So, do we like the Scion Tc?

Back in 2007, my dad bought one, and then my sister bought it from my dad a few years later. At first, it seemed like a great value for what you got in the package, but over the course of ownership, it turned into a total POS. Some observations:

-It went through 4 sets of tires and 3 sets of brakes in about 75k miles, which was not impressive. I personally did brakes on it twice, and it didn't like aftermarket brakes. The rear rotors made contact with something on the inside of the rotor and I had to grind the brand new rotors to fit the car. Yes, they were the correct parts.

-The car was slow and felt super heavy. I hated the seating position and could never get comfortable. Also, the rake of the windshield became annoying, and unless I did the "gangsta lean" the view was distorted.

-The stock "Pioneer" stereo quit around 50k miles. I put in a JVC double DIN after that, which was relatively simple.

-One day, my dad was borrowing the car again from my sister and he went to open the roof. The mechanism bound up, and SHATTERED THE ENTIRE GLASS ROOF. It took months to get it fixed, and a fight with the insurance company to get them to cover it under their glass coverage. Basically, the whole roof had to get replaced. I think the bill ended up being over $4k when all was said and done.

-The trim above the license plate that houses the liftgate button broke off and had to be replaced at the tune of $150. Every single one of these cars does this. If you see one and it's not duct taped on, that means it's already been replaced.

-The back seats recline, which was kinda weird but cool. You could fit two adults back there and it was kinda comfortable.

-They hold their value pretty well. My sister got a very good trade in value for it when she got rid of it. That may be out the window with the demise of Scion, though.

-Gas mileage is terrible. I remember my dad getting around 22mpg out of it no matter what and being disappointed. At the time, I was getting more than that out of my heavier, tuned WRX that had AWD and made close to double the power.

I'd say that if you want something with sporty intentions that's reliable and efficient, definitely get something else. If you want a pretend "Tuner" car to stance, cover in stickers, and sit in a parking lot, this is the one.

Meh

Buddy had one, great appliance car, roomy hatch etc but sporty...not so much.

Bobzilla wrote: Heavy, underpowered and the #1 choice of teenage girls followed closely by the Tiburon which was also heavy and underpowered.

Did Bob just say something bad about a Hyundai? gasp

The car that was supposed to defined scion defined scion to the grave.

All it did was show how clueless toyota had become on cars less than $40,000.

There were three in my family, all 2005s and all manual transmissions.

I sold my wife's at 170k miles, never a problem. I autocrossed it for two years.

My brother's and brother in law's are still around with 270k miles each.

Both had failed clutches at around 200k miles. They still had life left but the springs broke. I dont consider this a problem at that mileage.

One of them had an alternator fail and was replaced by a low mileage unit from a junkyard. A bearing failed and was noisy, but it still worked.

Both had the sunvisors break. They were replaced free of charge by Scion.

None have the broken hatch thing. I see this a lot though. Probably from bad shocks in the hatch, who knows.

They are Toyota reliable and a great commuter.

160hp and 2900 lbs, its not that bad. It also has a 2.4 liter engine with a good amount of torque down low.

I considered buying one as a daily driver a few years ago, but never got around to test driving one. From my research they seemed be a decent looking, affordable, reliable and surprisingly functional DD. However, it had a lacking in the performance department and fuel economy wasn't exactly amazing. IIRC, I also recall some rumblings about high insurance rates, possibly due to it's average owners age being in their 20's... For what it's worth, I ended up buying an Ion Redline instead...

I did have a buddy that bought one with a 5speed brand new after graduating high school and owned it for over eight years. During that time he lived in numerous states taking it with him everywhere. I never heard him complain once about it. He eventually sold it and bought a Ram.

I also had an ex-GF that became inspired to buy a "fun car" with a stick after I taught her how to operate one in my Ion. We would periodically stop at a local Ford dealers "budget" lot that I like to call "The Playground", because they'll let you test drive a whole bunch of cars in one visit without grilling you about your intentions or so much as stepping foot in the building... We stopped in one Saturday morning and she drove a handful of manual equipped cars on the lot. IIRC, a tC, 1st gen V6 Mazda 6 and a 2door G6 GTP, maybe more. FWIW, she still wasn't anywhere near amazing at driving a manual, but as soon as she hit the main road in the tC, she said "nope" and hit the first turn around to take it back. The other two atleast got taken down the road a bit. For what her opinion is worth, she ended up buying a 2007 Civic Si coupe.

Apparently, the tC can take some boost pretty well. I had a buddy who bought a bone stock LS1 6speed Trans Am that had an interesting encounter with a tC. One night shortly after he got the T/A, we were out cruising on the HWY at night and came upon a stock looking tC that had some gauges on its A pillar. My buddy lined up next to the tC in hopes of embarrassing the owner, but the Scion let out some audible spooling noise and eventually walked away pretty easily. My buddy was silent for the rest of the drive...

In reply to SilverFleet:

I forgot about that they do get terrible mileage. We were sitting with th salesman, when my buddy was buyinh his and the salesman said how good the mileage was 30 iirc and I leaned to my buddy and said thats terrible the Z28 can almost get that, i was averaging 28 on trips. The slaesman took offense and said its impossible for a v8 to get better gas mileage than a toyota 4 cylinder. I told him the manual fbodies get surprisingly good mileage on the highway because 5th and 6th are overdrive gears. He started laughing and said that impossible, overdrive is just the top gear, i didnt want to argue so i jusr let it be.

At the first service my buddy took it back to the dealer to get it done, amd while he was waiting he went and found the salesman aand told him the mileage was berkeleying horrible and the z28 routinely fot better mileage than him on our trips.

dculberson wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: Heavy, underpowered and the #1 choice of teenage girls followed closely by the Tiburon which was also heavy and underpowered.

Did Bob just say something bad about a Hyundai? *gasp*

THe GK Tibs were terrible. 3k lbs and 160hp V6 that was lucky to get 25mpg. IT looked awesome. That was it.

Well, this was a resounding, Meh.

Thanks for the input.

Next.

I'm going to put in my two cents here, as I've owned two of them.

I had a 08 tC 5spd. What I liked about it: Once lowered, the car handled great. Rode well, decent gas mileage, semi-usable back seat.

What I didn't like about it: Seats. Basically they are just corolla seats tossed in. And with my height and the position of the seat, they weren't the best for long hauls. I did drive it 14 hours straight to KS from KY, and about half way through IL my back starting hurting.

https://flic.kr/p/dfUB6C (photo for reference)

Now I have a 2014 Monogram. 6spd manual, with all the luxuries needed like heated leather seats, navigation, and keyless entry/ignition. And again, once lowered the suspension is nice. At stock height it's a bit nervous feeling. But once you drop the center of gravity, it all comes to life. Driven it a few times on US129 tail of the dragon and felt like it did very well for just tires and coilovers. The interiors are much nicer, with better seats that fit the car. It's not so much of Toyota's recycling car as it was in the past.

https://flic.kr/p/rzGw2k