Quote:
Originally Posted by nikitopo
There is nothing wrong with the geometry or the chassis. The main issue is that in the US and other regions it is sold under a basic or "premium" spec. The real performance versions (tuned by STI) were never sold outside Japan. If someone wants to have a good performance from day one, then it is true that our cars are not the best available option. Tuning your car is the other solution, but it is a very difficult task because you can ruin the whole package. Overall, you can find tons of information over here, but usually without focusing on a complete solution. The other best option is to replicate the changes that have been done in the Japanese performance versions and maybe advance a bit more. There are topics that focus on this and we know the complete details of the changed parts and how to find them.
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I agree with you for the most part. I think the part of the reason why the performance variant (BRZ STI and whatnot) is not available in the US is because the cost. In Japan, and Europe (and for most countries) higher displacement engine is very costly, it's not very uncommon to pay $3-4k taxes annually for a V8 engine which is not the case here in the U.S. That means JDM or EDM market can get away with the higher price tag of the smaller engine cars but if you try to sell a BRZ for almost $40k in the U.S. it might not work because of the competition. For a very limited amount of cars this may not be an issue such as Mugen Type R ..etc since there will be always some collector who's willing to pay for it.
Although the OP was about SS 1LE vs FRS/BRZ handling, dollar for dollar, stock vs stock even the entry level V6 Camaros provide better handling out of the box these days. If someone told me this say like 5-10 years ago, I think I would just laugh at them
but it's now true, they definitely came a long way. So "bigger, heavier, muscle car that cannot turn" streotype is not true anymore. Of course the cost of consumables will not be anything like Miata but that's also changing these days with the amount of aftermarket wheels, tires and brakes options out there nowadays.
http://www.motortrend.com/news/2016-...t-test-review/
I still like the idea of lighter cars as long as they have enough power the keep the power/weight ratio in check (something like 10lbs/hp or less) but it's just a personal opinion of course.