After hearing all the hype and reading countless reviews, I finally got the chance to drive the Scion FR-S. The person crazy enough to let me drift his vehicle is a forum member who goes by the name TaGsThAsTreetZ. With less than 7000 miles on the odometer, it still had that new car smell and nothing had been modified on the car so no stickers, no I/H/E, no aftermarket wheels or tires. Thus I got to experience what the car would drive like if I were to go out and buy one right now. So does it drive like the classic AE86? Are the stories regarding the lack of power true? Should I buy one? Find out for yourself below.
Taking off from the start I instantly asked myself, "Is this thing moving?" I had to mentally check if my foot was pushing the throttle all the way to the floor because I didn't feel like I was going anywhere fast. You don't get any sensation of power until it hits ~4500 RPM's and once you're there you feel something which is supposed to tell you, "Congratulations! You've made it this far. Here's some power for your efforts."
Going into the first turn I instantly felt how quick the car reacted to my steering input. It can catch you by surprise if you're not accustomed to that kind of response. Mess with it and it will bite back, fondle it and it will pleasure you. I can see it being great for autocross but for drifting it will cause you to put more attention to it than usual. Getting it sideways took little to no effort, it was keeping it there that the problems began to arise.
Midway through the turn LatinoHibino popped up in a cloud and screamed out, "Bro, never lift!" It was then I realized that the only way to keep it sideways was to "never lift", so for the entire run my foot did not let off the throttle completely. Like with any underpowered car you have to be careful not to scrub off too much speed or else you can find yourself in trouble trying to get the motor back onto the powerband. Obviously the blame can be placed on the lack of sufficient power and the factory tires having plenty of life left, so it really made it frustrating to know he was right.
At the switchback the car was smooth with no hint of body roll. The suspension did such a good job that I didn't even pay any attention to it, although it surprised me at how neutral it felt, meaning there was no strong understeer or oversteer. Take it near the limit and the rear end will slide out gradually as if it's asking you, "Do you want to drift?" instead of throwing you into a furious understeer to tell you, "Whoa there Paul Walker! Too fast!"
Coming from a slow turn and into a fast one in an underpowered car can be hell for the driver, and I just happen to be in that situation. Even with the shallowest angle, full throttle, and battle cry, it was not enough to keep the motor in the powerband. I had to clutch kick not once, or twice, but three times in order to get through the turn!
With the sweeper being all that was left, I thought to myself, "Somewhere somehow the power was going to disappear." I decided to replace my left leg with a jackhammer lent to me by somerandomNinja so I could be ready for such incidence. In the end I didn't need it since by the time I got to the sweeper, the tires had lost enough grip and all I needed to do was keep the pedal to the floor.
[size=+1]Verdict:[/size]
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