Can it be too sporty?

[madfast]

another "issue" is cargo capacity vs chassis/chassis bracing.

on the evo, there are no fold down rear seats because the battery and washer fluid are in the trunk. and there is a huge chassis brace behind the rear seats. all that stuff is great, but it gets tiresome after 2 years of living with a tiny trunk...

so the FT has been confirmed to have fold down rear seats. that's not the issue. if it does turn out to be a hatch, will they have the ridiculous 350Z brace back there? if its not a hatch and its a coupe, will they have a large or tiny pass through from the trunk? the larger the opening, the less stiff the chassis. so which way will they go? im not asking for a ginormous trunk. but i also wouldnt want a tiny trunk just because they wanted an extra 0.00001% stiffer chassis. its a matter of philosophy, and a question of how far do you think they will go? just by looking at its styling, its not a mass market car. it doesnt look like its designed to be sold to the masses. so does that mean they will take liberties with the practicality? i think its a good question as most people on the poll chose the car a DD or part-time DD.

and before someone says the car isnt for me, this discussion is exactly about that. if it does turn out to be too impractical for me, i wont get it. but my hope is that they can find the perfect middle ground...

[SUB-FT86]

This is a good question Madfast. I hope it turns out to be a RWD version of my car with better balance,power,and handling.

[Allch Chcar]

Originally Posted by madfast

another "issue" is cargo capacity vs chassis/chassis bracing.

on the evo, there are no fold down rear seats because the battery and washer fluid are in the trunk. and there is a huge chassis brace behind the rear seats. all that stuff is great, but it gets tiresome after 2 years of living with a tiny trunk...

so the FT has been confirmed to have fold down rear seats. that's not the issue. if it does turn out to be a hatch, will they have the ridiculous 350Z brace back there? if its not a hatch and its a coupe, will they have a large or tiny pass through from the trunk? the larger the opening, the less stiff the chassis. so which way will they go? im not asking for a ginormous trunk. but i also wouldnt want a tiny trunk just because they wanted an extra 0.00001% stiffer chassis. its a matter of philosophy, and a question of how far do you think they will go? just by looking at its styling, its not a mass market car. it doesnt look like its designed to be sold to the masses. so does that mean they will take liberties with the practicality? i think its a good question as most people on the poll chose the car a DD or part-time DD.

and before someone says the car isnt for me, this discussion is exactly about that. if it does turn out to be too impractical for me, i wont get it. but my hope is that they can find the perfect middle ground...

Completely legitimate concerns Madfast. I have concerns about bottoming out here, cargo usage, practicality etc etc. I see Miatas and RX-8s locally but we have all kinds of nasty roads and debris especially after storms. Heck we've bottomed out minivans in our driveway .

I think a lot of this is general sports car stuff. But worse case you might need to raise your suspension a wee bit. According to Ichitaka that would help the camber issue with Macstruts too. Plus it means you can drive sportscar through "God's country."

[cyde01]

Originally Posted by madfast

how does the S2000 deal with snow (with snow tires obviously)?

i live in socal so i wouldn't know. but on the s2k forums they say it's terrible in the snow.

[ft86Fan]

I don't think anybody need to worry about a mass produced car from the factory to be "too sporty". I have the Exige and its difficult to find any "sportier" car direct from the factory and even that is not too bad and a lot of people use it as a DD.

[madfast]

Originally Posted by cyde01

i live in socal so i wouldn't know. but on the s2k forums they say it's terrible in the snow.

well that sucks to hear...

[madfast]

Originally Posted by ft86Fan

I don't think anybody need to worry about a mass produced car from the factory to be "too sporty". I have the Exige and its difficult to find any "sportier" car direct from the factory and even that is not too bad and a lot of people use it as a DD.

have you ever driven it in the snow? how does it handle pot holes? im sure people do DD it, but i have a feeling they change their lifestyle to fit the car vs the other way around. for example now that i have the ridiculously small trunked evo, i find i buy less groceries per visit. instead i go more often. it sucks to have to change to fit the car you love. so for me i dont want another car that may be even more impractical than the first!

