2013 Scion FR-S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2013 Scion FR-S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds conducts a Long-Term Test of the 2013 Scion FR-S and installs an Innovate Motorsports supercharger kit.

Read the full story here

gtiguy3

Fantastic!

Now, don't do anything I wouldn't do.

lmbvette

Wow, that is a very nice kit. How much did it set you back? What sort of power do you expect it to make? What sort of power on the inter-cooled version?

cotak

Question: does this kit now violate pedestrian crash standards? It looks like it's using up the room under the hood. Which is there to meet improved crash standards...

stovt001_

Since Jeremy Clarkson doesn't frequent this site, I'll say it for him: "POWAAAAAAAAAR!"

fordson1

So $3,700 for the kit, plus call it $400 to install and reflash. So by my count the car is up to around $36,500. I thought you would be going with a turbo kit - around $6k plus tuning, so this is much cheaper, but I also thought you would be putting an intercooled FA setup on the car. I see this kit took their development car from 167 whp to almost 212, and torque from 140+ to 178+ on a Dynojet. Those are nice gains, but not on the level of factory turbo 2.0L (intercooled) engines, especially in terms of torque. This is a "low-hanging fruit" approach, which does not aim for huge power gains, but observes the handicaps of a factory 12:1 compression ratio, 91-octane CA gas and no intercooler. Those are large obstacles to forced induction and it will be interesting to see how well the car tolerates it.

banhugh

This latest update about the supercharger officially opens the floor to the next whining subject: Clutch disk upgrade...

Seriously though, good job on the supercharger. I like your balanced approach on power gains. This is how I would go.

quadricycle

Tentatively excited, but still waiting for some numbers and impressions. I also think that you should look at some more ancillary engine work since you're going to run into some limitations if you want to add even more power. Oil cooler as was mentioned is a good start. I looked at IM's website and the "Off-road only" line cracks me up. I see it all the time sure, but for a specifically road-going vehicle is seemed funny. I assume "Non-compliant" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway like I said, excited about the boost but I really want to hear how the car's character evolves.

mfennell

The mainfold is completely custom? I'm shocked they can get it cast and machined, combine it with the SC and ancillaries, sell it for $3200 and still make a profit. I wonder what kind of initial buy in THAT took?

jederino

So pleased this is installed!

subytrojan_2

Cool! Hope the CARB certification is granted, too!

hooninaround

Awesome! When I first clicked on the long term road test link and saw "supercharger kit installed" I made an audible "Yes!" in my office. Ha! So glad this finally happened been looking forward to reading about this. Can't wait to see how it performs on track and on the road. The only other thing I am more excited to hear about is the installation of the turbo'd long-rod VVT BP engine that's in the works for the Mighty MX-5. Good job guys!

duck87

That looks like a surprisingly high quality kit, at least from the pictures. The drivebelt layout isn't 100% ideal, but whatever. It looks absurdly easy to install and it seems like everything is included. Best bet- buy a Toyobaru used in a few years and add this??

bankerdanny

Nice, and about time, although I know it's not IL's fault that the aftermarket has taken so long to provide a good forced induction product. I seem to recall reading that this car was coming to the end of its 12 months soon. I really hope you hold on to it for a while longer to see if the charger creates any long term reliability issues. Plus I really want to see it take on the Miata whenever the dwarves finish the engine.

cjasis

Looks great. Can't wait to see the dyno and other feedback. Also, really glad to see them moving forward with CARB testing as that impacts such a huge portion of the car crazy population (BTW - NY has adopted CARB so that nonsense is spreading).

bedabibedabo

Thank you, great post!

noburgers

very nice looking kit. @fordson notes that now that your cost has crept up over $36K. Would it make more sense to buy a (idk, Mustang GT or WRX?) different car rather than do all the upgrades? Not sure if you are just trying to create the best handling go fast car or what as part of the build. I guess the original intent was to see what incremental changes make to this car. So maybe mission accomplished. I hope we get a summary at the end to see if you feel that the cost justified the final result.

mike475

So Innovate Motorsports does not even make in claims on HP/Torque? or is just a fix for "torque dip" and more power comes in stage 2?

duck87

@noburgers: The problem is that Edmunds invested in a lot of stuff that just doesn't seem necessary. Skip the wheels and exhaust; go for the suspension pieces (debatable depending on how much DD usage you're thinking of, there's other ways to add smaller

jederino

I also appreciate Edmunds trying out a bunch of upgrades, even if they aren't all worth it to the majority of drivers. It's good info!

fordson1

Well, it's been five days now. If this were the CX-5 or the Passat, there would have been three other posts since then. You blow it up or something?