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I hate these threads. Not because of the usual HP complaints, but how defensive the fanboys get about it. I don't know how many times I've read "If you want more HP, this isn't the car for you". Almost every professional reviewer has said that this car would be A LOT better with at least 40 more horse.
You know what is the car for you if you want a dedicated track car with good handling and more HP than the FR-S? The Honda S2000. When it was new, it went for about a price that was a bit higher than the BRZ now. It comes stock with around 240HP and is RWD. You can get it used for about half the price of a new FR-S. :/ Seriously guys, the FR-S is under-powered. Just face reality.
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Originally Posted by rice_classic
S2000 was MSRP @ at $34k in 1999. (or thereabouts).
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Exactly. AND it has no usable storage. AND it is a convertible-only (unless you paid big $$ for the aftermarket hard tops). AND gets nearly 10mpg less than the FRS. You can't compare used prices...just not a fair comparison...so many other used cars around the same price or cheaper, but that's not the point. To make it fair, you'd have to determine what the used price of a similarly-aged FR-S would be in 5-10 years...probably still much cheaper than a used S2000 is today.
Why not compare it to a Miata? Closer in MSRP, but still only a convertible, meaning no usable trunk space. It gets roughly the same gas mileage as the FRS, but has 30 HP less. Yet people still love them...drive them daily or take them to the track.
Simple fact is that the car was built with a purpose:
- Aggressive looks
- Rear wheel drive
- Entry-level sports car
- Great handling
- 25+ mpg combined
It was not built for straight line acceleration or top speed. If the engineers had sacrificed any of those items in the list for more acceleration/speed, then it wouldn't fit the role they wanted it to play, plain and simple.
Trust me...I am in no way, shape, or form a fan boy. I was actually one of the people saying "this thing will never get built" a few years ago. But facts are facts, and you can't deny them. You have to look at what the car's purpose is...where it was designed to excel and what had to be sacrificed to get it there. Simple fact is that if it had more HP it would have cost more and gotten worse fuel economy...in the end, just wouldn't have been the same car.
This argument is (taking it to an extreme) like saying "the Prius would be a fun car if it were AWD and had a normal turbocharged engine with 300awhp". Yeah, that's probably true...but it wouldn't fit the purpose it was built for.