By Glenn Swanson
April 9, 2008 -
According to Nihon Car, the Scion tC "is one of those boring 2 door coupé made for the U.S. market and powered… with only 161hp, pretty lame both in and out." Now that we have that less than flattering (if accurate) assessment out of the way, Nihon Car reveals that Scion has "succeeded at stunning us this morning" by unveiling "its gorgeous Formula Drift version" of the tC. Exhaust and suspension manufacturer RS*R created this monster, which shares its platform with Toyota's Japanese-market Avensis and Caldina cars (i.e. it's been converted to rear-wheel drive). Blessed with a turbo and intercooler, the engine now offers more than 400hp. Twenty-one-year-old Ken Gushi will helm the modded Scion in U.S. Grand Prix Professional Drift events. Could an RWD tC be coming to a Scion dealer near you? "At this time we do not have confirmed plans to produce a tC rear wheel drive, but a lot of people will want to take one home," says company VP Jack Hollis. Ya think?
Nihon Car »
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POWERED
April 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Lets see…, a small Japanese RWD sporty car. Yes Please.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
We’ll see the return of the Camaro before we see a RWD Scion.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Lets see…, a small Japanese RWD sporty car.
I’ve never been sure why Honda has never developed a coupe version of the S2000. Granted, it’d still be a $30,000 car, but I would find it more desirable than the roadster. (I don’t like droptops.)
April 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Cheap and light, too? I’ll take one 6spd in Electric Blue.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
An inexpensive RWD coupe? I say a resounding ‘HELL YES’ to the idea.
If they build it, I will come (take that statement any way you want).
April 9th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I wouldn’t be
horizontallyopposed to Subaru having a hand in this.April 9th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
If GM really understood their brand, then the new Camaro would be exactly something like this. The camaro was an affordable, badass car for kids.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Since the Tc is “based” on the Avensis, seems like it wouldn’t be hard to make a rwd version. Easier than making it fwd was. I’d call it the Scion GT-S. It would hit all demographics and SCCA racing. Keep it under $18,000, 34mpg highway= 40k sales yearly. A.D.D yes, but an image, “economy halo” car that would pay dividends for the future.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
@RayH
The Avensis is fwd-only. And not availabl in the JDM, IIRC.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
A cheap, RWD Japanese sports car. I think I’d put that in the same category as the Snipe or possibly the Unicorn. It can’t be done. If it was, it would already be on the market.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
A cheap, RWD Japanese sports car. I think I’d put that in the same category as the Snipe or possibly the Unicorn. It can’t be done. If it was, it would already be on the market.
I bet you were that kid who made sure all the other kids knew that there’s no Santa Claus.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
If they could either cut some weight or bump the HP by 20 and make the tC RWD, they’d be in serious business. Keep the price in the $18-21K range (before “customization accessories”) and Scion would gain some serious credibility! Make the current tC just a tad faster and RWD and it’d be gold.
Keep it simple and not too quick and that price point shouldn’t be too hard. The dreamers who say things like “400 hp for $19500″ should not be listened to. Toyota - listen to me. Make it moderately quick and RWD and it WILL SELL!!!
April 9th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
@ RayH & Mirko Reinhardt:
FWIW: According to this link:
“The tC shares its platform with Toyota’s Avensis four-wheel drive and Caldina all-wheel drive, both available in Japan, enabling it to undergo the conversion.” [to RWD].
April 9th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Considering how popular used 240SXs still are you’d think there was a market for a 4cyl RWD compact coupe.
A Mazda MX-5/Miata coupe would be welcome too. I’m sure the R&D costs for that couldn’t be that expensive.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
@carguy: Keep hope alive.
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/new_car_reviews/article3681914.ece
April 9th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
@ Strippo
Don’t be silly. Of course there is a Santa Claus and he drives an expensive RWD sports car.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Major kudo’s are on the shelf waiting to be claimed by whichever auto company brings back an affordable (
April 9th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Don’t be silly. Of course there is a Santa Claus and he drives an expensive RWD sports car.
Dude, that’s cold.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
We can only hope that GM brings some good Alpha-platform cars to market (and that they’re not overpriced).
April 9th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Heres hoping for the return of the toyota AE86 GTS
April 9th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I like brutal evaluations of the tC. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
This looks like a combination of a GTR and a new Lancer…
what’s with the giant “mouths” on modern sports cars? they look hungry…
April 9th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
So in other words RS*R, swap out the motor and threw in a 3rd generation 3sgte that is found in the Caldina and converted to RWD. Pretty interesting, hopefully they can bring back the 3sgte to the states…..
April 9th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
A sporty RWD 4cyl hatchback coupe with a peppy 4cyl engine? Keep it under $19k and it’s goodbye Mustang/Camaro!!!
April 9th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
@RayH
The Avensis is fwd-only. And not available in the JDM, IIRC.
Whoops! So much for me pretending to know something. I thought I read it was rwd a year or two ago. It just goes to show you can’t trust everything you read on the internet. Now someone read my comment and none of the followups and thinks it’s rwd. Kudos me.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Heres hoping for the return of the toyota AE86 GTS
It’ll arrive around the same time as the return of the Nissan 240SX and Honda CRX.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
If GM really understood their brand, then the new Camaro would be exactly something like this. The Camaro was an affordable, badass car for kids.
Except last time a domestic tried it, it turned into the Mustang II. A Camaro like this would probably be based on a Cobalt platform tuned for RWD, which horrifies me.
A sporty RWD 4cyl hatchback coupe with a peppy 4cyl engine? Keep it under $19k and it’s goodbye Mustang/Camaro!!!
I like the Scion concept, but I’d like it better if it were a Ford Mustang.
I dunno, maybe it’s me wanting a car with a real name rather than two letters put together. Name the car the “Scion Fox”, “Scion Shark”, hell, “Scion [insert fast-sounding animal name here]” and I’ll like it.
Yes, I’m complaining about the name. Even “Civic” sounds better than this.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Scion Celica would do just fine…
November 16th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
tc stands for toyota celica, right?