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The Wookiee's 2013 Firestorm FR-S 6MT
I delayed on creating this thread until I had some quality pics of my own car to include.
Discovery of the Twins and how I ended up with my 2013 Firestorm FR-S 6MT: Somehow I'd not heard or seen a thing about the BRZ/FR-S until early June. I'd been toying with the idea of replacing my Jeep with something more fun ON the road rather than OFF. Prior to my 6 years of Jeep Wrangler driving I'd owned a 2003 Mitsu Evo which was preceded by the econo-box Lancer OZ Rally Edition. Though I'd set the latter up with coilovers and tires such that it was a fun drive. I'd been thinking that I'd wait a year to 18 months and see about getting a 2012 Mustang Boss used for hopefully around 30k or preferably less or perhaps a used STi at the time. Aside from this there was nothing out there that really excited me in the right price range but I knew that after 6 years it was time to move on from the Jeep. The Wrangler is a wonder in the snow and was able to drive my entire family and a big load of crap 30 miles through the biggest nor'easter we've seen in decades last year to a relative's house when we lost power in frigid temps. It was a long trip but satisfying to know that I could handle my $*!% in the snow. I'd decided, though, that I can live without this and the infrequent off-road adventures. Storms like this have become rarer in these parts and there's nothing preventing me from picking up an old beater 4x4 pickup for a couple grand later on. If I'm going to buy another car I want it to be fun where I spend 99% of my driving time.....on the road. So, one day in June I was driving past the Toyota dealership here on my way to work when a truckload of cars was backing in. I saw two vehicles that caused me to do a triple take. A red and an orange FR-S. As soon as I got to work I looked up everything I could on the car. I learned about it's development and its twin, the BRZ. After reading all the reviews and doing yet another triple take at the price tag I decided this was the car for me (pending a test drive). I visited two Subie dealerships first as I was attracted by nav and the HID headlights but at the first one I was dealt with in a very pushy manner. They would not let me put down a deposit on the grey BRZ they were expecting in any day and, instead, wanted me to buy the car before ever seeing it. I left. I visited another dealership that had the BRZ in exactly the spec I'd want but at this point the price-tag of the FR-S and the sexy front bumper were starting to attract me. I decided a lower payment was desirable as I could always add aftermarket nav later on so I visited the same dealership I drove by that first day. This dealership is one that my family has purchased 7-8 cars from in the last 8-10 years. We've never had a single complaint and I recommend them to EVERYONE. I was at the bank today and overheard two employees discussing the ****s at the Nissan dealership in town and then the incredibly pleasant experience they had when they left and went to Toyota. The satisfaction of buying at this dealership was as good, for me, as any other feature on the car and worth something. I emailed someone new at the dealership after learning that the salesman we'd always worked with was no longer there. I set up a test drive of the one automatic they had remaining at 1pm the next day. Afterwards I discussed what I wanted. An Asphalt FR-S with the 6MT and no additional features. Piddly stuff like the wheel locks and the bumper applique were fine but I wanted nothing to do with the Bespoke system. They told me that they were expecting the same vehicle in red any day now and since red is typically more desirable they shouldn't have any issue doing a dealer-swap to get me the Asphalt that I wanted. I accepted MSRP + dest and options. They did not try to markup the car and told me, though I was wary to believe it from the dealership themselves, that Scion pricing is set at no-haggle rates wherever you go. I didn't know how true that was so I was prepared to make another attempt to drive them down a bit when they offered me $1k more than Carmax did for my Jeep which has pretty low miles but needs new tires and the