2013 Scion FR-S - Review and Road Test
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
- Known as the Toyota 86 or GT-86 in foreign markets, the Scion FR-S (along with its close sibling the Subaru BRZ) is the product of a close collaboration between Subaru and Toyota. Years in the making the FR-S is specifically engineered to deliver thrilling rear-drive performance at a modest price. KBB's Micah Muzio had an opportunity to drift the FR-S, test it at the race track and experience it on the streets to see if it lives up to the hype. Spoiler alert, it does.
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I love my FR-S. It's hard to explain about this car. Some cars out accelerate it, some cars out handle it, some cars are more comfortable, some cars look better, but it's the combination of all these traits that make this car. It's just so well balanced.
+guyfihi Update Jan 2016. Still have the car, still love it. I changed the tires to Michelin Pilot Sport all season. More grip on the corners than the stock tires. I had to replace the fuel pump under warranty due to a chirping noise, which was disappointing, but other than that no maintenance problems. The supposed lack of power not a problem, it has enough for me. Love driving it on the curvy roads we have here in Northern California.
+guyfihi i got a 2016 sonic ia last week and i want to trade it next year for the frs.
+guyfihi some people turbo it to get an extra kick out of it ajd i dont think it voids toyota's warenties
This car is awesome. I drive one as a daily driver. I still love getting behind the wheel every single time. It's unique, a thrill to drive, sounds awesome and everyone that see's it, wants one. Why? because the way the car was engineered. Yes, 200 HP may not be enough for some people... but its the handling that people love so much. The aerodynamics and low center of gravity gives this car its competitive advantage over the others.
This review was way better than what I was expecting it to be.
I test drove this car today so much fun I'm getting one next week
here in CA you can find many FRS for about 18,000$ with about 25000 miles or less on the clock, good review keep it up positive attitude and really good information made this a fun review to watch!
always look forward to your reviews, micah! love your style of automotive commentary.
As soon as I graduate College and have a full time job in Mechanical Engineering, totally getting one of these
I guess this Toyota might be my first car... When I get the money.. lol
Tell me how this was soulless, he was speaking with so much enthusiasm!
go for it...its so fun to drive and if u need more power theres a lot of aftermarket support growing for this car
I just managed to find this review, and it shed light on two things that nobody else has so far. The usability (or lack of it) of the back seats and the fact that the primary manufacturer in this partnership is Subaru. In these two company relationships there has always been a "primary". Perfect example is the Eclipse/Talon. Everyone always knew that the Eclipse was the actual, and the Talon was the variation. Now we know what the case is here. If you want the original, go with the BRZ!
I'm not ever going to buy one of these, but I am excited and happy that we have more rear drive options hitting the market.
This could be one of the greatest affordable grand tourers, it got spacious rear room and it's pretty comfy
Spacious for who????
I'm so sick of these negative comments. All I know...I will enjoy my black FR-S when I purchase it.
I am 5'9" and sat in the rear seat of my friends FR-S. Headroom isn't great, but i wasn't uncomfortable in the half an hour i was there. That being said, the front seats stop on the back seat when you slide it back all the way.
They released the specs on the car few month before the launch, pictures of concepts were out over a year prior to that. People on forums speculated that it would be V6 280+ bhp RWD car, so it would have been competing with Z370, 335i and so on.
Hell yeah! T and SB teaming up!!
I LOve my FRS!
good point. I feel like the mark ups will go away once the hype wears off. Worst comes to worst have them build you one from the factory and pick it up from the shipyard yourself
Test drove both the Genesis Coupe and FR-S 2 weeks ago and went with the Genesis instead. As fun as people say the FR-S is to drive (and it is), that's really only if you're on a track, and can afford to put new rubber on it after you bag drive it everywhere. In the end, the extra power and the feel of the turbo on the Genesis made this a no contest. Hopefully theres a turbo in the future, because without it, this is just a sportier Camry.
They designed the FR-S with room for a helmet in mind. On the 2 tracks within driving distance of my house, helmets are mandatory so kudos Toyota!
"should I buy an FR-S?"... oh hell, yes. SCION will be on many people's tongues and vernacular from now on.
