what are your dealbreakers?
 

i really truly enjoy my brz, especially now that i fixed what i saw as its one 'dealbreaker' right away, its rally ride height. unfortunately the lowering immediately made for another dealbreaker, that the stock wheels and tires just didn't 'fit' the wheelwells very well. i find myself extremely contented at this point, i cruise the forums less and just enjoy my car more not obsessing about something i 'need' to fix.

of course, i come from driving a civic for the last 8 years, a scion tc before that and the only even remotely driver oriented car ive owned was a 95 mustang gt, which honestly didn't feel a ton faster than this car. all of that history informed what my needs really were.

i'd imagine that if i came from a bmw i might 'need' to fix my interior bits, or from a camaro ss i might 'need' to throw a supercharger on, or from a riced stance rocket i might 'need' to slam my ride with 19's and on and on. but for any and all of us, i'm very grateful to have this board as a research tool and a sounding board for ideas, whatever our dealbreakers happen to be.

happy thanksgiving all!

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/...sukmk9n1a.jpeg

Arm rest.

That stash
http://31.media.tumblr.com/a32d675d1...wxlpo1_500.gif

+1 and the wheel gap.

Curbs :( hitting them makes my deal break... by deal I mean my 57xtreme rim and everything that was attached to it :,(

The fake side vents.

The [lack of] reliability...

If it weren't for that, I'd probably still have it.

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one of my deal breakers was the lack of power, but I ended up accepting it due to how every other part of the car I liked. I also fixed the wheel gap and it no longer bothers me

Squeaky driver's side window. Sounds worse than claws on chalkboard :(

Other than that, I have no reasons to change anything else. I do want to modify in the future, but as of now, it's not a big priority for me.

@Tcoat on that reeferino :)

I'm with you on this. My previous car list sounds kind of like yours. I had a Protege and a Mazda3 most recently. Coming from those cars, this car stock is plenty for me. Not saying I won't mod it down the line if I have some spare change, but even if I don't ever change a single thing I'll still be totally happy with this car. It's about perspective. For me I don't worry about what the car is "supposed" to be in some peoples' minds, and just enjoy it for what it is.

It's weird because I hear a lot of people talking about the mustache, and I don't really see it. I mean of course now that people bring it up I CAN see it, like if I squint real hard, but even after that when I go back and look at it later I don't see a mustache.

Not like the 2nd gen mazda3's big grinning mouth. I couldn't unsee that no matter how hard I tried. Maybe in another 10 years. Maybe. That 2nd gen look was such a sideways move stylistically. The 3rd gen look looks like an evolution of the 1st gen look. Like they took the 2nd gen look and just quietly swept it under the rug. Nothing to see here!

Coming from a long history of cars that all had arm rests, I thought this was going to be a deal breaker for me too until I drove it. Turns out that I simply drape my forearm on the E brake and I'm actually quite comfortable, especially since that arm is frequently coming up to use the shifter. If it was an automatic, I might feel differently.

Of course, we're all supposed to be driving with both hands on the wheel, but really how often do you actually do that in daily driving lol.

I noticed that the first time I sat in the car.. Hmm, there's not a lot of storage room! But it is actually really nice to lay your arm there, I agree.

I hate having to store my sunglasses in my cupholder.

Not sure how a ford fusion falls into the category or reliable? I drove one as a rental once that had like 14000 miles and it felt like a 10 year old car. My buddy also has one with 30kish miles and it sounds like the world is going to end every time I'm in it

It's all in how you take care of them. Besides, like my BRZ sometimes you just get a turd.

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The Ford Fusion and the Nissan Versa are tied for the worst, lousiest, lamest, most uncomfortable, stupidly designed cars I've ever rented. I have no words to express my distaste for either... well... calling them "vehicles" would be an insult to mopeds everywhere.

Having said that, I ended up with a Ford Focus as a rental recently. I was so ticked at the time, anticipating another Fusion-esque affront to drivers everywhere, but, much as I hate to admit it, the Focus really wasn't too bad. Actually, it was even better than not bad.

