Buying an FRS (i know there's a million)
 

Hello! As you can obviously see, I'm new to the forums here, but I have been a lurker for a while now. I'm going to buy my first FRS soon (which will be my first new car) and I was curious if Toyota had addressed some of the small issues with their 2014/2015 models.

Iknow there is this list http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11587 but it's not 100% specific on years.

With that being said, I'm wondering if there is any common issues I should look for while buying. (who knows, I might buy a certified pre-owned). :bonk:

Chirping is still alive and well :rolleyes:

1 LARGE issue with the car that hasn't been worked out is the amount of haters who dislike the fact that there is once again a true drivers car which is affordable. You will recognize these people by phrases such as "oh that's under powered" and " It only has 200hp" also "for that price you could have gotten a genesis or wrx which have way more power and handle just as good" -lololololololol.... ..anyways..

These kind of folk believe in straight line speed, and well lets be honest, there's nothing hard about keeping the wheel straight and mashing the gas pedal...

Take a close look down the side of each car.

My passenger side door is noticeably sagging about 1/32"-1/16" at it's rear edge. It's extra noticeable on the FR-S/BRZ because we have a beautiful little window sill line that sweeps into the front and rear fenders. It's one of those things that no one would ever notice unless I pointed it out to them, but once pointed out looks pretty bad. I've seen only two other cars at dealerships with the same defect and both were passenger doors.

Chirps from the high pressure fuel pump will manifest if you use fuel with ethanol in it.

A stressed metal ticking/popping noise may come from the rear deck as you put some miles on the car. My local dealership was aware of the problem and their techs can fix it in 30 min. I wouldn't talk to them about it before it occurs-you may never have it.

Check the body carefully for scratches. I found a pretty deep scratch beside my passenger door pull at the dealership. It was documented. They did their best to buff it out a week later during a return visit but wound up eating through my paint on the door edge. The service manager was a great guy and offered me a whole door re-paint, which I declined. I asked instead for the same money ($400) applied toward a TRD cold-air intake. He agreed and I just touched-up my door with a Toyota OE paint marker. Can't even tell.

Could NOT have said it better myself. But go with confidence, it's well worth it.

My car is a 2014, and has little rattles here and there, chirping, minor issues in paint overlooked by quality control. Speakers vibrate. Bumper is starting to sag. Only planning to keep it a few years so I'll enjoy till that time comes.

He shouldn't have that issue, there was a fix implemented on the production line already, I know my '14 was built post fix date.

I have a 2014 and the only real gripe I have with mine is the cheap clock rattles like crazy. I'll probably bring it up to the dealer when I bring it in for it's first service but it's not a huge issue. I haven't had any fuel pump crickets or rear deck rattle though.

Been documented on this site many times the chirp has nothing to go with ethanol gas.

I can only speak for myself.

I endured incredibly loud, incessant chirping for the first 2500mi of ownership.

One day I switched to a non-ethanol 90 octane and the chirping was gone the next day. My fuel pump has been dead silent for the last 6000mi.

I get the fuel from a 76 station off of I-5 in north Bellingham.

Previously, I had been exclusively using 93 octane fuel from Shell with 10% ethanol.

My car was manufactured in May of 2013.

There really aren't issues to look out for, the newer ones have rolling fixes so those are going to be more desirable. Buying used all you can do is check the tires to see how sideways the previous owner liked to get. This is of course contingent on you being ok with a rattley tin can of a car.
:thumbup:
If you get a '13 built before 3/13 there was an ECU update, get that fix confirmed if you plan on driving it with any sort of aggression.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...62&postcount=1

Speaking for myself I have almost 30k miles of 91 octane E10 fuel and I haven't heard a chirp in nearly a year and over 20k miles, I pick the gas station that's convenient and/or cheap.

I solved it by driving the piss out of it. 12/12 build date, before a fix was implemented ('green dot') aside from replacing the pump.

There are some who go out of their way for E0 and have success, there are some for which E0 does not work, there are some who dump additives into every tank, and there are some running E10 and E85 without chirps.

Edit: Be cautious of lowered cars unless they were done by the dealership and include an explicit warranty, the driveshafts can be overstressed if lowered an inch or more.

I'm 100% positive I will get a 2014 model. Is there a:thumbup: specific build date I should look for? thanks for all your help. :)

It's not the ethanol. It's the additive packages added to top tier gasoline brands.

Non-ethanol gas is by definition not top tier gas. Top tier gas is required to have ethanol in it. Top tier gas distributors also put various additives in the fuel that they hope to convince you will clean and protect your engine.

Once you get outside the top tier, you may not get ethanol, but you also may not be getting those additives. I don't know if those additives really have any benefit, but they do seem to be contributing to the cavitation issues that cause the squeak. So when your chirps go away when you run ethanol-free gas, it's because you're also running gas without the additives that contribute to crickets.

I was recently rather excited to find an ethanol-free station. I pulled in and filled up. I still had crickets. They didn't even get any quieter on that tank.

If you want to go to the other extreme and hear the loudest crickets you'll ever experience, fill up at a Sam's Club or WalMart. Whatever additive Murphy Oil is cutting their gas with is causes a cricket jubilee under your hood.

I think some of the quality control problems associated with production have been worked out in the 2014 models. I've had my Monogram for 5 months and it has zero issues other than the chirping fuel pump. That isn't a big deal for me since the noise isn't that loud. (I can only hear the crickets when I'm outside the car.)