Factory Five 818

[ViperJustin]

I talked to the chief engineer/designer of FF 818 project about what we, the consumers, can expect:

Final design to be completed summer of 2012
Production to start in 2013
Price point is estimated at $9900
Total price for average build is under 20k
However, can be built for under 15k
Donor is Subaru WRX
No extra parts need to be bought for this car


My humble opinion:
Mediocre chassis design/looks weak
Uninspiring exterior design (so far)
Very little room for custom headers, etc

My ideas (that were submitted to FF):
Use design ques from GTM
Create a race series, (like their cobra racers)
Optional soft top or hard top

[AUGIE]

i wouldn't be to hard on them. every new project , especially one focused toward a budget based crowd, starts off slow and gains improvement overtime as the demand for such product grows. fran has improved the original slr for example. it is simply a work in progress. the only limit is your pocketbook! even the big manufactures don't always come out with guns blazing until they are sure they have a home run! i'm sure they like many other professional builders that are represented on this site will be successful with their new project. all things in time.

[Karlo]

I too heard Jim at Factory Five speak and I agree with Augie, the project is very fluid and no conclusion should be made until the product is for sale.

[ViperJustin]

I wouldn't say that I was hard on them. As a matter of fact, we discussed everything that I wrote up on here. He seemed to take in some of my ideas for just that: opinions from the type of customer that would buy it (like me-I bought an SL-Razor). As far as the exhaust headers go, that's still in the air. But if the engine is layed in there as the concept is, there's MAYBE 6" from the head to the pavement. The engine sits extremely low in the chassis. And the design??? Well, it's very 1990's "concept car" looking. In other words, it's already dated and the car isn't even in production yet. (Kind of like the way the GTM is aging already. Speaking of GTM, there were two there. One at the FF display and one custome built-looked like a wide body race car. The GTM is one of those cars that look great in pics, but not so great in person...).

[cordycord]

I think that the general idea is a good one, but some of the larger decisions need time to percolate. For example, although this is supposed to be a sports car, it looks like the passengers are sitting on a 12" tall box. It turns out that the "box" is the area for the stock gas tank, which isn't quite fitting anywhere conveniently. This needs fixing.

However, I have heard that they may take the basic platform and build other body designs to skin it. GOOD idea. I'd like to see other body options with the same price point. It would make me go from thinking "do I want to build this car?" to "which of these designs to I want to build?"

[ViperJustin]

However, I have heard that they may take the basic platform and build other body designs to skin it. GOOD idea. I'd like to see other body options with the same price point. It would make me go from thinking "do I want to build this car?" to "which of these designs to I want to build?"

That's the rumor on the FF forums. But from what I understand, they are doing one design for a 2013 release. Designing a car from scratch takes a lot of time and tons of money. So if FF comes out with two different designs, I'd imagine it would break their $9900 price point (considering the r&d involved). Maybe they will do a second design if this first one is successful (which honestly, I think it will do well).

Just like everyone else, I guess we will have to wait and see.

[cordycord]

That's the rumor on the FF forums. But from what I understand, they are doing one design for a 2013 release. Designing a car from scratch takes a lot of time and tons of money. So if FF comes out with two different designs, I'd imagine it would break their $9900 price point (considering the r&d involved). Maybe they will do a second design if this first one is successful (which honestly, I think it will do well).

Just like everyone else, I guess we will have to wait and see.

It's a tough market--I hope they move forward despite all the roadblocks, monetary and otherwise.

[txjeepn]

I think its funny, but the 4 concepts that they had. The 3 winners of the contest with grass roots motorsports and the one they did in house, they picked the one inhouse to take to sema. And if you look at the winners of the contest all 3 are much better designs than the one they did. I like the idea of this car, but f the car looks like the one they did, then I am not interested. There are a lot of great designs on the factory 5 forums. But atleast dave is activly involved and listening to the public.
For the price if they can get car that looks like this. it was an update to the design by the second place winner from the contest they had.

[Metriq]

great car desing!

[pressley311]

I talked to the chief engineer/designer of FF 818 project about what we, the consumers, can expect:

Final design to be completed summer of 2012
Production to start in 2013
Price point is estimated at $9900
Total price for average build is under 20k
However, can be built for under 15k
Donor is Subaru WRX
No extra parts need to be bought for this car


My humble opinion:
Mediocre chassis design/looks weak
Uninspiring exterior design (so far)
Very little room for custom headers, etc

My ideas (that were submitted to FF):
Use design ques from GTM
Create a race series, (like their cobra racers)
Optional soft top or hard top

The subaru has only two header design's anyways both of which are compact. Stock is unequal length and after market is equal length headers. The headers have an up pipe that connects in to the hot side of the turbo on the bottom then a Down pipe comes out for the exhaust. The headers never ven directly into the atmosphere. So why would you want coustom headers? And with the turbo outlet where the down pipe goes facing toward the back of the car the should be plenty of room for some shot custom exhaust work. The ? should be how could you up grade to a FMIC because the TMIC has power limits for heat soak etc..

[VTX]

Regarding the gas tank, I did read that they were going to change it and put it behind the seat so the driver wasn't sitting so high.

I just posted a new design yesterday. Hope you guys like it:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?4791-The-VTX-818