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Purple Frog (Forum Supporter)
Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
1/23/22 11:56 a.m.

After following this thread and elsewhere, i think I'm giving up on the C8 and getting a GR86.   I just want to use it for touring so I'm leaning towards the premium with the heated seats.  wink

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/25/22 1:40 p.m.

not an illusion. It is coming off the transporter at my dealer now. 

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UberDork
1/25/22 6:46 p.m.

Waiting patiently... have you picked it up yet?   

CAinCA
CAinCA GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
1/25/22 7:28 p.m.

WELL? WE'RE WAITING!!!

wink

If I bought one of these that color would be on the top of my list. It's gorgeous.

bmw88rider
bmw88rider GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
1/25/22 7:40 p.m.

That's actually the color I wanted but my local toyota dealer is a big fail so I ended up with the BRZ instead. It looks beautiful. 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/25/22 8:12 p.m.

In reply to pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) :

Talk about trying my patience...I have zoom meetings until 10- ish tonight so I will be there at 8:30 in the morning. You can count on some pictures!  And...what better way to do break in miles than a road trip to the Rolex 24!  I will leave from the dealer and head south. I will absolutely document my driving impressions. Pretty good timing!

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UberDork
1/25/22 8:15 p.m.

The timing worked out perfect!  Can't wait to hear your impressions.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/25/22 8:15 p.m.

Very cool and congrats. So see you soon. Safe travels. 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/25/22 8:17 p.m.
bmw88rider said:

That's actually the color I wanted but my local toyota dealer is a big fail so I ended up with the BRZ instead. It looks beautiful. 

Yours is killer.  And thank you. I put this to the family vote with a weighted average. This color came in #2. The darker blue (like yours) came in #1 but I really was feeling this so I went rogue. Can't wait to see it. My dealer, Marcus, is incredible and sent a ton of pics and video walks rounds and even videos under the car on the lift. This has been a very nice purchase experience so far. 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/25/22 8:18 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:

Very cool and congrats. So see you soon. Safe travels. 

YES! And thank you.  Can't wait to see you in a few days!

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 9:19 a.m.

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 9:20 a.m.

bmw88rider
bmw88rider GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
1/26/22 9:39 a.m.

Looks great. Till seeing those pics, I didn't realize the taillights and it looks like all of the rear carry over between the 2 models. There is a lot more similar than I first thought. Really it looks like the front bumper and grill area are the only body differences and even those are a lot closer than I thought in the early pics. Did they put the Easter egg on the GR86 headlights like the BRZ? 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 11:36 a.m.

I think they are very similar. I will try and find a brz to do some side by side comparisons. 
 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/26/22 11:36 a.m.

Looks terrific. 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 11:43 a.m.

Rod construction/traffic stop at the Potomac River Bridge. 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 11:44 a.m.

145 miles. I like it. I will do a write up tonight. 

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UberDork
1/26/22 2:45 p.m.

Looking forward to it.  Love the color!

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/26/22 2:46 p.m.

Congrats, can't wait for the writeup.

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 9:03 p.m.

As they say in the wedding biz, here's the first look.  I think we like each other.

In short, the dealership, and particularly my dealer, Marcus, made this very simple and fast...at least as fast and simple as a 6 month saga can be.  They were getting hammered with calls on this car, so I think they were happy to get it out of their inventory.  I showed up "before doors" and got to gawk at her with Ed Higginbotham from a safe distance.

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 9:04 p.m.

 

Yes, my first new car all my own....and legit with 22 miles on the clock.

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 9:07 p.m.

End of day one, 680 miles and 28.2 mpg with a lot of that on I95 between 80-90mph.  I kept my cool and stayed below 4K, but you can have fun on roundabouts and cloverleaves at 4k.   Not too shabby...stand by for first impressions...

bmw88rider
bmw88rider GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
1/26/22 9:25 p.m.

