While I am digging the style of the FRS, everyone I have seen driving it has been very young.

Which made me think, I don’t want to put on dress shoes and drive to the office in a FRS, but I would in the IS, so I guess it depends on what your idea of practicality is.

 

I drove a manual, who would get an auto for that car!?

Yeah, from your guys replies it sounds like you have to rev the ***** out of the FRS and wait for the vtec to kick in...yo. I guess I just never feel comfortable revving it like crazy, makes me feel like a agro douche, and it also makes me anxious that I'm straining the engine. The IS 250 just takes a gentle push to the gas and immediate power is gained. I'm still in awe that the IS 250 is considered slow, I guess my Integra has humbled me, then again, it did go fast those few times I pushed it.

Sorry, I can't use the quote button anymore for some reason so I'm just going to respond to posts at random, you know who you are! Lol

1.I like the limited but I don't think it's worth the extra money just for nav/push start/leather, I was thinking of getting the Scion for $24,500 and getting a $500 discount on financing since I'm a recent college grad. After that I wanted to get a supercharger which would be just a little shy of my maximum budget amount.

2.I'm not going to wait for the new F-Sport to come out because my price range tops out at $27,000 - 28,000, so I'm doing a lot of strenuous searching for the a 250 around 2009 or 2010 with 20-30k miles on it, clean title, car fax, mechanic inspection etc.

3.Yeah I mismatched the torque number, but I meant it the other way around.

4.I guess none of you thought the visibility sucked terribly in the FRS? The IS 250 had pretty smallish windows and headroom too and yet I felt completely unconfined and at ease in the 250. The FR-S, however, was like s tiny cave that I was trapped in, maybe I'm just being melodramatic.

5."If you want to become a BETTER driver, get a manual FR-S. It will be FAR more rewarding to drive than the IS250."
I've driven a manual for ten years now, not sure if it'll help me improve anymore, although my old car was a FWD so maybe?

6."FRS have Cold start problems" I didn't realize that, I'll have to research it on FT86 forum

Any of you dislike the initial feeling of a car but get used to it and learn to like it? I've only had one car my entire life so I'm really not used to this whole new car thing. The FR-S is so beautiful! I've always wondered why the US never had small sporty roadsters that look like a work of art like in Europe. Now they have one but I'm worried it might be a mistake that I'll have to live with for a very long time. Ho hum, my reserved Scion arrives at the end of this month so if I haven't found an ideal IS 250 deal then...I guess it'll be a Scion...or a TSX...or just wait until my integra blows up and I die in flames!

 

Funny this thread showed up a day after my brother bought a Subaru BRZ. The BRZ is sooooooooooo much better driving car than the IS(it's like comparing a sports sedan to a VAN), and much faster as well. Driving that car you only wish there was more corners on the road you could take. When i then switched cars .... OMG what a difference, i started to think who in Toyota/Lexus department approved such boring/bad driving car for production. If i were to buy a new car today and i had to choose between the IS and BRZ/FR-S i would definitely choose the BRZ(because it offers better equipment).

 

i suggest you check out the auto... i think problem is that AT in IS would kick down easily when you requested power, while FRS you had to drive it in high revs "manually"... in fact, FRS AT should be more advanced than IS you tried.

As to FRS problems, it was idle and fuel pump, and it was fixed/replaced under warranty 4-5-6 months ago or so.

So check out the FRS AT and see what you think! Would be interesting IMHO.

p.s. dont care what other say about manual vs at... drive both and get whatever you preffer. FRS AT has a bit longer gearing so it might be better choice for you, epecially if you are going to SC/Turbo it later.

 

If you're on the fence between two cars, I always ask the stop light question.

If you were to get the IS250 and were stopped at a light and a BRZ/FRS pulls up next to you, would you be envious?

Pretty easy. No number crunching or data comparisons.

If it were me, I'd say get the FRS/BRZ. You're at the time in your life where you deserve a fun car. You just finished college and don't have to worry about baby car seats and lugging people around.

 

So why aren't you considering an IS350? They're not priced that much more (I believe $3k brand new but if you buy used I've seen them priced nearly identically.) If you thought the IS250 was fast, the 350 will blow you away!

 

The 250 is slow, the 350 moves out pretty smartly and would definitely show the tail lights to the BRZ.

All that being said, there really isn't anything else like the BRZ and Scion twin on the market except the Mazda Miata. And quite frankly I'd feel silly spending new car $$$$ on a new Miata, considering how little that car has changed over the years. I actually like the styling of the previous NB car over the current body style. Plus I think we are due a new Miata for model year 2014.

 

Well, to an extent, it takes youth and agility to regularly get in and out of cars that sit an inch off the ground without getting sore muscles.

I find I can (still) get in and out of cars like that if I have to (say, for a review or test-drive), but it's not something I'd want do do every day.

(And I will never, ever forget getting in and out of a Lotus Elise just once, but that's a another whole story)

 

FRS



or IS

 

Neither. Get a V6 Mustang and smoke all the above mentioned cars.

 

yeah but everybody has a damn Mustang.

 

Except a stock Mustang V6 would lose to a stock Lexus IS350. Not to mention the build quality and materials are crap compared to the Lexus.

 

Is the Is350 on the table here? That's a much more expensive car.

 

Why the hell did Toyota/Subaru put all that time into bringing a sports car to the market and put in an anemic 4-banger?

 

Balanced sport car. Putting H6, I6, V6 in there, it will be nose heavy. Unless they can find a way to position H6 close to the center or use expensive material to compensate the weight.