The Scion FR-S

If I may start this posting with an apology: I'm sorry for posting an awful lot about Toyotas. However, the FR-S from Scion is worthy of a post, and it will be the last Toyota car for a while, I promise. And technically, it's half Subaru anyway. Being that it's at least half Subaru, you can't truly call it a comeback for Toyota. Sure it's being sold at Toyota dealerships, but if they wanted to build a sports car again, you would've thought that they could have done it without the help of a competitor. However, after the better part of a decade, Toyota can now (sort of) offer a sports car! In the United States, at least for right now, Scion will be the company pedaling the car to you.

So, the big question: What is it like to drive?

Well, it's complicated because I don't want to say that it's "Just fantastic, end of story." That would be too obvious. So, I'll say it's a fantastic start. It's Toyota's first rear wheel drive sports car since the last Supra rolled off the line in 2002. With it's Subaru derived engine and transmission, the noise it makes is wonderful, and the clutch is feather light, which makes it a wonderful car to drive. The steering is precise, and it grips the road like nothing else in it's price bracket. And for a car with bucket seats, it's not uncomfortable either, at least in the front. The back seats are sort of a joke, and as one dealer suggested "[they] are only there for insurance purposes, and meant to be removed." Which would then make the Mazda RX-8 more practical if you could still buy a new one, but you can't.

The interior is not overly complicated, there's a pretty reasonable traction control system with an off button. There's a clock, and there's some cup holders that they obviously forgot about until the very last minute.

For $25,000 you could do worse. And that, I think, is the whole point of this car. It's relatively cheap. But is it really that cheap? Scion also offers the TC, a car that has been with us for a while now, and while it's not as visually striking to look at as the FR-S, it's only got 20 less horsepowers. And it's also $6,000 cheaper. They both have bucket seats, the same exact powered accessories, a 6 speed transmission, and the TC can even come with a sunroof. Something that the FR-S can't have! The main difference being, of course, that the TC is front wheel drive, and the FR-S is not. But in the real world, if all you want is a sporty Toyota, the smart person would have the TC because you could actually fit people into the back.

The TC is more economical, has the same suspension set up, has a bigger engine, and if you think that those 20 extra horsepowers will do anything: 0-60 times are only .3 of a second apart. Which means if you get off to a bad start, you've lost the race.

Overall then, the FR-S is a beautiful car, and you'd love to own one. But to be honest, it's a bit like an iPhone 4: you know in the back of your mind that Apple will release the 4S soon, so it's only going to be the cool thing for a little while. Which is a shame, because I really wanted Toyota to make an interesting car again; Something timeless, but this isn't it.

The 1985 Toyota Celica GT-S Liftback

When this car was built 27 years ago, the CD player was the epitome of luxury, the DVD was 10 years away from being conceived, and Blockbuster Video opened it's first ever store that October. This car certainly, is not anything new. This wasn't even the first Celica either, this is the Mk. III: the last of the rear wheel drive Celicas, which debuted in 1970. In 1986, Toyota switched to front wheel drive and continued on in that fashion until 2005, when the line was dropped completely.

But the Celica was an important leap in Toyota's history because it spawned some of the most influential cars for them over the years: The Camry and the Supra were both models of the Toyota Celica that later became their own lines. 1982 marked the first year the Camry was offered as it's own model, and 1986 marked the beginning of the Supra.

But this one, the '85 GT-S, what is it like now that it's a "classic?" Well for starters, it's a time machine, which is exactly what every classic car should be. Stepping into an 80's car is sort of like stepping into 80's pop culture, you can really get a sense of what was important and interesting at the time. This one is no exception. Pop a Van Halen cassette into the tape deck and you will be transported back to a time when your mom had big frizzy hair and Timothy Dalton was shooting Iranians for her majesty's secret service.

As for the car though: the interior is entirely brown, the wedge shaped body is very angular, and the ridiculousness of the amenities consumes the driving experience. Like the lumbar support on the driver's seat for example: It's operated by an air pump, and then adjusted where the lever to operate it should have been. It's really quite amazing, and it fits very easily to hand next to the stick shift. There are other 80s features as well: pop up headlamps at the front, metal louver (sunshade) at the back, and a digital clock right in front of you on the dashboard (something Chrysler still haven't heard of).

Open up the hood and you'll be greeted with a very familiar sight: the 22R-E engine. A staple for Toyota cars, trucks, and SUVs in one form or another, for almost 15 years. This was the biggest engine ever put into a Toyota Celica. At 2.4 liters, it produced 115 horsepower and while that doesn't sound like much, keep in mind that it only weighed 1 1/4 tons (assuming there was nobody fat inside). Couple that with an independent rear suspension, and a 5 speed manual transmission; and you will find that the ride is surprisingly smooth and pleasant compared with other cars of the decade. Which is why so many  of your parents bought it.

However, most surprising is why there are almost none of them left. The "Cash for Clunkers" scheme scrapped many great cars from, what might have been, long and purposeful lives. This car escaped unscathed, but many didn't. And now, unfortunately, we're left with only pictures and memories of what was once a very common-place sight on the road. But this does help me come back to my original point: what is this car like as a classic? Well it's a future classic. Not a traditional Nova or Mustang classic, but a new one. These are the Generation X classics. The cars our moms and dads had when they went off to build printers at HP or try to cope with something called "Regan-omics." In a time when iPhones weren't necessary to take orders at restaurants and hair metal was still in it's heyday.

Bring it to a dealership or into a shop and you'll be greeted as a hero, a legend of time travel who has come in with an interesting car. Not some eco-box that needs a new battery pack. At least that's the experience I had when I took it to the local Toyota dealer this afternoon. I imagine they get quite bored with all the Corolla's and Prius's.

It therefore ticks all the classic car boxes: Parts are getting hard to find and unreasonably expensive, it's interesting, a period piece, and it can still turn heads.

The Mk. IV Celica is considered to be the "best," because it's more powerful. But to be honest, it doesn't look as good, and it isn't as interesting. Plus it has front wheel drive and that's kind of BORING. This one doesn't and you can believe me that I'll be having a lot more fun power sliding and skidding about than if I had a fourth gen.

This brings me to my final, and most important point: just because something is old doesn't make it completely worthless. We have a way in this great society of ours to ditch older products, and indeed people, once something newer and flashier comes along. I for one would much rather have something old and interesting like this that works, versus something newer and boring that doesn't. Toyota didn't design this car to live this long, but it does. And that's worth saving.

Update and News

Hi all,

So, as many of you have probably noticed, this "Weekly" publication hasn't been updated in a long time. There are many good reasons for this. Among them are my health, work, and living situations. But most of those are dealt with now. So, this summer, prepare to be amazed and baffled by the sheer volume of posts streaming forth from this blog.

I never got around to tackling the Fiat 500 as promised and that will be the first to come when things settle down a bit, I promise.

Further down the line, I'll be tackling the new Buick turbo and will probably see what all the fuss is about with regards to the new Scion iQ.

Thank you for your patronage and patience. You will be rewarded with a better blog soon.

-Travis