Shiny FoRS

To celebrate the FoRS' second birthday, I gave it a wax job:

I hardly want to take it out of the garage.  ;)

Niiiiiiice. Man, they look great in white.

Car looks good man!

I like the white and originally wanted it on my Focus ST..after now owning a black one I could never get another color. it's constantly dirty... but the big grill blends in! This combined with the stock quiet exhaust means I don't even get a secondary glance from cops, it's AWESOME. 

But the White on black combo with the Blue RS badges I'm a big fan of. 

Now you just need to get it ceramic coated! I had a buddy do the 135 back in April/May, solid investment. 

Whatever replaces it is going to immediately get it as well. Like drive home from the dealer and take it to his place.

Just curious.....did you even entertain the thought of a WRX/STI when  you were looking. This would be MOST definitely my choice for the HP/LBFT numbers alone.....kinda partial to white myself

759NRNG said:

Just curious.....did you even entertain the thought of a WRX/STI when  you were looking. This would be MOST definitely my choice for the HP/LBFT numbers alone.....kinda partial to white myself

I guess my experiences driving earlier generations of the WRX kind of soured me on the dry-pavement handling of the breed, as 1st gens were extremely prone to understeer.  In addition, I was regularly smoking Subarus at autocrosses with my Sentra, so the performance never impressed me much.  Although I must admit that the latest generation handles much better on tarmac than the older ones did.  I've never driven the latest ones, but there is an example in my region that's doing very well in PAX results.

759NRNG said:

Just curious.....did you even entertain the thought of a WRX/STI when  you were looking. This would be MOST definitely my choice for the HP/LBFT numbers alone.....kinda partial to white myself

I couldn’t get past the noise of the earlier ones and around the PNW, everyone had or has one.  My boss had a newer one without the annoying exhaust note, but I really wanted a hatch and I knew the RS was going to be something special/different.

So I had to google 'ceramic coating'. Not affiliated but slightly enlightened. 

I'm sure it's spendy.

In reply to jstein77 :

She looks great!  Now go chase some more cones!

Makes me want to clean mine once I’m home from the Hospital :) 

nutherjrfan said:

So I had to google 'ceramic coating'. Not affiliated but slightly enlightened. 

I'm sure it's spendy.

If you are willing to do it yourself, the actual coating isn't that pricey. 

It's paying someone else to wash, paint correction, polish, the car before you even apply the coating, etc. 

Stefan said:

In reply to jstein77 :

She looks great!  Now go chase some more cones!

Makes me want to clean mine once I’m home from the Hospital :) 

Hospital? 

Get well soon!

In reply to jstein77 :

Another reason why I bought a 4-door hatchback pocket rocket.  My son was born Saturday morning at 12:43am

In reply to Stefan :

Congrats man!

Also....Hatchback FTW. 

Nice job! Looks like you assembled the boy according to directions.

YAppleseed said:

Nice job! Looks like you assembled the boy according to directions.

My wife helped quite a bit with that :)  

our 2-year old already loves the FoRS and squeals when Daddy drives fast :)

Also, love it now, that RS will never be that clean again. 

My brothers and I practically destroyed the red velure interior of my mom's 77 Cutlass.

In reply to Appleseed :

Tell me about it.

Already have scratches on the windshield from some random foil ball bouncing onto it.

snacks and crackers mushed into the back seat.

sunscreen smeared into the rear door panel, etc.

a good cleaning is overdue.  With all of the heat and air quality issues lately, being outside has been low on the list.

Stefan said:

In reply to jstein77 :

 

Another reason why I bought a 4-door hatchback pocket rocket.  My son was born Saturday morning at 12:43am

Congrats!!!!

Ownership experience update?  I know Matt Farah sold his due to the uncomfortable seating position and the harsh ride.  Your thoughts?  These are all over the used market now (4 pages of them on Auto Trader for sale) and there are still brand new left over '18's at the dealers...

The 2018’s have better rebound valving, so that’s a parts order away from improving the ride.  It’s still a bit of a buggy, so a Cadillac it won’t ever be.

Going to 18’s with a bit more sidewall helps and you can go wider, which is rarely a bad thing.  The stock tires are run flats and ride hard as well, new OE size tires without the uber stiff sidewall helps.

Seats are definitely a love or hate proposition.  Taller and/or wider people won’t like them.  Being average sized helps with the fit.

the only thing I’ve had to do on mine is perform the recall for the HG, replace one tire due to road damage and change the oil.

I’ve installed a short shifter, shifter bushings, shifter plate and a Euro center console because I like them better.  Added a few extra RS badges and some rubber mats for the cubbies. That’s it.

In reply to Stefan :

Don't the '18's also have a Quaife front limited slip diff?  I need to sit in one and see if I fit.  I'm all torso and have heard the seats don't really go down much. 

In reply to docwyte :

Yup, they do, plus a few minor cosmetic difference (black rear spoiler, etc.).  I was just saying that older cars can be retrofitted by buying the 2018 dampers and still be class legal.  The Quaiffe bumps them up a class and can save you a little abuse on your brake pads, but with the Brembos, good pads and fluid, the e-diff works just fine, IME.  Of course the Quaife can be fitted to earlier cars, which could be an option since the 18's tend to command a slightly higher asking price and the price difference could make an earlier car a decent deal.

Definitely try one out, there's almost certainly some at your local Cars & Coffee, Track Days or Autocross and most owners are happy to talk about their cars (as most car people are).  Dealers are still hit or miss about test drives (though they are less likely to cause an issue compared to the more powerful Mustangs, Raptors, etc.).