Scion’s “First 86” promotion opens tomorrow at noon EST. The first eighty-six deliveries of the new FR-S will be allocated to “winners” of the competition. To enter, one simply has to be willing to put $500 down within 72 hours — and willing to take delivery of the FR-S when it’s ready.
I am willing to do both.
I’m selecting the Ultramarine Blue with six-speed manual transmission. Will I be one of the “lucky winners”? I have no idea. It might be that ten thousand people apply tomorrow… or it might be me and one other frustrated forty-year-old street racer.
Either way, I will be detailing my experience as a potential “First 86” contestant and purchaser here on TTAC. And although it should go without saying, I should point out that I will be personally purchasing the vehicle. It won’t belong to TTAC, it won’t be a freebie from Toyota, it won’t be anybody’s corporate perk.
Cross your fingers for me, and we will see how it goes… and if you will be competing against me to get your own FR-S, please use this space, and the articles to come, to detail your own experiences.
Good luck, Jack! Looks like it’d be sweet to own.
Second that.
Good Luck!
Uhm, have they even announced pricing yet?
There was a hint from the Detroit Auto Show as covered by the NY Times.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/after-long-gestation-scion-fr-s-makes-auto-show-debut/?partner=rss&emc=rss
The FR-S will arrive in showrooms this spring, carrying an “affordable” price tag, Toyota says. When pestered, Mr. Hollis said that the first digit of the car’s price “will be a two.”
I seem to recall Yamaha used the same approach with the FJR1300 some years ago. And it worked quite well.
For me, the jury is out on that blue. It could be awesome. But I dare say I would have to see it in person. Good Luck on being one of the chosen! If only, so we get a front row seat.
Don’t forget a matching flat-bill hat. It does have a Subaru engine, after all. Or if you want to play up the Toyota angle get some super spike hair gel and a tennis visor.
I can’t wait to see one of those myself next month.
If we are going to play brand stereotypes then it is a Scion, so the owners will have to be gray haired retired people on a fixed income (first gen xB), skanky girls (tC) or cab drivers (second gen xB).
Good ones; my stereotype experiences are stuck to street racing 10 years ago.
Linkin Park CD’s and Monster energy drinks are about to fly off the shelves.
So you know you fit inside? Aren’t you like, ace tennis star tall, Jack?
Someone from that August weblication, Jalopnik, did test with one of their six-footer “journalists”.
Oh no, I am 6’2″ and wear a 48 Long suit with a 36″ waist. Fat, but not tall.
A 36″ waist is fat?
*cough* humblebrag *cough*
I think I’m wearing my pants low or something. Seriously, I could stand to lose thirty pounds, easy.
The catch is there is no purchase unless you and the dealer you have selected agree on a price..What happens if/when they decide to add additional costs(premium) above the MSRP. Would you be willing to pay that just to be one of the first 86.
Scion Pure Price.
http://www.scion.com/buy/pure_price/
“Pure Price – a Definition
Pure Price means that the price you see posted – in an ad, on the dealer’s website, or on a menu display board in the dealership – is the price you will pay.”
I see nothing in Scion’s definition to prevent the dealer from adding a premium above the MSRP (what ever that might be.) All the dealer has to do is post the price he wants ” in an ad, on the dealer’s website, or on a menu display board in the dealership” and he meets Scion’s definition of “pure Price”
…perhaps I’m just a jaded cynic.
I hope you fail.
so you buy a green Boss instead :-)
+1 on the BOSS. Or buy both, since you wont buy anymore Porsches.
Not just the first year, but the first 86, of an almost completely new car/engine/transmission?
That’s a bit risky, and Toyota can be a dick about warranty work.
Still, I might give it a shot. There is full refund upon cancellation for any reason. Blue or white, with stick of course.
I like that blue, my fiance likes that blue, (blue is her favorite color) and we both like the fire-y red/orange (lava?) color too. I hope you win Jack just cause I want to see your detailed ownership experience here on TTAC.
I just had the thought… Jack got sick of boxer rear-engined Porsches being POS so he decided to try switching his boxer around to the front. This should be interesting.
Well good luck to ya. I think there will be quite a lot of entries so as Toyoda USA is now aware of your entry I’ll be very suspicious when you ‘win’…or when u lose for that matter.
I’m not sure how you’re even considering a Mustang over this. About the only thing both have in common is that you’re approximately 15 years off of the average age for the target demographic in both cases. 15 years too young for the horsey, 15 years too old for the FR-S…But then again who cares, just get the FR-S and enjoy the better car is what I’d say.
Am I the only one who gets a strong Pontiac vibe (not to be confused with the car of that name) from this? It’s undoubtably Asian… but still Pontiac-esque somehow… might be the interior color scheme and the rear?
Yes.
