2022 neptune premium 6mt first impressions
 

Absolutely adore this car’s looks. I wanted a base but settled for getting a premium because the dealer helped me find one sooner. Only options are all weather mats (lol) and homelink mirror (useful!). The car looks so much more premium that its relative price point would imply. Neighbors think it’s some fancy expensive sports car. I’d tell them it is just a Toyota and costs less than their new RAV4. I can’t stop staring at it.

Although to put into perspective I did spend about the same 7 years ago buying a V8 e90 BMW M3, but then again that is just the intersection of old market depreciation and new car inflation.

It is funny how getting a new car I’m filled with curiosity and constantly thinking of taking it out to drive. I guess it is a kind of car adhd. I have other fun cars to drive but you only have one chance to get to know someone for the first time.

First time pulling out of the dealer and doing a u turn, I could feel the back kick out a bit under throttle in 2nd. Woohoo! It’s only been 4-5 days with the car and already I’ve got a couple of requests already from parents asking to buy my car for their 16 year old. Uh yeah, unless your kid is a karting genius with uncanny car control, I think a mazda 3 or base corolla or civic would be more appropriate lol. This car demands car control classes.

I wish I could rev it out. Cutting out at 4k feels like such a tease. 1k miles for break in is going to take forever.

Gearing is short on the 6mt! Highway cruising feels rather high rpm. Last car that I had that felt like this was the e90 M3.

Steering is incredibly quick ratio. I don’t quite like that, having gotten used to the e36 and 997 but it suits the sporty nature of the car. I don’t know if there is much steering feel. It isn’t terrible but I have’t really pushed the limits yet to experience loading/unloading.

Throttle is touchy, hard to smoothly accelerate from a stop slowly, but again I guess this suits the sporty nature of the market positioning this car occupies. There is a sort of rev hang or delay at low rpm that makes it annoying to creep along but I guess more practice with this car and its clutch should solve that.

Clutch throw is short compared to our other cars. Clutch engagement starts pretty low in the range.

A quick drive up the mountain and back - this is as much sports car as I could ever use. It is quick around corners. Limits of grip are fairly high. I don’t dare go fast enough on the street to push that boundary. Theres isn’t much engine braking compared to straight or flat 6s. Also - my back hurts. My old back needs more suspension compliance or lumbar support. It is just a bit harsh even though it doesn’t seem that stiffly sprung. But hey you have to fork out 300% more dough for a car with adaptive Porsche sports suspension so what do you expect really?

Car is not a keeper or collector item certainly, but it is a gem for what it is and the whole point of owning one is to enjoy a car that isn’t irreplaceable. Plus I can’t stop staring at it.

It doesn't seem like it now, but when the ICE has been forced out of production, it just may be..

I mean people collect fiat 500s now and NA Miata’s have gone up in value so… Nostalgia is a funny thing, aided by attrition. Meanwhile for the next 10 years you can drive the xxxx out of this thing which is the whole point.

I don't think these cars are special enough to attain collector status or legend status (like a Supra).

AT most i think they'll be desirable enough to be something like the modern equivalent of a Nissan 240SX or even just follow in its ancestry as the obvious modern equivalent of the AE86

But who knows how things will be down the road.

I have BRZ Gen 1 and I find the driver seat is really comfortable. Took a while to discover optimal seat back angle, and ideal steering wheel location. Also seat height.

I’ve been on several cross country journeys and always feel reasonably fresh at the end of the day.

This is also the first car I’ve owned that I don’t play music incessantly on the trip. The car is plenty entertaining - even on the interstate.

Enjoyed your review. I’ve only spent an hour in the ‘22 seat, tho ergonomically it’s similar to gen 1 cars in regard to lumbar support. I have lower back issues, and a found a generic half roll cushion transformed the seat for me.

https://i.ibb.co/ZxCFSvb/CC6-C3-F8-C...B5-FF3-E87.jpg

So got a couple things done to my car today at the dealer.

1) ac always starts out in recirc when you start the car. Super annoying. Apparently service has an option that customers can’t configure themselves - some kind of customization to change recirc to customer’s choice - which remembers the last setting you had it on when you turned off the car.
2) I had them disable active sound system, the fake engine noise, which is another one of those customizations service can set but you can’t
3) toyota connect app wasn’t working even though I had added the vin to my app and neither was sos. It turned out it wasn’t activated fully like it should have been at purchase. I ended up calling toyota connect support and they said I had to reset the ecall system by holding down the “i” button for at least 6 seconds until both sos indicator lights start flashing. Then hit sos to dial the call center through the car and they pick up asking if you need emergency assistance. Tell them no, just trying to set up and authorize the toyota connect service and they set up a few things with your account and within an hour voila it works! It doesn’t seem like the app can do very much though.

Looking forward to taking the long way home tomorrow to see what its like without the active engine sound.

I'll gladly disagree here. It's extremely difficult to find one that hasn't been modded with fugly extreme camber and other garbage body kits. I'd argue that a stock car would attain collector status simply because most "kids" mod the crap out of these.

This is where I'm at as well. Perhaps my problem is I said I'd be happy with either trim level. I'm pretty sure I'd be better off with a base, but I guarantee the dealer is going to source a premium because why spring for the cheaper model, it's easier to spend someone else's money.

I'm curious just how different the 6-speaker setup compares to the 8-speaker setup, what the wattage is on the head-unit (is what it comes down to).

I want the smaller wheels, and not really the PS4's.. but the heated seats are kind of a must. And naturally there aren't any available for test drive within a 200-mile radius from here (not that I'd drive 200 miles).

Haha mine might get to that point then lol.

I dont intend to mod mine (it MIGHT see something like a brake kit or exhaust...but nothing beyond that if anything)

I have the last year first gen (2020) which also happens to be the year they switched to the Pavement Grey from Asphalt.
And toyota didnt sell alot of these in the latter years, especially having to allocate between the various colours out there.

I probably have one of the more uncommon 86 configurations out there...(Hakone being the other obvious one, and theres also the Thunder Grey used in 2019 i think which some markets didnt get, and i think there might have been one other one and done colour used that isnt on a special edition car)

Premiums are a little more common now than they were earlier this year. Base used to be at least twice as common, now there are a little more premium than base. Premium is still harder to get though. A forum survey of ~450 people who placed deposits sits at 80% premium. My anecdotal experience is the waitlists are filled with premium manual.

So if you prefer base, fortune favors you. Considering the small price difference (and in my opinion the must-have-ness of premium grade for heated seats and wheels alone - can't stand the base wheels, love the premiums) I don't even know why they bothered with 2 trims.

Just checked this out to be sure because I had in my mind that premium was less than $2000 upgrade. It's about $2600 which is not bad at all for what you get.

You will realize in 20 years that this car will be a classic

When more than half of them will be modded to the point of yuck :bonk: and the other half will never be resold.