The FR-S loses a comparison test!

[CP1]

Jack Baruth (TTAC) takes on the FR-S., Genesis 2.0T R-Spec and MX-5 hardtop around the track.

Our second comparison happens on the racetrack, as fate would have it, and that’s where the FR-S should shine. It’s a great steer, in the literal sense. It’s nice to steer around. It’s about as “neutral” as a street car gets and it does whatever you ask of it. As long, of course, as what you ask doesn’t include going quickly. The Genesis simply eviscerates it. Dave Pratte’s super-quick lap times don’t adequately demonstrate the difference between the two cars. The Genesis is much faster down the straights and in the turns the actual corner speed is pretty much the same.

An FR-S with a Genesis-matching two-liter turbo engine — which is to say, an FR-S that Toyota could easily build in their sleep, from the parts bin, and eliminating Subaru from the equation to boot — would be preferable to a Genesis on-track. That would be the car to have. Get the drivetrain out of the last All-Trac, crank the boost a bit, forget the crap about the center of gravity, and let’s have a great car, okay?

As delivered, the FR-S is not quite a great car, and the boxer is to blame. Half of the time, it can’t even get the “Toyobaru” up to track speeds where the infamous all-season tires would feel loose. It doesn’t give any sense that it’s making the rated two hundred horsepower. It’s a bunch of sound and fury signifying that you’re about get passed by a Hyundai which costs less. Ten laps in the Hyundai will absolutely spoil your FR-S enjoyment, because the Hyundai simply motors away everywhere there’s a chance to do so, and it can play the ’84 Celica Game too: it’s also a deep, dark Oriental cave of a closed coupe and it also looks sporting from a distance. Why buy the FR-S when the Genesis is available? Because it’s a Toyota and therefore reliable? Well, it’s a Toyota with a Subaru engine.

At this point, if you’re part of the FT-86 owners club/clique/Facebook page, you’ve no doubt constructed an elaborate mental response about how the FR-S is lighter, and more nimble, and a far better driver’s car than the Genesis, and how a true driver, a guy who knows anything about cars, would, like really see that. A real driver would prefer the filet mignon of midcorner adjustability to the high-fructose syrup of an overboosted turbo.

Guess what? A real driver prefers the Mazda Miata.

Compared to the Miata, the FR-S feels a thousand feet wide and two tons heavy. The visibility is dismal. The engine feels no stronger than the little four in the Mazda and it doesn’t respond as readily to small changes of throttle position. The steering, sublime when sampled individually, seems to be a little short of the Miata’s. All of a sudden, you realize that the FR-S isn’t the “Miata coupe” that some Internet player-haters called it when the specs came out. It isn’t that good. A true Miata coupe would run rings around the FR-S. A true Miata coupe would make the FR-S obsolete overnight. It’s within Mazda’s power to render the FR-S as irrelevant as Rick Springfield’s entire career.

Even against the hardtop Miata however, the FR-S is still second best, and in my opinion (although not the opinion of Colin Jevens, who believed it to be slightly more fun overall than the R-Spec) it can’t match the Genesis either. It’s too slow to beat the Hyundai and too limp to match the Miata. The English phrase “falls between two stools” applies here, but where the Scion really falls, in the end, is in last place.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...ce-scion-fr-s/


To summarize:

1. MX-5
2. Genesis
3. FR-S


Here's the video version of the comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVmpoT6RbHk


Haven't driven the FR-S, so can only go by what I have read and the laws of physics and I'd probably go w/ the FR-S when it comes to taking a switchback (tho, the Genesis may be the better daily driver).

While I would have liked to have seen the FR-S have an additional 25 more ponies or so, things like 0-60 times aren't as impt. to me as other things (still think the 944S is one of the most fun cars I have ever driven and it's pretty slow by today's standards).

I'd pick the Miata over the Genesis as well when it comes to hitting the switchbacks and that's based on having driven both.

But I'm sure this comparison will ruffle more than a few feathers.

[C4 A6]

He doesn't get the car.

[Inspector Detector]

So what. You can't win them all. I say that because I've seen the FR-S win a comparison test too.

[Mazda 3s]

Wait a minute, I thought TCL hated Jack Baruth and TTAC?

[jumbo11]

No worries. I predict only the biggest fanboys will be upset.

[CP1]

So what. You can't win them all. I say that because I've seen the FR-S win a comparison test too.

That's the whole point.

The FR-S hadn't lost a comparison (at least none that I had seen), even to the Miata - until now.

[BRZ]

That's the whole point.

The FR-S hadn't lost a comparison (at least none that I had seen), even to the Miata - until now.

Great way to harvest site clicks.

[TangoRed]

Great way to harvest site clicks.

That's what I was thinking. Shock value.

[Ross1013]

Is this guy for real?

The men of Generation Y aren’t marrying hopeful little starter wives, buying hopeful starter homes, and having hopeful little parties the way their parents and grandparents did in their twenties. Instead, they’ve boomeranged back to the stucco-fronted McMansions of their teenaged years so they may contemplate their student-debt-to-likely-career-prospects ratio at their leisure. Their culture is a mobile one. It’s about getting out of the house, which doesn’t belong to them. What better way to do it than with a $25,000 sports car, paid for with Mommy’s mad money or an afternoon shift at the Barnes & Noble record counter, mostly spent furtively spinning a Ra Ra Riot disk instead of the recommended Diana Krall Christmas album and checking Facebook on one’s iPhone? And after twenty-five years of receiving awards for participation and surfing along on a wave of grade inflation, Gen Y has enough self-esteem to view a full-priced sporting car with a healthy dose of ironic contempt. A Corvette is “trying too hard”, and trying too hard is something one simply never does, you see.

