The Scion FR-S: Six-Month Ownership

Before I go forward, I want to cover a brief history of how this car came to be, the joint venture between Toyota and Subaru made a very unique sports car.

As you can imagine, producing a sports car is very expensive. When Toyota came up with the idea for this car, they knew they needed help. After convincing Subaru to hop on the project, handling production, the result was the Toyota 86, Subaru BRZ, and in America, the Scion FR-S.

While adorning different badges and body kits, these are all essentially the same car. The three cars all have a 2.0-liter boxer engine sourced from Subaru and a six-speed manual transmission sourced from Toyota, all sending power to the rear wheels.

See, in America, Toyota had Scion, a dying brand meant to be funky and cool for the younger generation. Unfortunately for Toyota’s vision, Scion was popular with mostly elderly people. Now Toyota has a cool new sports car- the perfect way to appeal to young people. Thus the Scion FR-S was born. 

I guess it wasn’t cool enough, though... as Scion still ended up being discontinued. After 2016 this car was given Toyota badges and the name 86 in the states to match the rest of the world.

My FR-S is actually a Release Series model, a special edition limited to only 1000 cars. This model was a sort of send-off for Scion- being the last special edition FR-S and the most expensive Scion ever made. (although it was much cheaper used)

Believe it or not, I actually found this car on Facebook Marketplace. I was shopping for WRXs, GTIs, and even the Veloster N, but after seeing the deal on this FR-S I decided to go in the less practical route.

This car had a unique paint color, low mileage, and most surprisingly a numbered dash.

I was sold.

One of the major factors in buying a vehicle is looks- I mean, it can’t be ugly, at least in your eyes. I’ve been hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t like the looks of the FR-S. It’s wide, low, and aggressive. The long hood and the sharp angles on the front facia make this car stand out. It looks substantial driving down the street. This car took a lot of elements from the legendary Toyota 2000GT; it’s increasingly obvious when you put them side by side.

Earlier I mentioned that my FR-S is a release series car, a special edition for the last run of the Scion variant of this vehicle. With the RS package, it got painted in this gorgeous Lunar Storm paint, an RS exclusive front lip, forged 17’ TRD wheels, a half-inch wider than standard, and a much improved interior finish. 

On the inside of my FR-S sits the RS exclusive interior. Gone are the cloth seats and hard plastic dash panels, replaced with a black Alcantara and tan leather combo. These materials make this car feel far nicer than it has any business being. Alcantra is typically reserved for luxury vehicles, yet here it is, in a Scion. This interior is genuinely a nice place to be. The seats are comfortable, and the Alcantara and bolstering really hug you through the tight turns in the FR-S without being overbearing.

In terms of amenities, there’s no funny business. No iPad hogging your dash or fancy mood lighting. No massaging seats or voice assistants. Just clearly labeled buttons, knobs, and switches. This means you don’t have to worry about going through three menus to turn on the heated seats or tune the radio. You can focus on what’s really important, driving. 

From the moment you fire up this car, it’s apparent that this isn’t your average everyday commuter; this is a genuine sports car. You can feel the motor through the steering wheel- you can see the shifter vibrate. It’s a little bit of a cliche at this point… but you really feel connected to this vehicle.

The large center tachometer is akin to the likes of a Porsche, and in tandem with a flashing shift light, this thing feels like a damn racecar- regardless of how fast you're going.  

Putting the FR-S around town is fine. Driving a stick shift can be frustrating at times, especially in traffic, but the mountainous roads of Tennessee allow the FR-S to stretch its wings, this car was made for curvy backroads.

The low center of gravity and tight suspension on this car keep it flat through whatever turns you put it through- communicating every minute detail of the road along the way. The rear end is playful, but this car doesn’t feel like it’s trying to kill you. If the car starts to slide, it’s really easy to reel it back in and control the vehicle. Weighing only a little over 2,000 pounds- it’s refreshing to drive a car that feels this nimble.  

The steering is relatively light on this car- but it feels precise. There are no dead areas when you turn the wheel, exactly how it should be. 

The six-speed manual transmission feels excellent; there's little-to-no play once you put it into gear. On a cold morning, sometimes it can be hard to get it into first and second, but this problem disappears after the transmission gets up to temp.

While the steering and suspension are extremely communicative, the clutch is not, which brings me to some of my issues with this car. The clutch engagement point is really high; sometimes, it can be unclear when it’s actually engaged, especially when stopping and starting.

Now for the elephant in the room... torque dip. If you don’t know, torque dip has been one of the largest issues for people who own these cars. Between about 3,000 and 5,000 RPM, the power drops out. You're going, going, then all of the sudden the power falls flat on its' face, picking back up past 5,000 RPM. Now, if this were somewhere else in the rev range, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but between 3,000 and 5,000 RPM is where you spend almost all of your time in normal driving. If this is the only thing keeping you from this car- don’t be too afraid of it. It hasn’t bothered me as much as I thought it would, but it has to be discussed.

Driving around the torque dip means you're rewarded for ringing the car out, and with a redline of 7,500 RPM, you'd be missing out if you didn't. One of the most fun aspects of this car is that it's not breathtakingly fast. You can use the whole car for all that it's worth on a day-to-day basis.

In, say... a Hellcat, you'll never know what the car can do without risking jail time. This is not an issue in the FR-S. 

Another major gripe I have with this car is the NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) in the cabin. I will say that this car had stiffer motor mounts installed before I purchased it, which makes the car vibrate more, but this interior feels like it’s going to rattle apart at times. It’s not an issue specific to my car either; many owners have accounted that they have a rattle that moves around the cabin- trying to find it might drive some people mad. Road noise is pretty bad as well. If that kind of thing bothers you, this might not be the grand tourer you want it to be.

With 200hp to the rear wheels, some people claim this car is underpowered. I’ll be the devil’s advocate and disagree with this sentiment. This car is not super fast, but for a college student and someone who’s still learning rear-wheel drive and a manual transmission- this is plenty to have fun without getting into too much trouble. It’s a perfect learner's car. The power and weight distribution of this car, paired with the Torsen LSD, make this a real contender for the best first sports car.

If you choose not to modify this car, they make for a fantastic fun daily driver, but with modification, this chassis becomes a blank canvas. You can drift this car, make it a track weapon, or even a show car if that's your thing. The amount of aftermarket support on these cars is almost overwhelming, the possibilities are endless.

Both of these failures happened fairly soon after purchase, and since those have been resolved the car has given me no trouble. Due to the low tech nature of these vehicles, they tend to be pretty easy to work on yourself.

To wrap things up, I couldn't be happier with the decision I made. No car is perfect, but for my situation, the FR-S is almost there. 

I plead for you to buy the fun car. When I drive down the street, I smile, knowing that I'm having the most fun on the road, in a sea of white and grey midsized SUVs. With a similar price tag to most affordable cars on the market, ask yourself- how often do you really use all that space?