Today I was helping a buddy paint and his buddy came over, long story short we finished painting and then started admiring each other's cars, he has an FR-S mostly stock and offered to let me drive it.
It's really a great car...I was shocked at how nice the clutch and gearbox worked so well together, great engineering there. Also the steering was as good as the FiST in terms of feedback and control/connection, different but just as good. The car feels like it sits a good bit lower which really leans to the driving experience. Interior is really nicely laid out, feels compact but not too much so, I was pretty comfortable in there at 6'2". The engine makes all the right sounds and even in stock form it's not horrible...torque is lacking but not awful. The fun of revving it up toward redline is a real thing, kind of like my Prelude only it feels faster and pulls harder. I can see why they didn't put a turbo on this car, it would probably ruin the character of it. Anyhow overall it was a joy to drive, I was quite impressed. And what a beautiful exterior.
All in all, it's obvious that much thought and feeling went into designing it. I'd say much moreso than the FiST...while I love the FiST we all know it's a better version of the base Fiesta, whereas the FR-S is a passion project that feels much more engineered. Both are great cars, just very different.
Then he drove mine, of course mine is modified so there's that and he didn't get into more than about 14 pounds of boost, but he was shocked at how well it felt, shifted, and accelerated, along with the immediate torque and sense of connection. He left thoroughly impressed even though he didn't hammer it too much, coming from such a less-powered car I think he was trying to be conservative which I appreciated...having said that he got to experience the best parts of the car which IMHO are the steering feel and overall connection to the road, and said he was now motivated to do a few performance mods to his Scion.
Anyhow much respect to the 86/FR-S, it really is a great car, reminded me of a lighter S2000, also a great car.
It's really a great car...I was shocked at how nice the clutch and gearbox worked so well together, great engineering there. Also the steering was as good as the FiST in terms of feedback and control/connection, different but just as good. The car feels like it sits a good bit lower which really leans to the driving experience. Interior is really nicely laid out, feels compact but not too much so, I was pretty comfortable in there at 6'2". The engine makes all the right sounds and even in stock form it's not horrible...torque is lacking but not awful. The fun of revving it up toward redline is a real thing, kind of like my Prelude only it feels faster and pulls harder. I can see why they didn't put a turbo on this car, it would probably ruin the character of it. Anyhow overall it was a joy to drive, I was quite impressed. And what a beautiful exterior.
All in all, it's obvious that much thought and feeling went into designing it. I'd say much moreso than the FiST...while I love the FiST we all know it's a better version of the base Fiesta, whereas the FR-S is a passion project that feels much more engineered. Both are great cars, just very different.
Then he drove mine, of course mine is modified so there's that and he didn't get into more than about 14 pounds of boost, but he was shocked at how well it felt, shifted, and accelerated, along with the immediate torque and sense of connection. He left thoroughly impressed even though he didn't hammer it too much, coming from such a less-powered car I think he was trying to be conservative which I appreciated...having said that he got to experience the best parts of the car which IMHO are the steering feel and overall connection to the road, and said he was now motivated to do a few performance mods to his Scion.
Anyhow much respect to the 86/FR-S, it really is a great car, reminded me of a lighter S2000, also a great car.
