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FR-S comparison

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bzr forte fr-s
10K views 45 replies 12 participants last post by  selvenvid 
#1 ·
First of all, I'm not looking to trash neither make a bad impression on FR-S and/or Forte owners. Each person drive their car because of something and I respect that.

Now, I own a 2015 Forte Koup SX (M/T). While the car is good, the handling and exhaust sucks. I bought it because I got a great great deal on it. After 4 months I kind of lost interest and felt like mehhh driving it. So I was looking to trade it for a FR-S. I got a killer great deal today ($2000 on downpayment and $380 monthly A/T). Before moving forward I did a test drive and this is what I felt:

Pros:

Nice sound from the exhaust
Good handling
Nice look and color

Cons:

Less room inside
Not too fun in A/T (my left foot was bored)
Didn't have the same acceleration and/or feeling when accelerating
Cheap materials in the stock model
Felt like I was tight


After looking the cons, I dropped the deal and went back to my Forte. I punshed it on the highway and I felt again that nice acceleration. I think the FR-S is nice, but like it needs some work in order to convince me. Also, I think test driving other car that I though it was more that mine made me fall back again for my Forte. I will add an exhaust and a coilovers to improve it.

I just wanted to share this experience and ask in the forum if someone has felt this before with the FR-S and a Forte Sx/Veloster turbo.
 
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#2 ·
Glad to see some input comparing the two. Unfortunately a big down fall of the FRS/BRZ is they are notoriously slow than they appear to be (looks wise). If you live in an area with lots of windy back roads and get a MT i think you're in for a treat. If you're daily driving and getting an AT it can be on the blah side, not to mention its not as practical as a daily either
 
#3 ·
There are LOTS, TONNES of mods for the 86. Power add ons like a Vortech supercharger would easily cure what ails you in the acceleration department. Sure it defeats the purpose of a sports car but that's how it is. Not everyone is into big horse power but rather the handling characteristics of the car. I have mixed feelings about it but I'd be lying if I didn't at least mention I was looking at one when I was car shopping. Had Subar or Scion made them more readily available I would probably never be here.

All that said, stock for stock we'd walk them easily. 25% more torque.
 
#4 ·
I don't want to add too much mods since I'm not racing, but I like mechanics as a hobbie and sometime punch the car. The Forte Koup has a sporty body but it still needs some work too. I dropped the FR-S because I need to drop more money to increase the power into a comfortable zone and the room inside isn't the best. Like I said before, I felt very very very tight on it. I'll keep my Koup and just lower it and add a muffler for better sound output. The power of the Forte is in my comfortable zone, but handling is mehhh. Maybe I'll add an Intake but I will decide on that later.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I seriously considered the BRZ and FRS. I loved my test drives in them. But I was just too cramped inside being a tall guy to use that as a daily. Plus with my last two cars being turbo I have just become accustomed to the torque you get with that. Even though acceleration numbers are pretty much equal to ours. Car and Driver puts both of us at 6.4 to 60 and 14.9 in 1/4.

I also checked out the Genesis coupe. A car that on paper I should have loved but on the test drive I actually preferred the drive of the Forte5 and the Veloster. Still a bit puzzled by myself as to why but it is what it is.
 
#15 ·
I looked at it now in my desktop PC and it looks simple to install. Sadly I live in an apartment complex and the have a "no mechanics" policy. Although I believe that would be if you are going to swap your engine or break pads, but doing simple stuffs it would be fine. Do I need to drill or jack the car? If it is just 4 bolts, then this would be a piece of cake.
 
#17 ·
My previous car was a tin can o wheels. Compared to the f5 it's a Damn luxury vehicle lol.


I still get remorse about the car but after I started putting mods there is no going baxk. After 2 years I'd probably get $10 for it so I'll make it more personalized and enjoy having my money in the bank instead.

Nouse4 mousse what's the difference between the brace under the car and the one that requires cutting in the hatch? Is the 4 point brace harcdore? I think I'll start with a front engine mount bar the go for there.
 
#18 ·
The exterior torsion bar does much more work than the little one that goes in the trunk. The rear suspension is the weak point on this car stock since they went cheap and didn't put in an independent rear suspension. So I definitely recommend starting there rather than the front.
 
#19 ·
I appreciate all your help. I found a place here in bay area where I can rent a space for do my own mechanics. They provide you a lift system and the tools. So I will mount it myself. In the website evilla has the instructions for the Rio, but I think it might be the same for the Forte.

I made a list of my mods, is this a nice order?

1) Rear tension bar
2) Coilovers lowering (around 2 to 2.25 inches, I don't want the tires inside the overfenders)
3) Lip spoiler

I might drop the exhaust improvement because I realise what makes the engine roar is the CAI, our stock exhaust is fine for me. The FR-S had the same exhaust noice, when I drove it the engine had a better roar. I have a question. Would it be better to put a SRI or just swap the air filter for a cone filter and keep the stock SRI. Keep in mind that I'm not looking to race, just show off and keep the stock performance with some handling improvement. Will the filter swap affect performance?
 
#20 ·
Nouse4, can you link to the rear torsion bar. I have to behoves I'm very keen on looks. The evila strut tower brace doesn't look as nice as the rear one. I think something beefy and shiny is the way to go like the one in the 370z and mustang gt..

