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smbrm · 05-27-2012, 10:42 PM

An hour with a Scion FRS Automatic!

After spending about 15 minutes with an FRS manual about 3 weeks ago,
I had another opportunity of about an hour with a Scion FRS Automatic. This seemed like plenty of time to find out what is was like around town and out on the highway.

Seating is great. The seats are not only comfortable, but very side supportive at both the lumbar and the shoulders. No issues with the seatbelt(through the seat loops) rubbing on the neck.
Driver seat elevation allowed for good adjustability. I think they should have put the seat base elevation adjustment on the passenger side as well as this would have allowed for more rear seat passenger toe room. As a comparison I would say the Scion TC seats were very comfortable but not as side supportive as the FRS seats.

Everything on the dash was easily accessible, and the view out over the hood is excellent. I really like the front fender edges that kind of bracket your view and give solid reference points.

The side view mirror needed some getting used too as the housing top slopes down towards the outside edge which gives an odd perspective to the view. They were easily adjustable to allow the view to transition from rear view mirror to side view to peripheral, to support the limited shoulder check view.

Like any new car it sometimes takes a few minutes of driving to get used to the controls and result in smooth power train usage. The tachometer and the digital speedometer are the two main driving control gauges. There is other stuff to consult, but that will take more time to incorporate. The analog speedometer is pretty useless as any meaningful sweep of the dial is just not available from its large range.

I was not able to test with the electronic safety controls off for safety reasons.
The car handles really well. I was able to transition and balance the car between understeer and oversteer on the responsive throttle on highway on-ramps where you get some reasonable lateral acceleration. I found this quite different than front wheel drive. A Civic SI I recently tested had way too much understeer and it felt like the outside front tire was folding under the car. It was hard to shift weight onto the back wheels. I found weight transition with the Scion TC's more familiar and able steering to be better than the Civic SI. The FRS was a very nice balance and easily transitioned with its responsive throttle.

I didn't try straight automatic preferring to check out the paddle shifters. Not much time is spent in first gear as the car pulls reasonably well in 2nd.

Most city driving I would say is in the range of the lower bump on the torque curve. The automatic really liked working in 3rd gear for just driving along on city streets in the 50 to 70 kph range. With the paddles in manual you could shift up and down as much as you like regardless of the car speed. Some have mentioned the prevention of upshifts if the car is going too slow, but I never experienced that.

6th in the automatic is definitely for cruising on the flat, for both the manual and the automatic, and fifth does not provide much grunt on the highway for a long hill. Fourth seemed better for long uphill highway climbs.

The car did pull reasonably well in the 3200-4800rpm torque dip provided you were in the right gear for the speed.

Downshifts with the automatic were handled well, blipping the throttle even on noticeably(by engine note) extreme downshifts. With a bit more familiarity I think smoothing the up shifts and downshifts would be easily mastered to the seamlessness you can get with a manual.

I didn't test the upshift rev limiter, as the car was really low mileage. The sport shift setting was crisper.

The automatic does shift to first(automatically) at a stop when in the manual shift mode which is a good thing as you do not have to remember to downshift to first. First feels really low and would not say there was value in a manual paddle downshift to 1rst. But 3-2nd & 4-3rd downshifts felt good just like a manual and, once again with more familiarity, would give you that slight engine braking feel followed by the more important preparedness for the following acceleration away from the corner.

Trunk maximum height through the pass through was 13 inches while the trunk opening height was 15 inches.

All in all I was surprised that I enjoyed the FRS automatic. It was much better than a Veloster dual clutch automatic I had recently tested.

While the automatic has better fuel consumption, about 11%-12%(depending on which fuel economy numbers you use, U.S vs. Cdn) it would take about 5-10 years at 10,000 km per year just to pay off the difference in transmission cost at current fuel prices.

I like the car, however:

Deciding between the FRS automatic and the manual is now more of a tough choice! I'm just not finding a clear point that tips the balance for one over the other?