paint needs some TLC. I put down a $500 deposit, which I made sure was refundable, and hoped to hear about the results of their attempts to locate my car within a week. I also filled out a credit app but made them assure me they would not run it unless I call them and give them the go ahead. I wanted to check out obtaining financing personally. I visited a couple of banks to check out their rates and did not let anyone run my credit. I then did some more research and discovered that Toyota's financing rates are very good assuming the dealer doesn't try to tack on a little extra as they sometimes try to do. So I made the decision that I'd let them be the first to run my credit to see what they offer and if they tried any funny business I'd finance elsewhere. I then waited until the following week. The sales guy emailed me to say they were having trouble locating an Asphalt FR-S for a swap and would need to order one. This disappointed me but I accepted and included some details about my trade and the numbers I'd been running in my reply. I told them that they'd need to show some flexibility on the trade in order for me to reach my goals. He did not reply but, as nothing was going to happen until a vehicle was located, I let it rest. A couple of days later, on June 28th, the internet sales manager emailed me to let me know that the Firestorm FR-S they had been expecting came in. He asked if I wanted to see it. I work extremely close to the dealership so I let him know I'd stop by on my lunch. I had only seen the vehicle in person in Hot Lava so I was curious if nothing else. The only color I really DISLIKE for the twins is silver. All other colors look excellent to me but I wanted to own Asphalt. This changed when I saw the Firestorm in person. I realized that, to me, this car was beautiful in almost every color. Of course, there may have been a little "But, Mommmmmm, I want it NOW!" going on but that day I decided that the vehicle I was looking at still wrapped up having rolled off the truck with 6 miles on the odo was mine. I told them I'd take it and I'd be back at 5:30 to wrap up the details. I only had two remaining concerns. One was the amount they'd give me on my trade. I was able to extract an additional $500 from them and landed at $12.5k for my 2006 Jeep Wrangler X in Solar Yellow with the 6 speed manual, 4.0L I6, hard top, w/ 54447 miles. Lastly, financing. I was wary that they'd try to take advantage of me on the rate as a previous dealer had made me very skeptical about what goes on in the finance office. My mother called me while I was waiting for one of the finance managers and told me she was on her way through town. I used this to my advantage and asked her to come to the dealership. I told her to keep bringing up the number of cars we've purchased at this place for no reason. They did not try to screw me. As a matter of fact, they didn't even offer me GAP insurance as I was starting with equity in the vehicle and pointed out as much to me. I was expecting them to at least try to sell me on this for no reason. I ended up with a rate of 3.24% initially and then somehow landed at 2.74% through Toyota for a 48 month term. I had them remove the VIN etching charge and that was that. Vehicle Price: $25,161.00 (incl dest charge, wheel locks, trunk mat, and applique) Doc.: $349.00 Tax: $826.14 CT New Vehicle Warranty: $3.00 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fee: $5.00 Title, Reg, etc.: $125.00 Total OTD: $26,469.14 Cash Deposit: $1500.00 Trade-In Allowance: $12,500.00 Amount Owed on Trade: $1576.39 Net Trade-In Allowance: $10,923.61 Total Down Payment: $12,423.61 Amount to Finance: $14,045.53 48 Payments of $309.63 @ 2.74% I would HIGHLY recommend Toyota of Wallingford in Wallingford, CT to ANYONE in the market for a new car! Contact me via PM and I can put you in touch with the guy that I worked with if you are interested. Edit: Scion has Service Boost for 2y/24k-ish but my dealer is giving me free oil changes for life. I did one at 1k miles myself as part of break-in. They've got me from here out. |
Mods and Mod Plans
I learned a lot on the forums about opti-coat before I got my car and was determined that it would be the first thing I did. So it was...
