Been a week and a few hundred miles since I picked up the FRS. As requested, a quick report on how I feel about the car.
This is very much a niche vehicle. For the 15 people out of 100 who “Get it” it is the perfect car. For those that are not in the niche, it is a dumb or compromised car. Not that being in the 80th percentile makes you right or wrong, just that this crowd and the car won’t match. Out of those 15%, Toyobaru can only hope that at least 10% have the lifestyle and funding that allows them to buy the car. You can be sure that some percentage outside of the 15% will buy only to discover that they can’t live with the car no matter how much of it they do like, and hence will commence the used car portion of the market. I figure within a year for sure you will find used cars.
You need to stop looking at this car from the perspective of “I drove to the dealer for a test drive in my Saturn Booster Powered Turbocharged Corvette and find the FRS to be slow by comparison.” Try the more likely scenario of “I drove my 8 year old Honda Civic to the dealer for a drive in the FRS and it felt pretty quick even with the dumb Subaru engine.” Unless you are a street racer, the car has all the get-up- and- go that you need. The light weight is evident when you get on the gas. The light weight is even more evident when you go around a corner.
The FRS corners. Boy does it corner. And while I am sure that other bigger and faster cars can out grip the FRS, I doubt any of them can entertain the way this car does; the bitch may not be able to cook, clean or do the laundry, but she looks good and can sure wag the tail! Having the stability control turned off when driving the FRS is like knowing the girlfriend is not wearing panties under her dress; makes you of a mind to do bad things! Do remember to turn the traction control off every time you start the car, because it re-sets. Not sure if that is good or bad yet. Should be an interesting winter.
I have driven six speed manuals before and never fallen in love with the concept. This car has done nothing to change that. Seems that at any given time either of two gears would do the job, but you are not sure if you should stay or shift for some reason. Not that it is unpleasant, just not sure it is necessary. Bet it would be just as fast with a 5 speed. The 6th to 3rd downshift by accident is a distinct possibility if not paying attention. The gearbox itself is nice enough. Not quite "Miata like" and it feels like it has an external linkage of some sort rather than the inner rails of the Miata. Bit of “clunk” during some shifts. I still prefer the six speed to an automatic since I don’t commute in traffic.
Because I don’t sit in the backseat, I like the interior a lot. I have had two people in the backsea and we did all survive; that all I am going to say about that. The interior itself looks good, feels good and all the controls are easy to figure out. The analog speedometer is useless and weird. Not much interested in the ICE stuff, so won’t say anything about it. Radio does work I guess. Still getting used to the blind-spots. Not that they are all that bad, but different than the Protege and rear visibility is much less. I live two doors from a school and try hard not to run over people’s rug rats.
I like the looks of this car. So do most people who see it. It is smaller than most people expected. It also has enough character that some people are not going to like it. To me that is a good thing, design should provoke the emotions. I see this as the reincarnaton of the240Z in a lot of ways and that is a good thing in my books.
Because it is new, the car attracts attention. Some of it bad since a cetain crowd feels obliged to race you if you try to pass. I have a feeling this car is not going to sail under the cop radar like the Miata did.
The bottom line is that I, as a paying customer, am very happy with the car. I consider it an inexpensive car for my middle class means and it delivers what it said it would making it good value for the dollar. It makes driving to work a good part of my day. Reliability is going to be the determining factor in how well converted I am to the Toyota/Subaru brands. To their credit Mazda never did me wrong with 6 cars in the family over 23 years, it was hard to give up that loyalty and so this car has a lot to live up to in this department. Time will tell. I will check back in about 6 months.
Sorry for the rant. 