05-27-2012, 10:42 PM	#1
smbrm Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Drives: Scion FRS Ht Lva(AT) Location: Alberta Posts: 409 Thanks: 30 Thanked 81 Times in 54 Posts Mentioned: 1 Post(s)	An hour with a Scion FRS automatic An hour with a Scion FRS Automatic! After spending about 15 minutes with an FRS manual about 3 weeks ago, I had another opportunity of about an hour with a Scion FRS Automatic. This seemed like plenty of time to find out what is was like around town and out on the highway. Seating is great. The seats are not only comfortable, but very side supportive at both the lumbar and the shoulders. No issues with the seatbelt(through the seat loops) rubbing on the neck. Driver seat elevation allowed for good adjustability. I think they should have put the seat base elevation adjustment on the passenger side as well as this would have allowed for more rear seat passenger toe room. As a comparison I would say the Scion TC seats were very comfortable but not as side supportive as the FRS seats. Everything on the dash was easily accessible, and the view out over the hood is excellent. I really like the front fender edges that kind of bracket your view and give solid reference points. The side view mirror needed some getting used too as the housing top slopes down towards the outside edge which gives an odd perspective to the view. They were easily adjustable to allow the view to transition from rear view mirror to side view to peripheral, to support the limited shoulder check view. Like any new car it sometimes takes a few minutes of driving to get used to the controls and result in smooth power train usage. The tachometer and the digital speedometer are the two main driving control gauges. There is other stuff to consult, but that will take more time to incorporate. The analog speedometer is pretty useless as any meaningful sweep of the dial is just not available from its large range. I was not able to test with the electronic safety controls off for safety reasons. The car handles really well. I was able to transition and balance the car between understeer and oversteer on the responsive throttle on highway on-ramps where you get some reasonable lateral acceleration. I found this quite different than front wheel drive. A Civic SI I recently tested had way too much understeer and it felt like the outside front tire was folding under the car. It was hard to shift weight onto the back wheels. I found weight transition with the Scion TC's more familiar and able steering to be better than the Civic SI. The FRS was a very nice balance and easily transitioned with its responsive throttle. I didn't try straight automatic preferring to check out the paddle shifters. Not much time is spent in first gear as the car pulls reasonably well in 2nd. Most city driving I would say is in the range of the lower bump on the torque curve. The automatic really liked working in 3rd gear for just driving along on city streets in the 50 to 70 kph range. With the paddles in manual you could shift up and down as much as you like regardless of the car speed. Some have mentioned the prevention of upshifts if the car is going too slow, but I never experienced that. 6th in the automatic is definitely for cruising on the flat, for both the manual and the automatic, and fifth does not provide much grunt on the highway for a long hill. Fourth seemed better for long uphill highway climbs. The car did pull reasonably well in the 3200-4800rpm torque dip provided you were in the right gear for the speed. Downshifts with the automatic were handled well, blipping the throttle even on noticeably(by engine note) extreme downshifts. With a bit more familiarity I think smoothing the up shifts and downshifts would be easily mastered to the seamlessness you can get with a manual. I didn't test the upshift rev limiter, as the car was really low mileage. The sport shift setting was crisper. The automatic does shift to first(automatically) at a stop when in the manual shift mode which is a good thing as you do not have to remember to downshift to first. First feels really low and would not say there was value in a manual paddle downshift to 1rst. But 3-2nd & 4-3rd downshifts felt good just like a manual and, once again with more familiarity, would give you that slight engine braking feel followed by the more important preparedness for the following acceleration away from the corner. Trunk maximum height through the pass through was 13 inches while the trunk opening height was 15 inches. All in all I was surprised that I enjoyed the FRS automatic. It was much better than a Veloster dual clutch automatic I had recently tested. While the automatic has better fuel consumption, about 11%-12%(depending on which fuel economy numbers you use, U.S vs. Cdn) it would take about 5-10 years at 10,000 km per year just to pay off the difference in transmission cost at current fuel prices. I like the car, however: Deciding between the FRS automatic and the manual is now more of a tough choice! I'm just not finding a clear point that tips the balance for one over the other? Last edited by smbrm; 05-28-2012 at 02:12 AM.