BRZ

[ScottyB]

The more I drive this car,  the more I like it.  I honestly think you would love it more than your Si.

i think i would, and considering how many cars you've driven i'd trust your opinion on the 86. believe it or not the 8th gen Si and the 86 share a lot of common metrics....electric steering, strut/multilink, 6 speed, ~200hp/150lb ft, within ~150 lbs, small but functional back seats, nearly same width and 5" of wheelbase. i find that i love the high powerband and 200hp is my happy number for street driving a smaller car. it seems to be the logical next step since i've never gotten to enjoy owning a RWD car and i mostly just cart around myself and my son...bigger trips are handled by the 4Runner now. i don't love the FA20 but i think its built strong enough to stay together long term with bolt ons.

the catch right now is that the Si is a great, reliable, cheap car and it does its job perfectly. but i've got the bug at this point....probably a matter of time. i want to focus on using the camper this year and maybe start thinking about an 86 seriously next year (at which point i might find some of the PP cars have come down further in price)

2015s and 2016s have new coilpacks and harnesses that fix the issue.  They were what I was shopping for until I found a great deal on a 17 Perf Pack.

all my searches started at 2015 as well for the reasons you stated. they're cheap enough now i didn't see much reason to go earlier. sounds like all of them suffer from weak TOB's so that's also budgeted into my cost unless i got lucky and find one that already had it done. anything else to look out for?

i saw one of those TRD FRS's (black with the TRD stripe down the fender) when we were buying the 4Runner and i'm not gonna lie, i loved it. its like a little hotwheels car. my inner ricer was filled with joy at all the street cred i'd get from 16 year olds if i had that.