Semi related, regarding buying a new car based on specs and photos alone:
my brother pre-ordered a GTI 337, when it arrived they actually let him lease it. Guess VW accountants had no idea that their super limited edition model would become so desirable, because when the lease was up the buy out was way under the cars value. Thanks to the VW fan base (aka: the vortex forums) my brother made $3K in one day by immediately selling the car.
Good luck JB, I’d love to get your take on Toyota’s “back to basics” sports coupe.
That’s a cool program and good luck, Jack.
Make mine a firestorm red with a manual. Alas, it doesn’t appear to be open to Canadians.
Oh well. I think I’m leaning to the Subaru anyway.
Good luck. I like the blue and look forward to hearing what would amount to a long-term road test of the car.
If you don’t make it in the first 86, would you just buy the car anyway?
Awesome, good luck! Personally, I would go for the BRZ… but I might wait until the second year or so to see if they make any minor changes (think to the 2009 WRX engine upgrade – which I doubt, or just little changes here and there).
I had a chance of being the first FR-S owner in North America… until Monday. Time for a little story…
When I was growing up, about 25 years ago, the two favorite cars I had were my mom’s TE71 Corolla liftback, and my neighbor’s awesome red AE86 Corolla GT-S notchback. This was in the late 1980’s, back when the cars driving around were mostly either American Malaise-mobiles falling apart at the seams, or Japanese imports jetting around. I had also been shielded away from car culture by my parents for some reason or another. Anyway, I hadn’t even caught on to Initial D until the mid-2000’s, and even then, I loved watching that AE86 Corolla drive around. It was a small, fun 2-seater Toyota with a manual transmission, pop-up headlights, and a simple lift-up sunroof.
Years and years later, I was able to get as close as practical to the TE71: a Scion tC. Not rear-wheel-drive, but all of the other proportions were nearly dead-on, though with the added torque of the 2AZ engine from the base Camry in a lighter, far more fun chassis. After I get into car culture, car shows, and modding a bunch of things (suspension, seats, etc.), I think to the next car, that it should be rear-wheel-drive, but not a convertible, and not huge. But no one seems to make those anymore… I wished that Toyota had a small zany rev-happy 4-cylinder engine in the works, to follow up on the 4A-GE, 3S-GTE, and 2ZZ-GE.
Then, it was revealed: the “Toyobaru coupe”. A boxer engine with rear-wheel drive. “Yes! Yes!! Take that engine and make me a hachi-roku!!” The concepts were unveiled: first the FT-86 concept, then the turbocharged G Sports concept. Later on, the Scion FR-S was revealed, which fazed some, but I loved it, seeing how many other fellow Scion owners had modded their tC’s, xB’s, xD’s and xA’s. I played around with the FT-86 concept in Gran Turismo 5, drifting it around Clubman Stage Route 5 who knows how many times. But the real moment that made me commit to it was the May 2011 spy photo of the Nurburgring mule. “That looks very close to production!” Rumor had it that it would be limited release in summer 2012, so I put down a reserve right there. I kept watching for spy shots, the Nurburgring endurance race run by Gazoo, the brochure leaks, and the unveil, where I committed to the color being ordered.
And then, on Monday, the “First 86” contest gets announced. “Gaaaaaaah! I won’t have the first one… Oh well, I’ll enter anyway.”
It’s a bit irrational, but I’ve literally been waiting for this car for 25 years. I love how the engine has equal length headers to get close to the sound of the 4A-GE engine. I love how it will require the driver to rev high for power. I’m perfectly fine with the power numbers, as well as the rear seats that can’t really seat humans comfortably (not very different from a tC or Celica in that respect).
To my fellow First86 entrants, good luck!
I loved those twin cam Toyotas back in the day – but my little Turbo Dodge would run their butts off. There were plenty of little American cars jetting around back then too.
See if Scion will do Porsche Lime Green – that will be more impressive than all of the women stories combined, times 10. It does have a flat/boxer engine.
My wife says I have to wait until next year at the earliest. We’ll probably sell the MINI at that point and the FR-S will replace it as the fun car.
Oh yeah, midnight blue all the way. I’ll break the streak of 3 white cars in a row. If they’d done a alpine white or super white instead of a pearl, I’d have purchased my 4th white car.
JB,
I’m doing the same tomorrow & also choose Ultramarine Blue with six-speed MT. May the Force be with you.
Jack – any reason why you are getting the Scion version rather than the Subaru? Is it because it is the first out?
From the website : January 12th from 12:00pm to 8:06pm EST
Doesn`t look like it is 72 hours, just 8 hours and 6 minutes.
yes, but to actually complete the deal you have to spot the deal five bills within 72 hours of “winning”.
I’m entering too. I can’t help it. It’s so low, so little, so right.
