2007 Scion tC from North America - Comments

Clutch is bad - not sure if it's an actual problem, or if it's just not a very good clutch.

Rattles in the trunk during normal driving.

Squeaking in the pointless radio cover during normal driving.

I was excited about getting a new car. This car seemed like excellent value and since it was a "sport coupe" should have been fun to drive.

After a month or so in it, I realized I bought a pretty standard, boring economy 2 door car.

The main problems: The suspension is way too soft, and I feel isolated from the road - I might as well be driving a camry.

Parts of this car DO come from the camry and other sedans (the chassis is from a european toyota avensis sedan, engine from camry) so I should have known - somehow the excitement of buying a new car blinded me to this...

This all results in a car that has too much body roll in corners. I never feel confident cornering in this car.

The engine doesn't rev high enough to have any fun with it - again, it's from a camry - I should have known.

One of the biggest problems however, is that the clutch is possibly the worst I've ever used. It feels horrible, it feels spongy - there's no defined point of contact, I have to hold the clutch in position for ages before the engine really "catches" and I'm save to continue without the car jumping around and making me look like a learner driver.

Add to that, that the accelerator pedal has a dead spot at the top (due to the stupid drive-by-wire electronic throttle control). This means you have to push the accel. pedal down twice as much as in other cars, just to pull away - but really you're not giving the engine that much gas. Makes pulling away a chore instead of fun. Never a problem with any other car I've driven (all manual).

So...overall the car isn't fun, it feels too heavy in corners, too soft, isolated, and I have no confidence in it's handling. The clutch is really bad, and the gas pedal doesn't help.

The good things however, include really nice 17" wheels standard, a pretty nice interior (for the price), nice seats (for the price), good enough torque (for the price), a nice shine on the paint (although it seems to mark easily) and a nice enough CD player.

This car is fine for someone who doesn't care about a fun drive - and basically just wants a cheap 2 door camry, so they don't look like they're driving an old-man car, but still get the "drive" of an old-man car...

If you're enthusiastic about your cars though, and expect to feel some "sport" from a sport coupe... you won't like what you get.

If the mazda3 suspension was on this car, and a proper clutch, it'd solve most of the problems, and (for the price) it WOULD be a really good car.

Since scions target buyer is teens and young people's first car, just finishing college, I feel they thought that they could get away with the bad clutch and handling, because most of them won't know any different.

So why didn't you just get a Mazda 3? Everyone knows the engine comes from a Camry, and during the test drive you should have gotten a feel for how the car handles. Do your research before you drop money on a new car. I have this car and I absolutely love it, but I spent at least six months looking into many other cars until I felt this was the right one for me; I, unlike other consumers, prefer to know exactly what I am buying before I actually purchase it.

You're absolutely right - I should have looked longer, possibly waited to save more money for down payment, and maybe test driven the tc some more... unfortunately I had just got a job that meant I needed a car quickly, I didn't want to make a quick decision on a used car and end up with trouble, and unfortunately rushed into this decision for the tc... it will not happen again.

Renting a car while I made my decision was another option, but again, it meant throwing money away... it's a shame that for the first time ever my financially responsible side took over in this situation :-D this will also not happen again.

Scion TC's are the new honda civics. Cheap, and everybody is turning them into rice rockets. The only thing with TC's is that they are heavy, and even with a supercharger, are slow as balls.

I love it when people feel the same about the tC as me :-D

Heavy slow and soft.. that's what my car is.

I've driven this car many times and am so disappointed with it. It's VERY sad Toyota screwed over the enthusiast drivers and gave them this hunk of scrap metal to replace the strong, reliable, and very well balanced (in terms of performance, price, reliability, and driving enjoyment). So all I have to say is shame on Toyota for abandoning their sports car drivers.

My first car was a 1991 Celica GT and I bought it with 140,000 miles on it and sold it about 2 years later with 168,000 miles. During that time I basically had to do 0 maintenance with the exception of tires (which I knew were bad) and clutch (which stated to slip mid 140k miles). I replaced the clutch myself and found out it was original. The previous owner was a guy who didn't drive it like a maniac, but drove it strong and to have the clutch go 150k with a strong driver is pretty impressive in my books.

I now own a 2001 Celica GT-S with almost ALL the upgrades. I'm even more impressed with this Celica.

