This car is nuts!!! 200 hp?!? No way.

[J_kennington]

Originally Posted by Jen

I love the Smokey and the Bandit Trans Ams. I have a '78 set up as a track car. Awesome car, but I'm literally getting like 7 miles per gallon on premium because of the build.

Wait, someone gets less mileage than my eclipse? I thought i couldn't get any lower lol. What's the build on the TA and pics?

[tahdizzle]

Pontiac Fire chicken probably my favorite TA.... But thats not the topic!

[J_kennington]

Originally Posted by tahdizzle

Pontiac Fire chicken probably my favorite TA.... But thats not the topic!

But the actual topic was settled 3 pages ago. She bought a Camaro.

[tahdizzle]

Originally Posted by J_kennington

But the actual topic was settled 3 pages ago. She bought a Camaro.

Exactly. TA =/= Camaro, why was the TA even brought up?

[Jen]

Originally Posted by J_kennington

Wait, someone gets less mileage than my eclipse? I thought i couldn't get any lower lol. What's the build on the TA and pics?

It has a 4:11 rear and the engine is built to around 500 hp. I got lucky with it. Well, first it sucked, and then I got lucky. The car was at my friend's house. Now, this is not a car that you take on a highway since it hit really high rpms fast because of the rear. So, my friend calls me at like two in the morning and all I remember was, "Jen, I blew up your car." Ugh. My "friend" took my car on the highway, was going who knows how fast, and the engine seized.

The lucky part- Summit had an article about my engine. the 6.6 400, about what to do to make it a kicking engine. I basically ordered all of the parts that they recommended and sent it to the people who were building my engine and they swapped the parts. I no longer had the original block, but I'm not too concerned about the numbers matching thing. I don't remember the exact parts, but it is sick. I got the tranny done to match the engine. It's an automatic so it's kind of boring in that respect, but it's a good car.

I'm going to sell that along with my other projects. I can't even think about what I've dumped into these cars over the past ten years. Just too much. I'm getting rid of everything old except for one or two. It's nice having the old cars, but I can't deal with having to be under the car/hanging out of the hood/ordering parts, paying for parts, etc. as part of my daily life.

[Jond63]

Originally Posted by tahdizzle

Exactly. TA =/= Camaro, why was the TA even brought up?

Because racecar.

[J_kennington]

Originally Posted by Jen

It has a 4:11 rear and the engine is built to around 500 hp. I got lucky with it. Well, first it sucked, and then I got lucky. The car was at my friend's house. Now, this is not a car that you take on a highway since it hit really high rpms fast because of the rear. So, my friend calls me at like two in the morning and all I remember was, "Jen, I blew up your car." Ugh. My "friend" took my car on the highway, was going who knows how fast, and the engine seized.

The lucky part- Summit had an article about my engine. the 6.6 400, about what to do to make it a kicking engine. I basically ordered all of the parts that they recommended and sent it to the people who were building my engine and they swapped the parts. I no longer had the original block, but I'm not too concerned about the numbers matching thing. I don't remember the exact parts, but it is sick. I got the tranny done to match the engine. It's an automatic so it's kind of boring in that respect, but it's a good car.

I'm going to sell that along with my other projects. I can't even think about what I've dumped into these cars over the past ten years. Just too much. I'm getting rid of everything old except for one or two. It's nice having the old cars, but I can't deal with having to be under the car/hanging out of the hood/ordering parts, paying for parts, etc. as part of my daily life.

ah, I got ya. my eclipse is just about fully built, turbo'd awd 5 speed. im running 432 horse 389 torque to the ground. its by the far the most fun car ive driven. takes corners like its on rails with the all wheel drive, and runs a low to mid 10 in the 1/4

[chrisl]

Low to mid 10s on 432whp? What does it weigh?

[J_kennington]

Originally Posted by chrisl

Low to mid 10s on 432whp? What does it weigh?

not sure, haven't weighed it since I gutted it lol. just takin a guess I would say low 3ks.

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by Jen

(1) Girl comes on and loves the car, wants more info
(2) Girl goes to buy car after loving it and doesn't buy it because of "noises"
(3) Girl finds second car, wants to buy it, negotiates a price, comes back from the test drive and first car sounds worse than the second car
(4) Bunch of obnoxious internet people decide to question sex of person, make fun of person, have a good time making fun of person, and generally show the worst part of human nature.

Disclaimer: for the last part, maybe the 10% of the people on the thread, the other 90% thank you very much for your help and advice. I appreciate your time. The rest of you, I truly feel bad that this is how you get your excitement in life by trying to make fun of other people so your sense of self can be inflated.

You are free make your own decisions, and I agree what happened with point 4 was uncalled for, everyone should be treated respectfully. I don't exactly understand what you are so afraid of with the car.... the noises have nothing to do with the reliability of the car, they are nominal for this vehicle. The only way the noises will be "fixed" is if a completely different kind of motor and fuel system is put in.... and that is not going to happen because the car was designed around this motor from the start. It's the best handling drivers car currently made for less than $55k...there is literally no other car that compares to it. A Porsche Cayman would be the next best thing but cost of ownership is much more expensive to go along with a twice as high starting price. There are a few owners with 50k+ miles on them already and there are no reliability issues....

