| denham | 08-04-2012 12:19 AM |
I've spent a few weekends driving a couple of FR-S since the beginning of June, for some marketing stuff I've been doing. Just thought I'd share some thoughts here.
First of all, getting into the car, I'm 6ft 2in, and have loads of space in there. Even have room to wear a helmet for autox/track without needing to slouch down. We had a guy in the car recently who was 6ft 7in and he even fit without too much of a problem. I found the rear seats were useless for people, maybe apart from babies, but they are great for throwing stuff back there.
Getting moving, the engine feels fairly strong but it is a bit lacking in character and doesn't really pull to the limiter all that hard. It's nowhere near as exciting as something like an S2K engine, but that car is in a different price range so it's not really fair to compare. It's got enough grunt to get you where you need to be, and get you nice and sideways in the dry or wet, and I guess that's the main thing :D
The gearbox is nothing too special, but it's not bad at all, and the gear ratios are nice on the 6 speed. The auto with paddle shifts is pretty good, but the gearing is too long, and also the car doesn't really launch in first gear so much as slowly start rolling along.
We spent quite a bit of time on the highway, driving from Vancouver to Edmonton, and the ride is fairly firm but it's really well damped for the street, so the journey was not at all rough. It's nice and quiet at low rpms too.
The best part of it is definitely the handling. It's nice and neutral, I never really experienced any understeer. So easy to get the back end out and hold it there in the dry. In the wet it's like a Nissan 240. You can just hold it at whatever angle you like. I did a full lap of a fairly large roundabout in the wet, often really close to full opposite lock, and the car just sat there so nicely. It's well worth turning off the traction and stability control and getting out there on a rainy day.
It's pretty good on the autox course too, but could definitely use some better tires, and maybe some stiffer suspension too.
Overall a pretty nice car, especially for the money. I would definitely pick one up if I could afford it and was looking for a new car. | 