Owning a frs in canada
 

Hello. I am possibly buying a frs in the coming months and have a few quick questions about them. I am in Vancouver B.C. and would like to know how living with this car on a daily basis is for well Canadian owners. First question. How is it in the snow. I know where i live we may get a few days of snow, but this will be my daily driver and i do have to drive this to get to work. mostly highway driving but i also live on a mountain (doesn't help me getting the car i want.) Is it easily driven with snow tires. I have driven a truck for most my life so snow has never been an issue for me. How is living with an frs for day to day driving. I have been in a couple before but never looked into the little details. Is the trunk a decent size, and how much roughly is it for a tank ( when driven like well people who want to pretend its a f1 car would drive it.)
Thank you so much for taking the time to read over my thread and hopefully you have some answer to the questions i have.

I live Edmonton Alberta and I personally have no complaints about driving it year round. With a decent set of winter tires you can tackle pretty much anything. My BRZ has plowed through anything I've put it through. Sure you spin a lot but throw some sandbags in the trunk and you're good. The trunk isn't to small, I fold down the seats and I fit my BMX bike in there fine(taking off the front tire of course). With a full tank I usually make the full work week even when I want to "pretend it's an F1 car". All in all its a fun daily driver yearly.

Get a good set of winter tires and you'll live through the winter. I find that the people who tend to complain about driving the frs through winter are the ones who cheap out on winter tires.

Not a spacious car so if you need trunk space or room for passengers it is all wrong.
I spend 14 hours a week for almost 7000 kms a month in mine and would not trade it for a thing.
Gas is a little more but since I am on the highway most of the time I manage about 7.3 l/100kms.
In winter (with the right tires) the thing is a tank and even my lowered one took me everywhere I wanted to go all winter long and we are talking 4 months Great Lakes snow amounts here!

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82998

you get this car if you like to drive above else, the rest will be compromises


otherwise don't bother, you'll just be disappointed.

I love to drive. It's actully my job to do so. I just need to make sure on the couple mounths when it risks snow that I'm not gonna be sitting there wishing I owned my truck because it snowed an inch.

There's your answer then.

I live in Vancouver too. This car is my only car, had it for over a year now. No complaints. Every moment in this car is a joy. Just invest in a set of good winter tires.

Gas mileage is pretty good too. Fill up is in the $50 range and lasts me 400km on average (my driving is mostly between Richmond and Burnaby; I'm rarely on the highway).

Trunk is actually pretty decent. The fold-down backseats certainly come in handy.

Live here in Abbotsford. Only owned my FR-S for about 4 weeks but I have no worries about what is to come living here.

Living in Calgary and drive year round and I have no issue. I've fit 4 people in the car before and I've also had a in box 42 Inch TV in the back with the seat down.

If you are in the area like new westminster around the quay or those crazy slopes around the boundary of burnaby and Vancouver, in the odd events of heavy snow fall you might have a little issue going up a hill or out of your garage. But even a Benz could be the same so I wouldn't worry about it. Plus, all us people drove it through a Toronto winter and not died.

Lot of seat time (Like I said above).
Lowered 1 1/2 inches.
Passed stuck trucks, awds and other supposedly "better" winter vehicles through snow up to 14 inches deep.
Not once did I stay put and never had a single issue. In fact my street rarely gets plowed so my neighbours loved the 3 inch high path I left for them.
Now... I had no hills to contend with so that could make a difference.

FRS: Freaking Real Sic, in the Snow
 

Arm yourself with a good set of winter rubber(I have Hankook iPike RS). I also opted for 4 40lb bags of sand in the trunk. This is my second winter here in Oakville and the car has been unstoppable. Reviews on drivability in the winter are usually positive as you can see in this thread....

Just went through the third winter with mine, I've only been stuck once... in a parking lot, with a foot of fresh snow in it. I got unstuck faster than all the stuck SUV's in the same lot though :D

Skis with the seats down....check

4 tires with the seats down....check

Just finishing up going through my second winter in Winnipeg & only issue I have is wish had command start but this winter wasn't bad as last winter so can't complain & haven't got stuck yet.

Just to elaborate further...

I coach ski racing, and fit everything two coaches needed, plus a lot of other equipment needed, for a pre season camp into my car. 4 pairs of skis, 2 sets of boots/bags, 2 sets of clothes/pillows/etc, etc etc.

