2013 Scion FR-S: A New Hope? - Ignition Episode 14 - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:01 This week on "Ignition," we find out if the Scion FR-S is

00:05 the enthusiast car reborn.

00:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:26 For years, we've been building cars for the F-150.

00:29 For years, we've been begging for a coupe that's

00:31 fun to drive, sporty, and crucially, inexpensive.

00:35 And after all this time hoping and pleading,

00:37 we get the Scion FR-S and its twin, the Subaru BRZ.

00:41 I can't stress the importance of these cars enough.

00:44 They may very well be the coupes we've been dreaming of.

00:47 What's so special?

00:48 How about a high-revving, 2-liter flat-four

00:51 that's mounted as low as possible

00:52 in the front of the car?

00:53 How about a starting price that's under $25,000?

00:56 Or how about the fact that the engineers

00:58 use the Porsche Cayman as a benchmark?

01:00 My expectations for this car are so high that, honestly, I'm

01:04 kind of worried to drive it.

01:06 I mean, there's just so much riding on its capabilities.

01:08 And what if it's not that good?

01:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:15 First, we'd perform our standard set of tests

01:17 to measure its performance.

01:19 Then we'd take it up to the hills of Malibu

01:21 to see how it behaves in the real world.

01:24 And then we'd give it to pro racer Randy Popes

01:26 to find out how it takes to a racetrack.

01:29 We'll start with acceleration because, well,

01:31 that's what we do.

01:33 If I'm honest, though, I don't have high hopes for this car.

01:36 It, after all, has the tires from a Toyota Prius

01:39 and a power-to-weight ratio similar to that

01:41 of the Civic Si or a Volkswagen GTI.

01:44 And with a small displacement, 200-horsepower engine,

01:47 you have to use a lot of revs in order

01:49 to get it off the line quickly.

01:50 I'm going to dial in about 4,600 and dump the clutch,

01:54 ride out the wheel spin.

01:55 You get chirping second, which is good.

02:01 60 miles an hour, 6.2 seconds.

02:04 The shifter's fantastic.

02:08 You can just row it as hard as you want,

02:10 and it responds well to it.

02:12 Quarter mile, 14.8 in the mid 90-mile-an-hour range.

02:19 Now we'll begin our 60-to-0 braking test.

02:20 [TIRES SCREECHING]

02:24 Now our best stop from 60 is 118 feet,

02:28 which isn't too bad considering the tires this thing has on it.

02:30 Now this, this is where the FR-S excels.

02:37 It gives you everything you want when you enter a corner.

02:44 If you want stability, you can drive in

02:45 to that reasonable speed, and it'll push like this.

02:49 But if you want to go sideways and have some fun,

02:52 just throw it in, add some throttle, commit,

02:58 and you'll do that all day.

03:02 The FR-S offers a kind of flexibility

03:05 you don't get in a lot of cars, unless you're

03:07 talking about your $60,000 sports cars.

03:11 This is just such a willing, playful thing.

03:15 And I'm sure its lap time isn't going to be that fast.

03:19 I mean, this car isn't the fastest in the world,

03:22 let's be honest.

03:23 But I guarantee you, there's no car in this price range that

03:28 is this much fun.

03:30 Maybe the Miata would like to have a word with that,

03:32 but I don't know.

03:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]

03:42 [CAR ENGINE]

03:46 You can attach a number to many things.

03:48 You can say how fast a car goes to 60 miles an hour,

03:52 the time it takes for it to get to the quarter mile,

03:54 the lateral Gs it generates in a corner, its height,

03:57 its wheelbase, its tread width, and so on.

04:00 But you can't attach a number to the way

04:02 I feel when driving this car.

04:05 In fact, after a few tugs at the wheel,

04:07 numbers just disappear from my mind.

04:09 Entirely.

04:11 The shifter in this thing is brilliant.

04:14 It throws neatly and tightly.

04:16 It responds so well to aggressive shifts or more slow

04:20 shifts when you're in traffic.

04:22 The engine is aggressive.

04:24 Revs fall off quickly.

04:26 And it sounds good, too.

04:29 The steering, it's just the perfect control

04:31 for the entire package.

