LeftFootBrake's White GTS AT

[LeftFootBrake]

Picked up my White GTS AT today. Did a very relaxed and enjoyable run to Palm Beach where I was rumoured to say whilst negotiating the twisty bits "let's put the unnecessary brake pedal on ebay".

I don't publicly discuss commercials but if you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

[Nardi330]

i hate you!!! lol

[Ravine]

Got mine today in Red too. Soooo goood! How good is the Auto!

[Nardi330]

i hate you too Ravine lol

[FT86_Zero]

no pic no comment..

[m0nty]

[Maj3sty]

Originally Posted by LeftFootBrake

Picked up my White GTS AT today. Did a very relaxed and enjoyable run to Palm Beach where I was rumoured to say whilst negotiating the twisty bits "let's put the unnecessary brake pedal on ebay".

I don't publicly discuss commercials but if you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

Pics or it didn't happen

[sticky]

Start a thread about being one of the first to get the 86 in the country and write 2 sentences about it and post no photos...

Yes I'm listening...

[Ravine]

Alright I'll bite. I just went outside to take some photos. Dad took my SLR and it's getting dark so I'm making do with a compact (albeit an extremely good one). Anyways, I'm resizing and will post a thread soon.

[davey90]

@Nardi330 don't worry I'm in the same boat brother! Lol!

[LeftFootBrake]

LOL ... tough audience.

The driving so far:
- Distance. ~400km.
- Engine speeds. Very relaxed. I've set the rev indicator to 4000 revs and keeping it below that for the run-in.
- Transmission mode. Normal. Haven't used the flappy paddles yet.
- Nannies. All on (trac/vsc).
- Handling limits. Haven't come close to any kind of slip angle limits, either on the front or rear boots.
- My driving background. Never driven on a track but one of the best virtual simulator drivers in Australia (iRacing being my current service choice).

The good:
- Noise/Vibration/Harshness. Superior to a 2004 Mazda 3 SP23. Admittedly this is probably the weakest link of the Mazda but still a good outcome for the 86 given we're comparing a legit sports car with a warm hatch.
- Engine sound. Not intrusive when cruising and surprisingly agreeable purr (particularly for non-enthusiast passengers) when giving it a few beans. For those used to exhaust tips you can fit your head in, I imagine the sound will not be your cup of tea.
- Steering feedback/precision. Weights up nicely at speed and yet easy for your better half to twirl when parking. The combination of small lock-to-lock, steering wheel diameter and turning circle means you can keep your hands at 9 and 3 when negotiating all but the tightest radius curves.
- Ergonomics. Seat adjustability/structure/materials + wheel adjustability/thickness/thumb-cutouts/materials means great overall comfort.
- Exterior aesthetics. The shape is proving significantly more attractive than I expected from photos and initial viewings.
- White paint. I was initially disappointed it wasn’t just refrigerator white as I think white white and yellow yellow is best on this car. But the satin white pearl means you never know what you’re going to get when you come back to your car as it all depends on the light (nice white when light is bright and silvery/pearl when light is subdued). And that’s kinda fun.
- Exterior lighting. The DRL’s are great. The HIDs most probably the same but too early to call (no question they’re wonderfully bright! I just hope they’re not offensive for oncoming drivers).
- Interior aesthetics. Admittedly growing on me. I've been pretty harsh on this in the past.
- Visibility. Forward is great. Mirrors are great. Need more time in the urban landscape to better understand blind spots and the like but I’m encouraged it’s all going to be OK.
- Seating. Lots of legroom and footwell space for front passenger. Wide car means lots of space between driver and passenger. Rear seating will do fine for small to medium pets, really young children, jackets and emergencies only.
- Fixed price servicing. Most buyers don't properly do life-cycle costings on a car. If they did, they would ask more about "back end" servicing costs. This is a serious USP for TMCA beyond their reputation for reliability, the sticker price and fuel economy. (Edit: 4 services at $170 per service x 9 month intervals = $680 all up over 3 year warranty duration.)

The not so good:
- Sound system. Inferior to 2004 Mazda 3 SP23. Not in the same solar system as a Veloster.
- Sat nav. Too early to be sure but most probably highly inferior to iPhone Tom Tom’s performance, functionality, usability, etc.
- The spot where the iPhone should go (next to the stop/start button) isn't large enough to hold it. Some kind of regionalisation snafu given that it’s big enough in the N American market?
- USB port next to start/stop button isn’t working with my iPhone (but the head unit one does, acting as a charger). But I need to read the manual before declaring this a problem.
- Steering wheel controls. Lack of them and having cruise control on its own stalk is all unfortunately very lame.
- Cruise control. More time required to determine if it holds speed well downhill. I don’t use cruise much during break-in, but will do lots after it.
- Boot space. It’s an obvious trade off between the benefits of a full size spare for the cons of less space. Right now I’ve put this in the “not so good” but if I get a flat in the middle of nowhere my tune is sure to change. The answer is probably acquiring the right kind of duffle bags for long road trips and then it’s all good.

