Who cares for their warranties?

[sfwg]

Originally Posted by madfast

although if this car ever came to the US i'd sell one of my kidneys to have it...

yep and my left nut.

[WingsofWar]

Originally Posted by coyote

Warranty means you have the right to take a car back to a bunch of idiots as many times as you like (to fix the same thing), get overcharged on servicing and feel constrained in what you do to your own car.

I've bought and immediately modified 5 new cars in the past 20 years and this one will be far and away be the cheapest. The attraction is the base car will cost less than most used cars I'd consider.

I have no interest in a factory turbo version because it will come with the stupid DS4 rubbish, weak pistons, small intercooler, small injectors, etc, so I'd just be ripping out a more expensive parts for ones I want.

Hence, cheap NA with DS4 will be the perfect paper weight or addition to the scrap heap. I'll still finish up with a car that costs half that of a Lotus Evora S, but leaves it for dead.

I get the feeling that this thread offends you for some reason.
Idiot techs, constraints. D4S is rubbish? Overpaying on a warranted work? your an interesting fellow.

5 new cars in 20 years is pretty above average. Thats like a brand new car every 4 years, and all are over the price of the FRS? On top of that you mod to void warranty with more expensive parts on all these cars? You definitely use money more liberally.

Maybe its just me getting older and with a family, but i sort of want the value of my money spent to be completely used. I don't think i could justify putting down an additional 10k with manual labor on a 20-25k car with no additional support from automakers.

[WingsofWar]

Originally Posted by madfast

yeah i would. the car really fits the bill. RWD, 2+2, lightweight. in this fantasy i would bolt on a SC run moderate boost and make ~300+ whp. hopefully the car turns out to be lighter than the 2800 being thrown around. at that level, it'd be friggin fast and not over the top.

i havent really found any other car that is RWD, lightweight, handles great, and 2+2. most of them are 2 seaters like the miata, cayman, elise, exige, etc. the evora is nice but too expensive. although if this car ever came to the US i'd sell one of my kidneys to have it...

RWD, 2+2, Lightweight, with power, Your talking brand new car right? If not..and i was searching for a similar car, i would have opted for a Rx-7 which did come into 2+2 but not common. and the Nissan S15 is a pretty hot find in the states. Im seeing 19k US registered for S15s. I think those are way better platforms to work with than the FT86 at this point.

[MF_DEUCE]

In my opinion, if im gonna invest ANY amount of money into a car, I'd like to ride the car completely stock during the warranty to drive the car to manufacturers specs. Mostly because im a noob when it comes to tuning a car but i rather learn WHAT to modify by driving it stock, then ill see what needs improvements.

[82mm 4g63]

Originally Posted by madfast

yeah if this car is cheap, 20-25k, then the warranty doesnt mean much to me. i'd much rather throw away the warranty for a super fun car vs keeping the warranty and not having as much fun as i know i can. this is of course contingent on the fact that you can easily make power on this car. and that requires a fully programmable ecu. once you have that, everything else will follow.

its kinda like the early days of the honda K series. before hondata, it was 1000 posts a day about SRI vs CAI and what cat back can give you 10 hp. after hondata? the sky's the limit... so once this car's ecu is cracked, if ever, then it's time to throw that warranty away...

Whether the stock block stays in the car or not depends on one factor. Can the stock block withstand a reasonable dose of boost without needing a complete rebuild?

If yes, then I will leave the stock block in for a year, maybe two. Throw an aftermarket turbo kit in, or have a custom kit thrown together.

If no, then adios warranty! I would like to see how possible/expensive it would be to shoehorn an H6 under the hood. Otherwise slap in an STi block.

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

interesting, so you would throw away the warranty and put down the extra dollar for more unwarranted fun.

Lets say from day one the entire car is moddable but voids the warranty, and you bought the car at sticker price the first month. You would immediately break the warranty?

This is really interesting to me, because the larger overall premium you pay for fun. Because its a new car. vs getting similar cars or older sports vehicles for cheaper prices for the same fun factor.

At this point what I'm leaning towards is a Mk4 Supra, which would be in the low 20s and without warranty. If we were talking about a Porsche or some other high end car then I would probably keep the warranty a short while. But not for a car as cheap as this, assuming its <$25k. (If it's >$25k, I'll pass on it all together.)

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

RWD, 2+2, Lightweight, with power, Your talking brand new car right? If not..and i was searching for a similar car, i would have opted for a Rx-7 which did come into 2+2 but not common. and the Nissan S15 is a pretty hot find in the states. Im seeing 19k US registered for S15s. I think those are way better platforms to work with than the FT86 at this point.

