2013 Scion FR-S Review By Steve Purdy
2013 SCION FR-S
More fun for the Scion crowd
By Steve Purdy
TheAutoChannel.com
Michigan Bureau
Less than five years ago Akio Toyoda asked his people the simple question, “Where is the passion in our lineup?” When they found none he followed up with, “I want to build a sports car.” So they did, teaming up with Subaru to co-develop the car. Mr. Toyoda is an avid racer himself, by the way, and quite competent we understand. Coincidentally, the day of our testing was Mr. Toyoda’s 56th birthday. He did not join us for the launch, however.
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Scion, as our astute readers will know, is Toyota’s youth division. With products that are inexpensive, versatile, and fun, they hope to bring youngsters into the fold so that, as they mature and prosper, they can move on to Toyota and Lexus products. The new FR-S is the ‘halo’ car for the Scion brand as it encompasses all the right values and philosophy. As we revealed above they did not do this car by themselves.
Enter Subaru partnering with Toyota to codevelop the car so that both have a version of the ultimate product and share the huge development costs that come with any clean-sheet-of-paper project like this. Teams of engineers and designers from each brand combined their talents and resources to come up with a car that will serve both brands. The Subaru version is called BRZ and I’ve not experienced that one yet. It will be the only Subaru without all-wheel drive.
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Before we reveal the significance of the pistons let’s examine the styling and design.
With proportions and appearance much like the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the FR-S looks like it’s ready for action when standing still. Styling queues have only slight reference to other Scion models, which tend to be simple and a bit boxy. The sleek and swoopy FR-S is the fifth car in the Scion lineup and considered the “halo” car. A low hood (the hood is aluminum, by the way) made possible by the boxer engine and other design decisions, adds to the sports car ambiance. With judicious underbody cladding and careful attention to design details they’ve achieved an amazing 0.27 coefficient of drag while including graceful styling.
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The interior is done with aplomb. Well-bolstered seats, front and rear, are finished in a nice faux-suede with contrasting stitching. Gauges and controls are all simple and intuitive, just what we expect from Scion cars. Rear seat ingress and egress are quite limited and if you were to accommodate 4 people they would have to be small and flexible. Trunk space is meager at just 6.9 cubic feet. The rear seat back folds flat but the releases are a challenge to reach. That’s another disadvantage to the coupe design. One of the design parameters required that the rear accommodate a set of racing tires and a few tools. Another was that it would accommodate a roll cage without major modifications. A tip of the hat to all the young racers who’ll want this car.
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We don’t yet have a reliable zero-to-60mph time but it’s not likely to be impressive with that lack of torque. Fuel mileage is impressive for a 2758-pound car, though, at 22mpg in the city and 30 on the highway for the manual and 25/34 for the automatic. Not long ago we could confidently assume that a manual would get better mileage. These numbers are a testament to transmission technology and this six-speed unit is a charmer actuated by paddle shifters or the conventional console-mounted, leather-wrapped switchgear. The manual shifter is even more charming with short throw and smooth, tight feel.
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On the race track and the autocross course it felt great. Lots of power once revved high enough and great handling characteristics. We’re keeping the rpms up mostly above 4 grand. The lack of torque was felt most vividly climbing the modestly steep and long grade up Spring Mountain to the pass. The automatic had to downshift (which it was entirely willing to do) and with the manual we went down to fourth gear just to keep up with traffic.
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As with all cars aimed at the youth market it must come with connectivity so they offer as an accessory their new voice activated BeSpoke system that connects with your Bluetooth enabled devices. At launch it will only be accommodating Apple products but the others will come shortly thereafter.
The Scion FR-S will be at dealers about June 1st.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Toyoda. You gave us a very nice gift.
© Steve Purdy, Shunpiker Productions, All Rights Reserved