[Want.FR-S]

Originally Posted by madfast

another "issue" is cargo capacity vs chassis/chassis bracing.

on the evo, there are no fold down rear seats because the battery and washer fluid are in the trunk. and there is a huge chassis brace behind the rear seats. all that stuff is great, but it gets tiresome after 2 years of living with a tiny trunk...

so the FT has been confirmed to have fold down rear seats. that's not the issue. if it does turn out to be a hatch, will they have the ridiculous 350Z brace back there? if its not a hatch and its a coupe, will they have a large or tiny pass through from the trunk? the larger the opening, the less stiff the chassis. so which way will they go? im not asking for a ginormous trunk. but i also wouldnt want a tiny trunk just because they wanted an extra 0.00001% stiffer chassis. its a matter of philosophy, and a question of how far do you think they will go? just by looking at its styling, its not a mass market car. it doesnt look like its designed to be sold to the masses. so does that mean they will take liberties with the practicality? i think its a good question as most people on the poll chose the car a DD or part-time DD.

and before someone says the car isnt for me, this discussion is exactly about that. if it does turn out to be too impractical for me, i wont get it. but my hope is that they can find the perfect middle ground...

You know what, this reminds me of the great debate about having a trunk vs a hatch. I am in the same situation as you are: need to consider ride height for snowy weather, and also a large enough of trunk space for a DD car. With the ride height I hope the car will not be too low to the ground in stock form. I do not think Toyota is stupid enough to put this car in too low so that people start bumping the bottom.

However, the trunk space is really a daily usage issue. If it comes in coupe form and the trunk has a little opening through the back-seat, it does limits its usage, especially if you only have one car. On the other hand, I donno if anyone can quantitatively explain the issue with hatch in terms of structure rigidity compared with a coupe version and how much *extra weight* is needed for this purpose to create the same rigid structure. Life is a balancing act. Sometimes it might be better to sacrifice a little bit of this for the greater benefit of other areas.

Now, having say that, I start to wonder if this car will truly be a low-volume car, or if this is just what the enthusiasts want to be a low-volume car so that they can be special. Since it is affordable, many people can buy it. If it comes with an auto box, lots of young girls can drive it and enjoy the looks. So it has the look, with the correct wheel drive, a reasonable performance and fun-to-drive characteristics, and it is affordable. I really do not see why this car has to be a low-volume car. It could be the case that this is the next civic on the road where you see it everywhere.

IMHO many people who do not buy Miata is because it has little trunk space and a 2 seater. If it was a 2+2 with a decent trunk and hardtop, more people will buy it.

[pastuch]

I love driving my Miata in the snow. My mom drove hers for two winters on all season radials until I forced her to buy snow tires. She made fun of me.

If the FR-S feels like driving a Miata but has a roof I'll buy it and take it skiing 50+ days a year.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by madfast

how does the S2000 deal with snow (with snow tires obviously)?

If you wanna die, you're more than welcome to drive in the snow. My friend own S2k and I can tell you, even w snow tires, that thing doesn't go anywhere. If it does, it just slide. He have Montero for winter time.

I have seen Orido drift S2k in the snowing track, but I didn't know it was that hard (he made it look easy).

[WolfpackS2k]

Originally Posted by cyde01

i live in socal so i wouldn't know. but on the s2k forums they say it's terrible in the snow.

Which forum do you look at? Over on s2ki.com the majority of people that drive theirs in the winter on snow tires say it drives much better than most FWD cars thanks to it's balance. I don't drive mine in the snow b/c I don't want to get road salt on it (and I don't have anything but summer tires) but there are plenty of people that do on a regular basis just fine. And I'm talking about people that live in the mtns of Oregon and CO, not some freak snowstorm in Texas. The only problem you will run into is clearance from deep snow.

The S2000 is fine as my daily driver and while 5.5 cubic feet of trunk room isn't a lot if you are traveling by yourself without unusually shaped cargo it's more than enough space.

And did someone really ask about power windows? Power windows are nice and convenient but did you ever consider how easy it is to put down both windows at the same time manually in a small 2 seater? It's pretty darn easy. Regardless nobody sells cars with manual crank windows anymore and the FR-S will be no exception.

[madfast]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

Which forum do you look at? Over on s2ki.com the majority of people that drive theirs in the winter on snow tires say it drives much better than most FWD cars thanks to it's balance. I don't drive mine in the snow b/c I don't want to get road salt on it (and I don't have anything but summer tires) but there are plenty of people that do on a regular basis just fine. And I'm talking about people that live in the mtns of Oregon and CO, not some freak snowstorm in Texas. The only problem you will run into is clearance from deep snow.

so what do S2000 drivers that DD do in deep snow? do they simply take another car?

[cyde01]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

Which forum do you look at? Over on s2ki.com the majority of people that drive theirs in the winter on snow tires say it drives much better than most FWD cars thanks to it's balance.

you're talking of a majority out of the drivers that DO drive on snow tires right? an even larger majority don't drive em at all when it snows.

[Zeero]

It shouldn't be a problem...all these rules and regulations will make sure of that.

It'll probably be a lot more comfortable than my MR2.