With the seats down you can get 4 tires in the backseat area, and have the whole trunk open for whatever else you might need to carry. Tools, change of clothes, dead body, etc.

check out my blog on "First Winter Experience in Canada"
Calgary, AB to be specific.

http://tokkodai.com/2015/02/22/first...rience-in-frs/

hope you will enjoy the new FRS as much as we do!

In from Toronto winter driving is fine. Even my grandma can do it I'm a big guy and I fit in it fine, trunk space can fit all my needs, If you need more room just drop the rear seats. And for gas 40 bucks full tank on 94. It's a pretty practical car if you don't have a big family

Driving an FR-S/BRZ in the winter just adds to the fun you can have with this car. The only thing that might give me second thoughts would be knowing how often your hilly roads are snow covered, and how steep they are.

Even then, my bet is that circumstances where a winterized FR-S would struggle to go up a snowy hill that a comparable FWD could make it are pretty rare.

In general, as long as you have winter tires an FR-S is way more fun in the snow. Without winters... way too scary.

I live in Northern New-Brunswick. We usually get crapped on with snow and i havent gotten stuck once. I have General Altimax Arctic tires and really like them. Just be careful in the winter, but I`m usually more sideways... on purpose. I haven`t gotten sideways by surprise yet. I find it`s better in the snow then my 2004 regular cab 2wd Silverado.

I've made it though this winter in Nova Scotia and last winter in New Brunswick without trouble.


If you need any extra convincing to get snow tires, just go look for threads in the forum with the title "Is it totalled?". So long as you have snow tires you'll be fine.

i purchased my 2015 FRS with the intentions of driving it only in the summer, but after reading so much about how people do it, i think i might next winter.

western washington owner, i have winter tires for the week or so we get snow, never had a problem and the hill to my house is one most people won't attempt if there's even a dusting. they'll just park the car at the bottom and walk up. I got some funny faces as i rolled up the hill without any drama and i had 0 weight in the trunk. the car is daily driven and has over 30k miles on it. And she sat for 3 months for her first winter.

I live in Quebec, we have some asshole winter here, it's my first manual car and my first winter with the FRS and it's really fun !!!

The only time i have some problem is the 1 january, i go from Quebec to Ottawa and the road was totally covered with snow, for the first 2 hour i drive the car in cruise control at 100km and when i take a little hill the car decided to go directly in the other line, my girlfriend was really unconfortable :iono:.

I continued the trip at 80km just for the safety.

Buy it, you won't regret for sure!!

I was pretty disappointed with the FR-S this winter. My old Pathfinder with 31" M/S tires could get through just about anything compared to this POS. The FR-S struggles with just 10" of snow and the tail comes out if you try to take a corner at any kind of speed.

</troll>

Seriously though: these cars are about as useful (aka useless) as any typical sedan in the winter.

Up to the </troll> part I was sitting here going "what the hell is up with him"!

I live in Vancouver and have had my BRZ since the first batch landed in Canada, so I've gone through 3 winters with it.

It's not an issue at all for West Coast weather, I can't voucher for Central Canada though :P.
Due to a lack of garage space, I had to opt for DWS, but I had no issues with snow with just that.

If you love driving, you will enjoy this car. :) I've carried 4 passengers with no problem. Also had 2 40" TVs, and a TV stand in the back with seats down.

Thank you all for the help. making this choice much easier on me

ok I will bite the bait. pushrod is right, the frs/brz does not handle snow as good as a 4x4 pathfinder. nor does it shoot missiles like an abrams tank. and I cant really be compared to halle berry. AND Ottawa is not Vancouver.
maybe pushrod shoulda got a wrxsti.

Dude! You got the wrong option package if it doesn't.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3853/1...00b4b53b_b.jpg

good idea
 

with it being so low, maybe a periscope would be better

I've had the car for 3 full years now (one of the first 3 BRZ in Vancouver) and I do love it for what it is. If the trunk did not fold down so perfectly I would had to rethink.

I'm also a hockey goaltender and I'm able to barely fit all my gear inside the car with the seats folded. The pads and stick go in the rear and the big bag goes in through the passenger side and placed behind.