Purchased the car on 6/28/12 Current 7/13/12 - Opti-coat applied by Rich @ Explicit Details - $350 ($250 for OC + $50/hr for prep) 12/1/12 - Purchased a 1998 Jeep Cherokee with 140k miles for $3500 3/2/13 - Installed Perrin Resonated Cat-Back, Perrin CAI, Perrin Inlet Tube, and Perrin Lightweight Crank Pulley 3/29/13 - 22w H11 LED Headlight Bulbs from AutomationLED Plans Immediate Future: 1. Window Tint - 20% maybe? More likely 35% (CT minimum). Don't want to give the police any further reason to harass a red sports car. 2. Clear Bra - Suffered some rock chips at this point and don't want any more! Wish List (no particular order): Exterior - Switchback Turn Signal LEDs - Clear Smoke corners w/ LED - TRS HID Retro-Quik Conversion and blacked out headlight housing simultaneously - Staggered Weds SA-15R in 18" - Unknown high perf tire - Grazio Black Carbon Look Side Vent Interior - hardwired radar detector - Pioneer AVIC-Z140BH - replace factory speakers with unknown high end product - JL Audio ProWedge with single 10" W6 - already own JL 500/1 and 350/4 amps - remove spare in attempt to compensate for added weight - perhaps LED interior lighting Engine - Nameless Performance Header - Nameless Performance OP/DP combo WITH HF Cat - lightweight flywheel? Need to research - ECU tune for the above Suspension and Brakes - high perf rotors and pads - SS brake lines All of this is subject to change given future products, reviews, results, innovations, and available funds. If I ever go FI it will likely be a supercharger in an effort to preserve throttle response as best as can be done. Stock suspension satisfies me. I know a lot of folks complain that the car is very high and needs to be lowered. I don't know what they are smoking. I saw a comment that it looks like a 4x4. Coming from, most recently, a jeep I find this funny. I believe these folks are actually focusing on wheel gap which is high. I feel that this car sits extremely low for a production car and folks tell me that all the time as I introduce them to it. I want to preserve my ability to make it in and out of driveways/parking lots with any sort of slope, clear dead animals and other debris, and go over speed bumps all without damage. |
First oil change done on 7/8 at 1000 miles to remove debris from the engine and make me feel comfortable finally exploring the upper part of the tach.
Used OEM filter purchased at Subaru and Castrol 0W-20. |
Looking good. If/when you do the blacked out headlight housing I will be very interested to see it. I had the same plan as you but I am really liking the look of the stock lights on the firestorm now.
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wow you definitely have everything planned out very nicely. Good luck!
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nice car! congrats.
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Excellent, and I mean EXCELLENT post. :bow:
You have the utmost respect and appreciation from my behalf. For the short time I've been roaming this forum, you have sincerely been one of the most thorough members on board... You have that sense of quality and detail in your posts, and especially within this thread of yours. Bravo! :thumbsup: You may not have the best camera and you may not be the greatest photographer... But your images are some of the best I've seen which display Firestorm Red at its best. They gave me full confidence that I chose the right color... Upon viewing other images posted elsewhere, I was not so sure... But now I am! :thanks: I think you recieved a superb finance rate, and I really hope I recieve something similar. Congrats, and I look forward to reading more of your posts! :w00t: |
Here are the wheels that I am considering so far. I created a thread HERE seeking some photoshops to help me make my decision but haven't had luck. Unfortunately, since I've made that thread I've discovered some more wheels I'm interested in.
I'm aiming for a set of 18x8 +35 wheels. I'm looking at the following: TSW Trackstar 5 http://www.tsw.com/img/trackstar5lug..._pop_white.jpg TSW Nurburgring http://www.tsw.com/img/nurburgring_gunmetal_pop_std.jpg Enkei PF01 (7.5 width only) http://www.tirerack.com/images/wheel...01_b_ci3_l.jpg Enkei Raijin http://www.tirerack.com/images/wheel...in_b_ci3_l.jpg Enkei RPF01 http://www.tirerack.com/images/wheel...f1_b_ci3_l.jpg TSW Valencia http://www.tsw.com/img/alloy-wheels-...ck-std-700.jpg |
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Firestorm wasn't my first choice either. I wanted Hot Lava, I figured that would be the unique color for this car...but when I found out I could get a Firestorm one much sooner then the Hot Lava, I jumped on it. I must say I couldn't be happier. I actually think I am happier with Firestorm. |
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Red lip would look great on your car.
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