As forum newbtastic as this sounds, without seeing them in person, I am really uncertain about which color to choose. Manual trans, of course, but the color, oh jeez. Here’s what I’ve whittled it down to, in case you’d like to be more bored by my writing.
1. The ultramarine blue: It could be great, or it could be too look at me bright and shiny. It seems dark in the pictures, which I like. But bright blue, as found on the 350z, I’m not into that.
2. Black: Or as they call it, Raven. I’ve been too long away from black cars. Everything looks good in black, but few cars look best in black.
3. White: With the car having black trim and grill, the white looks good. Hides the curves a bit, sure, but still. I’m in a white car with black trim now, and I love it, but it seems kind of wuss to go with white.
Not half as wuss as writing a post about which color should I choose for my car which I have a 0.2% chance of purchasing.
Good luck, Jack. I hope I win.
Black colour is tricky. It looks elegant on any squeaky clean vehicle. However, most black cars on the road look cheap as majority are dented, scratched, dirty, pimped out & so on.
Anyhow, it is now T -02:52:00 .
Not believing it one bit. I was clearly a little off base when I implied that Jack would be getting a long term tester IS-F. Here – https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/12/review-2013-lexus-gs350-and-gs450h-part-one/
Clearly they want to give him something that he won’t take to track days and use to terrify poor spec miata drivers.
With the proper rubber, I don’t know how far away this will be from SM pace.
On one hand, I would love it if Toyota (or anyone) gave me a “long-term tester”. On the other hand, I’ve watched access to free cars turn reasonable men into PR mouthpieces and sycophants. For the $400/month it would cost me to own an FR-S, I’d rather keep my spirit intact.
I just like giving you hell Jack.
This car managed to turn people into sychopants and mouthpieces before the production model was even revealed.
Don’t agree, a big reason for getting this could be track days. Seems like the ultimate drive to, and track, car with just the addition of R street legal rubber. All you have to do is be satisfied to not have big HP and torque, and have fun beating cars that do because of the handling and braking. In fact, with limited power and “no” torque at normal street driving RPM routines, the track is the place for this motor and car to be fun.
I don’t know, it looks like the back is too small to get your tofu trays in…
I’d order 2 trays just to meet Jack and see the FR-S!
I’m rooting for you Jack, and looking forward to your posts.
I’ve seen the videos of that guy making Tofu with a cigarette in his mouth – not too sure how sanitary that is…
Bah, should have bought the Subaru.
I’m a gambling man. So, I think I might throw my $500 hat into the ‘Ring too. Whiteout w/MT.
I went whiteout with MT, as well. Picking a color was a much more difficult decision than whether I should enter.
I would prefer the Subie, but I put my hat in the ring for an Argento with MT.
I am in! I figure what the hell, why not? I picked a white manual.
Talk is cheap. Especially on a car forum, you will have hundreds of so called enthusiasts wanting to buy that maunal diesel Saab wagon. But no one actually did.
But this piece is for real. At least 6 posters put down their $500. Toyota is the real deal.
i don’t understand how you can buy a car, or agree to buy a car without knowing the price.
this first 86 is a clever marketing ploy to gauge demand. i wish people wouldn’t indulge them.
Who says anyone is buying a car without knowing the price? We’re simply raising our hand.
for what purpose?
for all you know the BRZ will be cheaper than the FR-S. it’s not as though you are going to get the FR-S more than even a month before others.
they have not announced any pricing. let alone any meaningful test drives.
how can you raise your hand in interest without ever seeing the car in person (i’m sure some have, but many haven’t), driving the car (very few have, especially at length), and being unsure if the car will cost $20000 or $29,999 ??
it just doesn’t make any sense to me.
@stottpie
This seems to be completely non-binding, and as mentioned looks like a tool to gauge interest. Maybe Toyota/Subaru haven’t decided how many they want to build yet?
If the price is too high or the car doesn’t drive as expected, people can cancel. I’m guessing this will be a toy car for anyone trying to be among the first 86 anyway. As a weekend/track car, this thing looks unlikely to disappoint.
Considering it’s supposed to be available in spring of this year, I’m surprised there isn’t more pricing information available. From what I can tell the BRZ will have more standard equipment and probably be priced a few grand higher, but that’s it. I’ve read everything from topping out at $25k to “something less than $30k.”
You would think their little game to gauge interest would be more effective if people knew what the car was going to cost…
The 86 selected can cancel at any time.
Jack, if you aren’t one of the “First 86,” will you still get one?
I keep telling myself I’m going to hold off on a new vehicle for a couple more years, but this car is still pretty tempting. If the price is right (under $24k) and the highway mileage is decent enough (30+), it’ll be on the short list for my next commuter.
Well, I am 41, not 40, but an ex-street racer, and I put in my entry too. Firestorm Red, with a stick of course.