I'm not sure what "dealbreaker" means in this thread's context. For me, there isn't one. If there was, I wouldn't own the car.. the deal would be broken. Things I'd change?

1. Make it quieter as stock. Let the folks who want loud for loud's sake do that on their own. The car could be much quieter (lose the #$@#$ "sound generator" tube, for cryin' out loud.. how stupid...) without giving up any performance.

2. A little more storage, and more forward, in the center console, along with an armrest standard, would be nice, although I agree with the other posters re/ resting your arm on the ebrake. That works fine for me.

3. The back seat is just plain silly, although I'm not a big fan of the way the seat deletes I've seen available look. Don't know what would be better than the seat, but the seat is still... silly.

4. Although I'm guessing here, the OEM FR-S seats SEEM like they wouldn't hold up to serious wear very well, and the OEM carpets are pretty thin, too. A more robust interior standard would be welcomed. I put SARD seat covers, 3D MAXpider floor mats front and back, and a Weathertech trunk liner. They all look great, and my car's ready for winter slush and messes.

I really don't care what the car looks like; I don't get folks' obsession with wheel gap, mustaches, park benches, kilobuck wheels or anything else related to appearance. You can't see ANY of that while you're driving, and I don't care what the car looks like to other people. I like frugality and performance, and this car is about as perfect a compromise between those two as possible. My nitpicks above are certainly not dealbreakers.. just room for improvement in my opinion, is all.

AND.. I'm very thankful for the car, the help and kind folks on this forum, friends, and family. God bless us all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Barry

See, I hated the Focus. The interior was awkward and cramped. If I liked the interior I would've gotten the ST, but unfortunately my fat American ass won't fit in it!

Everyone hates the Fusion rental cars because they come with the junk 2.5 liter NA engine and 16" wheels. When first looking for cars I drove a base Fusion (probably much like your rental) and I hated it. Absolutely garbage car. With the 2.0 Ecoboost, the MyFord Touch infotainment system and an aftermarket rear sway bar, it turns into a completely different car, I assure you.

If you still disagree, that's fine. We're all entitled to our own opinions. After all, I'm the weirdo who traded a really nice sports car for a family sedan!

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The horrible 1-2-3 gear shifts before it warms up after 10 min. I feel like I'm going to blow a gear any day now.

i wish that i was less vain but honestly the appearance is a big part of it for me - knowing that the wheel gap and suck exists makes me not enjoy even the super enjoyable parts of the car as much.

I agree about compartmentalized storage, as I really would like a sunglasses holder, I'm prone to lose, or sit on my sunglasses if I don't have a specific place to put them, maybe I can get one that slides onto the passenger visor.

The back seat was actually a selling point to me as I might commute with one other person to school soon, and having a place for her to sit, and a place for both our backpacks without having to use the trunk is nice for me. I like it as alternative storage, not so much as a backseat function.

I don't really care what the car looks like to other people, but I do want to like the way my car looks. I like to look back when I'm walking into a store and smile because I'm so happy to own the car, and if it's a 2000 forest green neon with a silver door from an accident, that's not likely going to happen. (A car I owned a decade ago.)

But the part I agreed on most was the frugality and performance, it's exactly why I bought it. I went from driving a huge modern muscle car which I did love driving, but needed a car that got a little better gas mileage but was still fun to drive. This was exactly what I was looking for. I did look at the MX-5 as well, but to me there were some awkwardly placed features, and I didn't like the blind spots with the top up.


And finally deal breakers, the only thing that almost killed this deal for me was what they offered for my trade in. If they insult me, or aren't willing to offer a fair price on a trade in, I'm not interested.

Hope everyone had a great holiday.

My gfs dad has a Porsche 911 carrera and those back seats are equally as worthless. I've used them before and they work for short bar trips.