I think the reason you experienced flack you first showed interest in what is the best drivers car that's been made in ages and the people who have been driving it know that. Then brought up concerns about the noises it makes (which are part of its engine/fuel system design) and decide to go with a car very much different in many ways from your initial direction...a generic, cookie cutter Gen 5 Camaro. Going with a ZL1 (and the upcoming Z28) Camaro would have given a totally different result... and would have been more understandable. ZL1 are friggen handling monsters: while they lack agility over the FRS, they are noticeably better than a regular Camaro when it comes to driving and have incredible cornering grip, cornering speed, and braking ability.

I have Camaro experience, owned a 4th Gen '98 Camaro RS Hardtop (because best chassis for 4th Gen Camaro if you care about handling). Bought it used in not the best stock condition with ~67k original miles, but I made it into a decent vehicle. Amazing what a full fluid flush, Hurst Competition + shifter, adjustable Koni Sport shocks, Hotchkis hollow sport swaybars (35mm F/ 24mm rear), rear suspension redone with tubular arms and spherical bearings, Hawk HP+ pads, Brembo blank rotors, 17x9.5 Z-06 wheels mounted with 275/40-17 Nitto NT-555 RII DOT-R tires, racing seats solidly mounted to a roll bar and positioned in the perfect driving position, and removing ~200lbs of mass will do for it both in feel and performance. I will say that car had a phenominal brake system on it, would flat out pull some G's braking... For everything else though it was just not comparable to a stock FRS on high performance tires. The FRS has a phenomenally engineered chassis on it with a light mass, torsional rigidity, and drivetrain layout combination no Camaro gen can match. An incredibly safe vehicle that has done very well in crashes because of the chassis as well. I will also say the 4th Gen Camaro was a nightmare to work on - I'm know the 5th Gen is much less of a headache due to going back to the more traditional engine/transmission position compared to the 4th gen.

Many of us have owned a Toybaru since it first came out; I purchased mine before the official June 2012 release date and have daily driven it for nearly 2 years with zero reliability issues...going on 1400+ mile trips with it as well. Simply put I cannot think of any other car in the world I would want to drive than my FRS (even with it's noises), and it is still on original factory suspension and brakes. Maybe in the future there will be a way to change how DI technology works with a high performance Boxer motor and Ethanol will be removed from fuel...but until that time the noises will remain, that's just how it is.

[Boxer486]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd02vWy-c0g"]Fuel Pump Now Insulated - YouTube[/ame]

[SirBrass]

Originally Posted by Jen

If you guys have these for a few years and they are okay, the Camaro will take a hike.

Several of us have had these cars for a couple of years (they came out mid 2012) and are completely fine with them. It's been repeatedly shown that the hpfp chirps are not at all a reliability issue (something subaru & Toyota have repeatedly stated... They did issue the tsb's for the pump b/c of noise complaints, not b/c of mechanical reliability), and real life is proving that correct.

These are facts, not opinions. This car is solid reliable. Engine is quite resilient, too. The weak spot seems to be axles & transmission when you start adding lots of power (say above 300 wtq), then those seem to become point failure sources in the drivetrain. That's really the main problem... Well, that and that the engine is knock-limited due to the high compression ratio, so be careful when adding boost. As far as stock, these aren't even issues.

On phone I am. Therefore, if mistakes I make, Frank Oz blame you should.

[Sideways&Smiling]

Originally Posted by Jen

Oh boy. I am real. I will meet one of the people from Lancaster if you don't believe me. Ugh. Now I'm a guy.

I am a physics teacher from NY who has a house in PA. I like cars. I have a bunch. I'm female. I even posted a picture of myself. Is that fake too??!?! I almost bought one of these cars. I told you where and I told you who you could contact to go see if I'm real.

Go call David Lee at Westchester Toyota. I'm 5'5', 120 lbs, long brown curly hair, blue eyes. Go ask if he knows who I am if you are so skeptical. You want the name of the Chevy dealer so you can call over there and see if I meet this description? I don't even know why I care.

Is this what guys do "to have a laugh?" That's kind of sad and complicated. And no, I have never driven a light Japanese sports car. I listed all of the cars I have ever owned. My first car was an Acura Legend. I then had an XJ8 Jaguar. When I quit my job as a lawyer in NYC, I went nuts and bought a bunch of cars and fixed them, sold them, kept some. They were mostly American muscle/sports cars. I have two Priuses now, that's about it for Japanese cars.

If you are real and everything in this thread is real and you sincerely do enjoy driving, please go try out these cars: Mazda Miata, Mazda RX7 FD (last gen), Honda S2000 (either AP1 or AP2 gen), and even a Nissan 240sx if well put together (preferably with an SR20DET swap). If you like the FR-S' light feel, you need to experience these other cars. They all have something great to offer.

[FRSupra]

Originally Posted by Sideways&Smiling

Honda S2000 (either AP1 or AP2 gen),

As opposed to....?