I recommend all Scion tC owners to give up the idea of a new-cheap sports car and search out a used Celica GT-S, or a supra or Subaru WRX, or Legacy GT, or Mazda, etc. In my opinion it's Toyota's best engineered car they'll probably ever make. It's not being made any more cuz this style of car just doesn't have the strongest market anymore, and the car is very over-priced new, you could get a Subaru WRX, with almost double the horsepower and AWD.

Used however they're a GREAT sub-$10k car. I bought mine almost a year ago and paid $9,800 and feel I over paid a bit, but because of the drive and the condition of the car and the type of original owner I didn't want to lose it to anyone.

OK so first off... the 7th generation Celica’s (2000 to 20005) have a very bad reputation and don't get a whole ton of respect on the road, especially by someone who doesn’t know the GT-S. This is because most of them are the much slower GT models, a lot of young women buy them simply because of the radical outside styling, most are automatic, and they have a small displacement, high strung engines that in certain situations won't accelerate strongly and simply never will have the torque of a big muscle car. But that's not what Celica's have been about (or have strived to be).

From the start the 7G Celica’s started off well - while almost all Toyotas are assembled in Ken-tu-key, the good ole' boy state; every single Celica from 2000 to 2005 were completely assembled in Toyota City - Toyota, Japan. From what I read this is because the body of the Celica was originally a concept car, it's an unusually styled car, with a VERY unusual engine (the GT-S engine), and Toyota wanted better quality control and their engineers closer by for changes along the way. I'm gonna focus here on the GT-S for the rest of my comment.

The GT-S has a very different engine than the GT. Though they're the same displacement and seem like similar they're different engines in many ways. The GT has variable lift and timing (VVT-i) to adjust valves for better performance, where the GT-S has VVTL-i which is like a turbo boost with no turbo - basically at 6000 rpm the car uses a change in oil flow in the valve train to change the profile of the intake and exhaust camshafts, to make the intake and exhaust valve open wider than normal. I'd say it give about 80% of the turbo "feeling". It's powerful and it's a rush, but it doesn't push quite as hard as a turbo.

The car redlines at about 8,400 to 8,500 rpm, and if you're a good shifter and you let it max the RPM gauge without hitting the fuel cut off, you'll be right back at 6,000 rpm when you shift. The car sounds, acts, and moves very different in this 6k to max rpm range - from inside the car it really sounds like a race car roar, and it's no pushover going from 6,000 to 8,400, which takes place very quickly with the tires almost have a hard time staying on the ground. For that reason I wouldn't go past 6,000 with snow, or slick roads in a turn; it's just so much of a quick boost of power and torque to the front wheels, but that's OK since 0 to 6,000 revs is a lot of room to move around in, especially when most cars on the road red line before 7k.

This is not the only difference in engines (the GT engine is coded a 1ZZ-FE and the GT-S is coded as 2ZZ-GE) the bore of the pistons and cylinders in GT-S is bigger and the stroke is shorter to accommodate the higher revs. The GT doesn't have any valve lift and red lines around 7,500 to 7,800.

Here's some of the specs official specs, GT-S (GT after it) : engine code - 2ZZ-GE (1ZZ-FE), bore and stroke - 3.23x3.35in (3.11x3.61), displacement - 1.8L/1796cc (1.8L/1794cc), compression - 11.5:1 (10:1), valve train - 4v/cyl VVTL-i (4v/cyl VVT-i), horsepower - 140HP@6400rpm (180HP@7600rpm), torque 125lb/ft@4200rpm (145lb/ft@6800rpm), fuel system - EFI (EFI), power train - FWD (FWD), gear ratios - 1st3.166 (3.166) /2nd2.050 (1.904) /3rd1.481 (1.392) /4th1.166 (1.031) /5th0.916/ (0.815) /6th0.725 (N/A) /reverse3.250 (3.250) /differential ratio4.529 (4.321), suspension (both cars) - Macpherson Struts/double wishbone (rear) /tube double acting/stabilizer bar 0.866" (front) 0.669" (rear), brakes - front swept area 224.4" (187.1") - rear swept area 158.1" (58.4") - total swept area 382.5" (245.5").