Oh dang, You already have more miles on yours than I do on mine. I cracked it open at 500 miles and it was a pleasure. It'll get some miles driving to my new Texas home. 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 9:31 p.m.

I've driven my daughter's FRS a fair amount, so I am mainly comparing to that.  I can't completely put them head to head because of self imposed rev limitations.

First of all...the seats.  They are a bit wider in the rib cage than earlier seats...not a ton, but these seats give me a friendly hug where the frs seats are more of a passionate grapple.  I drove with 11 hours with 2 gas stops and a quick stop at my mother in law's place to show her and the wife the new car.  The seat was great, with support that suits me.  It is firm, but it is infinitely more comfortable than the seats in my F350 or my Mercedes E350.  I could possibly use an extra 1/2" of width right at the ribs, but it's not bad for my build.  Regarding headroom, i measured 4 fingers between me and the roof, so I image i would be good with the stock seat and a helmet.  It's about the same clearance as my C5.

The interior is nice...it's well laid out and it's comfortable.  I can't imagine ever sitting in the back seat, but it makes a nice shelf for a brief case.  Maybe the grandchildren at some point will like it back there.  It reminds me of my old 930.  

I really like that seats are on manual sliders.  My father used to laugh at me when I said my TR4 was a sports car..."nothing with roll up windows is a sports car".  Well, I say, manual seat sliders = sports car DNA in the modern world. 

Torque.  It has some.  I have not taken the time to compare Gen1 to Gen2 torque curves online, but even keeping below the 4k, it pulls.  It starts coming on nicely at around 2k which made it a little more palatable to keep the revs down.  I know this is a massaged variation, but the increased power and readily available torque make this feel like a different power plant to me.

Sound.  Yes, it has that sound everyone talks about, but I don't mind it.  The exhaust is downright quiet though.  I'm pretty sure over time there are remedies for this out there for me.

Balanced.  I mostly did highway driving but pressed it a bit on entrances, exits and roundabouts.  It feels very neutral and reminds me of my 944's.  It has enough power that I'm sure some throttle oversteer will be able to be conjured up.  I am looking forward to pushing a bit more and seeing what happens.  It seems to have a bit less engineered understeer than other new cars I've experienced, but again, I didn't exactly go for broke today.  I want to also put my smart strings on it and see how the factory has it set up.  When I do that, I will post, probably adjust and report back.

 Everything about the controls is simple and intuitive.  It's pretty old school.  The gear shift is comfy and in a good spot...and speaking of which, it is not exactly an MX5 NA, but it's pretty good.  The shift from 5-6 seems a little awkward for some reason, but that's probably just me getting used to it.  I didn't have to think much to adjust mirrors, find light controls and put gas in it.  

One point that I see room for improvement is throttle response.  I have to apply more pedal than I would like to before seeing a response.  I'm very new to this sort of tech, but I have a friend with a new 911 turbo and I'm pretty sure he was able to do a mod to adust this.  If anyone has some experience with this, I'd like to learn.  It's really the only "driving" down side I found so far.  My dealer, Marcus, suggested putting it in track mode, but if that makes a difference, I can't really detect it.  I went back and forth at a row of stop lights in southern Maryland and couldn't have told you which was which in a double blind test.

All in all, my day one report is a thumbs up.  I like the car very much.  I noticed it made a few people smile, so that's nice.  I will be bopping around in it tomorrow and also washing the road salt off of it, so I will take a few more pics.

I'm calling this one in the win column.

 

jh36
jh36 Dork
1/26/22 9:36 p.m.
bmw88rider said:

Oh dang, You already have more miles on yours than I do on mine. I cracked it open at 500 miles and it was a pleasure. It'll get some miles driving to my new Texas home. 

500 eh?  I was sort of holding out for 1000...but you know they probably put a multiplier on such things.  Maybe I'll scootch it up a little tomorrow.  The Texas shakedown sounds like a good time.

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