Nice. I like the color of the car, too. Not sure I had noticed before.

Even with the thread title "Hot Molten Lava Toyobaru"?

Looking really good .. congrats !!

I know! :ack:

:bustingup

I sadly have not driven my car all winter and have been focused on a complete rebuild of our house while living nearby. It is progressing, but it is a 5-6 month project and have to remain patient. The house should be everything we wanted (except a garage) when it’s done, but I finally started pulling the trigger on some things for my car that I can hopefully use long-term.

A few of you know this story/situation already, but… After getting crushed by the ND Miata for the past two years, I decided to finally get the “best” parts for my car and run in the “best” street/stock class for my car for 2018. I think my wife was sick of hearing me complain and got me the +$4k MCS double adjustable shocks (for less than half of that price and freshly rebuilt) from a friend who decided to get a Corvette. It was too good of a deal for what are considered very good high-end shocks, assuming I can figure out the adjustability. I will mate these shocks with my stock springs, put the stock sway bar back on the rear, and run in the DS class for 2018 against Clyde’s Camaro turbo, WRXs, Type-Rs, etc. My car should still be competitive in 2018 in the DS class, but I will probably go back to my 2017 set-up and the CS class after this season because I like the car lowered and some very fast cars (FoRS, S3, Evo, STi) are moving to DS class in 2019. Ugh.

Since SCCA keeps changing the stock/street classes every year, of course they created a spec class for the FRS/BRZ with a kit (~$5-6k) from Tire Rack, but it would have forced me to re-buy all of the parts I already own because they will not allow my existing and identical parts to be certified for the class… oh well. If I was starting fresh with a stock FRS/BRZ, this is probably what I would do. I’m curious to see how my set-up will compare to the speed of these cars.

The next things I have bought or am in the process of buying are different gadgets for running a camera and data. I hope that I find everything useful, but the plan is to have a GoPro set up to record each lap/run and have it synced to a tablet mounted on the dash with GPS data through the OBDII reader spitting out data on an autocross (Solostorm) app. How this works will be a mystery to me until I try it out, but many people swear by it and claim that it really helps their driving and understanding. It will all be new to me, but I hope that it will be a useful tool to improve my driving. I already have a ProClipUSA mounting system specific to my car, a newish GoPro, Samsung tablet, but I need to order the rest of the stuff.

In the meantime, I’ll be in the market for a 4-5 door vehicle this summer when the house is done that can be practical for driving around town and maybe double as an occasional autocross/track thing in a pinch. I’m mostly narrowed to a $8-12k budget E90/91, F30 320i, Civic Si sedan, Acura ILX, Mercedes C300, Mazda3, or something similar… The FR-S won’t be going anywhere and I plan to get the most out of the MCS shocks for several years.

That all sounds great, but you really should just buy my DSP car and go be awesome :)

So, um, imagine if you knew someone selling a fun to drive 4 door car that's at the upper end of that price range that's sort of like one of those cars you listed and you also knew someone that probably has an available co-drive seat (though, with interest from others) in something competitive... :dunno:

Awesome is an understatement, but I just can't swing it. I really hope you can sell it to someone who appreciates how great it is... after you enjoy it for a bit longer!

If my price range is allowed to expand more, I definitely haven't forgotten your FoST, but I'm afraid it will be closer to the bottom of the range I listed and our timing won't line up... especially if we run into more of these out-of-scope house things (asbestos, termites, etc).

Now that my autocross season is basically over, this season did not pan out how I had hoped. My car performed adequately all season with the new shocks and tall stock springs, but I never got a good test day to fully dial-in the shock settings where I really wanted them. I cannot get any negative camber up front with the shocks (-0.7) with the legal spacers, and the tires pay the price. I did okay at the big events, but weather, mistakes and racing-by-calculator made my results look not as good as I thought they were. I had fun running against Clyde and others in the DS class that I had not met before this season. With lots of faster cars likely coming to the DS class next season, I'm done.

I'm putting the TRD parts (springs, sway bars) back on the car and will enjoy the car in the "stock" form I much prefer and lose to the new Miatas again. It won't be competitive, but at least it will be fun and the car will look cool again! If I want to drive one competitively, I'll drive someone else's FRS/BRZ in the SSC or STX class.

My focus has been on our house that is done and amazing now... and the new baby.

Yes, I'm quoting myself. Does anyone have any other suggestions for something in this price range? It needs to easily fit a car seat and a large-ish dog every once in a while. With some good financing options, I might end up with a new Civic hatchback or Si sedan. I like the new Toyota Corolla hatch, but it is too gutless. I need to pick up something by the end of the year at the latest. :dunno:

Notice how bad the windshield was in the photo???