I'm really into how the world sees my car. Hell when I go for a smoke break I just look over my car thinking what else to do next to it, how dirty it fucking looks OR clean, I'm an only child so it's my gf me and my car right now, gotta be picky about her (car).

though everything listed are not true dealbreakers because you still bought the car...

No power, total deal breaker...

Not a deal breaker for me, but something that came up first week of owning the car was the seat height (I'm 6'2) and that you pretty much have to slam the trunk. Also my car came with a hood that was deformed from the factory and I thought it was normal until I drove someone elses brz. My fix for that was to have mad drifter hood spacers.

I can't speak for the rest of the replies, but the trade in value would have been a deal breaker, but we came to an agreeable price. I would have walked away had they not met me where I wanted. So it is a "true" deal breaker for me.

I should start a thread specifically dedicated to this since I feel the pain and am super into being "one with the machine."

Synchros aren't the stickiest in the world so it's an opportunity to perfect timing. The key for cold upshifts is to get through neutral as quickly as possible. Don't force it, but don't pause either. If it doesn't just flop into gear it's because you weren't fast enough. PM me if you want. Don't want to hijack yet another what's-wrong-with-this-car thread. :D

Also something this car does that I hate is the pedal response. I'll hit the gas and I swear there is a delay before the Rpms go up. If I am backing up and barely touch the gas I get nothing then all of a sudden it jumps a whole 1k rpm and drops instantly. It's hard to explain but maybe that's the cars lack of low end torque.

There is some disagreement but I remain convinced it's latency from the vehicle stability system doing its thing. It exists even after the 5-second cancellation. The only difference is the system doesn't intervene when it feels the car getting out of shape.

Pedal dance seems to bypass all that. The throttle gets super responsive.

For my abarth there was a simple plug and play throttle response mod called a gopedal, that hooked in above the gas pedal and you could adjust the sensitivity. It didn't make it faster but it got rid of any lag between pressing and getting results, which made it feel faster.

I'm not ready for a tune or any engine mods yet which is why I'm asking.

No mods. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25494

Be careful. There will be nothing between you and a happy car.

I bought it, modified it to my hearts content and am now enjoying glorious automotive bliss. No deal breakers encountered.

I have to -- I used to drape my left hand over the wheel and reach to grab a candy bar or something from the passenger seat. No more! If I did any such thing in my BRZ, I'd be in the ditch in a second. :bonk:

I've found this is easily remedied by quickly double clutching. To neutral, clutch out, rev slightly, clutch in, then going back in gear. This is for 1--->2.. I only say rev since your revs drop.

I used to shove gears in my last car. Seems the resistance is the same in this car.. and the remedy works great.

My deal-breakers are:
1. Interior - Needed to be BRZ limited. Seats and tech most importantly.
2. Needed the bi-xenon headlights (so BRZ).

That's about it. The tail lights were probably the first thing I upgraded. I hate dated lights and dated interiors :bonk:

Anything else, usually OK for me.

The title of this thread is actually way off base.
If anybody here truly had a "deal breaker" they would not own the car. The thread would be full of Mustang and Miata owners telling us what was so dreadfully wrong with the car they would never buy it and we are crazy because we did.

The fact that this engine and transmission is very limited in making ultimate power without spending $25,000! Found this out after buying the car... but if staying under 300whp pumpgas, this is the ultimate car to have.

Things that annoy me:

The clutch traction point though I know the pedal can be adjusted. Cold shifting 1,2, and 3. Blind spot visibility even though it almost doesn't have one I wish I could still see out the window to check. Other than that this car is freaking awesome and a completely different driving experience from my Impreza.

My only "deal breaker" so to speak is the constant reminder that I "only have 200hp" from everyone who asks about it.

Always follow "it has 200hp" with "but it is RWD" and nod knowingly. It is surprising how many reply "ahhhh yes that is different then"

if they only knew about the power it puts down to the wheels :bellyroll:

Agree theres more to the twins than "just 200 hp"