Scion FR-S vs. Ford Fiesta ST

[codev]

Hey guys,

I got rid of my C6 Z06, to buy the FRS and pocket some cash not too long ago. I've also had 3 STis, two GD and the GR from 08. The value of the FiST is much like the Z06's value. It's got a lot of performance for $$$.

FRS

PRO
Lighter, more linear, more tossable and more precise at the edge (if you upgrade the stock Prius tires).
BUILD QUALITY IS AMAZING!

CON
Not family friendly
Not friend friendly
Not pet friendly
Not liveable
Aftermarket is there, but really does get expensive...and even then, some of those tuned cars go up in flames because they're not designed around having a low enough comp. ratio for turbo


FiST

PRO
4 Doors
Hatch back (easy to haul your 4 tires and light gear to track)
Souping up the turbo is a piece of cake because the car was designed with one from the factory
Torque, loads more fun than a linear engine
CHEAP, incredible value

CON
Build quality can sometimes get you, squeek, rattle, pop
Ride is a bit rough, but that's such a sweet positive on good roads and track

TLDR Version

If you're going to get an FRS, the 2+2 sucks. Get a Miata , get a 2.5, and turbo it. Will handle better and has more proven aftermarket.

If you need 4 doors, and 4 real seats, get the FiST. Take the extra cash and fix/soup up anything you don't love.

FiST to me is a like a cheap azz STi that I don't have to pay a million bucks to ensure and worry about ringland failures.

-A

 

[rodmoe]

Good Post but I differ on the build Quality of the FRS saw many with leaking tail lights and I can not tell you how many times my windows froze shut (making the door not of much use) in winter and the car was parked in my garage.. Not saying the Ford is any better build quality but I was not all that taken with my FRS or many of the BRZ's I saw and talked to..

 

[randywatson]

toyobaru is a good second car at best.

fiST is a good first/primary car that does 95% of what the former does but with added utility (back seats/cargo, etc).

 

[MegaBuster]

I am a die hard RWD guy. The only FWD car I have ever owned that was worth anything was my classic mini cooper 1275cc 4 speed. I drove the FiST and the FRS back to back a few weeks ago and there is no comparison. The FRS motor is dead up to 5000 rpm's and feels so slow its a joke. By comparison the FiST is amazing. The way they put this little motor together with a well tuned chassis is a rare thing indeed. I'm seriously considering picking up a FiST in the next week.

sure when you look at metrics like 0-60 they look close but in the real world you don't spend all your time up past 5k. you spend it right where the FiST's power band is.

 

[codev]

Mega/Rodmoe,

Point taken, and I agree with you all. I have a Miata too, and I'd rather just have my Miata NC2 and FiST

Yes, the FRS seems totally dead! I really want to try the new FA20 blown in the WRX that's out...but I don't want to be a guinnea pig.

Regards,
Avi

 

[RAAMaudio]

I have had 6 or so Miata's so you know I love them

Probably going to have at least one more in my lifetime.

 

[codev]

LOL! ME TOO MAN. NA/MANY NBS/ and two NC2s :-D :-D Just got done taking out of storage and was flickin it around, latest one is a "luxury" miata for me and gf to have fun with, LSD, bilsteins, PRHT...o GAWD.

 

[FiSTicuff]

the flat 4 is meh, they should've put an I4 in it. Plenty of good Toyota ones.
the leaky tail lights have been fixed after MY2013 apparently.
DI system is noisy...fuel pump chirps, and something in engine bay chirped on one I test drove with 9k miles on it.


Also for April Fools, Subaru is teasing us with a BRZ STi. How seriously you want to take it...well just don't be disappointed then turn bitter towards Japanese brands. I myself am turning away from the import scene.

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/31/racey-subaru-brz-spied-new-york-auto-show-floor/

 

[MegaBuster]

The FiST makes a lot of stuff feel slow that posts similar or better numbers on paper. That wall of torque and an outstanding power plateau make it run with cars that would seem to totally out class it. I suspect that even if the BRZ motor put out 225hp it would still feel slower than the FiST because its all at the top end. It would not have anything over it until 5500 rpm and how often do you see that on a daily basis. on the track and in 0-60 and quarter mile times the FiST seems outclassed by a lot of cars. On the Street it is king

 

[FiSTicuff]

I've been in a FWD h22a prelude 2700lbs with nobody in it. It had a helluva natty aspirated build making 232whp/165wtq. He pulled on a 08+ STi and it felt fast as piss. Even low end was pretty good on that motor they way it was tuned, it would hit VTEC hard and in no time and pull like a bat out of hell as long as it was kept 5300-8000. FRS/BRZ motor is a joke to me compared with a Honda k20/f20.

On the track that h22 would be an animal. On the street it feels like breaking the law and a jail sentence every time you want to feel power. Especially with all the drama that comes with revving it up, nearly all the drama being noise - and unpleasant it being a Honda, unless it has a well thought out exhaust. On that platform I found Mugen twin loop mufflers sounded the nicest/deepest. I wonder how a Fi-ST would sound with a twin loop. Heck get an unequal length header fab'd up for the Fi-ST make it sound like a Subaru (at the expense of 5-10% power) why someone would want that for their ST, IDK.

tl;dr for street driving in this day and age, we demand powrar and need it NAAAOOO.

