Hoping to get one as a first car; very excited! Any advice?

[alphasaur]

Originally Posted by MeepSecurity

Hello everyone, I just wanted to say that I absolutely love this car and I'm really hoping to get one as a first car in the near future. I was wondering if anyone wanted to chime in with some advice or other words, thanks!

If this is your first car I'd highly suggest enrolling in some autocross days. Cheap, super fun, and will help you learn how to drive!

Enjoy!

[radroach]

@MeepSecurity

Cool first car but I hope you can afford the insurance and maintenance costs; it's your first car, the costs can be a bit steep. I say this to a lot of younger drivers who are thinking about getting the car. I'd hope you have a good arrangement for insurance, otherwise you'll have to establish a good driving record.

Tires and tire pressure determine the feel of this car. Make sure you don't lose tire pressure over winter months or the car will feel like a dog. My first year of ownership, I did not pay enough attention to tires, but later learned to keep up with checking my tire pressures and replacing tires on a "regular basis" of about every two years.

Oil changes. The 5000-7000 mile intervals recommended by Subaru and Toyota are made for slow passenger cars, not ones that are driven in severe conditions (like track days). Get a fumoto oil drain valve, a few year's supply of dealership oil filters, and change your oil often.

A few attempts at SCCA Autocross taught me about tire grip, handling the car. I was given an instructor who helped me through a few runs. As well, I had a lot of lessons in loss of traction when my tires went bald and I had to drive on them all winter. Always keep good tires on this car!

[Kona61]

Originally Posted by revaholic

But in this car if it's anything like the 1st generation is as easy as it gets. Practice in big parking lots, and maybe you could get the tail out in the occasional roundabout but don't turn traction fully off

As easy as a car may be to drift, it’s still difficult. Practicing is great in a big empty space, but don’t try your first drift on the streets.

[stilesg57]

I’d almost always advocate for a used car as a first car, but as new cars go I think it’s going to be tough to beat a Twin. Hope it works out for you!

[MeepSecurity]

Originally Posted by Purist

Great choice mate. This is a car that can grow with you and take you from a noob driver to a skilled competitor. Tips for younger players:

Keep it stock.

Leave VSC on when on public roads.

Don't bother drag racing. You'll lose.

Join a car club and start competing asap in low risk, low speed events.

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I am planning on keeping it bone stock for at least 50k miles so I can learn the dynamics of the car. If I do decide to do anything to it, I don't plan on changing much. It already seems perfect stock for my needs. I really don't plan on drag racing either, I just want to enjoy the handling dynamics and learn rwd more than anything else. I definetly plan on signing up for track/ autocross events to learn.

[phyz1ks]

Would you recommend not lowering the car using coilovers shortly after getting the car? I've driven for about 15 years now, and despite having my license for so long, I've only had my first car after moving out to California and haven't done any high performance driving or modding, so I was looking forward to getting into a platform that would allow me to do both relatively early.

Originally Posted by Frost

The best advice so far.

Take a HPDE course, don't modify it. Learn your driving style and technique (it will grow / change over time) and then when you finally hit a point where you're car limited (you will know), then you can whip out the mods.

Take advantage of the NASA deal Toyota USA has you hooked up with as well.

Story time: I kept my S2k stock (even alignment) for basically 1.5 years and I got to a point where I just couldn't crack the top 15 for autocross. I then asked some of the best guys I knew to co-drive and they were running within 0.1 to 0.2s of my time on a 70s course. All complained my car wouldn't turn. That's when I knew I was car limited. Changed my alignment from the factory crap, voila. Extra learning to be had.

The car looks great from the factory. Learn it and congrats on the goal!

[Kona61]

Originally Posted by phyz1ks

Would you recommend not lowering the car using coilovers shortly after getting the car? I've driven for about 15 years now, and despite having my license for so long, I've only had my first car after moving out to California and haven't done any high performance driving or modding, so I was looking forward to getting into a platform that would allow me to do both relatively early.

If it’s new I wouldn’t, any issues with suspension, rear drivetrain, or interior likely won’t be covered by the warranty if you find any issues.

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by phyz1ks

Would you recommend not lowering the car using coilovers shortly after getting the car? I've driven for about 15 years now, and despite having my license for so long, I've only had my first car after moving out to California and haven't done any high performance driving or modding, so I was looking forward to getting into a platform that would allow me to do both relatively early.

Depends on your goals.
If you want nice looking fender gaps and fitment coilovers is the way to go. If you want the best performance and widest tires to maximize grip — again, coilovers.

If your priority is handling and learning, stock suspension with minor tweaks such as camber bolts will be more than enough for a while, especially if you have the Sachs dampers.

[phyz1ks]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

Depends on your goals.
If you want nice looking fender gaps and fitment coilovers is the way to go. If you want the best performance and widest tires to maximize grip — again, coilovers.

If your priority is handling and learning, stock suspension with minor tweaks such as camber bolts will be more than enough for a while, especially if you have the Sachs dampers.

So I really do want to better the fitment primarily and the performance gain is definitely nice, which was why I was thinking coilovers.

But I'm wondering if going that route in the beginning would possibly negatively affect my learning/figuring out the car's behavior, given that it'll be my first manual car and first RWD platform.

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by phyz1ks

So I really do want to better the fitment primarily and the performance gain is definitely nice, which was why I was thinking coilovers.

But I'm wondering if going that route in the beginning would possibly negatively affect my learning/figuring out the car's behavior, given that it'll be my first manual car and first RWD platform.

One can definitely ruin the handling of a car with bad coilovers.
Or even good coilovers when not set up properly.

I think if this is your first RWD car it will be useful to tackle problems one at a time, rather than putting all of them on your plate and then hoping that there's one solution to them all.

If you keep the car mostly stock, with camber adjustments, you'll be better able to focus on improving your skills.

[Purist]

Lowering the car will give it camber, which can result in less grip with 215 or 225 street tyres, especially with stiff springs.


We're getting in to a whole other discussion here folks





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[Blighty]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

One can definitely ruin the handling of a car with bad coilovers.
Or even good coilovers when not set up properly.

^^

[Blighty]

I don't want to tell you what to do @phyz1ks, but remember you're an inexperienced modder thats going in as a first adopter on an _almost_ a new car platform.

When you get the car definitely hang out here whatever you do - there will be very capable and experienced people deep diving into what makes the car better.

[wbradley]

1- At the very minimum you can get away with an LS swap and a tune for an amazing daily.

2- Don't take wooden nickels