How does somebody end up owning 3 FRS's? Well I thought I would share my story with you guys.
The very first FRS I owned was a 2013 Firestorm Automatic bought in January 2014
This was honestly one of the happiest days of my life that I will always remember, it was my first real new car. I was car searching and came across the FRS in a youtube video (never heard of it prior to this point) At first I was more interested in the Hyundai Genesis Coupe (more power) but after watching a few youtube videos, seeing some reviews, I decided to go out and test drive the FRS first. I took the MT out on a test drive but stalled it like 4 times so we went back and grabbed the AT (embarrassing but whatever) long story short I ended up with the AT a few weeks later and I was very happy with my choice. The reason I went with the FRS is because well....as most FRS/BRZ owners know, there is something special about this car when you get into it compared to most other cars - you actually feel like you are in the car where as most other cars detract from that same handling/balance experience. I had some regrets later on that it was the AT and not the MT (I took a lot of flack for this from people, especially at work) and started wishing I would have gone with the MT and the white color (honestly the whiteout FRS is beautiful and in my opinion the only color that compared was the blue, and I hate blue but ultramarine on this car is gorgeous in person) Well...as fate would have it, I totaled the car. Somebody ran a stop sign and smashed into me. My insurance company paid off the car. I also survived the accident so there is that (A SUV smashed into be at like 80KM/HR) sideways and they ended up rolling over top of me. I came out with a few busted ribs, whiplash, concussion but the car saved my life. Honestly this is an incredibly safe car, I don't think people realize that.
The second FRS I ended up with was a 2013 Ultramarine FRS MT that I bought in Febuary 2014
I bought this beauty used with 10,500km on it, the 2014's were already out at the time but I was fine paying less for basically the same car and there is barely any difference between the 13's and 14's. I wasn't a fan of blue and still am not, I even said that when I bought the car. However, I liked the blue on this car and it was finally my chance to go with MT. Again I was very happy with my choice, I learned how to drive MT on this car and drove over 50,000km on it. The first thing I noticed obviously was the car was a bit faster off the line when compared to the AT. It's not THAT noticeable, but the car is launchable whereas the AT is not which makes the difference I guess, and some slight gearing differences. The more I drove it the more I enjoyed it. Something weird started to happen though....I started missing my AT and the paddle shifts. It's odd because I had so much regret from getting the AT due to the crap I was getting from people to begin with, and here I was with the MT now starting to miss my old AT. Oh yeah, the car also had aftermarket exhaust on it which sounded amazing, but honestly I kind of missed the stock exhaust a bit.
My Third FRS was HALO 2015 FRS that I bought in June of 2016
Well as fate would have it I ended up going to the body shop to repair some scratches on the car and saw this pretty HALO 2015 FRS sitting outside, and guess what? It was an Automatic. Right then and there I decided to trade in my Ultramarine frs after getting a higher than expected offer on it (and after test driving the 2015) The first thing I noticed was how different the 2015's felt on the road, they drive smoother and the body roll isn't as bad, the handling feels a bit more tight. The main thing though was, I had my paddle shifts back, I had my sports and snow modes buttons back, and the car was just more relaxing (to me) to drive. If I wanted to manually control the revs I could - but I could also sit back and relax and not shift if I wanted to as well - and there is something about the downshifts with the AT that was hard to match for me in the MT. I actually find the AT to be just as fun as the MT thanks to the paddle shifts and responsive transmission, and gives a more relaxing driving experience in the city.
So 3 FRS's later and I finally got what I wanted. No it's not the whiteout FRS specifically, but the white on both colors looks amazing. In conclusion I just wanted to let you guys know that I really enjoyed both transmissions and while the MT is great, I really missed my automatic and I really find it in some ways even more fun to shift with. So to any of you AT owners out there, be happy with what you got, trust me it is great.
As for the new 2017 rebadged Toyota's well...maybe in a few years we will see, maybe I will go back to the MT. This car is amazing, regardless of what year or transmission you own and while it's not the fastest, it sure is one of the most fun to drive.