So, when the FR-S first came, I was a little skeptical. I wasn't very interested in the looks of the car and it didn't really appeal to me. As time went on, the car started to grow on me. I was starting to think that the car looked pretty nice and was beginning to want to trade in my tC2 for one.

AND then, last week I spoke to the service manager of a nearby Toyota dealer, and was extremely surprised to hear that they've already had to rebuild 3 FR-S engines. Engine lights came on on all 3 cars. Piston rings were snapping, intake manifolds were falling apart, and camshafts were breaking. I'm not sure if that dealer delivered 3 particularly defected models, but it seems pretty clear that the new boxer engine is nowhere near ready and proven as a good engine.

With that said, I'm not trying to bad mouth the FR-S. I still think it's a nice looking car. I'm just giving a heads-up to the FR-S owners that may possibly run into these problems

 

First I've ever heard of it. If there was something seriously wrong with a component in every engine, all the ones that are boosted on factory internals would have blown up by now. If those 3 engines came off the line in succession, there is a possibility something went wrong in the assembly of those 3.

 

Follow along on the ft86club forums a ton of people are having issues. I know a ton of people are getting the cam sensor errors and needing new ecus ect. Only heard of 1 guy that needed a full new engine so far.

I'm sitting at 5900 miles so far and no issues. so crossing fingers. Its a new engine there's bound to be issues that never popped up before. Its like a new release of windows or something tons of bugs. Buying a first year car has these issues. The reason the TC never seen this fate was because the motor was already around in the Camry for both gen 1 and gen 2.

The FRS has a new chassis new block ect. The people that have been getting hurt by this have been getting compensated very well. Car payments extended warrentys. Some people asked for the five axis kits and got them.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=72

 

Interesting. Glad I didn't bother with the first run. Not that I dislike Subaru, but it makes you think Toyota should have handled this project by themselves. It's not like they don't have the money.

 

2 FRS's in the driveway and no problems at all either either :-)

and what happened to the person who needed the rebuild? Oh.. he got a brand new car, 100k warranty, and a bunch of goodies from 5AD and Scion, not a bad deal.

The motor is pretty solid so far, 11.3 second passes! The old EJ would have cried at that boost level/cylinder pressure. I am actually very impressed so far.

 

^This!

 

A friend of mine blew his EJ up 4 times I think it was. Fully built too.

 

Youve always gotta be careful when buying a first gen of any new car.....that's why I waited to get the '07 model of the TC1 even though I had been wanting one for 2 years. The '05-'06 models had a few minor bugs, and they addressed those issues and smoothed them out in the '07-'09, as well as adding a few improvements to the internals of the engine. The same goes for other cars like the 350z.....the 2003 to 2006 model was damn near asthmatic, under-powered, not responsive enough with 286bhp. Then in 2007 they refreshed the engine, gave it a dual intake manifold, bumped the hp to 306bhp, upgraded the suspension, and made it an all around better car.

Even the mighty Nissan GTR had a few minor issues at first (and those engines are hand built), and it went from 480bhp to its current 545bhp.

What I suspect will happen with the FRS/BRZ is that in the next two model years, they will address the issues, give it stronger piston rings/ a better cam profile, etc, bump the hp, maybe even give it a TRD package or STi model with go fast goodies.....that's the one I want

 

That's what I'm waiting to see

 

I used to have 2011 tC and now have FR-S. If you have tC now, I'd recommend waiting until 2014 model comes out or at least until the problems stop coming up.

Major issue:
Check Engine Light

Minor issues:
Engine chirping noise (Seems to happen with gas that contains ethanol)
Idle RPM dip (Related to CEL?)
Rear deck popping noise
Tail light condensation (Problem already solved at factory line)
AC Compressor tweet ("Ting!" noise every 15-30 secs)
Audible shifter rattle (Seems to be a rare problem)

 

Those "improvements" led to oil consumption problems. Aside from the water pump, the 05-06 didn't have any blanket mechanical issues. I don't recall any major mechanical TSBs. The most talked about one was the recall on the sunroof deflector and shattering glass roof some people experienced.

 

Like I said, minor bugs.......not major TSB's. And there were several significant improvements. The oil consumption was/is negligible, most of the performance minded folks use full synthetic anyways (Royal Purple for me!), which burns off a lil quicker in any car. After a few long grueling days at the track it's not uncommon to need add a half quart. Furthermore, the trade off for the improvements to engine efficiency, cooling, and reliability are worth it. Here are the major differences from the '06 to '07:




__________________

 

Here we go:

 

^^ 10 bucks says there will be at least this many changes to the FRS between now and the 2014 model, probably more

 

Wow, that's interesng. Thanks for the info.

 

hmm.. i was thinking about parting my tc out and selling it and picking one of these up. There's 3 that i know of sitting at the dealers around me. I didnt like it at first but just like the OP it has grown on me also