As far as Sri vs CAI I may be going with the Sri because I'm not as careful as lost drivers and tend to go over puddles.
 
#31 ·
Just to add 2¢ in on the suspension parts from Evilla - very good and effective upgrade. I'm constantly pushing my tires to the limit when before the body roll was forcing some reservation on my part.

The strut bar required cutting, but wasn't too hard. The hardest brace to install was the 6 point. I think the 4 point would be much easier, though. Evilla has install videos for the torsion and strut bars. Can't recommend them all enough.

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk
 
#32 ·
In all Honesty, I love the look of the FRS/BRZ. However, I could not justify the price for performance, as well as a giant turn off for me is the fact that you can see a huge amount of them just driving to the grocery store. Yes the RWD is cool, but how many Forte Turbo's do you see out on the road? not very many, they are unique, and can be a force to be reckoned with with mods/tuning.
Tyson
 
#33 ·
This is another let down for me. When the salesman told me, please pull your car next to the other to start paperwork, I looked at both side by side. Both looks great, but then I people driving by FR-S, and many people looking at it in the dealership. I noticed that my car will be different than others. The huge amount of them and the lack of performance was turn off.
 
#35 ·
Anyone know of the Toyota on front here in Toronto? They have this sweet looking half teal half grey goose frs. Inlays stare at it when I pass the car. It's so small hut yeah it's pretty nice especially in that colour.
I should take it for a test drive and put any doubt about our cars being faster. Today be it's more nimble in the corners.
 
#37 ·
The color you say is the Special Release edition 2.0. I saw it and it doesn't look that great when you actually see it vs the pictures. I think white is the nicest looking color.

About power, we have higher torque and the acceleration is faster. When I test drove it, I actually felt the difference in acceleration, you won't feel that nice push the Forte gives in the FRS. Even my wife was in the passenger side and she noticed it. In top speed, I won't dare to say if the FRS is faster or the Forte since I didn't reach top speed. But the acceleration is noticeable.
 
#38 ·
Not necessarily, in a race not only FWD, RWD, 4WD or AWD matters. Many components affect a race like the torque, power, transmition, driver, etc. Using a stock engine with the same driver I would dare to say that we have an advantage in acceleration (around 25% more in torque), but I don't know about top speed. Obviously in corners the FRS will behave way better than the Forte, it was designed for that.
 
#39 ·
I've played with multiple frs/brz twins on the highway to work ( I work for Toyota now building the 2GR/KAI V6s that go in the camry,avalon, es300...etc.. so you get a nice discount on toyota products plus pay is high.... lots of nice cars) and I can put many car lengths on them at will well into triple digit speeds only with a few mods. I actually stayed door to door with a new Lexus RC350 from work, those things are pigs, pretty but slow considering what they're supposed to compete with and cost.
 
#40 ·
Are you talking your Forte vs a FRS/BRZ? If so, thanks for providing this input. I didn't dare to say too much since I haven't raced one. I'm stock and many FRS I've seen in Bay Area I think they might be modded. Until I don't add some extra stuffs to get a meaner engine I think I won't fight one, but comparing stock engines the Forte feels more peppy compared with the FRS.
 
#41 ·
Yes my forte pulls much harder than the frs/brz twins. Even modded it would really take forced induction aka supercharger or turbo to add significant power to one. Unlike factory turbo motors which tend to really just need a few bolt ons and a tune to pull big numbers small displacement N/A motors really return much lower hp to dollar yields. We've saw dynos of over 200 HP to the wheels just with an fmic and intake on the stock tune, to get 200whp out of a frs/brz is going to take pretty much either every single bolton you can throw on it and a tune or forced induction.

Admittedly the frs/brz handle better stock due to better weight distribution and lower center of gravity and less weight overall. While our cars will never be RWD I think they can be competitive handling wise with just better tires and a few suspension mods.... AKA the BFG Comp 2 A/S i just installed today and the strut tower brace, trunk brace, torsion bar, and subframe tork collars I have on the way :).
 
#42 ·
Yes my forte pulls much harder than the frs/brz twins. Even modded it would really take forced induction aka supercharger or turbo to add significant power to one. Unlike factory turbo motors which tend to really just need a few bolt ons and a tune to pull big numbers small displacement N/A motors really return much lower hp to dollar yields. We've saw dynos of over 200 HP to the wheels just with an fmic and intake on the stock tune, to get 200whp out of a frs/brz is going to take pretty much either every single bolton you can throw on it and a tune or forced induction.

Admittedly the frs/brz handle better stock due to better weight distribution and lower center of gravity and less weight overall. While our cars will never be RWD I think they can be competitive handling wise with just better tires and a few suspension mods.... AKA the BFG Comp 2 A/S i just installed today and the strut tower brace, trunk brace, torsion bar, and subframe tork collars I have on the way
.
Thanks for the input. I will start modding there too, handling. A nice set of coilover lowered around 2-2.5, front and rear bars and a nice pack of tires will do a great job. Then the exhaust (hope Kia deliver de cat back for second gen forte) and a SRI intake. This would be enought for me to for the Forte to be more than happy. Finally a spoiler.
 
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