New member - A few things on my mind.
 

Hey guys, new to the site - glad to have found it!

I've been following the FT-86 (FR-S for those of us in the states) for a while now, and now that it's getting closer to being released I've figured that it's time for me to start chatting with some people who are also interested in the car. I haven't made up my mind if I'm going to get one or not, but I'm in the market for a new car. I won't make the decision to get one until I've seen the numbers and taken it for a spin (pretty much like everybody else). But I am definitely holding off on buying something until I find out more about this car. I've been a Toyota/Nissan guy for several years. I've had a 7th gen. Celica, MR2 Turbo, MKIV TT Supra and single turbo, and an S13 240sx. All really fun cars, and I'm excited that the FR-S might fit right into my "style".

I know we don't know anything for sure, and nothing's really set in stone. But I've heard that we can expect this car to be around 197hp, 2,800lbs, and cost around $25k-$30k. It's supposed to be a good handling car, but not necessarily be one of the quickest. My only concern is that this car might fall into the RX-8 "gray" area of the market. I'm not putting the RX-8 down, but it has been hard for me to justify purchasing one (despite the frequent complaints regarding the rotary's reliability issues). I just feel like with the way 95% of people drive, they will never get to experience what the RX-8 (or the FR-S) for that matter is capable of. And it kinda gives it a bad reputation in a way. I know this car is kinda hinting back at the AE86 which was light and agile, and didn't have a whole lot of power, but if the FR-S starts to creep its price up into the 3.8 Genesis Coupe price range, I'm going to see it having a hard time competing with several different cars out there for the pirce. I'm just hoping that this car will be able to get 30+ mpg and cost less than $25k. I'm not bashing the car... I've been following it for a long time, but even being the Toyota fan that I am, I won't purchase something that I cant justify. With the numbers that I've heard so far, I just can't say I'm totally for this new ride yet. I guess I just wish they wouldn't get too wrapped up in the handling characteristics of the car - of course it's important, but I don't feel that it will be able to redeem the "Toyota sports car spirit", with dead on precise cornering and handling articulation, while constantly getting passed in the straights and being left at stoplights. But, to each their own I suppose.


Anyway, this is just speculation on my part - Things I've been kicking around in my head - I'm very excited about this car - and I am hoping it's going to exceed my expectations! This is just something that's been on my mind. Has anybody else kinda been thinking about this car like I have?

Yeah, this isn't a performance car, but a driver's car. ^^lol at that but anyways...

Engine swaps, will most likely be popular with this car.. Let's put it the 240sx of this decade. Lots and lots of accessories will be available for this car too.

If anything, you can test drive it when it releases.

@OP:
This is not the car for you

Agreed with above. Cant you HP guys just go buy a Mustang GT? All the hp you could want.

in all honesty that gt will probably outhandle this thing. but i do believe this car will be more fun. i think chasing fun is really the way to go and i hope that the market will reward such thinking.

thats a bold statement, good thing you used the word probably

All this info in the past week or so has been incredible, we've seen plenty of new members here getting even more hyped about the car. But honestly, the more I see and read, the less interested I become. Maybe the official announcements will change that.

Right now it seems to me that they've: missed their target weight, missed their target price range, created an absolutely hideous rear end, and alienated some potential customers with a single engine offering. They've kinda spun that latter bit to say "For a fun car, you don't need any more than that." I'm starting to worry that the car might not take well to much more power in the first place. I still want to test drive the car myself, but I wasn't blown away by the reviewers' comments on the handling.

Luckily I'm in no rush to buy right now, just riding the hype roller coaster.

Which is why they will make you wait 7 years for the next supra. /trollface.jpg

I know I'm way too poor considering what they'd be asking for a new Supra. Something rotary powered on the other hand...

As far as the engine goes, I think we should still wait for specs...As you've seen, some of the (apparently reliable) sources suggest 213PS rather than 197. 213 is actually a very very impressive number given the rev limit, maybe this engine will have some surprises in store.

>_> Which source is reliable and which is not?

I have no idea, we just have to see ;) Pray it's at the higher end.

I hope you're not referring to price :P lol.

Though I do expect the price to be less than the WRX for Subaru's version (midpoint between that and the Impreza) and give or take 2k over the tC for Scion. Otherwise... ... yeah... lol I'll be one sad panda.

well the mustang corners great. stops in equal fashion. the limits are too high to really play with traction at least for me. im sure there is going to be a better transient response simply because of the weight and focus on keeping weight central and low. i think it has a chance because it they seemed to be focused on how it handles at the limit and not where the limit is. its too early to tell but i think it will have enough of an impact to keep them interested in making sports cars. however i wont buy one as long as there are still used elises when i get out of school this time around