Topic: Test Drive: 2013 Scion FR-S

[Autos_Editor]

Jonathan joins the long list of automotive journalists falling all over themselves to adore the FR-S.

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[Sir Osis of Liver]

You guys have to get some sort of test equipment. Saying that it's "acceleratively challenged" doesn't really tell me much. Acceleratively challenged for me, or for Jaeger? Hard to know without a number to quantify it.

MT got 0-60 in 6.2, which for a sports coupe is a bit on the tepid side, but I could live with it.

[wing]

Lol equipment is easy finding a place to test, not so much

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Lol equipment is easy finding a place to test, not so much

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Drag strip time hard to come by? Are there liability issues for not using a sanctioned track?

[Fobroader]

Great review!!!! Really liked the Chuck Norris/"most interesting man in the world part"    Cant believe they even offer this car with a slushbox.....what kind of wanker would be such a killjoy to ruin this car with a slushbox?!?!?!?!?!? Looks like Ive found my next car though, for some reason, I like the front end on the this.....and the couple of grand cheaper price, more than the BRZ. Now to convince the little lady that this is a great idea....... 

[jyarkony]

You guys have to get some sort of test equipment. Saying that it's "acceleratively challenged" doesn't really tell me much. Acceleratively challenged for me, or for Jaeger? Hard to know without a number to quantify it.

MT got 0-60 in 6.2, which for a sports coupe is a bit on the tepid side, but I could live with it.

Wing, I'll just pull over on the side of the 400, then measure 0-140 km/h... I would like to get the instruments, the time, resources and place to do instrumented testing...

I'll often cite C&D or MT numbers, but their 6.0-6.2 range doesn't sound that slow on paper, but it sure feels slow driving it... the manual was much more direct in its power delivery, and seemed to have much better in-gear acceleration, probably because of the closer packed, shorter gearing in manual models:

from http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5404

FR-S Gear Ratio Comparison
____AT ___MT __# differenc _% difference
1 _3.626 __3.538 __0.088 ____2%
2 _2.188 __2.06 ___0.128 ____6%
3 _1.541 __1.404 __0.137 ____10%
4 _1.213 __1 ______0.213 ____21%
5 _1 ______0.713 __0.287 ____40%
6 _0.767 __0.582 __0.185 ____32%
R _3.437 __3.168 __0.269 ____8%

not sure how reliable that info is, but Toyota Canada doesn't have gear ratios on their scion site or their media site...

BRZ did the 1/14 mile in 14.9 sec @ 94.4 mph, but the video in which i sourced that is hilarious to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaS7n6qKQe4

BRZ finishes last, but in style!

[jyarkony]

Great review!!!! Really liked the Chuck Norris/"most interesting man in the world part"    Cant believe they even offer this car with a slushbox.....what kind of wanker would be such a killjoy to ruin this car with a slushbox?!?!?!?!?!? Looks like Ive found my next car though, for some reason, I like the front end on the this.....and the couple of grand cheaper price, more than the BRZ. Now to convince the little lady that this is a great idea....... 

thanks!

and who are you to say that Toyota (and Subaru) shouldn't make back their investment by selling it with a slushbox that all the dilettantes will buy it just because it looks great... oh, yeah, you're fobroader...

it's like the Cayenne... who cares who buys it, it means they will build better GT3 RS 4.0s and Cayman Rs and 7-speed manual gearboxes...

[Fobroader]

Someones gotta fly the manual flag proudly, especially on cars like these, pure, unadultarated, full fat, 4 shots of expresso driving machines. On an AMG or M car, I can almost accept it, hell, youre gonna be old when you buy them and something that weighs north of 4000Lbs isnt exactly sporty. On little cars like this and the Miata, stick only, especially since they are cheap, keep it that way.

[wing]

Lol equipment is easy finding a place to test, not so much

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Drag strip time hard to come by? Are there liability issues for not using a sanctioned track?

Well drag strip time is pretty hard to come by, at least here.  And then there is also added cost.  And then you also need permission from the manufacturer and many do not want you doing this. 

[jyarkony]

Someones gotta fly the manual flag proudly, especially on cars like these, pure, unadultarated, full fat, 4 shots of expresso driving machines. On an AMG or M car, I can almost accept it, hell, youre gonna be old when you buy them and something that weighs north of 4000Lbs isnt exactly sporty. On little cars like this and the Miata, stick only, especially since they are cheap, keep it that way.

it's a business, not a country club - the goal is to sell as many as possible, not to limit potential customers...

[Fobroader]

Someones gotta fly the manual flag proudly, especially on cars like these, pure, unadultarated, full fat, 4 shots of expresso driving machines. On an AMG or M car, I can almost accept it, hell, youre gonna be old when you buy them and something that weighs north of 4000Lbs isnt exactly sporty. On little cars like this and the Miata, stick only, especially since they are cheap, keep it that way.

it's a business, not a country club - the goal is to sell as many as possible, not to limit potential customers...