That’s the rather labored social context of the FR-S: all the mad tyte JDM dopeness one can finance for $425 a month. It’s a perfect fit. The problem comes when one views the FR-S in a different context: that of its readily available competition.

I find his silver-spoon Mitt Romney act pretty disgusting, and I've only read two articles including this one.

[Mazda 3s]

Is this guy for real?



I find his silver-spoon Mitt Romney act pretty disgusting, and I've only read two articles including this one.

He's a wannabe Jeremy Clarkson with a lime green S5.

[MatchStick]

I know someone who's like a corvette.

[HEH]

Really wish I watched the video first instead of reading that.

I stopped caring after I saw Chewbacca wearing a golden foil jacket and hot pants.. Plus he LOVES telepathic Miata's.



LoL.. While I respect that finally a non-86 fanboy reviewed the car... This guys a goof.

[The Holy Molar]

Strangely similar...

[hardcore4life]

Dude look like he straight out of the ymca song

[genjy]

What I got from this:

Genesis > FR-S > GTI

The Genesis totally crushes the GTI.

[The Holy Molar]

I think you missed the whole point. Drive Miatas wit cho mind and Mustang + brakes = the best.

[2.0T_Convert]

I don't understand why people take offense to the FR-S being more fun to drive than most of the competition.

[nickthaskater]

That's the whole point.

The FR-S hadn't lost a comparison (at least none that I had seen), even to the Miata - until now.

And that's likely why it lost, simply to be the "first" to have the FR-S lose. And really? Placing it below the Genesis? That right there ripped to shreds any credibility this review may have had.

[DIAF]

Who reads TTAC? When I want to read reviews of cars by people who can't drive, I look to TCL.

[FBMphil]

Dude look like he straight out of the ymca song

This is the greatest Jack Baruth description I've ever read

I think he's hilarious, but I too am often labeled a long-winded pretentious f*ckhead. C'est la vie

[danny_16v]

horrible car reviewer, he's pretty annoying both in the video and his writing

[oh noes! cars!]

Any writer who uses the phrase "mad tyte jdm" and wants to be taken seriously is a joke. Even if Jack did so as his way of attempting to weave irony in using it, it puts so many people off. He is so packed full of **** and instead writing about the car he chooses to rather lace it with internet jargon and jabs at its intended demographic as that's somehow more effective.

He's a tryhard.

[x1000rpms]

I saw my first FR-s in person today. It was that nice blue color.

However the car was even uglier in person than it is in pictures. Back is too busy from the sides trying too hard and it just not coming together.. Front reminds me of down syndrome.


I still think the review where the twins lost to a front wheel drive, french made econobox was better.

[Chris Stack]

Brought to you by Hyundai (TM) marketing.

[MightyDSM]

What I got from this:

Genesis > FR-S > GTI

The Genesis totally crushes the GTI.

What I got from this:

Skyline GTR R35 > Genesis > FR-S.

The Skyline totally crushes the FR-S

[PineappleMonkey]

Lollercoaster gold jacket.

[cougar]

He's a wannabe Jeremy Clarkson with a lime green S5.

He hasn't had that car for like... a year or two.

Also, CP1 is just happy that the Genesis won something. Shilling for the company as usual.

[8v_gti777]

I really enjoyed the video review, thought it was well done.

[Benjamin.]

Ugh, man, the jacket and the shorts. I can't get past the jacket and the shorts.

[AKADriver]

No one's bothered to quote the paragraph where Jack admits that, in fact, he actually loves the FR-S and wanted to buy one. He also points out that it does steer well, and it is as well-balanced as you can get, and there's nothing really glaringly wrong with it.

But put it on a race track with someone else buying the tires and brakes and I'd take the Genesis every time. It's got more balls, more tire, and more brake. If I didn't already have a Miata which has left me kind of tired of the convertible experience, the Miata is a little more well-sorted, too (It's had a 23 year head start).

But for my $25000? I'd still buy the FR-S. It speaks to this former 240SX owner for the same reason Jack loved that RA60 Celica. It's imperfect, but it's little and drives like an eighties car and it's unabashedly Japanese.

[Tuneman7]

Never heard of this site/publication before. Assuming it's for good reason.

[gonzo08452]

this thread is really about the greatness of Hyundai. Nothing more.

[JettaGTX.]

He's a wannabe Jeremy Clarkson with a lime green S5.

nah, it's shrek dick green.




can't stand that idiot.

[CP1]

And that's likely why it lost, simply to be the "first" to have the FR-S lose. And really? Placing it below the Genesis? That right there ripped to shreds any credibility this review may have had.

That may very well be true, but that's simply more grist for the mill.

Brought to you by Hyundai (TM) marketing.

Yeah, except I stated that I would take both the Miata and FR-S over the Genesis, but then again, you were never that bright to begin with.

Also, CP1 is just happy that the Genesis won something. Shilling for the company as usual.

Except the Genesis still lost out to the Miata (seems like the dim bulbs like to flock together).

[Chris Stack]

Yeah, except I stated that I would take both the Miata and FR-S over the Genesis, but then again, you were never that bright to begin with.

I know you're not supposed to say ThAT from your work account.