Exactly how I feel. The market has never had a problem producing low power, slow light rwd cars. Where is the Supra, 300ZX, RX7 successors? We keep getting lame pretenders like the RX8 and now this.

And from what I've seen, there is zero room in that engine bay for a turbo.

 

The market has however had a problem making cars that are genuinely fun to drive without being a handful. It really sounds like we're talking apples to oranges basically. There's no way to convince someone is so focused on power that power isn't important without making them actually drive the car. I will say this, a lot of people have quickly changed their tune after driving a Miata because of how fun it is. I suspect this car will be similar.

 

The whole deal with this car is cheap fun. What don't you understand about that? The RX8 is a four door, the Miata and MX5 (same car lulz) is convertible as is the S2000. Plus, the S and the Rx8 cost over $30k fully equipped. They are not comparable. A Supra successor would cost over $70k easily, they were $52k in 1995!. 300zx successor? GTR. Oh, Oh, $90k is too much?? Too bad, so sad, that's what it takes to be on top like the 300ZX was in 1990. Wanna have fun for under $25k? This is your car.

I'm really surprised to see this kind of reaction coming from evo owners. I thought that most of us owners cared about the "drive". That is why I bought one. There are much more powerful cars out there for the money, but they don't offer the communication the evo does. The steering is incredible, feedback, balance, all predictable and make driving one a joy. This car aims to do the same thing. I will say this, and you can flame me all you want, AWD is 10x more boring than RWD in any given situation. More practical, absolutely. More fun? Hell no.

*edit* There is already a supercharged version in the works, so forced induction is not out of the question.

 

Judging by your posts, the exact line I highlighted is what has you all stirred up.

I assume you drive a Evo (being on these forums), so I see how an Evo owner can take that quote as a jab to the heart.


A lightweight rear-wheel drive car can be tons of fun; just look at how praised the NSX was. I drove the older turbo Miata (2004 Mazdaspeed Miata) at a Mazda track event once and boy was it a fun freaking car. It was more fun to drive than my old Evo.


IMO, don't be so quick to dispel the car as all hype until you see more reviews or get to drive it.


Let's face it every car nowadays has some sort of electronic aid (traction control, electronic brake distribution, computerized diffs, yaw control, whatever) which makes a car like the FT-86 rare.

Not to mention how every car is getting heavier by the second.



As an aside; I do find it funny how Evo 8/9 owners jab at the Evo X owners for the X being less "Evo like" and less "driver oriented/raw" as it's predecessors.

 

More hype....

From Top Gear Magazine:

The BRZ steers like it has no weight to deal with. It doesn’t appear to roll, pitch or dive. It’s neither nose nor tail heavy, just a sense of the front and rear working in perfect harmony. You steer, it goes and when the grip runs out (it was pouring with rain in Japan), the BRZ is almost totally neutral. And you get so much warning of when that’s about to happen. I was nervous when I found out it had electric power steering, but this has to be about the best system I’ve tried – the springy weighting is lovely and real sensations are fed back into your hands.

Oh, and they NEVER say anything bad:

Subaru boasts that this is the world’s smallest four seat rear-wheel drive coupe, so you can guess what that means for those travelling in the back. And the boot seems to be a complete afterthought.

 

Are you saving that if this car had more power, it would no longer be fun to drive?

I think the BRZ/86 would be even more fun if it had 250bhp/200btq instead of the 200bhp/150 and still not be a hand full (for a novice) to drive. Also, I wouldn't consider this car to be in the super light catagory and may end up being closer to 2900-3000lbs in full production with all fluids and a tank of gas.

 

Potentially yes actually. The point of a car like this is that it's fun but not an animal, you don't need to be a pro racer to keep it in check. There was an article in Car and Driver or Road & Track, I can't remember which. Basically they were looking at the fun to drive factor or the best all-around sports car. They had a wide variety of cars, including the Corvette, Miata, Camaro, etc. Surprisingly, the Miata ranked very high up because it wasn't a handful, you could toss it into a corner and know you'd catch it.

 

In a nut shell, are saying this car is great for someone who doesn't have alot of experience or skill in handling a car with some power? That to me, doesn't seem like it's targeted to an enthusiast, but more toward the masses. Sounds more like a advertising gimmick than a true sports car.

 

This car better weigh less than an S2000. Please Toyotaburu god make it light.

 

Subaru has already quoted exact weights with fluids. It's under 2700lbs, barely.

 

The Genesis Coupe looks ALLLLLOT better than that thing in all aspects. The exterior isnt even comparable.

N/A....

 

I have no problems with some honest reviews putting this car against it's appropriate competition. But a bunch of pre-production hype reviews so far shouldn't be taken seriously (IMO).

Seriously, I have a pretty open mind about this car, it will definitely be "OK" to "Above Average" for a "sporty" car, but I don't see it being that much different then a Civic Si, Fiat 500 Abarth, Miata, RX-8, or S2000. There's really no need to hype this car up as better then any of those options.

 

No I'm saying not everyone wants to have to focus 100% all the time to have fun in a car without crashing.

 

^ that.

I saw another pic of this car the other day and it looks totally different than this, this thing looks like a Tiburon = no thanks

 

i like how it looks.