I get why, theres a bunch of the latte sipping, purse dog owning, designer sweater vest types that dont want a manual, sure they are not a target buyer, but their money is as good as anyones. Im happy that these two twins even exist, the fact that Toyota finally has a car that I would park in my garage (since the Supra...what, the MR-S....bwahahahahaha) and that its got a price tag that the average schmoe can afford. 

[tpl]

Great review!!!! Really liked the Chuck Norris/"most interesting man in the world part"    Cant believe they even offer this car with a slushbox.....what kind of wanker would be such a killjoy to ruin this car with a slushbox?!?!?!?!?!? Looks like Ive found my next car though, for some reason, I like the front end on the this.....and the couple of grand cheaper price, more than the BRZ. Now to convince the little lady that this is a great idea....... 

This is why I am surprised this car does not come with a DSG...with a proper pull back for up, push for down change.   That would satisfy the automatic gang AND would be a good enough gearbox for manual lovers not to mention being faster in the 1/4 mile than a true manual 'cos of the no dog-leg gear changes.

FWIW I use the paddles in the GTI 'cos using the shift lever is backwards ( fwd for up, pull for down. You would think VW's engineers would have seen enough rally cars to get it right...

[Fobroader]

Great review!!!! Really liked the Chuck Norris/"most interesting man in the world part"    Cant believe they even offer this car with a slushbox.....what kind of wanker would be such a killjoy to ruin this car with a slushbox?!?!?!?!?!? Looks like Ive found my next car though, for some reason, I like the front end on the this.....and the couple of grand cheaper price, more than the BRZ. Now to convince the little lady that this is a great idea....... 

This is why I am surprised this car does not come with a DSG...with a proper pull back for up, push for down change.   That would satisfy the automatic gang AND would be a good enough gearbox for manual lovers not to mention being faster in the 1/4 mile than a true manual 'cos of the no dog-leg gear changes.

FWIW I use the paddles in the GTI 'cos using the shift lever is backwards ( fwd for up, pull for down. You would think VW's engineers would have seen enough rally cars to get it right...

Does Toyota even do the DSG thing in any of its models??? I cant think of any model from them that had it, the MR-S did but I heard it sucked horribly.

[quadzilla]

^^^ Doesn't the LFA have a sequential gearbox?

[jyarkony]

Great review!!!! Really liked the Chuck Norris/"most interesting man in the world part"    Cant believe they even offer this car with a slushbox.....what kind of wanker would be such a killjoy to ruin this car with a slushbox?!?!?!?!?!? Looks like Ive found my next car though, for some reason, I like the front end on the this.....and the couple of grand cheaper price, more than the BRZ. Now to convince the little lady that this is a great idea....... 

This is why I am surprised this car does not come with a DSG...with a proper pull back for up, push for down change.   That would satisfy the automatic gang AND would be a good enough gearbox for manual lovers not to mention being faster in the 1/4 mile than a true manual 'cos of the no dog-leg gear changes.

FWIW I use the paddles in the GTI 'cos using the shift lever is backwards ( fwd for up, pull for down. You would think VW's engineers would have seen enough rally cars to get it right...

Does Toyota even do the DSG thing in any of its models??? I cant think of any model from them that had it, the MR-S did but I heard it sucked horribly.

i can't think of any Subaru or Toyota car that has dual clutch auto... I'm just glad it wasn't a CVT, which Subaru is switching to in a lot of models, and Toyota uses for their hybrids...

even if the LFA has one, it probably costs about as much as the rest of the FR-S put together...

[Fobroader]

^^^ Doesn't the LFA have a sequential gearbox?

I think so.....but thats a $400K car, might be a little hard to swallow that the transmission is worth more than the entire FR-S 

[aaronk]

I'm sure this has been addressed in other reviews of the FR-S, but how's the headroom? I'm 6'2, wondering if it might be too 'cozy'.

[tpl]

Presuming VW make a profit on each DSG that means there is $1400Cdn in there. Which I doubt, when in mass production, is much more than a modern, 6,7,8 speed slushbox.

For a sports car that might be tracked I'd imagine that a DSG as it always does perfect gear chnages and never over revvs the engine should make the car more reliable as well as a bit faster.

[Ace]

I was really looking forward to this review...... until I realized this has car an AUTOMATIC transmission !!!! What a shame.

[jyarkony]

I was really looking forward to this review...... until I realized this has car an AUTOMATIC transmission !!!! What a shame.

I know, but someone's gotta cover it—not sure how I got roped into that one... check out Mike's First Drive or James' BRZ reviews - those all had manual transmissions.