Picked mine up today, finally! (Firestorm M/T, Dubai)

[VS15]

Congrats ultra , time to poison Kenneth too

[ultra]

Day 2 impressions:

I'm no auto journalist or pro race driver so don't expect any tales of immediate Zen harmony at the absolute limits of adhesion, lurid multi corner drifts or earth shattering lap times.

Truth be told I'm still very much getting used to the car and although I've had zero issues so far I'm not quite 'there' yet in terms of total sensory fusion between man and machine.

It's still a comfy and exciting place to be and the car's looking achingly good to my eyes (as well as being hot chick-approved) but I don't have that 6th sense for the car's outer dimensions yet so parking jobs and lane changes have been rather timid. The seating position, pure sex as it is, is such that I'm slightly paranoid about blind spots or scraping bodywork on curbs. It seems to be more of a mind game than anything though (maybe something to do with recently converting from tallish hatchbacks).

My parking jobs so far haven't been embarrassing per say but it seems that I'm always managing to leave huge gaps. I'm probably being over cautious because the mirrors are good enough that between the rearview and side mirrors there seems to be scarcely any blind spots at all (I checked) in which case I'll need to work at getting over my shoulder checking habit-it is.

One thing about this car - it sure makes it's fair share of weird mechanical noises! There's the idle/injector thing, the slightly thumpy gearbox (mostly a byproduct of bad shifting technique I find), some slight rear diff noises and some raspy mechanical noises from engine itself at certain rpms. I'm pleasantly surprised with the general growliness of it. Sounds a bit different than a typical four-banger - there's definitely some nice 'tone' going on!

Seems from the forum that most of these noises are pretty normal though and to be honest they don't bother me that much. I've daily driven stripped out cars in the past which were worlds noisier. In a way I actually find those noises to be strangely comforting because they let you know exactly what's going on with the whole car. I'm finding that many of the car's noises are rpm and/or load specific or else related to shifting technique. I can totally dig it but at the same time it'll probably freak out a lot of folks usd to a more 'Toyota' (or VW) cocoon of utter silence.


The shifting setup is hard to fault. It's not quite as good as my Miata was but aside from the occasional thumps it's almost foolproof and it's a really easy box to get acquainted with. I find that it's tempting (and easy) to drive with one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on the e-brake lever which lets you click off effortless finger shifts with a flick of the wrist but that's a bad habit to get into. The car actually works much MUCH better if you drive it properly - both hands on the wheel at all times and only shifting when necessary, just like they teach you in HPDE school.

Heel and toeing and double clutching haven't been an issue at all either and the car loves well rev matched shifts. My only complaint is that the brake pedal is still a bit spongy and requires a bit more effort than I'd like but that could be because of the brakes not yet being fully bedded in. In any case I'll likely adapt and not even notice it in a few more days.

Waiting for the weekend so I can find a quiet spot to switch the VSC off and start exploring the chassis and the car's behavior at the limits of grip a bit. Planted as it is, and as progressive as the media swears the car to be there's no way I'm playing that game on public roads as the car's cornering limits are such that there's still plenty enough velocity involved in the bends to cause issues even on these skinny 16s, which so far appear to stick really well no matter what you do within the speed limit short of deliberate provocation (the VSC light's only come on a couple of times so far).


The irrational part of my brain suggests to me that the car's punishing me somehow for not letting it stretch it's legs fully. I'm driving pretty quickly by normal standards but I'm still limiting myself to 5k rpms or so for now compared to the official 4k limit as a small indulgence. I've fed the car a few mild curves here and there but the brakes and clutch are still bedding themselves in so I haven't gone into attack mode yet; things are definitely on a leash for the time being.

I'm getting a very strong vibe that when I do have my bearings fully synced, everything's broken in and I do begin to stretch the car out fully on some traffic free roads that it's going to be a monstrous hoot.

Even on 'ion thrusters only' levels of power and leaving full warp aside there's still zero issues dealing with traffic and darting to and fro. I already get the sense that this thing's not going to be much of a power monster but contrary to what lots of folks are saying there seems to be plenty enough torque on tap to make cruising easy even in 5th and 6th gears. The daily grind stuff is almost completely effortless in this car.

