2011 Scion TC: Another Reason To Wait For The FT-86
Published: March 31st, 2010
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Due to the poor planning of yours truly, TTAC won’t have its own New York Auto Show photography until a bit later in the week. But then, it’s also beginning to look like Toyota won’t have a real sports coupe worth mentioning until the FT-86 comes out sometime around 2012. Hey, nobody’s perfect. Meanwhile, let’s try to enjoy what we do have: press shots of a warmed-over, front-drive cute-coupe. Scion swears the tC’s 2.5 liter engine and platform (McPherson front/Double Wishbone rear) are “all new,” but it’s not enough to make you forget that a $25k, RWD, boxer-engined “true” sports coupe is coming from Toyota in a few short years. Which is good for patient enthusiasts, but not so great for the Scion brand.
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Honestly, given the market demographics of Scion Tc owners, I would rather they kept it a FWD coupe rather then a RWD 'sport' coupe. In fact, I usually recommend FWD cars to most non-enthusiast drivers when asked. "Sportiness" is easily confused with poor quality. Stiff suspensions, tight steering, aural feedback from the engine, lack of excessive understeering, etc. In the last East-coast snow storm you'd be surprised by how many people around me complained about how poorly their 3-series handled, as it fish-tailed in slippery conditions. Quite the contrary I decried. And this is considering how much modern RWD vehicles have progressed in terms of stability in slippery conditions. 180hp, FWD, 6-speed Auto, ~$17K, sounds about right for this car.
Well, the retiring of the 5-speed M/4-speed A is nothing but goodness. The engine specs are OK, but there are plenty of 2.5L 4 bangers out there in the 170 to 200 HP range. So that's mep. Toyota's claim of better steering feel via their electric steering makes me go puh-lease. A Mazda 3s Sport stickers for $19K, and I would suspect is going to have vastly better road feel. The VW Golf starts at $17K and change, with a 170HP 2.5L engine under the hood, and again, I'm going to guess with better driving dynamics. If you start slapping options on the tC lets face it, you get into Altima 2.5 coupe or Genesis 2.0T coupe pricing pretty quick. For giggles I built a 2010 Scion and after putting on 18" wheels, giving it a limited slip differential and a security system, I was equal to the price of a 2011 Mustang V6. Sorry, but if I want a remotely performance oriented coupe, for $23K the Hyundai Genesis or Mustang V6 kicks this offering into the ground. The FJ-86 should wear the Scion name, that will be the real contender. And if the FJ is going to come in at a similar price point (or even 10% to 15% higher) I don't see why anyone would buy a 2012 Scion tC.