04:33 It's a little light, but I'm not going

04:35 to complain about that because it's

04:37 the sense of control you get through it is just so good.

04:40 In fact, if I had to describe this car in a word,

04:45 it would be balance.

04:47 Everything in this car is working in absolute harmony

04:51 with everything else.

04:52 So many cars these days overdo it with horsepower,

04:57 overdo it with torque, or overdo it with tires.

05:00 And they don't give you enough steering feel,

05:02 or the chassis isn't there, or they have terrible seats.

05:04 Not this car.

05:05 See, what they've done here is they've actually

05:07 taken away power.

05:08 They've taken away grip and focused just on the chassis.

05:11 And it creates this beautifully balanced car.

05:16 I keep trying to find ways to make it better,

05:18 but every solution I come up with

05:19 carries the risk of upsetting that balance.

05:22 Yeah, a turbocharger would give you more power,

05:25 but then it might dull the throttle response

05:28 with turbo lag.

05:29 Stickier tires, yeah, they give you more grip.

05:31 But then they might raise the limits too high

05:33 for a public road, or they wouldn't transition

05:35 into a slide as beautifully as this thing does.

05:39 So a message to the tuners of America out there,

05:41 don't screw this thing up, please.

05:44 Now, in order to be a proper car critic,

05:49 I do have to come up with some complaints.

05:53 This is going to be tough.

05:56 I don't like the fact that this car is so much better

06:01 like the fake carbon fiber dash treatment and--

06:05 no, sunroof, but who gives a [BLEEP]??

06:10 That's kind of it.

06:12 This car has reached that equilibrium

06:17 of driving enjoyment that only cars like the Porsche Boxster

06:20 give you.

06:20 You know what, this is the $25,000 Porsche Boxster.

06:27 Nothing matters more to this car than the thrill of the drive.

06:32 That's just on the road.

06:34 How would it feel on a racetrack with a professional driver

06:37 at the helm?

06:38 Randy Popst finds out.

06:41 Here we are entering the straight in the Scion FR-S.

06:45 Start, finish line, start line.

06:49 It's a Revy engine.

06:50 It's not terribly powerful.

06:52 Shifter's fantastic.

06:55 Great action.

06:56 Totally planted through the kink.

06:59 Now we've got a tight decreasing radius corner.

07:03 Turn in is superb.

07:07 Really quick into the corner.

07:09 Reminds me of my all-time favorite, the MX-5.

07:13 Although, guess what?

07:14 It will oversteer a little bit.

07:16 Needs some encouragement.

07:18 I got to be a little careful with that quick turn in

07:20 that it doesn't turn into a big oversteer.

07:22 This is a lively handling car.

07:24 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:29 The gas planted.

07:30 It builds speed, builds speed, builds speed.

07:33 A lot of feel.

07:36 Really direct steering response on corner entry.

07:39 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:42 Oh, the braking is fantastic.

07:44 Now we're a little loose again.

07:46 Look at this car.

07:47 You can drift it.

07:48 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:51 Drifting it on the handling balance, not on the power.

07:54 Drift people.

07:54 [LAUGHS]

07:56 Coming on the front straightaway.

07:59 Brakes free for a little slide.

08:01 Up into third gear.

08:04 There's a lap in the Scion FR-S. This is a driver's car.

08:08 Really enjoy it.

08:10 Lively, lively handling.

08:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]

08:15 The Scion FR-S is a very special car.

08:18 And the only way we can show that we want more like it

08:21 is to buy it.

08:22 Why?

08:23 This is the vanguard for new enthusiast cars.

08:26 This is the barometer that other automakers

08:29 are going to use to justify small, inexpensive,

08:32 and incredibly fun cars.

08:34 The beauty of it is that the FR-S is unquestionably

08:37 one of the most entertaining cars

08:39 I've driven in a very long time.

08:41 It has the sort of balance and composure

08:43 that so many sports cars lack.

08:45 It's everything I hoped it would be.

08:48 And considering the admittedly ridiculous expectations

08:51 I've been carrying, I'm simply blown away.

08:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]

08:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]

09:30 (upbeat music)

09:33 (upbeat music)

2013 Scion FR-S: A New Hope? - Ignition Episode 14

Category

Transcript

Recommended