2013 vs 2016 FRS: Which to buy?
 

Hi,
I'm new to this forum, (and Forums in general) So please forgive me if im asking a repeated question. I tried looking to see if this was asked before, but i couldnt find any posts on it.

I'm looking to buy an FRS:

I spoke with a car friend (whos way more experienced than me) and he was telling me to stay away from the 2013-2015 models because of the issues they have. But I only know the one valve spring recall issue in the 2013 model. I assumed the 2014/15 models were safe even if not the best…but apparently he (and a few others) have told me not to, and that the 2016 models are more reliable although a bit pricier.
I don’t want a super expensive car that I would be too scared to work on. I want a fun cheap car that I can mess with. but I also dont want a car thats gonna break on me if i dont know its quirks. i'd like to have a reliable car that i can slowly grow as i modify it. I'm leaning toward a 2016, but thought i'd get input from you guys anyways.

Is it worth it spending the extra money for a 2016 model? or are the issues in the 2013-15 models not that big a deal? If so, what years are worth/not worth it?

DISCLAIMER: I'm very new to the car scene, and haven't really worked on cars before other than routine maintenance.

I'd like to hear your personal experiences and opinions on the topic! sorry for the lengthy (and sporatic) text, but thank you for your responses in advance!

The 15' and 16' are basically the same. Last real update to the first gen was 17'+, known as "facelift" cars.

14' got updated rocker arms, rocker pivots.
15' got updated wiring harness and improved coil packs.

There are other small changes between years but nothing major. For sure, go for the 16' between the two.

My '13 has been pretty reliable. Still get valve spring recall letters, still ignore them.

Do a Google search for "ft86club valve spring recall" if you want all the details. It really only affected cars produced in certain months of 2013, and consensus is that more engines were killed by Toyota techs putting the engines back together than actual valve springs breaking. If the car has at least 10k miles since either new or valve spring procedure then don't worry about it.

Only real issues I've had are a small oil leak and my TOB just went in November at 60k miles. I think anything up to 2017(?) Is going to have the same chances of those happening though.

Same price, obviously go with the latest model with least miles. If there's a huge jump at '16 and up, I wouldn't count out the earlier models. As already mentioned, 2017 was a facelift year and those changes are a bit more substantial.

+1


OP, just find one that hasn't been molested and take good care of it.

Oh, and TOB's got updated in 15'.

Thank you all for your advice experience and feedback!!
I don’t have a clue on how to directly reply one by one, so ima just throw it all into this comment.

I’m aware that with the valve spring recall, the recall itself wasn’t the issue, but rather the Toyota technicians working on Subaru engines. (Which is why the BRZ models don’t have this problem…I think)

But in terms of the model years, if the 14/15 years aren’t too different from the 2016, but you guys are still recommending the latter model, then I’ll definitely lean towards buying a 2016 model. (I’ll be sure to learn about the oil leak issue that was mentioned)

And when it comes to buying an actual car, I’m definitely looking for certain criteria.
I try to look for stock cars, or if there are any mods, only 1 or 2 of them, and they can’t be anything significant… I also try to avoid buying from car enthusiasts, because the chances of that car being driven to hell and back is much higher than the average daily commuter.

Once again, thanks for the so far responses, and I’m gone take the responses into consideration.

The Subaru techs screwed up just as many as the Toyota ones did. Techs are not born with the skills to only work on one brand of engine. It was carelessness not lack of experience regardless of who they worked for.
Buy the one with the least miles and best maintenance records regardless of year.

Beyond the 2013’s all should be good.

Some Mods can be fixed if required just make sure the car was not FI …
Car enthusiast can take better care of their toys with proper servicing.
Not sure about the ones that get Daily driven as most people think its just an appliance and may not be getting the regular maintenance.

I speak from experience… Whoever buys my GD3 when I decide to let it go will find out that that old senile grey hairy guy really maintained it well
yet I drove it at full beans(hell & back) and still push it like its not mine, never had clutch issues or bad (only on the Summer sticky stuff) tire
wear on any other car I ever owned, but this one. Bought it originaly to be a short interim vehicle 16 yrs ago, found out it wont die no matter how I tried.
I treat my BRZ a bit better when I feel like it. Maintenance is key and keep on top of the problems & new Noises.

It would be a good idea once you find your precious to do a complete fluids flush to at least get a fresh start.

Another thing to know is that 2016+ have backup cameras as standard. Mine is a 2015 and I had to install an OEM backup camera from a camry.

AFAIK 2013-2014 had the valve spring recall. I haven't heard of any recalls for 2015-2016 but I may be wrong.

I also recommend going for the 2016.

2013 had a valve spring recall plus a bad initial tune.

2014 had updated rockers to reduce noise in one of the engine banks

2015 has updated coils. 2016 is the same as 2015.

Essentially if the car is running fine today, 8-10 years after release it's probably fine.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150920

Depends on service history.

I'd take a 100k mi '13 with perfect service records over a 25k mi '16 with no history and mods.

There were actually two changes to the valve train on the 14'. The oiling holes in the rocker pivots on the 13' where different size in the drive and passenger side head. In 14' they went to the same size in both, the smallest of the two.

It's never been stated why they updated the rockers(they increased the depth of the rocker pivot pockets), they also increased the length of the valve stem to go along with the deeper pockets. Many of us suspect it was to address the FA/FB series engines being prone to kicking out the rocker arms.

I stumbled upon this by mistake FYI
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...84247-0699.pdf

Nice find. Never seen that before.