After days of teasing pictures from my dealer but not being able to see it two days in a row (Day 1 it was stuck in the closed service center waiting for the spoiler to be mounted, and Day 2 it was locked up at the detailing center to keep interested parties from getting too close to it), I finally picked up #1082 from the dealer. Absolutely gorgeous! Stock (Canadian..ugh don't even get me started) head unit looks mega out of place though.
I did notice one thing - the 10 series fake carbon dash inset is just double-sided-taped onto the original T pattern fake carbon fibre (which I prefer). Except that on the passenger side they had to drill a hole through the black one to get the wiring through to the lighter 10 series dash pattern. I tried to pry it off of the piece around the head unit and pried the whole inset off instead. Oops.
Ugh in my excitement to drive off with the car I also drove off without some of my personal stuff (including my cell phone charger cable to transfer files) at the dealership so more pictures to come.
Dealer finance guy was hilarious (as in, he was hilarious because he was stupid); he asked me if I wanted the extended warranty, in which I asked the (somewhat rhetorical) question - "why? do you think your cars aren't built that well?". You could see him squirming to tell me that "Toyota cars are the best in the world" but "You should get the extended warranty". He then Googled JD Power & Associates and tried to show me how well Toyota does in these rankings. Sure enough, #1 was Lexus, #2 was (surprisingly) Lincoln (??), and #3 was Toyota. Then there was a bunch of manufacturers lower down, the "industry average", and then a bunch of cars after that. Near the bottom, was SCION. I burst out laughing and pointed it out to the guy and told him he probably shouldn't show that to customers as some sort of selling tool. So after all of this, I got the agreement and was about to sign when I noticed he had tacked on the $2400 extended warranty - the one I SPECIFICALLY declined. If I hadn't read through the fine print carefully I would have walked out of there minus $2400 for something I didn't want! Then when he reprinted the agreement I saw he made some math errors so had to reprint AGAIN. I found it ironic that he had his trainee with him who probably thought that she could easily replace this guy haha. Word of warning - watch out what they tack onto your price!
My sales guy thought I was the first in BC to have this car. That may be some dealer bullshit but even if it is, it feels pretty special to be out there with the only 10 series FR-S (that I've seen so far)! I went to pick up my girlfriend from somewhere and I got a few stares from people in the parking lot. I was worried that the 10 series may be perceived as a "poser car", what with its light up badges and stupid SC10N light display on the passenger dash (ok so it does feel a bit cheese) but you DO feel special with that Silver Ignition paint and those lights! Make the car look so much better than the stock projectors. I just wish we knew how to leave the LED DRLs on! Anybody figure that out yet?
I drove the "base" FR-S last October on a whirl wind trip to California via the Pacific Coastal Hwy last year and it was an absolute blast but had a few concerns which somehow seems to have been corrected??
A. The sound: bugged me at high revs but around town (which will be most of my driving) it sounds growly. I like it now (or its just me mentally getting accustomed to it).
B. Pedal positions were a bit weird: I felt like the accelerator pedal was too far back originally and the clutch bite point was a bit too wide for smoothness (compared to my miata anyway). Driving with the same shoes I did last october and this has somehow gone away? I'm not sure how this happened but I can heel toe now. Clutch transition point seems ok now too (?).
C. Engine felt too slow revving: This seems OK now too? When I blip the throttle now it makes this sharp growl, like a dog barking. Its definitely not a smooth revving inline four, but its got its own character.
Anyway, I was worried that this car wouldn't be 35gs (after Canadian taxes and other bullshit) better than my existing Miata and a few days ago I was feeling a bit of buyers remorse with the drama we've all felt getting this car.
But to all those who are second guessing their purchase - DON'T. This car is worth waiting for! Stay true!
Hmm I did notice that the HIDs seem to make a lot of noise and yesterday after I got home I smelt some burning? Anybody else find this?