The JDM RX7 with 2 rear "seats" has the same amount of space as mine with the bins. You won't fit a >10y/o human being in the back seat, it's just an insurance thing. If you needed seats, you can find them online if you look hard enough.

[tranzformer]

I'll keep the warranty especially if this ends up becoming my DD. But I also don't plan on "molesting" the car as much as others.

[Neutral_Eyes]

Not even sure I'd buy this car now. But if I did, I wouldn't be modding it until the warranty expired. If I wanted to mod something, I think I have a better starting point already. Maybe I'm just too poor, but I think the people that plan to swap engines and rip out their interiors right off the bat are insane.

[madfast]

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

RWD, 2+2, Lightweight, with power, Your talking brand new car right? If not..and i was searching for a similar car, i would have opted for a Rx-7 which did come into 2+2 but not common. and the Nissan S15 is a pretty hot find in the states. Im seeing 19k US registered for S15s. I think those are way better platforms to work with than the FT86 at this point.

yeah, i'd like a new car. especially with sporty cars, who knows how hard a life it's had with the previous owner. and that's why im so interested in the FT. there hasnt been a 2+2 lightweight RWD coupe in a long time. for me, as long as the fundamentals are there, the aftermarket will take care of the rest. fundamentals like a light weight rigid chassis, good suspension design, programmable ecu, strong engine block design, high flowing heads, etc. these are examples of things that cant be changed readily and/or cheaply, they have to be built in.

so my hope for his car is just that. that the FT is a sound foundation to build upon. im not asking for 300 hp stock. im asking for a good design so that i can make it 300 hp safely without being at the limit and blowing up. if everything is done with care and well within limits, i see no reason for catastrophic failure, and thus peace of mind without a warranty.

you have to pay to play, so little things im ok with if they break down or whatever. every car runs out of warranty eventually anyways so the only thing i lose is time. its the major things that im concerned about. if this car turns out to have ay major design flaw or a glaring deficiency that may make it an unsuitable tuning platform, then i'm out. otherwise, lets the games begin

[dalli]

So, what mods can I do without voiding the warranty?

[blur]

Originally Posted by dalli

So, what mods can I do without voiding the warranty?

Tires.

[KAuss]

You can mod the vehicle and they will still cover you, they have to prove the mod actually caused the issue for you to completely void warranty... Just because you have a CAI does not mean they won't fix a blown head gasket, or if you put a short throw shifter they will not fix your throw out bearing...

If you however have a CAI, and you start to get throttle body issues, or have syncro issues with short throw, then that can be hairy...

If you change your tires, and they found that interfered with the suspensions, you probably won't get that changed lol... It's a long stretch, but if they can prove it, you're out of warranty...

[coyote]

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

I get the feeling that this thread offends you for some reason.

Nope, I fully understand that if it's a struggle to get into a car at whatever price, you value what a dealership network offers or you simply think of a vehicle as an appliance, you comply with what is required to protect your warranty.

I fully understand that, but the car is a base for me, the base price is no struggle, I will own it to indulge a passion and I have no interest in the dealerships after I drive it away. It's my observation that you might find that somehow offensive.

But that's okay, we may still enjoy our cars, for very different reasons.

[switchlanez]

I want to appreciate the engineering and balance that went into the total package. Probably won't need to change a thing to be happy. Plus I'm not that rich so I'll keep my warranty.

[yarik83]

We have this issue on my Tacoma forums. A bunch of guys with modified trucks trying to get their cars serviced under warranty quickly find themselves SOL. I quickly found myself SOL and my truck has no modifications aside from camper shell. I qualified for number of years but mileage was too high so had to dish out $500 for a airbag sensor replacement in my steering wheel.

Having said that most cars do not break while under warranty and if there is factory recall then manufacturer is obligated to service car regardless. It is a decision that you have to make for yourself really.

Install turbo/supercharger and enjoy car since day 1 without warranty.
Install turbo/supercharger and remove either if vehicle needs to be serviced under warranty.
Drive stock and modify your car when warranty expires.

The sad thing is that manufacturers... well dealers really... will find a reason about why they will not service your car. So in simple terms 99.9% of all performance mods will probably void warranty. 99.9% of all body styling mods unless installed by dealer using OEM parts will probably void warranty for silly reasons like lack of sensors or safety or performance etc etc.

Ohh and at the end of the day you also need to deal with cops who do not take kindly to mods.

I had body kitted, engine swapped, power modified and otherwise modified celicas between 1998-2010 and I had to deal with all kinds of reasons of why my car was denied service under warranty or have been pulled over by the man for car being too loud, too noisy, failed emissions or otherwise.

It is not pretty.