What you HATE the most on your FR-S/BRZ/GT86/FT86?

[Silver69]

Love the car. Sound tube is stupid (waste of engineering, $....).
6th gear (with manual) should be geared for hiway, helps noise & mileage.

[Wolfking]

I'd drop my FRS in a heartbeat for a worthy S16...it had damned well better be worthy!
(moonroof, more spacious, a real armrest)

[Dazza]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

Playing devil's advocate here, but the B16A engine with 100hp/liter was available in Japan in 1989 and here in the US in the Del Sol VTEC (dunno what year that was, 93/94?). Granted these engines were lacking (significantly) in the torque dept, even compared to the FA20. However to say "it doesn't seem all that long ago" isn't really accurate. 20-24 years ago is pretty darn long ago

Even recently the instances of 100 bhp/litre were still quite rare and only in "special" vehicles that were produced as high performance range toppers or technological exemplars. But as far as I am aware there has been nothing at less than 2-3 times the price of this car (in real terms) to achieve this figure up until a few years ago (Renault Clio?). In my book that is pretty special

[WolfpackS2k]

^huh? I just stated several instances of cars (Hondas) that had 100hp/liter outputs for less than the BRZ.

Originally Posted by Silver69

Love the car. Sound tube is stupid (waste of engineering, $....).
6th gear (with manual) should be geared for hiway, helps noise & mileage.

I'm a little confused by your statement. 6th gear IS designed for highway cruising. The FA20 isn't a small block chevy, it can't handle chugging along at 70 mph turning 2000 rpm

[Jond63]

I found something I hate about my FR-S -- I just hit the front bumper on a steep driveway and am really really bummed that I scratched it up and hate that it bothers me even though I have to either jack it up or get down on the ground to see it!

[nalc]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

I'm a little confused by your statement. 6th gear IS designed for highway cruising. The FA20 isn't a small block chevy, it can't handle chugging along at 70 mph turning 2000 rpm

I disagree. 0.71 or whatever 6th is is too short of a gear. That's shorter than 5th in my old LGT with an EJ251, which has less power, only slightly more torque, and was 500 lbs heavier with a less efficient drivetrain and a less aerodynamic body. I'm pretty sure it didn't have a 4.10 final drive ratio either.

I just did two long highway trips in my BRZ about a week and a half ago, and I think 6th is too short. I can be sitting in 6th at 60 and accelerate to 80 comfortably in 6th without too much throttle, which is somewhat convenient, but that means that there's still power on the table. Heck, I can pretty happily chug along at 55mph in 6th gear. I don't get all of the people wanting to swap out the diff for a shorter one. I wouldn't mind a nice "I'm just going to cruise control at 70mph" 6th gear that kept the RPMs low, even though it would mean downshifting to 5th to accelerate.

Of course, I'm not really an expert on engines, so I'm not sure if it's actually more efficient to turn a higher RPM at lower torque or what, but it seems to me like in car that's already less powerful than a lot of its competitors, they didn't want to give you a tall 6th gear that you'd constantly need to be downshifting from to accelerate, instead giving us a short 6th gear that keeps you in the powerband at highway speeds so you can "set it and forget it". On a 65mph speed limit road with light traffic where I was varying from 60-80mph while doing passing and stuff, not once did I need to downshift to 5th. I wouldn't have minded having to shift down to 5th to do a 60mph to 80mph pull if it meant a couple MPG better and a little less cabin noise.

[EL7]

The only thing that really nags me right now besides the fuel pump chirp is the hard plastic on the center column. I'm 6ft and I always am varying my knee position against that hard plastic. I wish the aftermarket knee pads were stock. Meh, it's only about $100 but annoying that I need to "fix" that.

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by nalc

I disagree. 0.71 or whatever 6th is is too short of a gear. That's shorter than 5th in my old LGT with an EJ251, which has less power, only slightly more torque, and was 500 lbs heavier with a less efficient drivetrain and a less aerodynamic body. I'm pretty sure it didn't have a 4.10 final drive ratio either.