2014 is gonna be a good year I think. Saving until then. This platform will have the kinks out and probably more power and alot of the other RWD coupes will be much better as well.
It's also a completely new product, keep in mind. When a new car comes out, you're paying for all of the development costs. Redesigns are less expensive, because at least they had something to work with. This car is essentially a RWD RSX. 100hp per liter, naturally-aspirated, 2700lbs and gets 22/30mpg. You won't get that from any of those cars. As a former WRX owner, Idk why AWD/Turbo/4-door is being compared to RWD/NA/2-door besides that they have Subaru boxer engines.
no, its decently fast for the price. and the handling is amazing. the is a lightweight, balanced platform with exceptional handling capabilities. so yes, it can be quite "fast" around a twisty track.
I tend to agree. This thing is v6 Mustang money. Still as gas prices go way up in the future, you will be seeing more of these. Ford for example already has all the parts they need off the shelf to make something just like it. No boxer 4? No problem. Use the awd from the sho to compensate for the higher cog from their 2.0 eco boost. Toss it on a Focus chassis, make it look nice, and people will buy it.
lets just say i had infinity g37 and hyundai genesis as the 2 best affordable cars known to man, this car has just taken over the top spot, how can u not fucking love this
oh? i somehow couldn't find the "5 years/60k miles"full warranty info on the Volvo USA website, maybe it's a localized problem or something. Great to know they're showing confidence in their products though!
Hey KBB, regarding your segment on the rear seats, may I ask how tall your reviewer was?
youre right, its not about top speed and breaking speed limits. Its about acceleration. Those people who say heavy/quick acceleration isnt fun, in defense of the car, is lying to themselves. A driving entusiast will love everything about a car's dynamics- even its acceleration (think about it, if acceleration doesnt matter why do people upgrade/tune their engines if it didnt matter? ) I love the car but wonder why a company would stop short of perfection.
Premium only. The Sion Frs I drove had regular in it. It was slow and it knocked below 2k. The Brz felt so much faster but the dealer put in the rec 93 octane. Also the stability control SLOWS YOU DOWN. Turn it off completely and the cars seems more preppy.
is this similr in size to the miata? I'd like to see it side by side against a more popular car to really grasp how big it is. I may buy one if they start having them available test drives near where i live.
I want to see what the numbers are. I own a mini and would like to see how it compares in steering and braking.
Just to let you know, the FR-S is not built by Scion, it is built by Toyota and is rebranded as a Scion in USA und Canada
They would be nice. RPF1's would look nice also. This car with a well built turbo could be an extremely fun car to drive.
because it is, this car was made by Subaru and Toyota. It goes under the names FRS by Scion, Gt-86 by Toyota and BRZ by Subaru.
The Focus RS is going to be sold in the states. Late this summer. You won't replace a GT with a hot hatch for people that are fans of v8 muscle cars. And I think the RS is FWD only. But it has a computerized torque steering correction system of some kind to compensate. It's only available in manual to. Go to Fords website, it's in the cars tab at the bottom of the pop up window.
Even that 22-30 Manual MPG is badass
Yeah I've seen those, i just never saw them with a leather skirt hiding the poll and slots for the gears
This car will maintain Residual Value in a secondhand car market even 30 years after.
im 15 and getting ready to start driving this and the tc is my favorite of all cars in the world id pick this over lambo
here is my new hope... I hope they make this thing faster
they will probably introduce a STI version for subaru and TRD version for Scion, bother rumored to have 50-100 extra horsepower via either turbo for subaru or SC in the case of the sicon. Although subaru claims they can squeeze ~50hp extra and still be NA from the FA20 boxer.
I'm not surprised they don't mention this in the marketing, but this car takes premium gas.
yup, but common, who wouldnt wana see it changed up to RWD? I mean it would put a smile on my face!
It will be like most tuner cars. The more original the more they will be worth, where a pristine low km original car will be worth a decent amount. Being so cheap there will be thousands around with plenty of spare parts and good factory support so thats allways a good thing. Overall a great package.
thanks brotha, now we gotta spread the word to Honda!
this is just the start.
