On this episode of Ignition
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MotorTranscript
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.
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