 

[mhsmith57]

KKaWing, I hear you! My 2015 2dr. Civic SI wasn't working for my 43lb Brittany and no window for her to stick her head out. The SI was fun but you had to keep it up in high rpm to sustain the torque power, fun yes, but I'm preferring the ST's availability of turbo power and being lighter. If I don't get any reliability issues on this car, I'll probably keep it for some time.

BTW, I was also looking at the Toyota 86 but chose the ST due to its functionality, lower cost to own and insure. But I kid you not, those 86's/BRZ/FR-S's can out handle the FiST in corners by a hair or two. I'll keep my ST but if I had a weekend only sport car, it would be an 86.

 

[Waterfan]

toyobaru is a good second car at best.

fiST is a good first/primary car that does 95% of what the former does but with added utility (back seats/cargo, etc).

and a used cayman s is arguably a better second car than toyobaru

I'm obvs biased but the FiST does 100% of the toyobaru minus the very different driving feel of FWD v RWD.

 

[AzNightmare]

The one thing that I had to learn the hard way afterward that no one talks about is that this car really isn't a "fanboy" car whatsoever. What this mean is that no matter how good it is in the reviews, no one's really talking about it nor does anyone care. If you can find a local group, consider yourself very lucky.

While the BRZ/FRS has weekly/monthly meets, spontaneous last minute meets, and their huge annual Aug 6 (8/6) meetups, it's like pulling teeth just to get anything more than a 5 car FiST meet up in my area, and that's if you give 3 week notice to see if people maybe feel like coming out. No one's excited about it. Seeing one in the wild is rarer than spotting a Ferrari on the road. Something about that seems wrong, lol.

Just a complete different culture. I met a few owners at a local autocross. Seems like most FiST owners are just happy doing their own thing and enjoying the car, but no car club necessary. (Oh, and in that same autocross, the 20+ BRZ/FRS that showed up decided to all line up in the parking lot and take a photo, just because.)

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^I understand your pain about the above, but I will GLADLY forego the popular, dime a dozen car, 'fanboyism' to be in something unique, in which I do not 'pass myself' 50 times+ a day while driving (even though mine is what seems to be the most popular color for FiSTs sold in the last year+), despite it NOT being an; exotic/supercar/'hypercar' status or co$t level ride.

 

[AzNightmare]

^^^I understand your pain about the above, but I will GLADLY forego the popular, dime a dozen car, 'fanboyism' to be in something unique, in which I do not 'pass myself' 50 times+ a day while driving (even though mine is what seems to be the most popular color for FiSTs sold in the last year+), despite it NOT being an; exotic/supercar/'hypercar' status or co$t level ride.

lol... It's one thing to be rare and cool.... but it's another thing to be completely ignored to the point that a diecast model of your car doesn't even exist.

Just for kicks... Here's a toy model of a Prius.

I'm tempted to buy one of those Fiesta WRC Rally models just because I think it's the closest thing we have.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I have bought new and used cars to mod to different levels for 49 years and never considered how much it would get looked at, car clubs, meets, etc....I bought what I liked and modded it the way I wanted it to be and the ST is one of my all time favorite cars. I like it much better than the highly modded C6 vette I built up

 

[LILIKE16ST]

I don't mind not many having fiesta sts in fact I like the exclusivity but one thing that does bug me is that hardly anyone outside of hardcore car people even know what the thing is at all. It's such an amazing car I think more people should be able to know and understand what it is. I hardly run across anyone who has any idea what it is. With that said every once in a while I do run into someone who knows exactly what it is and very much appreciates it along with the few mods I've done to it.

This car is unbeatable for what all it does in the way it does it at the price it does it at. It's defiantly a sports car through in through in every sense of the word yet has 4 doors and decent room for the size and a hatch that makes it very practical to live with and even gets pretty good mpg to boot and has low cost of ownership overall and is fairly cheap to mod. It truly is an amazing car....

 

[M-Sport fan]

I like it much better than the highly modded C6 vette I built up

One of the short list cars I would rather have than a FiST, despite how much less 'practical', and as much UN-utilitarian as it may be (the top end performance current 6th gen Camaros and Stang GT 350/350Rs are also on that list as well).

 

[M-Sport fan]

This car is unbeatable for what all it does in the way it does it at the price it does it at. It's defiantly a sports car through in through in every sense of the word yet has 4 doors and decent room for the size and a hatch that makes it very practical to live with and even gets pretty good mpg to boot and has low cost of ownership overall and is fairly cheap to mod. It truly is an amazing car....

Could not agree any more with the above! (But I STILL wish we had the 3 door as an option here. lol)

In fact, as far as I'm concerned THERE IS NOTHING ELSE IN IT'S CLASS, and it was the ONLY choice for me personally.
So much so that I will hold onto it, and NOT abandon it for the next hot JDM YO! (or Teuton) hatch to come down the pike, as so many (most??) others on here, and elsewhere, will, no doubt.

 

[shouldbeasy]

One of the short list cars I would rather have than a FiST, despite how much less 'practical', and as much UN-utilitarian as it may be (the top end performance current 6th gen Camaros and Stang GT 350/350Rs are also on that list as well).

I will own a flat plane voodoo engine one day!!! Ugh... that noise...