Heavy City Drivers, please opine...

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by spirit

I live right by NYC and drive through Manhattan at least 5 days every month in my '07 STi, not as much in my FR-S due to it being strictly a weekend car and the current season. Last night was the second time bringing the FR-S into the city and I did not mind the weight of the clutch in NYE congested traffic in NYC. FR-S clutch catches lower w/ a lighter and linear resisting force while the STi clutch caught at a higher point w/ a heavier and inconsistent resisting force. Although my personal preference is 6MT, 6AT makes sense if you reside in a city with congested traffic on the daily. 6AT in these ZN6/ZC6 aren't bad either! Either transmission you choose, you can't lose!\

By the way, happy new year!!!

Your STi clutch catches at a higher point than your FR-S clutch ...... ??

Yepper .......... Happy New Year to you too .......


humfrz

[spirit]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Your STi clutch catches at a higher point than your FR-S clutch ...... ??

Yepper .......... Happy New Year to you too .......


humfrz

Thanks and yep, it wasn't always like that. When I bought the STi with less than 25K miles (still on original factory clutch), it definitely grabbed at a lower point. I traded it in with 122K miles on the clock, with the same original factory clutch. I'm assuming it was due to normal wear and tear throughout my ownership.

[gravitylover]

I drove mine in and out of NYC 5 days a week for a year. Now I'm all over New England a couple of times a week and have no problems in heavy traffic. This car is just so easy to drive...

[RichardsFRS]

I love my 6MT but I would not drive it in heavy city traffic
I'd get an auto, however I would not get this car in auto. I'd only get this car in MT

[NOHOME]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

This is just as false as it has always been. This car does have a huge blind spot, even when the mirrors are adjusted correctly.



The problem is not in the lane next to you. It's in the next lane over. If you go more than one lane width away, it is impossible to adjust away that blind spot.

That means on a road with three or more lanes, you can have someone pacing you two lanes over that you can't see. If both of you move to the center lane at the same time, the other car suddenly appears out of nowhere.

The same thing goes for on-ramps on highways. In most places in the US, on-ramps come into the highway at an angle. Until you're right alongside traffic, that extra distance over the grass between you and the travel lane puts some of those vehicles right in the blind spot. I've driven a lot of cars over the years, and this is one of the more difficult ones to merge into flowing traffic because of that huge gap in what you can see.

Trying to pretend there's no blind spot "at all" is a recipe for a wreck.

Could not say it any better. All of this is manageable, but if I lived and commuted in the Toronto area, I would not own this car. Telling a prospective owner that there is no blind-spot when it is a well disused matter is not a help. He came here for a heads-up on what the driving experience is like and from there needs to decide for himself as we all did.

Not mentioned, but germain to the OP is the two door nature of the FRS. Parking in most cities is a jungle and parking space is shrinking in order to maximize lot profits. The long doors can be a nuisance especially if your physiology and dexterity dictates that you have to open them wide to get out of the car. More than once I have thanked the powers that be that I am of the slimmer variety as I slither into a door that is only halfway to really being open.

I think the new ones come with a back-up camera, but if buying a used one that does not have one, parallel park it at least once to see how you like it.

[EAGLE5]

Originally Posted by NOHOME

Not mentioned, but germain to the OP is the two door nature of the FRS.

Jermaine Jackson don't care about no two doors.

[Autocon]

I live in LA where traffic is a stop and go nightmare. Its not hard to drive a MT but for some people in traffic like that it is just plain unfun and really annoying.

Super glad I went with the AT, great for annoying traffic highways and city roads but when things clear up so its even driveable in the city then I switch over the AT Manual mode. Shift up and down through every gear much like in a MT minus the clutch. I do the same full AT manual shift mode when going to the track or up in the mountains.

Keeps it sporty, responsive, full control when you want to be changing gears yourself but helps for the daily grind of stop and go traffic. Again for many people they wouldnt care in stop and go but I hated driving my buddies TC for 2 weeks in it which is what cemented my AT choice.


Honestly as some have said, the biggest issue with the car is the huge as fuck blind spot. I even have wide angle mirrors added on but the blind spots are still pretty bad.

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by NOHOME

Could not say it any better. All of this is manageable, but if I lived and commuted in the Toronto area, I would not own this car. Telling a prospective owner that there is no blind-spot when it is a well disused matter is not a help. He came here for a heads-up on what the driving experience is like and from there needs to decide for himself as we all did.

Not mentioned, but germain to the OP is the two door nature of the FRS. Parking in most cities is a jungle and parking space is shrinking in order to maximize lot profits. The long doors can be a nuisance especially if your physiology and dexterity dictates that you have to open them wide to get out of the car. More than once I have thanked the powers that be that I am of the slimmer variety as I slither into a door that is only halfway to really being open.

I think the new ones come with a back-up camera, but if buying a used one that does not have one, parallel park it at least once to see how you like it.

I commuted with mine in Toronto, and it remains my favorite car (granted, my car resume isn't that impressive).

Parallel parking this car isn't bad (except for worries about curbing your rims), but the backup camera on the 2017s would have been greatly-appreciated.
This car has a pretty poor view directly 6 'o clock. And yes, getting out of tight spaces (especially when these doors have an inadvertent self-cleaning feature) can be difficult.

That being said, the diagram in the quotes has the traditional side mirror setting, which duplicates some of the view from your center mirror (the one in the car). I think the new preferred setting is to angle out the side mirrors as much as possible, which in my experience has reduced that cone of blindness significantly.

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[guybo]

The right way to have mirrors set is to have the rear view straight back. Lean your head to the right as far as you can go until you are fully extended but still sitting with both cheeks in the seat, then adjust the right mirror until you can just see down the side of your car. Lean your head to the left until it's up against the glass and adjust the left mirror until you see down the side of the car.

You know it is set up right if a small car comes up behind you, pulls to either side and as they pass, the image of that car goes from the rear view, seamlessly to the side mirror until you can look to the side and see the front of the car out your side window and you never lose sight of it.