Autocar's Toyota FT-86 / Scion FR-S First Drive Review

[Hachiroku]

Originally Posted by Buggy51

Hmmm ... out of all these reviews, has anyone ever mentioned if there were visibility problems?

I also wonder if there were any US car magazine reviews...

Have you seen Car and Driver's review?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2070

[Buggy51]

Originally Posted by Hachiroku

Have you seen Car and Driver's review?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2070

Oh right! lol, forgot Car and Driver was US >_>;

Yeah, I saw that article a while back (jeez a week or two is now a while back? go figure). Hmm, I wonder if there were any other magazine embargos lifted. But Car and Driver seems to have the latest test drive?

[netster007x]

Originally Posted by keiri

These reviews are really getting my blood pumping with excitement; although this one put a bit of a damper with the 1280kg (~2800lb) curb weight - hopefully he was including his 80kg personal weight.

Either way both Autocar and Car magazine have me believing what Moto was saying earlier this summer: Toyota has returned and in a big way.

Yeah 2800lbs is what my big 'ol Accord weighs, so I'd have trouble considering that light.

[Bacon]

Originally Posted by netster007x

Yeah 2800lbs is what my big 'ol Accord weighs, so I'd have trouble considering that light.

Times have changed. Cars have become much more rigid and safer, thus 2,800 lbs is pretty light these days. The S2000 weighed that much.

[netster007x]

Originally Posted by Bacon

Times have changed. Cars have become much more rigid and safer, thus 2,800 lbs is pretty light these days. The S2000 weighed that much.

You're right, times have changed. Its just pretty crazy to think how far they've changed with small stripped down sports cars weighing what big family sedans used to weigh.

The weight figure is definitely no deal breaker. However, what's with these price figures? 20k lbs is over $32k, and the other article said 25k lbs. What happened to affordable sports car?

[Spaceywilly]

You can't use the conversion rates, it is more like 1:1 if you compare the prices of other cars in the UK. So $20,000-25,000 which is what has been rumored all along.

[tranzformer]

Originally Posted by netster007x

You're right, times have changed. Its just pretty crazy to think how far they've changed with small stripped down sports cars weighing what big family sedans used to weigh.

The weight figure is definitely no deal breaker. However, what's with these price figures? 20k lbs is over $32k, and the other article said 25k lbs. What happened to affordable sports car?

You can't compare the car in one currency vs another currency. Doesn't work that way.

[WingsofWar]

ya times have changed a lot in the financial world, unfortunately not much in technology. (well atl east i don't think so anyway) The 350z was considered the a affordable entry level sports car.

[Bacon]

Yep. The United States typically gets among the cheapest car prices in the world.

A new STi sedan in the UK costs 33k pounds (over $50k USD). That same car costs $34k in the US.

[AudiTT]

Yep. The United States typically gets among the cheapest car prices in the world.

And that ain't fair.

[netster007x]

Originally Posted by Spaceywilly

You can't use the conversion rates, it is more like 1:1 if you compare the prices of other cars in the UK. So $20,000-25,000 which is what has been rumored all along.

How did we Americans manage that?

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by AudiTT

And that ain't fair.

European cars are more expensive here.

[cyde01]

Originally Posted by netster007x

How did we Americans manage that?

export reliant foreign countries use government policies to adjust their currency exchange rates so their products will be cheaper in the US, more sales in the US means more manufacturing jobs in their country. the US meanwhile believes blindly in free trade, which means exporters get a free pass to sell their products cheaply in the US while US products remain pricey overseas. as a result we get their stuff at cut rate prices but it also means our domestic manufacturing sector has been almost decimated because we can't export anything at a fair price. but i digress..

[Bacon]

Originally Posted by Kostamojen

European cars are more expensive here.

No...They're not. A brand new M3 starts at $60k here, in the UK it's well over $85k.