Test drove FR-S A/T last night

[LUV2TURN]

First post here, so hi.

I've been following the development of this platform for the past few years with interest as this car is a welcome addition to a very, very small market segment. Not a lot of manufacturers currently sell small, light, nimble, rear wheel drive cars these days, as we all know.

That being out of the way, I test drove an FR-S last night at one of the local Toyota/Scion dealers, and I wanted to share my thoughts with the community briefly.

If some of my opinions on the car seem a bit odd, keep in mind that my daily driver is a 1997 Mazda Miata.

Appearance:
The car looks better in person than it does in photographs. I'm not huge on some of the styling of the car. The lines on the hood leading to front emblem remind of the last gen Celica and are a little too "snout-like" for me. I don't much care for the headlight shape, and the wheels are absolutely disgusting. Overall, it's a pretty sharp looking car, even if it does remind me of our Genesis Coupe, somewhat.

The interior is pretty good looking. The steering wheel is great in terms of functionality, but looks silly. The radio looks ridiculous. The overall appearance of the interior is kind of ricey, kind of cheap, but not bad. I don't really care, my main interest in the car is its performance.

Performance:
Sadly, the only car that the dealership had was an automatic. Why Americans are so insistent on having automatic transmissions is beyond me, especially in a performance car. That being said, the automatic transmission isn't bad. In regular mode, it drives like any other automatic. I spent most of my time driving in "flappy paddle" mode, of course. Downshifts are neat as it will revmatch. Upshifts are pretty good, a bit laggy and slow for performance driving, but all in all not bad. 6th gear at 70mph puts you at about 2250rpm, which is excellent as it keeps noise down and gas mileage up. Highway driving is fine, a bit noisier than your average car, but most of that is engine/exhaust noise, and it's really not intrusive. The ride is stiff enough to let you know you're driving a sporty car, but perfectly comfortable.

Power delivery is a little odd, but that may have to do with the automatic transmission. The car seems to struggle a bit at lower rpm's and does have a bit of a flat spot around 4,000rpm or so, but it willingly revs up and the sound is good. At higher rpm's you can hear that it's not an inline-4. I think the 6MT will be a must in this car if you're even slightly interested in spirited driving. I expect the car to be much more responsive and linear with the 6MT, and just all-around quicker.

I can only give limited feedback on the handling of the car for a few reasons: 1) the areas I drove the car in did not have a lot of twisties 2) I didn't want to scare the salesman and 3) it's not my car. I'm not going to beat someone else's car to death, that's just wrong, no matter how new or old it may be. That being said, the steering is pretty responsive, although I would prefer a quicker ratio on the steering rack, I think the car could benefit from that.

The suspension tune, I would say, falls squarely into the "safe" category. I am assuming this is to keep people who don't know what they're doing from killing themselves. On the few on and off ramps that I took at a moderate clip, the car showed plenty of understeer, even with slight throttle application. Again, I'm pretty sure this is to keep the car safe, and could be easily tuned out by someone that knows what they're doing. I don't know how much of that reaction could have been caused by whatever electronic nannies the car may possess, I did not mess with them.

Seating position was pretty good, I was glad that I was able to lower the seat down. I'm not a huge guy, 6-ft, 185lbs, but I fit into the car and seat with plenty of room. Pedal placement was fine for an automatic, I suppose. I would have liked to have seen 6MT pedal placement so that I could give feedback on how easy it is to heel-toe, etc.
The seats are neat, they're much more supportive than your average couch that you find in most cars these days. Not as good as a proper bucket seat, but perfectly adequate for both every day driving as well as spirited driving.

Pricing:
I probably won't be buying one. At least, not a brand new one. Out the door, the AT would cost me around $28k, which is more than we paid for a brand new, 2013 Genesis Coupe 2.0T 6MT. If the FR-S 6MT would cost you the $24.5k as advertised in some places, I might consider it. Might.

I apologize for the rambling nature of the post, I'm writing things as they come to mind. If anyone has any questions about things I may not have commented on, please ask away.

[ESBjiujitsu]

what dealership did you go to? I was at a charlotte dealership yesterday for a test drive as well! Im looking to get an FRS. I was able to test drive the car with the TRD exhaust and springs at the SC First Drive event and im sure its the route i want to go but like you will probably wait to either pick up a freshly used one or just wait until a little time passes and any kinks are found. I really enjoyed the auto when I drove it but im patiently awaiting the chance to drive a MT which should be coming to south blvd scion this weekend! Good review, and good luck with your choice. If you like hitting local roads hit me up sometime im new to the charlotte area and love cruising/ spirited driving!

[DantKR]

Did you put it into Sports/Sport mode? Made a pretty big difference with the AT.

[LUV2TURN]

Originally Posted by ESBjiujitsu

what dealership did you go to? I was at a charlotte dealership yesterday for a test drive as well! Im looking to get an FRS. I was able to test drive the car with the TRD exhaust and springs at the SC First Drive event and im sure its the route i want to go but like you will probably wait to either pick up a freshly used one or just wait until a little time passes and any kinks are found. I really enjoyed the auto when I drove it but im patiently awaiting the chance to drive a MT which should be coming to south blvd scion this weekend! Good review, and good luck with your choice. If you like hitting local roads hit me up sometime im new to the charlotte area and love cruising/ spirited driving!

Scott Clark Toyota on Independence blvd. I do like spirited driving, etc. but haven't gotten to do a whole lot of with my current job as I work a LOT of hours. Starting a new job in a week or so, however, so that should change. Even if you want to just hang out, car talk, etc. some time I'm down for that, send me a PM some time.

Originally Posted by DantKR

Did you put it into Sports/Sport mode? Made a pretty big difference with the AT.

No, I did not do that. I probably should have fiddled with some of the settings some to get a better impression, but again, I have an aversion to screwing around with cars that are not mine Additionally, it was an automatic, so I didn't really care too much as I would never buy a car with such a satanic device installed

[ESBjiujitsu]

The paddle shifters in sport mode are very fun to work with and almost enough for me to buy but I'm a standard guy myself as well. Wish I could have both and ill make sure to hit up and good luck at the new job.

[SUB-FT86]

I think the power delivery issue you speak of must be the dip in the torqueband around 3200-4700 rpms.

[serith]

Originally Posted by LUV2TURN

I would never buy a car with such a satanic device installed

Amen.