Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB - View Single Post

ermax · 01-10-2018, 12:20 AM

I like that it’s easy to work on. Haven’t pulled the engine yet but it looks fairly straight forward. Dropping the tranny is the easiest of any car I’ve owned to date. I like that it has an aluminum under tray rather than a plastic one that droops over time. I like the oil filter being in top so oil doesn’t go all over the place when changing the filter. I like that you can easily and cheaply get an OBD2 cable and Techstream for pairing key fobs and transponders. Disable the DRLs, data log etc. Also for a reasonable price you can get a Tactix cable to flash the ECU and also do Techstream.

I can add a few to the cons though. The passenger seat doesn’t lock forward for rear access and the passenger occupancy sensor is too sensitive. Luckily I was able to disable the seatbelt warning with Techstream.

I could list things I wish it had. Climate control, auto headlights, LEDs all around. I know that isn’t the goal of the car but I’ve had all these things for so long I’ve grown used to them. Although I do like some aspects of manual AC. For example I can tell it to recirculate and it will stay there indefinitely. I hate how so many cars today are determined to smog you out. As for auto headlights. I have a game plan to add this to my car using a photocell and relay kit I found on Amazon along with the headlight stalk from the BRZ.

I am also going to try to build a harness that will relocate the DRLs to the front parking lights (with white/amber switchbacks) which would then allow me to use an LED for the high beam. Basically if the car is outputting low voltage to the high beam (DRL mode) then I would detect that and turn on the front parking lights. If I detect high voltage then I pass it through to the high beam. But I’m not sure I’m sold on LEDs in place of the halogens. I just threw one in for the low beams and although the color is nice and the coverage is even, I’m not sure the total output is enough. I’ve only driven in the dark a few times so far so we will see.

All in all this is my favorite car. It’s a drivers car for sure. I always tell people there are car enthusiasts and there are driving enthusiasts. Car enthusiasts have different priorities. Something that has a DSG and good 0-60 times with lots of aids and looks cool and has noisy speakers. A driving enthusiast will take a car that looks like a trash can on 4 wheels as long as it’s fun to drive it like you stole it... while the stereo is turned off. Hahaha. The FRS just happens to not look like a trash can.

01-10-2018, 12:20 AM	#10
ermax Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Drives: 2022 BRZ Limited Silver Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 2,533 Thanks: 883 Thanked 2,049 Times in 1,191 Posts Mentioned: 68 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	I like that it’s easy to work on. Haven’t pulled the engine yet but it looks fairly straight forward. Dropping the tranny is the easiest of any car I’ve owned to date. I like that it has an aluminum under tray rather than a plastic one that droops over time. I like the oil filter being in top so oil doesn’t go all over the place when changing the filter. I like that you can easily and cheaply get an OBD2 cable and Techstream for pairing key fobs and transponders. Disable the DRLs, data log etc. Also for a reasonable price you can get a Tactix cable to flash the ECU and also do Techstream. I can add a few to the cons though. The passenger seat doesn’t lock forward for rear access and the passenger occupancy sensor is too sensitive. Luckily I was able to disable the seatbelt warning with Techstream. I could list things I wish it had. Climate control, auto headlights, LEDs all around. I know that isn’t the goal of the car but I’ve had all these things for so long I’ve grown used to them. Although I do like some aspects of manual AC. For example I can tell it to recirculate and it will stay there indefinitely. I hate how so many cars today are determined to smog you out. As for auto headlights. I have a game plan to add this to my car using a photocell and relay kit I found on Amazon along with the headlight stalk from the BRZ. I am also going to try to build a harness that will relocate the DRLs to the front parking lights (with white/amber switchbacks) which would then allow me to use an LED for the high beam. Basically if the car is outputting low voltage to the high beam (DRL mode) then I would detect that and turn on the front parking lights. If I detect high voltage then I pass it through to the high beam. But I’m not sure I’m sold on LEDs in place of the halogens. I just threw one in for the low beams and although the color is nice and the coverage is even, I’m not sure the total output is enough. I’ve only driven in the dark a few times so far so we will see. All in all this is my favorite car. It’s a drivers car for sure. I always tell people there are car enthusiasts and there are driving enthusiasts. Car enthusiasts have different priorities. Something that has a DSG and good 0-60 times with lots of aids and looks cool and has noisy speakers. A driving enthusiast will take a car that looks like a trash can on 4 wheels as long as it’s fun to drive it like you stole it... while the stereo is turned off. Hahaha. The FRS just happens to not look like a trash can.