I just did two long highway trips in my BRZ about a week and a half ago, and I think 6th is too short. I can be sitting in 6th at 60 and accelerate to 80 comfortably in 6th without too much throttle, which is somewhat convenient, but that means that there's still power on the table. Heck, I can pretty happily chug along at 55mph in 6th gear. I don't get all of the people wanting to swap out the diff for a shorter one. I wouldn't mind a nice "I'm just going to cruise control at 70mph" 6th gear that kept the RPMs low, even though it would mean downshifting to 5th to accelerate.

Of course, I'm not really an expert on engines, so I'm not sure if it's actually more efficient to turn a higher RPM at lower torque or what, but it seems to me like in car that's already less powerful than a lot of its competitors, they didn't want to give you a tall 6th gear that you'd constantly need to be downshifting from to accelerate, instead giving us a short 6th gear that keeps you in the powerband at highway speeds so you can "set it and forget it". On a 65mph speed limit road with light traffic where I was varying from 60-80mph while doing passing and stuff, not once did I need to downshift to 5th. I wouldn't have minded having to shift down to 5th to do a 60mph to 80mph pull if it meant a couple MPG better and a little less cabin noise.

Efficiency in 6th gear doesn't seem to be a problem for me--Cruising at 70 in 6th gear averages me about 30-35 mpg. I also don't notice a lot of excessive noise from the engine or exhaust. I don't have to turn up the radio or notice a drone. A longer 6th gear would be more work for what I assume would not be an amazing gain in mpg. I'm happy where it is now.

Also, what cars are you assuming are in direct competition with this car? Unless you know of a "cheap" RWD sports coupe currently in production (that's not the BRZ), you would be comparing apples to oranges.

[nalc]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

Also, what cars are you assuming are in direct competition with this car? Unless you know of a "cheap" RWD sports coupe currently in production (that's not the BRZ), you would be comparing apples to oranges.

Huh? Is that comment meant for me?

[Mister]

Originally Posted by EL7

The only thing that really nags me right now besides the fuel pump chirp is the hard plastic on the center column. I'm 6ft and I always am varying my knee position against that hard plastic. I wish the aftermarket knee pads were stock. Meh, it's only about $100 but annoying that I need to "fix" that.

I just "fixed" this. It makes a world of difference. I am not tall (5'8") but I sit relatively close to the wheel so my knee was always banging the hard plastic. The pads make it much more comfortable, especially for long drives.

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by nalc

Huh? Is that comment meant for me?

Yes.

To provide citation:

Originally Posted by nalc

but it seems to me like in car that's already less powerful than a lot of its competitors...

[WolfpackS2k]

To some degree it's all perspective. 6th in the BRZ is taller than 6th in my S2000 and taller than 5th in my Integra GS-R. Both of those cars had me quite used to cruising on the interstate with the engine turning 4000-4500 rpms

The FA20 seems to be bogged down to me in 6th gear if its below 3000rpms. So I think, given the great hwy gas mileage, that 6th is fine.

[nalc]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

Yes.

To provide citation:

Are you serious? Name a hot hatch that doesn't have more power than the twins, especially in the 2000-3000 rpm band. You've got these turbo 4-cylinders that are making 200+ ft-lbs of torque starting at 2000 rpm. Those are cars you can mash the pedal at 2000 rpm without downshifting and they'll move. The FA20 isn't that powerful, and it's not making what torque it does make until relatively high in the RPM band. The fact that it still pulls OK from 55mph in top gear means that the gearing shorter than it needs to be. I don't believe that the FA20 isn't capable of maintaining the twins at 70mph at 2k RPM, just that you'd need to downshift to have any acceleration from that point, and I'm guessing that that may be a factor in gearing it such that 70mph is somewhere around 3k, so the car can accelerate without downshifting. I wouldn't mind having a higher gear ratio that required downshifting to pass at highway speeds if it meant less noise and better gas mileage.

[DylanFRS]

Originally Posted by nalc

Are you serious? Name a hot hatch that doesn't have more power than the twins, especially in the 2000-3000 rpm band.

Hot hatches are not competitors to the twins.

I love hot hatches and most of them are faster for cheaper than the FRZ but that doesn't make them competitors. Stand alone platform RWD sporty cars are much more expensive to make than throwing a turbo and stiffer suspension on an econobox that you are already selling to the average consumer.

The biggest competitor to the FRZ is the MX-5. Around the same price with the 6spd and LSD and only has 167hp. (Does weigh a bit less though)