So I'm drinking it up slow and steady like a bottle of fine wine instead of chugging it like beer. There's enough enjoyable aspects involved in the overall driving experience that I don't feel like I absolutely need to thrash it to death in order to feel good although I'm pretty keen to open the pipes up and get to know what this car's really about.

Overall, zero reservations about my purchase at thins point. Make no mistake.

[jurjurson]

Red !!!! Best color IMO.

[serialk11r]

My god, those 16" wheels are something to kill for.

[ultra]

Day 3 impressions (I'll try to keep it quick):

The new car giddiness is finally passing on and we're into the crucial 'melding' stage. Starting to feel really relaxed with the car. Not 'bored' relaxed, more like just plain satisfied.

I'm getting really used to the shifting now and it appears that most of the "clunkery and thunkery' that some people have reported is indeed due to shifting technique. When you get the timing between pressing the clutch and lifting off the throttle just-right the car NeVeR clunks, ever. It's just very easy to get caught off guard due to stuff like traffic. It just seems like the car is extremely sensitive to shifting technique but I think that's a truly great thing because I love almost nothing more on this earth that rowing gears! At the moment I'm starting to really 'get' it and it's wonderful.

Still loving the interior, in fact it's growing on me. Whoever designed it deserves a medal or something - so ergonomically perfect as far as the seats, controls and view out of the car. Even the upholders are perfect (I'm a Diet Coke junkie so that's a biggie). Incredible!

The only thing that's still bugging me slightly is that since you sit so low down it's still a bit hard to judge the extremities of the car. Not a huge deal 90% of the time but for example I can charge a lot quicker up and down the 5 storey car park at work in a Yaris or pretty much any other car simply because you sit so high up. Don't think it'll be an issue for AutoX but the fear of cipping concrete in this car makes me back off a bit. Possibly a stupid thing to mention given that the whole point of the car is about having a low Cg but I thought I'd mention it anyways.

There's one thing that pisses me off enormously in this car and that's other traffic! It seems that for some reason everyone else has suddenly started driving at a snails pace which totally kills my momentum into bends! Arghhh!

It's not like I'm driving like a maniac either - other people are just so slow! I don't know if it's bad luck, or just in my head or if it's because this car has some sort of crazy cornering abilitis that bend space-time something. Every corner I beed to back off for and 'abandon' just because some random person is on their cellphone or something feels like robbery!

[ft86-UAE]

Originally Posted by Imti

When are you expecting yours?

next week i hope.

[Shagaliscious]

Congrats! Firestorm is where it's at

Originally Posted by ultra

It's not like I'm driving like a maniac either - other people are just so slow! I don't know if it's bad luck, or just in my head or if it's because this car has some sort of crazy cornering abilitis that bend space-time something. Every corner I beed to back off for and 'abandon' just because some random person is on their cellphone or something feels like robbery!

Sounds like a conspiracy to me.

[Imti]

Man, you're making my wait so much harder than what it already is. I have a few questions hope you don't mind answering.

1st Q: Can you set the gear change beep/light to sound/turn-on reaching a customized rev limit?

2nd Q: Easy to manage speed looking at the analog dials? Since there isn't a digital speedometer for the M/T.

Final Q: How much did Al-futtaim say to you the service plan costs for GT86? If you know any details for this, please share!

Thanks.

PS: My sales guy told me today that the VIN number has been allocated for me. Just need to confirm the shipment date. Not long now, I hope!

Originally Posted by ultra

Day 3 impressions (I'll try to keep it quick):

The new car giddiness is finally passing on and we're into the crucial 'melding' stage. Starting to feel really relaxed with the car. Not 'bored' relaxed, more like just plain satisfied.