Reactions:
- Lots of attention, lots of turned heads, lots of cameras and lots of thumbs up. I don't actually particularly go for this kind of thing, preferring anonymity, but at least it's all been positive so far. Looking forward to lots more being sold so I can go back to being in just another white car.

Photos:
- Sorry I haven’t posted any yet, but given the number of shots we’ve seen other people taking so far, I may just leave it to the paparazzi.

Conclusion:
- I could hardly wipe the smile off my face all day. The perfect weather, the perfect roads without traffic (route 33 wollombi run and then on to brunkerville before F3 back to Syd -- watch out for a few serious potholes; I managed to avoid them all luckily!), my perfect lady in the passenger seat and the joy of discovering my 86’'s personality made for my best driving day since enjoying an exotic driving day in 2002 that involved Elise, 911, NSX, MR2, 355, etc. where the NSX was my fave. That car had a wonderful twin personality that was just as happy encouraging your mum to do the milk run as it was for you to push its limits. The 86 gives me that same sense. And that is pure design brilliance.
Back in February I wrote elsewhere: Bless you Tetsuya Tada for the courage, love, effort and suffering you must have poured into this project. It will bring me additional joy, beyond the driving experience itself, to reward that special kind of toil with my own hard-earned (as I imagine it will be a mere formality converting my holding deposit to a sale when the time comes). This is that rare type of voting I can actually look forward to.

I can now say, having bought it and started the journey that I see no reason not to send Tadasan my deepest congratulations.

[proficience]

Originally Posted by LeftFootBrake

Conclusion:
- I could hardly wipe the smile off my face all day. The perfect weather, the perfect roads without traffic (route 33 wollombi run and then on to brunkerville before F3 back to Syd -- watch out for a few serious potholes; I managed to avoid them all luckily!), my perfect lady in the passenger seat and the joy of discovering my 86’'s personality made for my best driving day since enjoying an exotic driving day in 2002 that involved Elise, 911, NSX, MR2, 355, etc. where the NSX was my fave. That car had a wonderful twin personality that was just as happy encouraging your mum to do the milk run as it was for you to push its limits. The 86 gives me that same sense. And that is pure design brilliance.
Back in February I wrote elsewhere: Bless you Tetsuya Tada for the courage, love, effort and suffering you must have poured into this project. It will bring me additional joy, beyond the driving experience itself, to reward that special kind of toil with my own hard-earned (as I imagine it will be a mere formality converting my holding deposit to a sale when the time comes). This is that rare type of voting I can actually look forward to.

I can now say, having bought it and started the journey that I see no reason not to send Tadasan my deepest congratulations.

Very well said sir...

P.S. we will have identical cars (at least for a while)

[Ravine]

Originally Posted by LeftFootBrake

- Engine speeds. Very relaxed. I've set the rev indicator to 4000 revs and keeping it below that for the run-in.
- Sound system. Inferior to 2004 Mazda 3 SP23. Not in the same solar system as a Veloster.
- USB port next to start/stop button isn’t working with my iPhone (but the head unit one does, acting as a charger). But I need to read the manual before declaring this a problem.

-With regards to engine, I've been keeping it mostly under 4k but occassionally spurting it up to 6k so that the engine can experience the entire rev range during break in. Apparently it seals the piston rings or something, I don't know. I've done about 350km on mine so far. My question is, how did you set the rev indicator? Are you talking about the light?

-Sound system sucks. I agree. I bet they just ripped it straight out of the Yaris just like the sat nav which is also quite average compared to my iPhone's nav apps.

-Both my USB ports seem to work however it seems when you set up bluetooth, Bluetooth audio overides the iPod functionality so you can no longer use the iPod section on the console and it's forced to stream via Bluetooth. I've yet to test what sound quality differences there are but I'm assuming USB delivers higher fidelity. I haven't figured a way to get around this forced Bluetooth thing. Currently using a 4S.

[Nardi330]

Can you GTS owners have a check under the car to see if they have full plastic panels on both left and right or just 1 side like the FRS.

Thanks