The car only weighs about 2300lbs, so because of the light weight the engine doesn't really have any trouble moving the car with decent pep. As you can see from the specs, the GT-S is happy for every day driving around the 4 to 5k range, and peaks in the high 6k to mid 7k where the GT has its peak torque at 4,200. Since peak torque really considered "real world performance, and the GT torque is mid rev and the GT-S is almost at 7k, you can really see the major difference in engine profiles. HP peak is similarly high with each engine, as is the case for the majority of engines, especially high revving and high strung 4 cylinders.

For every day driving, the GT-S will lack some of the GT's mid engine torque; there can be a bit of a mid engine GT-S power drop in the 4000's, but it still has enough power and with a competent stick shift diver, and the different in gear ratios you can make up the difference easily.

Speaking of the transmission, there's really no point in buying this car and expecting sport car performance; nothing else does the job as the 6 speed manual. The 5 speed manual in the GT is as pretty standard as they go, and both automatics in the GT and GT-S are... well AUTOMATICS, the shifter paddles on the GT-S are as pointless on any other car.

My opinion is #1 if you don't know how to drive a stick shift, then LEARN, and #2 if you don't want a stick shift, then you don't want/have the need/know what is a true sports car. I don't fully understand people who buy automatic sports cars, as they take no brain cells to drive and do the driving and all engine control for you. Plus the 6 speed on this car is so nice, it's as tight as a MR2 or Porsche and seems like, or might be a short shifter. Having reverse beside 1st gear is so nice of a difference from the standard 5 speed configuration Japanese cars have and the car just makes you want to have an excuse to change gears. Yes, in stop and go traffic, and other situations the shifting can be a chore, but that's a sports car... no pain, no gain!

Suspension almost makes the car feel like a rear drive car. The cornering and lack of body roll is so strong and this is for my car with 110,000 miles on it no less and original suspension. If not for some tire squealing at the 6 grand, sometimes you'd think it was rear driven. Steering is by far the most sensitive and tightest of any car I've yet to drive though (and this might be specific to my car) the steering wheel is not perfectly straight, I'm assuming it's an alignment thing. But summing the suspension, it's just tight as can be.

Brakes, there's a real difference between the two cars - GT has rear drums (AKA - GARBAGE!!!) and GT-S has disks all the way around the car. There is such a notice when braking in the GT-S - they are so responsive and sensitive... almost too sensitive. The disks are quiet and look very good on the GT-S larger wheels and beautiful and easy to clean and maintain alloy wheels, unfortunately the GT has steel rims with hub-caps, adding insult to injury with the drum brakes. If you have a GT, I would highly recommend putting gear GT-S brakes.

All together the drivability of the GT-S is just perfect... for me. It's so high strung with handling and braking just as tight and high strung.

The GT-S is like a motorcycle engine, loud when high revving, you can hear it easily inside the car and make the light car drive like one. The GT-S engine was developed by Yamaha and was the same engine Lotus begged Toyota to put in the Elise with an extra 10 HP from the different computer software, intake, and exhaust profile.

Interior - only speaking for the leather clad and fully upgraded GTS is just classic Toyota. There is the annoyingly overuse of plastic, but not cheaply assembled and put on the car. It doesn't creak or make any unusual sounds and it probably won't in the future. The fake carbon fiber trim, even as fake as it is, and looks so much better than the GT and stock GT-S' silver trim.

The seats are near perfect in terms of how they hold you into the seat. Upper leg support, lumbar, and "kidney" supports are excellent and hold you into the seat like it is a racing seat. Leather on the seats, steering wheel, and shifter is strong with no cracks or wearing. Though I do not like that the back of the front seats and back seats are vinyl, but I'd take anything cloth any day - I despise cloth so much.

I absolutely love the gauges and the racing style look they have - including the LCD gas gauge and temp. gauge - though the red/orange color of the gauges look good, but don't match the ugly green radio/center climate control backlights.

Headlights are ultra convenient, turning on when the sensor detects it's dark and the parking lever is lowered.

The keyless entry is very much to my liking in terms of range and the fact that the car relocks after 30 seconds of not entering the car, locks when you start the car, and unlocks when turning off the ignition.

The sunroof opens wide and has a vent option.

The hatchback have so much more room than what would be expected.

The rear seats fold down for even more room.

The car alarm is sensitive enough, but not overly sensitive, and all-in-all there ire not too many gadgets in the car, but just enough.

