W2's Firestom FR-S

[Chewie4299]

Originally Posted by W2

The big 1 -0 - 0 -0 Review:



I hit 1,000 miles today on my trip home for lunch and felt it was time to write a little review of my impressions so far.

1. First off I love this car and I have no regrets I bought it.
2. I love the simplicity of the features:
   • Not too many buttons and everything I need is in easy reach while driving.
   • The gauges are easy to read and the important stuff is where I expect it to be.
   • The all in one base stereo head unit is great. Honestly I thought I would have swapped it out already but have come to really like it. It has plenty of features, the Bluetooth works flawless, it has USB, the menus are easy to navigate, and the buttons are easy to use and well placed while driving.
3. The handling is simply amazing and makes it great fun on the road. I have never put so many miles on a car or motorcycle in such a short period of time. I have to tell myself "no you cannot go driving." I don't want to rack up all the miles and be out of my warranties in the first year.
4. The styling, this car is a head turner and I have seen plenty of people snapping pictures. Personally I love the stock lights with the Firestorm color and plan took keep it that way. No light tinting for me! The paint has a very deep color to it and shows the lines of the car beautifully.
5. Headlights; well they work for me and seem to be pretty good, but I have only driven with a few HID setups (never owned). This car is better than any of my previously vehicles in the lighting department.
6. The seats! Wow they are comfortable! Looking at them originally I thought they might get a little uncomfortable after an hour or two, I was wrong. I wish my office seat was this good.
7. Mirrors, personally I would like an auto dimming rear view mirror but this is no biggie. The side mirrors are OK but you do have blind spots, I have driven much worse though.
8. Arm rest?!? Honestly I don't care if they do make one in the future or not. I find my right arm rests comfortably across the rear of the parking brake boot and along the center console. I tend to keep 1 hand slightly on the shifter most of the time.
9. Backseats = almost non-existent. I don't have any need for them anyway.
10. Trunk space is not too bad and you can always fold the rear "seats" down and have a lot of useable space.
11. Power. Well its there in 2 levels. We all know about the torque dip and I personally treat this like 2 separate power bands. I use the lower range for daily driving and it is still a blast to drive while short shifting it. For more fun please visit 5000+ RPMS and have that rush a lot of people desire. I haven't played around too much in the higher RPMS but it is fun. The power this car puts out is perfect IMHO. For anyone familiar with motocross I compare this to a 125 2-stroke; momentum is key as well as keeping the revs up when trying to go fast.
12. The shifter is good, I love the throw and it seems to just drop into gear. It is getting smoother with more miles.
13. Fit and finish is on par with my other Toyota products, nothing to currently complain about. I even like the stock HVAC controls, they feel solid and operate smoothly.

Now for some of the bad:

1. Grocery shopping sucks. Now all of my items need to be bagged twice; once at the store and then again in my driveway. For some odd reason gremlins come out and raid the bags and throw crap all about the trunk. I have heard them wrestling with my beer on more than 1 occasion.
2. It sits low, which isn't really bad it just makes things interesting. I stopped by Chick-fil-a today and the roof was below the drive-thru window. Good thing I don't eat fast food very often and really don't want that smell in my car. It does make it harder navigating in parking lots trying to look around the SUVs everywhere.
3. Dumb-ass drivers, this car seems to attract them. I have seen more people slightly drive off the road, tailgate me, drive erratically, and just plain suck at driving. It all happens when they are around this car, not so much when I drive my truck or any other vehicle.

On a more serious note the only real problems I have are the flimsy seat belt loop, and um.... if I think of something I''ll add it.

Overall this is pretty much my dream car and I plan to be driving it many 1000s of miles more. It is probably time to start doing some slight modifications now and I'll keep this updated as I go.

It's like I wrote it myself. I don't have any issues with how low the car is either.

I also anticipated replacing the stock head unit pretty quick but I'm liking it so far. I still plan to do so but it can wait till it's convenient.

[W2]

1 Month Update

Still in love and I have begun some slight modifying.

A couple weekends ago I did the rear fog light modification to have it turn on with the rest of the lights when activated and to act as a 4th brake light. I also recieved some new parts in today, a Perrin 2" shorty antenna and a red Perrin light weight pulley. Both were extremely quick and simple to install and appear to be well made products. Before and after pictures of each below.


First up is the antenna. Simply unscrew the old one, screw in the supplied threaded shaft, and then thread on the antenna. Done.

Stock



Perrin 2"



Personally I like the smaller antenna a lot. I cannot comment to how well it works though because I never use the radio.


Now for the pulley. I wasn't sure how well this would work but it is actually a very noticeable improvement. To be honest I was not expecting much and took a chance based on the favorable reviews. My opinion is this is a very good bang for the buck modification.

Before


After




If you have any questions about the install please let me know and I can probably offer some advice. There is a great pulley install write up in the DIY section with pictures for some of you a little more hesitant about ripping into your engine bay.

I have also per-ordered an Airaid intake and I will post updates when that arrives, it should ship in a couple weeks.

[Rampage]

Shorty antenna is much better looking than those big ugly shark fins IMO....nice mod.

[Jeff86]

I was thinking about a shark fin, but I also think I'm liking that shorty more. Car looks good man

[W2]

Time for another update. I took the car to the mountains this afternoon after giving it a good wash. Snapped a few pictures as well.





I have added a couple new parts over the last few weeks; Airaid intake and limited edition GrimmSpeed Oil cap. Both are top notch products and look/work great.





With the intake install I removed the noise generator that goes into the cabin as well as the intake snorkel. See my DIY here for details. The car defiantly makes more noise with this configuration and sounds great. I was worried inside the cabin it would quiet to much with out the sound tube plumbed in but that was not the case at all.


The car just topped 3,500 miles and I think I'll give it an oil change tomorrow, I did the first at about 800 miles. I did start to get rattling from the front door speakers, but I also blare my music and expected this over time. Other than that I cannot think of any issues or problems that have come up, I put gas in it and go. Next modification will probably be an exhaust, too many choices in that department to decide just yet.

[RallySport Direct]

Nice! notice any power difference or changes with the intake? Looks really nice

Thanks,
Rick

[W2]

Originally Posted by RallySport Direct

Nice! notice any power difference or changes with the intake? Looks really nice

Thanks,
Rick

Seems smoother and to rev quicker. Feels like more power especially up top, nothing crazy but defiantly noticeable. Good investment IMO, it also cleans up the engine bay nicely and still keeps that somewhat clean stock look. Form and function!

[RallySport Direct]

Very cool, glad you like it, and it does make for a much cleaner engine bay for sure! Looks great!

Rick

[W2]

I haven't been on the forum much for the last year or so, but I thought I would post a quick update. My FR-S is my daily driver (except during winter).

I have now had the car a little over 2 years and it has close to 26k miles on it. The car has not had any issues or been to the dealer for a single thing other than state inspections. The only porblem I have noticed are my stock speakers are finally starting to sound very crappy and I have developed a few minor rattles in the doors. I plan to upgrade the sound system and that should resolve those problems. I do get the chirping fuel pump from time to time, but I don't even notice it anymore.

The stock tires are starting to break loose very easily and I chirp around some of the slowest turns. The tread still looks good but I think new tires are in order for the near future.

Overall the car has preformed perfectly and has not let me down. My only dilemma at this point is the lack of power. I am starting to eye ball the supercharger kits on the market, just need funds!