FR-S v.s. BRZ

[AJ PwR]

I like both of them but I think the FR-S does have a better loking grill on the bumper. I don't need Navi but I do want HIDs so wonder if one of them have it or both.

[Mr.Jay]

Originally Posted by AJ PwR

I like both of them but I think the FR-S does have a better loking grill on the bumper. I don't need Navi but I do want HIDs so wonder if one of them have it or both.

AJ as in AJ-R in richmond?

I hope you guys are gonna have products in R&D for the car

If you guys need a FRS for testing I got one of the 1st reserved for me

[joel]

I'm planning to put down a deposit at a Scion dealer rather than Subaru for 2 main reasons (more #2 than #1)--

1. Subaru looks like it's wearing a mouth guard, like it's about to get hit in the face or something.
2. I've never been a fan of Scion cars, but I do like their sales structure: mono-spec, no haggling, and also no dealer mark-up. I'm anticipating "Initial D"emand (pardon the pun) for both brands to be high. Scion dealers' hands are tied, so they'll have waiting lists. Subaru dealers, on the other hand, should be able to follow the other side of supply and demand--as in, why wait for it when you can pay more and get it now?

Aside from that, they're the same car aside from suspension tuning, and I'd like to lower it anyway so that's a moot point.

[Homemade WRX]

AeroWRX; the whole Subaru Toyota talk thing had me laughing!!

[BioRage]

My family has has three scoobies, and been with a local dealership for almost 15 years..

I really like the Limited, I'm really sold on teh leatherz.

However, it really comes down to when I go to the dealerships and see them in person.

Oh and price, if it's 30k+ in CDN, Than I'll just wait and get an STi for 37k.

[duffman13]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

As with the above poster, it's about price for me. At a rumored $24K MSRP for the BRZ Premium including HIDs and navigation, that's a bit more than I'd like to pay. I don't like in-dash nav units, especially in this era of smartphones and Tom-Toms/Garmins. The deal killer for me is HIDs. If the FR-S doesn't come with them then I'm not buying it. In this day and age every car should have HIDs. The optics on my 11 year old WRX suck and if I'm buying a new car it needs to have HIDs.

Personally, the looks between the two are a wash for me, other than the headlights. I can with confidence say the headlights of the BRZ look much cleaner than the lights of the FR-S. The difference in the nose between the two is negligible, though I somewhat prefer the FR-S due the BRZ's black plastic mustache. That said, WRB is one of my favorite colors... I wouldn't mind a WRB BRZ Premium.

HIDs are great, but most modern projectors even in halogen form throw tons of light out there.

My wife has a '10 Mazda3 and it has some of the best night vision I've seen from a halogen bulb. It shits all over anything with reflector-based optics I've ever driven, including EO HID reflectors in the older acura TLs. It's not too far from the light output of my B5 a4 with OEM HID E-code lights either.

just hving projectors in general is a plus over anything relfector-based. Plus I'm sure TRS will come up with a OE-HID projector swap for the Halogen projector cars within a year of release. They do for the new WRXs and Mazda3s, so these shouldn't be far behind once they're released.

[DommerEOD]

It'll come down to price.

I want the loaded interior of the Limited BRZ. But if the cost seems to ridiculous for leather seats and nav, I will be going with the FR-S. It should naturally be cheaper, and sprucing up the interior with some leather, nav, etc. should not cost me an arm and a leg.

The looks don't sway me in either direction. I prefer the FR-S grill, but they both still look great.

[BattleArmor]

I am hoping Scion will follow their nature of having everything be an accessory. I would get the FRS based off of early reports of more neutral handling, and then option it up with a Touch Screen and other goodies, and get the best of both worlds

[mkxr]

After looking at both at the Chicago Auto Show, I'm steering toward the BRZ.
The Scion display was a perfect image of the Scion brand, stuck-up, young-ish, douche-baggy looking people, who felt like they were too good to be even talking to you. Just simply horrible, they seem to be going with that kind of image, and that just rubs me the wrong way.
Subaru on the other hand had knowledgeable presenters (of course they didn't reveal any new information, but at least they knew what they were talking about).
Scion people said mid-20s for the FRS, and around $25xxx is the subie, so that's a win for subie, FRS has to start at least $3k less for it to sell.
On top of that, Scion had the Lava Red version on display. Obviously they have no clue that red color in general is the hardest for digital camera to reproduce correctly, so I have a ton of nice looking, color-correct BRZ pictures, and just as many off-color FRS ones. True, this is my camera wrong-doing, but most people don't go to the auto show with pro-level cameras.
For a car that is supposed to save the Scion brand, they lacked everything, not even a keychain or a small brochure. Lack of brochures was blamed on the fact that the "car wasn't released yet, so we don't have anything" and yet subaru managed to have a small print brochure for the BRZ, even though "it's not yet released"

Final thought, since the Scion brand is all about "we give you a basic car, and everything else is a-la carte," then why isn't the stripped down version available in the US?

[Aki]

Scion FR-S for me. The BRZ will be more understeer-biased and less dorifuto-geared. Even in its marketing collateral they don't like talking about taking the car sideways or that it's RWD.

[DMDZK]

Originally Posted by mkxr

Final thought, since the Scion brand is all about "we give you a basic car, and everything else is a-la carte," then why isn't the stripped down version available in the US?

To be fair, that is not at all what scion is about. All scions have been remarkably well equipped at there respective price points. The "a-la carte" mantra comes from 2 things, first that Scions are sold "mono-spec" to keep costs down and second that when marketing to gen Y/X customers personalizing cars was important so they have built that into the business model.

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by Aki

Scion FR-S for me. The BRZ will be more understeer-biased and less dorifuto-geared. Even in its marketing collateral they don't like talking about taking the car sideways or that it's RWD.

The kind of under or over steer you describe isnt what makes drift cars drift cars

[Jokester]

I ultimately decided that the FR-S is just the better buy for me, and I have liked the way it looks over the BRZ since the beginning.

I look at it this way for approx. $24-27k I can get a FR-S. (perfect price margin)

I could get a BRZ Premium for approx. $25-29k, but why would I want it over a FR-S I like better? It isn't worth more $ for HIDs / Nav. (unecessary $ spent)

And a BRZ Limited for approx. $26-31k, but at $30k+ I can start to say to myself for a little more I can have an STi or a 370Z, because money is ont a limitation for me at this point. (too close to other vehicles)

The argument for me becomes value and the FR-S, for me, will just be to hard to beat in that category!

[crazyyankeefan]

FR-S is highly likely to be priced lower than BRZ to begin with. However, keep in mind that Scion is known for using cheap materials for the interior. For most of the photos we've seen until this point, it's kinda obvious that the BRZ will have better interior and equipment overall, not to mention the standard push-botton start.