WoW... sound a little bit automotive A.D.D there.. lol (to be fair, I'm guilty of the same.)
Firstly, I'm pretty surprised to hear someone finally agree that the FR-S interior was lacking/bare... You can't talk that way on the 86 forums... I feel like a lot of 86 guys, are convinced it's a far nicer interior than it is...And interestingly, they are calling the Fiesta ST bare inside...I don't know... with the recaro package I don't feel the ST is as rough as the FRS was... I'm quite happy with it.. Not trying to bash the 86 by any means. It's a seriously wicked machine.. I will say that it's very comfortable in the driver seat.. I enjoyed the seat position and the seats themselves are nice. I came close to buying one a few times in all my shopping sessions & test drives. Great handling, but the main reasons I didn't get one were... the power, interior, and having come from a Camaro 2SS/RS I realized I just don't want to live with a small rear seat 2 dr coupe for daily purposes.
I feel you though, even when I was test driving a titanium Fiesta... I had a blast.. (There was no FiST's yet, so couldn't drive one.) So I did some test drives in the FoST and some regular Fiesta's/focus's. Trying to get a rough idea for what the FiST would maybe be close to.
I figured it had to fall somewhere between a regular fiesta and a FoST.
I looked at other vehicles too, such as the EVO, STI, some audi's & lexus.. VW golf R , vw gti, mustang GT, A pretty long and random list.. pretty much anything of interest.
I ended up in a 2010.5 SVT Raptor, after trading out of my 2010 Camaro SS/RS. And from there, to the current 2014 Fiesta ST.
My Camaro was my first Manual car. I will say, since I didn't want to beat up on a new transmission, I took a few lessons in a corolla.
It's not hard. I think if you are a car guy, and you care to learn.. You'll learn just fine.
In some parts of the world Manual is still basically "standard"... Everyone drives it, and it doesn't take any special skill or level of genius to figure it out.
I would still lean towards lessons... But if you wanted to learn in the ST. I would say it is a fantastic car to learn in. The transmission is very forgiving and super easy to manage compared to some manuals I've driven.
I think I had 3 lessons, and I was good to go by the time my Camaro arrived, even after a few months of no more driving manual while I waited.
The first few days took some adjusting, but it wasn't so bad.
I believe there has been one or two people on this forum who learned to drive standard so that they could have a FiST too.
Anyway, my advice..
Drive the ST. You'll know if you need it or not.
This imho has been the best automotive purchase I've made to date. I don't expect that I'll get bored of this car anytime soon. It's cheap, it's fun, it's practical... and.... did I mention it's fun?! lol. I really appreciate that it's not just fun when you drive it on a track or something, but it's fun in even the worst traffic or most boring daily commutes. Having driven the FRS I'm sure you get it. I can't imagine another car that could match the fun per dollar that the 86's and the ST's offer... I'd say, anyone driving either 86 or either ST is.. living.
As for the FRS monogram, are the changes going to make enough of a difference for you to love that car much more? You already sold one. Do the updates solve whatever was missing for you?
GTI is a nice car, no doubt... But I have to say, never have I driven one and had an ear to ear grin.... I've enjoyed driving GTI's, but it's not something I'd ever rave about. I loved driving the Golf R.. I did not love the price tag for what it was. The 370z has never done it for me... I can appreciate why people like them, I just don't like them aesthetically.. I'm more of a mustang/Camaro guy.. And in spite of the power, I'd take an 86 over a Z any day.
Sounds like you got some soul searching to do. And sounds like you got a list of fun cars to pick from. I'm sure you'll end up In something fun.
Good luck.