I'm Richard Fong with Dsport magazine and today we join Scion at the streets
of Willow in Rosemont California
to test drive the FRS. this is not our first review of the FRS
but today will be evaluating the model year 2014,
model year 2015, and TRD's prototype turbocharged
FRS. The 2014 model serves as a baseline model for us to evaluate,
the 2015 is going to enjoy some changes that I will talk about later in this program
and the TRD model features a GReddy turbo kit
that we're looking forward to especially
The model year 2014 FRS is our baseline for today
this one is largely unchanged compared to the first year
it still has 17-inch wheels and the original suspension setup with the car
Popular opinion about the 2014 model year is that it is a little looser
and intended to rotate a little bit more. When I went out that's exactly what my
first impression was
Car definitely likes to rotate but a very predictable rotation
so it's not an unnerving rotation unless you're not used to the vehicle
letting go in some other turns so yes you'll find the threshold much quicker
with this chassis but it's not necessarily a bad thing
it all fixable if you needed to you get make changes to
tires and suspension and now that would rectifiy a lot of
the rotation and a lot of extra input that you need to do to keep the car under
control
this is the model year 2015 Scion fr-s
so what they did was the put stiffer suspension mounts
and they revalved the shocks. On this particular model that you're looking at
here
is equipped with a lot of TRD bolt on upgrades. it has the TRD intake
TRD dual exhaust TRD Springs
TRD sway bars TRD brake pads 18-inch wheels
with Michelin Pilot Sport all season tires. this particular car also came
equipped with
the TRD short shifter which definitely shortens the throw
between gears on track deftly handles with a bit more precision
compared to a stock 2014 model
this car grips so much harder that you're gonna pushes to really find that
threshold
what we have behind me is FRS
TRD project car. what's special about this 2015 model
is that it's been fully fortified with
JE pistons and Carillo connecting rods and
features a Greddy turbo kit. The GReddy kit features
the new GTX 2863R Garrett turbocharger
this turbo kit has been measured up to 400 horsepower at 12 PSI
and 460 at sixteen PSI. According to TRD
and Greddy it's capable of holding up twenty PSI however
they haven't really pushed it that hard just yet. A Motec
ECU is the mastermind behind the whole engine function
manages all the ignition and fuel delivery as well as
other vitals of the engine function. So behind the wheel the TRD project car
it was much like what I hope this car with me
from the factory. The handling is very neutral. It doesn't tend to step out or
breakaway
even with the turbocharger with the amount of power that it has
you needed to be tightened up otherwise you just spend all your time
snapping the chassis around the track
The turbocharger brings the engine to life, the FA 20
while a decent engine from the factory,
it doesn't have the punch that forced induction will offer. the boost doesn't
deliver power
violently. It's a very progressive linear power delivery
which makes it very trackable for most drivers
The suspension gives fantastic feedback and is
almost a smidge too comfortable for a weekend track car
It's definitely meant and engineered and tuned
for the road so you could drive this in traffic all day long
and it'll be very comfortable to drive