300lbs is a significant difference. lets take into account that the gti is fwd and is like 61% front weight, versus the rwd brz's 53%. also, the brz is much lower to the ground than the gti. these are all things you have to consider when judging a "sports" car (as opposed to a car that happens to be fast)
i heard something about that when they announced it back in 2009 too, but apparently they don't do that anymore. it's warranty is just 5 years / 50k miles now, which only covers factory scheduled maintenance, roadside assistance and basic wear & tear of your wiper blades, brake pads and rotors.
all other parts not included above, ranging from drivetrain components to tires and simple failed headlights, all of them only have 2 years of warranty coverage.. BMW by comparison covers everything :/
I am ok with the BRZ power, but the fact is: where do we do cornering in everyday driving?
@kellyblue book at 4:44 did you mean auto rev matching ?.?
yeah that's true, the price is way different, and evo is turbocharged, but just saying that 2.0s can put out a lot more. but i'm not sure about Australia, but in the US, for 25k (~the base msrp for absolutely no options/accessories) you could be getting something a lot better performing. i think that's mainly why people say it's unreasonable priced.
DO F'ING WANT! Cant wait to see this beauty in person.
I wonder how tall Micah is. I'm only 5'7" and have a sneaking suspicion that someone would be able to sit behind me (not comfortably). I use a Miata as my daily driver and unsurprisingly find myself in need of more practicality on rare occasions. In those rare situations, the Scion's useless back seats would be a very welcome addition.
ignorant is bliss this car has been turbo charged to 600hp 500 lb ft torque beast it drives like a dream handles like a lotus with a low sitting boxer 30 grand 40 if your feelin rich you have a beast that with out track high end sports cars look at the greddy tuned scion and tuned brz there beast
We need an update to this with the new GR86 and BRZ
wont happen, to directly compete, it has to have a backseat. And the 2000 was well in the 30s, the prelude was low to mid 20s which is right where the FRS/BRZ sits at.
So agree, for 25k I'll get a Cooper S. While not as powerful, i'm sure it will do well in the small sporty catagory. And for the bang for the buck, the Mustang is hard to beat.
They did that using Prius tires! Brilliant! Now I can burn as many tires I want without going bankrupt.
Plus, with a BMW, you have a huge dealer network willing to stimulate your prostate on a regular basis. They call it "maintenance."
its not about beating people into submission with the power from the engine, its about the ability to maintain the speed , and with this car you could do that better than most , the only cars with better weight ratio would be the lexus LFA and the Ferrari 360
good comment, I thought everyone was blind. oh and with dealer markup on a new. limited production sports car means that this car will sell for about 28-30k
"But you'll be missing out on the supreme nimbleness of the Mazda Miata." As a current Miata owner, I would like to watch/read a comparison between the FR-S/BRZ and the Miata. Toyobaru reviews have led me to believe that it handles just as well as a Miata, so I'm curious to know why KBB disagrees. .
The gearing is different in the manual vs automatic with the FRS/BRZ, the automatic is a second slower due to the fact it is geared way more for economy, the manual is geared for performance
We can only hope for a more powerful engine!!!! I could wait!
It doesn't "replace" anything since the RWD AEs died years ago.
It's more of a flashback of the iconic AE86.
The Prelude would have to be a whole new formula! The Prelude has always been based on the Accord and FWD, now it's gonna need a whole new chassis, and be RWD. BUT..i wanna see that too lol
I think you have good points, but the civic is regular fwd compact car that people upgraded. The FRS has real wheal drive, which means true performance. But like the civic this will be a cool car for young kids to modify and enjoy, while the civic will just become a common old car. I don't consider anything Fwd a sports car.
id pass on the new NSX design and buy that new Viper. Talk about a real slap in the face lol.
I cannot wait for the BR-Z!
im not a big fan of japanese sportscars but this is amazing ! I love it and think im gonna buy it
we have the technology, we can build it;) The bionic man said so!
could have a manual option like most cars now days. I know my friends Mazda 3 has a gear selector that looks like a manual stick even though it's automatic. It has the option to shift the gears like a manual though.
I think KBB can sell me on anything. I didn't even like this car until this review lol
The mazda Rx-8 is no longer on sale so I doubt they would ever do that comparison. But thats not saying the RX-8 Is a cracking car and way too underrated
kbb is the best!