I'm getting really used to the shifting now and it appears that most of the "clunkery and thunkery' that some people have reported is indeed due to shifting technique. When you get the timing between pressing the clutch and lifting off the throttle just-right the car NeVeR clunks, ever. It's just very easy to get caught off guard due to stuff like traffic. It just seems like the car is extremely sensitive to shifting technique but I think that's a truly great thing because I love almost nothing more on this earth that rowing gears! At the moment I'm starting to really 'get' it and it's wonderful.

Still loving the interior, in fact it's growing on me. Whoever designed it deserves a medal or something - so ergonomically perfect as far as the seats, controls and view out of the car. Even the upholders are perfect (I'm a Diet Coke junkie so that's a biggie). Incredible!

The only thing that's still bugging me slightly is that since you sit so low down it's still a bit hard to judge the extremities of the car. Not a huge deal 90% of the time but for example I can charge a lot quicker up and down the 5 storey car park at work in a Yaris or pretty much any other car simply because you sit so high up. Don't think it'll be an issue for AutoX but the fear of cipping concrete in this car makes me back off a bit. Possibly a stupid thing to mention given that the whole point of the car is about having a low Cg but I thought I'd mention it anyways.

There's one thing that pisses me off enormously in this car and that's other traffic! It seems that for some reason everyone else has suddenly started driving at a snails pace which totally kills my momentum into bends! Arghhh!

It's not like I'm driving like a maniac either - other people are just so slow! I don't know if it's bad luck, or just in my head or if it's because this car has some sort of crazy cornering abilitis that bend space-time something. Every corner I beed to back off for and 'abandon' just because some random person is on their cellphone or something feels like robbery!

[ultra]

Few quick pics:

[ultra]

Originally Posted by Imti

Man, you're making my wait so much harder than what it already is. I have a few questions hope you don't mind answering.

1st Q: Can you set the gear change beep/light to sound/turn-on reaching a customized rev limit?

2nd Q: Easy to manage speed looking at the analog dials? Since there isn't a digital speedometer for the M/T.

Final Q: How much did Al-futtaim say to you the service plan costs for GT86? If you know any details for this, please share!

Thanks.

PS: My sales guy told me today that the VIN number has been allocated for me. Just need to confirm the shipment date. Not long now, I hope!

1. I think so but I don't know how.

2. Nope. 100km/h is oddly really low on the speedo so you hardly notice it. There is a speed warning beep at 120 though.

3. Warranty was free! They'll try to charge younfor other extras though.

Mabrook, yours will be here soon enough. It's too hot to drive fast right now anyways

[bestwheelbase]

@ultra it looks really great in that parking garage. Shows the depth of the red color.

[Imti]

Originally Posted by ultra

3. Warranty was free! They'll try to charge younfor other extras though.

Mabrook, yours will be here soon enough. It's too hot to drive fast right now anyways

I think I wasn't clear about the 3rd question. I believe the warranty you mentioned is for 5 years/unlimited km's, yes?


Actually, I was referring to the service plans most dealers offer during purchase. Basically you pay a fixed sum upfront for the next 8/12/20 oil changes till 40K/60K/100K kilometers, respectively. So when you calculate ; it turns out a few hundred dirhams cheaper per oil change every 5000km.

I saved quite a lot by getting such plans for my other rides. Thought you may know of something similar offered for the 86. If you don't , can you pester your sales guy for it? I have been calling mine non-stop about it but he's not sharing anything yet.

Appreciate your help.

[rick]

Hello there,

Mabrook! your car looks awesome! I called the showroom and was informed the best they can do is a 3 month wait!!! Another thing is Im looking to go for an automatic version with the paddle shifters cuz my main usage will be home to work and its crazy traffic filled road. I know the purists have shunned the AT but hey if any of you guys ever tested it or get its delivery please share your experience. Mines gonna take a while till then I hope to see your feedbacks. P.S Ultra get Vkool or so ASAP bro this summer seems too harsh. Cheers

Thanks for the pics. And yea Imti even im curious to know about the service plan as I would also get it along with my ride.

[Nevermore]

Originally Posted by ultra

Few quick pics:

Really nice pics, love the red. Almost got it myself, but had to have my Hot Lava. That's also a really clean looking parking garage, never seen one that nice.