MR-S to FR-S
 

Although different layouts, I feel that the spirit of these cars are quite similar. Both handle well, relatively light weight, and RWD... Oh! and underpowered. I just hope the FR-S is as fun to drive.

I'm probably the only person looking forward to the drop top version I guess?


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My old 2003 MR-S. Mildly modded. Turbo. 225RWHP. Good for 12.90. A blast to drive.

Damn 225 RWHP on a MR-S?

WOW!

I like that car man. Nice job.

looking foward to putting a hardtop on your frs convertible?

Since when does 200bhp in a 2700lb car make it underpowered? The Fiat 500? The Honda Fit? The Toyota Yaris? Those cars are underpowered. Look, I realize some people were looking for 370Z power for Civic Si money (Not sure why people thought that Toyota/Subaru would be able to spank Hyundai at the value game, but I guess anyone with an internet connection and a set of fingers can post here.), but that just isn't in the cards here. Sorry. Everyone with a fragile self-esteem will have to learn to survive losing stoplight races to overzealous soccer moms.

The FRS\BRZ has a power to weight ratio of avg of 13.44 to 1. That is good enough, depending of what price they are gonna offer this fine ass car at.

Remember there is competition to this car (ie RWD front engine 4 cylinder with a LSD)..well really only one car...the Genesis coupe 2.0..Rumor is that the 2013 model Gen Coupe 2.0 will have 280HP and the same base 23K price. The current Genesis coupe 2.0 has 223HP and 217ft/lbs of torque with the premium fuel and weighs 3294 pounds with a power to weight ratio of 14.77 to 1 and a 0-60 time of 6.8 secs. The FR-S will be faster than this car.....because it weighs about 583 pounds less going with the Hi-spec model at 2711 pounds. Think about it. Almost 600 freaking pounds more.....The Gen coupe 2.0 needs that upgraded 280 HP engine to be faster than the FRS.

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http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....coupe-rear.jpg

lol. The hardtop was very nice piece for that car. It totally changed the look and stiffened it up quite a bit. It was also offered to me from a friend at a price I couldn't refuse. It spend most of it's time in the garage on nice days though.

This is supposed to be a performance car, not a commuter like the cars you mentioned. Perhaps you should compare the offerings of Mazda, Ford, GM and Subaru for "Civic Si money." It's not just Hyundai that has "value" in the power department. It's safe to say that this car is underpowered relative to what we have in the market now.

This car has similar specs, sans RWD, to the 7th gen Celica GT-S or DC2 ITR. Cars from over TEN YEARS ago. I'm still optimistic however, it could be special.

i know. that was one of the first things i did to my miata. i dont think the hardtop adds to the strength of the chassis though. it most likely just damps some of the nvh giving the illusion of strengh since it isnt a structural component. either way its a badass car. my friend has one with the gts swap and that thing is dope

Couple things:

Toyota and Subaru have stated ad nauseam that the FT-86 is about handling, not drag racing. If you're fixated on 0-60 times like everyone else on the internet, then this car is not for you. You will be able to go faster for less money elsewhere.

I'm sure some consider the Genny Coupe as a competitor to the FT-86, but that's only really based on price and region of origin. The Genny is bigger, fatter, and more of GT than a sports car. Enthusiasts who really value a lightweight, tossable, RWD car are not likely cross-shop the two cars.

The buff books love to throw cars into pre-defined categories so they can conveniently run cover-story comparison tests, but in reality, the FT-86 won't really have direct competitor in the market. Its closest rival is probably the Mazda MX-5, but even that is a big stretch.

Finally, there has been no word from Hyundai on the 2013 2.0T's output. The 280hp / $23k thing is just fanboy speculation.

Offerings from Mazda? Like the 170hp MX-5? Or the 230hp RX-8? And I assume you're referring to the V6 muscle cars when you mention Ford and GM. It's vital to look at weight when you're looking at those cars, and simply comparing price is not accurate either. The closest competitor handling-wise to the FT86 would likely be the V6 Mustang with performance pack, but that is not a twenty-three grand car anymore.

Also, it's not really fair to compare hot hatches either. Those cars benefit from economies of scale: i.e. it is much less expensive to drop a big engine in one of your bread-and-butter models than it is create a whole new car from scratch. Just look at Mazda's own Speed3 and MX-5. They have similar price points, but differ greatly in mission and perspective customer. If you want a fast Subaru, then buy a WRX. The FT-86's mission was never to be a "performance car," and if that's what you were expecting, then you missed the point.

"In this car we didn't go after those specs or speed, rather our aim was a car that the driver could really enjoy" -Kosuke Kubo

I was talking about the Speed 3.

The Mustang starts at $22k, weighs 3450 lbs and has 306 HP. You're speculating on the pricing and handling of the FR-S. We'll see who out-handles who.

I think it needs more power, but I'm also the same guy who boosted a roadster. At first, none of the purists liked the idea, but now swaps and FI are common practice with the MR-S.

Why are you hung up that I think it's under powered? I like extra HP, maybe you don't. And I can care less about what Kosuke Kubo says. Trust me, I'll enjoy a boosted FR-S 11ty times more than a stock one. To each his own.

Ill take a boosted fr-s over a stock one for sure

it would be a lot easier to talk about the transition from an MR-S to FR-S if we knew what the hell the FR-S was like on the road