I thought scion didnt allow dealer markups? I think you can report them for that
No, they still offer a full warantee for 5 years/60K miles and still do cover absolutely everything including oil changes/fluid changes. Neither Volvo nor BMW cover tires, BMW even says so in their adverts.
Mustang's are only good for straight line
muscle cars won't be able to take a corner like these cars
plus you get the long term reliability of a Japanese car which still are top ranks on consumer reports in the US
If it came factory with a built in turbo, this would be a great car. At least it is RWD. I own an FD3S and would definitely say that this car would have almost been comparable in style if it were not for that one spec. Only 200hp will leave a lot to be desired in the world of sporty cars.
so you havent seen the mustang gt drifting videos on youtube?
Proportions of the car is deceptive indeed from pictures and video, I have test driven one and it really is low and much smaller than I thought.
yea, your right. it takes a lot to push more power out of a already high compression motor
I agree, this guy didnt read the part 25% markup. and its true people obviosly buy this car because of price. for example if the frs was the same exact price as the porsche cayman s, very few people would buy the scion. And with the markup, better options are out there. Even a wrx should bloow this thing out the water.
i think this car may not do better that the civic when it comes to sales because the civic was sold as a 2door, 4door and a hatchback but i do believe this car may out sell the mustang and the genesis coupe put together... also i think TRD will make tons of bolt on upgrade parts, performance kits and body kits for this car
For about $27,000 you could find a low mileage Mitsubishi Evo, with 300hp Turbo AWD that would smoke the doors off this car. It does look nice but even with a turbo kit it would struggle to keep up with an Evo let alone attempt to out handle one
yes, the miata would be a reasonable size comparison here, albeit this one being a little bit "bigger" looking because of the more "bloated" (snout, wide open gaping maw grille, wheel arches) design of it,but the actual dimensions are actually very similar. i've heard on another review that this was compared to the Hyundai Genesis Coupe which certainly was a bit off,as this clearly ranks below the Gensis Coupe &350/370Z segment in terms of size, and performance (numbers/power/price). greetings
well, it's toyota-subaru project and because both of these companies were building this car, both want to sell it. So it had to be sold as subaru and toyota. And because it's not ordinary toyota, they started to sell it as scion, which was created by toyota to sell cars that are much different than other toyotas.
for me it's fine, because it's still the same amazing car, not matter which badge does it have :)
Man I love the camaro but this make me change my mind 25 city-32 high way wow Toyota and Subaru great job
It's bigger than a Miata. It's more in line with the Japanese coupes of the 90's but slightly wider. If you see a 2G DSM/Mitsubishi Eclipse it is the same height but a little bit wider and a little bit shorter.
..the brz, on the other hand, comes with performance in mind. sure its underpowered from the factory, but it has many characteristics that give it great potential and make it a great platform. you can add quite a bit of power to this car without having to upgrade the handling. so then how is a lightweight rwd car with nothing but power mods, in any way, a ricer?
I'll get one if they offer the same lightweight rims in a different styling
would u guys buy the scion frs or subaru brz? yes i know they are the same car
Yes. It is also a 2+2, but do not count on the back 2 to actually seat anyone (not even a child).
Actually the FR-S auto makes better mileage than the manual due to how the gears are configured. I have a manual FR-S and have looked at both. Look it up.
as ormand3000 said, its a platform for ricers. it will be lowered rims etc and yet be slow. Unlike the comparable 240sx, the frs is already running really close to its full pootential in terms of power- so itll be expensive to get power from this little motor, hence, and once again, a car for ricers.
This is the comeback of the good ol times affordable japanese sportscars and I hope Toyota will build the new MR2 and Supra sucessor
I know what you are trying to say, but the suspension is not different, just slightly tuned differently. Still the same car. And if you want, you can swap front ends with FRS and BRZ interchangeably. lol.
Gotta say... im really excited for this car. True little sports car. I would love to have a new mustang GT and one of these. But with mustang coming out with a new bodystyle in a couple years rumored to be on a serious diet. I think ill be waiting for that. Still... in 5 years time it could be a fun buy for a track toy or auto x car.