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

[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!


I just wanted to add that I plan on keeping it stock most likely, If things go as planned I'll get the premium trim aswell.

[Kona61]

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!

As much as Forza and Gran Turismo make you think you can drift, you can’t.

-Sincerely someone who grew up playing Forza and Gran Turismo.


But seriously, this isn’t really a joke.

[Veloist]

Congrats, this is a very realistic dream car. I’ve seen thousands of posts here from people who bought a BRZ or 86 as their first car. It happens often. I’ve sold BRZ’s to people who were shopping for their first car.

[humfrz]

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!

Hello and welcome -

This would be a fun car for you if you are single or married without children.

Keep in mind it's not going to get any bigger (hauling capacity) after you buy it.

Save up for some good winter tires come fall.

[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.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[Blighty]

Learn manual.

Find a BIG area where no-one is around and practice donuts Joy.

Join a car club.

Try an autocross, and then try a track day.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by Purist

Keep it stock.

Can’t stress this enough. The car is wonderful in bone stock form, especially as a learning tool for driving.

As a young driver, resist the urge to put stiff suspension and wide tires on it, learn everything the chassis has to teach you in its stock form for a few years. Many people end up making ‘upgrades’ and then reverting back to stock after a while because they didn’t like what the car became in the end. YMMV, but highly recommend to leave it stock for a while.

[trippinbillies40]

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!

Take the first SCCA Starting Line School you can get to. Best intro to driving the new car you can possibly get if you're also new to performance driving.

[Frost]

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.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

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!

[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

Originally Posted by Kona61

As much as Forza and Gran Turismo make you think you can drift, you can’t.

-Sincerely someone who grew up playing Forza and Gran Turismo.


But seriously, this isn’t really a joke.

[steverife]

People are going to park next to your car. It will get dinged. Birds will crap on your car. You may scrape a wheel on a curb. You will scrape the front bumper on a curb at some point. The underbody or front bumper may scrape on an ingress/egress occasionally. You may get hail damage or have an accident. The windshield may get chipped. Things may not line up perfectly. You might replace a part and might break a fastener or not be able to get to one to secure it perfectly.

Mentally prepare yourself for those things. Learn to enjoy the car in spite of those things. And if you are paying for this vehicle, understand you may be dealing with those things while making a new car payment. Also, price the insurance before you buy.

Not saying it isn't worth it or that you shouldn't buy. Those are just some things that are hard to swallow for some people when they actually do get a new(er) nice car.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

Can’t stress this enough. The car is wonderful in bone stock form, especially as a learning tool for driving.

As a young driver, resist the urge to put stiff suspension and wide tires on it, learn everything the chassis has to teach you in its stock form for a few years. Many people end up making ‘upgrades’ and then reverting back to stock after a while because they didn’t like what the car became in the end. YMMV, but highly recommend to leave it stock for a while.

I'd say YMMV.

I put a slightly stiffer set of springs / slightly wider, grippier tires on at roughly 2 years of ownership and loved the difference (this was also my first car).

But definitely get your miles in and don't tweak things until you know why you want to tweak them. Don't tweak things just because the internet says to!

[phyz1ks]

Sounds like great advice—I’ll be on my first RWD manual car, so should be pretty exciting to learn high performance driving.

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.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[Pete]

What a great first car, you are so lucky. My first car was a 1984 Nissan Sentra station wagon. This was in 1997.

So it was basically the king of the road, sporty as heck, unbeatable.