hoping there might be a couple early adopters who don't stop driving.

I understand a lot of the niggling issues are the result of a brand new platform (especially one designed and built by two different companies). I also understand that it isn't just limited to the twins (e.g. exploding transmission input shafts in the new 'Maro's and HPFPs on BMW's).

There's a pretty thorough catalog of the various, "new car issues," the twins have presented - which can be fairly intimidating - but overall it seems the fun and driving experience this car offers is worth the headaches. Kind of like an Alfa... only less rusty. And less... always broken.

I have 62k kilometers on my fr-s. I pre-ordered it around this time back in 2012 and took delivery a week after launch. Crickets come and go as Im always filling up at different places but they've never been very loud. Im running a Unichip tune with an Injen sri, borla UEL headers, motiv overpipe and HFC and an ft-86 speedfactory v1 catback.

i get the idle dip at every stop light no matter what tune i switch to and I had the stock ECU reflashed by my dealership before i modded the car and it fixed it for about a month. Other than the usual rattles and noises the car hasn't had any issues. I should also mention I live in northern alberta and drive this car year round with studded snow tires in the winter. It starts every morning first 2 cranks even when its -40 degrees celsius outside.

I don't exactly drive slow either ;)

Had the fuel pump changed in mid 2013, the crickets came back. My driver's side axle is making a clicking sound, prob need to try to get it covered under the drivetrain warranty. Other than that, no issues. SC'd the car at 34k. Here's where I am now. P.S. I drive the piss out of my car.