Finally - blind spots, and visibility sides, and back of the car are worse than you can imagine, but if you wanted a safe car, buy a Camry.

Only problem I’ve had with the car is a check engine light, which was solved with a $80 Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor, which also doubles as the air temperature sensor. I also replaced the post and pre catalytic converter oxygen sensor, which each cost less than $100 as they only last 100,000 miles, with still being quick to respond to the engine.

The check engine light code was a PO172 – rich running engine that was only on for a few weeks to month, and now is turned off and seems the car runs even stronger than before.

With a 0-60 of 6.5 seconds, and a 1/4 mile right under 15 seconds, don't expect to out run a V8 Mustang or Corvette in a straight run, but you won't be left in the dust. You'll either over take most V6s and straight sixes (that means you BMW M3s and suped up 3 and 5 series!!!).

In normal day to day driving with twists and turns in the road, you'll keep up in the straight runs, make hard and quick corners and will definitely be able to accelerate out of the turn better than most sport cars.

Once you get past the stigma of the young secretaries and teeny boppers in high school that drive this car, and find a 6 speed STICK SHIFT, it will probably be the best naturally aspirated 4 cylinder 2 door Japanese little sports car you'll ever drive.

I'm going to agree with your review, the vague clutch engagement like you said that makes you look like you just starting learning a manual, the body roll even going into a turn mildly aggressive, the very poor gearing, which results in an extremely busy engine at highway speeds at the speed limit (3k @60mph) and jerking the car coming off a light because first gear is so short along with the previously mentioned clutch issue, galaxy size gaps between interior panels and paint, which seems like it came from matchbox cars.

I made the same mistake as you regarding the purchase as I was also in the same situation, now I know better. Last time I'm purchasing a Toyota product.

It's a builder car. You have to make it what you want it to be guys. That's why there's so many upgrades to it.

Sorry to hear you guys are having such trouble with your tC's...but I have yet to experience any of the so-called "problems" that you have experienced, like the clutch pedal. I am incredibly quick on it, I can put into gear immediately, and my car never jerks in any gear. There are also no dead-zones in the clutch or the gas pedal, so you may want to go to the dealership you got it from to see if it has problems.

To address your performance issues though... I really wouldn't complain because, remember, you bought a $16k toyota, not a $50k corvette. I feel all the body roll and high-rev at high speeds that you do... but I don't complain because I didn't buy the car to take it to the track... I bought it cuz its the perfect car for me as a college student. Loads of room, nice rims, sunroof, mp3 audio system, great thick paint job, eager acceleration in the beginning gears, heavy feeling body and doors (similar to the lexus IS), and the best part... it is built on one of the world's most dependable engines... the camry's engine. For one, I don't plan on getting the best 0-60, the best time at the track, or the craziest race car. I bought it cuz its CHEAP, DEPENDABLE, GOOD GAS MILEAGE, and a car that will LONG-OUTLAST its warranty.

If you want a race car, don't plan on spending $16k, plan on spending more.

I agree with the post above. You get what you pay for. And buying a car should be more about what a person needs/wants in a vehicle and not what others have said about it.

I have an '08 tC I bought used from a Ford dealership and got a great deal on it. I'm not a car snob and I'm not much of a car enthusiast even, but I couldn't be happier with my car. If you want to race, get something that's made for it. But honestly, you've got to look at this from a marketing point of view: if Toyota is branding a new line of vehicles that are intended for high school and college students it's not exactly very responsible to put a V6 and high performance everything in it. (Note: This is just a marketing view. That doesn't mean some kid's parents won't buy them something faster/nicer so using that as an argument isn't totally valid in this case.)

If this car was intended for racing and speed I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a 4-cylinder with FWD. I bought it because the price was good, I've always liked the car, it drove well (I used to have an automatic '98 Plymouth Neon, so believe me, this is a big jump!), had plenty of room inside, and it still has the manufacturers warranty.

BUT! I will go with the cons on the clutch... although this is my first straight shift so I'm sure I'm making common "beginner" mistakes. And it's not always jumpy from first to second, I believe a lot has to do with how it's driven--my boyfriend shifts smoothly all the time. Plus I like that it's a little jumpy, it just feels more responsive compared to an automatic.