10th Jul 2006, 15:57
This website has been a big help to me in researching new cars. I was very interested in the Tc until I read the reports about the horrible paint problems. I looked at a year-old Tc a few days ago, and yes, there WERE places where the paint was coming off. I'm really glad I found this site, and after reading comments on a lot of the cars I decided to buy an American made car. I've never had any problems with any of them that I've owned, or with the paint falling off after a year.
24th Sep 2006, 15:59
Clear coating a bad paint job doesn't help. It actually lessens the value of the car. Clear coats that are applied to factory paint dull quickly, leaving you with a flat looking paint job. Also, if the factory paint is bad (like on the Scion and other Toyotas) it will just flake off and take the clear coat with it. If a car company is too cheap to do a decent paint job, you need to look at other brands. Huge flaws in paint quality are sure indicators of problems in other areas. Toyota once built some reasonably good cars, but in recent years they have totally dropped the ball on quality control.
22nd Oct 2006, 16:25
Clear coating a poor paint is the WORST option available. A clear coat applied to a factory paint job only dulls the existing factory paint and lessens the value of the car drastically. NOT a good idea. Better to buy a car that doesn't "cut corners" on something. What good is a car with a reasonably decent engine if it looks like a junker?
2nd Dec 2006, 18:44
OK... first off, after a year it should still be under a warranty theyll fix it for free... think smart plus its just your car that does that...
20th Dec 2006, 11:07
I agree with the blind spots. We test drove two and were close to buying one until we took a second look around. This was especially a problem for shorter people. Tall people can look around to compensate once they are used to it, but sight lines were just not good enough overall relative to what we were used to.
27th May 2007, 19:33
I wrote the first comment on the TC. We have over 65,000 miles on the car now with no problems except the paint job. I live in the desert, and it is hard on all paint, but the TC seems to be worse than average. A friend that also owns TC tried to get the car dealership to do something about the paint, but was told it was normal wear and gave him a bottle of touch-up. Our insurance will repaint the car, but we have a $500 deductible. We will probably wait until we can't stand it anymore, and get a new paint job.
The car is fun to drive, and handles curves nicely. Several people have told me the TC has a Camry engine, but I don't know if that's true or not.
16th Jul 2007, 16:37
First it really depends on where your car's mostly driven, if you live in the desert and you have a red or black car, plus if you drive on roads with lots of sand and dust, then it's much harder on the paint. No one I know, or TCs I see on the street had that problem.
Ruling out this car purely based on its paint job seem unreasonable to me.
My friend's 02 mustang went back to the dealer 15 times for repair during first year of ownership.
My friend's 04 Focus had a clicking CV joint and a completely failed clutch at 4k (not worn out, the clutch diaphragm springs simply snapped) He was on the side of a highway off ramp for about 5 hours, waiting for ford road side assistant to arrive (only 2 blocks from a ford dealer, by the way).
Both had very nice paint at the time of failure though, if that's really what you want. Maybe when you get stock in the middle of no-where, you can at least admire the great paint job (which in my opinion, those focus pain job looks very cheap from factory)
27th Jul 2007, 07:12
I bought a '07 TC and am having problems with the paint peeling on the front bumper. After taking it to the dealer, their response was that it was caused by a nick and therefore not covered under warranty. I went home to touch up the peeling and realized that there are many nicks on the front. After looking at this site it seems to me that Toyota should be responcibile in some way.
26th Sep 2007, 08:07
Not sure if there is any thing in common, but my roomates 03 corolla has lost most of the paint from the front bumper in less than 6 months after being replaced. I've seen others with the same issue. My 03 Impala has been bumped/nicked/doored and dinged on every corner, but never lost any paint. (cheap shot; I know)
26th Sep 2007, 11:41
Okay. I don't think I've panicked this much before in my life. I just bought a brand new 08 Tc, 8 miles on the thing when I drove it off the lot, washed it for the first time last night (only have had it for a week and 1/2). THERE ARE SPOTS WITH NO PAINT!!! They did a good job of covering it up with their special little fun wax, but the minute I washed it off... NO PAINT!!! I tried to take it down this morning and the response I got was..."oh, we'll try and buff it out". WTH?!?!? How are you going to buff no paint?!?!?! I'm so furious here at work I'm ready to explode!! I don't know what to do now.
8th Oct 2007, 16:41
I simply love the car! I love it! Fun to drive and smooth.
I have an 08 tC and the paint's not coming off, and I put a lot of miles on in the first months after I got it, so it has 9500 miles on it.
I have driven it to my brother's in Florida and stayed there for a month and driven by the beaches; still there is not a speck, nick, or dent of paint on it!
21st Apr 2008, 15:03
I own a 2006 Scion tC with 40,000 miles and the paint is chipping off the bumper, door jambs, and especially the mirrors. Great car otherwise, just bad paint, also seeing rust spots coming up thru the chips, I wax this car once a month just for added protection and it doesn't seem to help.
24th Oct 2008, 21:20
I have a 2005 Scion tC 2 toned, and I bought the car used with 37 thousand miles about 2 years ago. It was just silver then, I added the black and clear coated the paint and have had no problems whatsoever. Well except where a dumb a** hit my driver front fender.
28th Oct 2008, 18:00
Toyota (which makes Scion) uses very poor quality paint. It is very prone to early fading (just look at some 3 or 4 year old Corollas) and chipping off. In most cases the best bet is to have a good body shop literally strip the paint off to bare metal and start from scratch, as even the primer is very cheap. Of course that will cost about as much as the car did new.
21st May 2009, 00:25
I bought my 2005 TC in 2004. I've loved it from the get-go. In 5 years and 67k miles later, I have had absolutely NO MECHANICAL problems with only regular oil changes every 5k miles.
I have recently learned that the TC comes with a timing chain instead of a timing belt, which lasts way longer.
I've had to replace tires, brakes and both of the front head lamps once (regular stuff). I've also had to replace the plastic trunk/lamp section, which broke when trying to open the trunk. Warranty would not cover this. Cost: $250 bucks. I've also seen this part hanging off another TC recently.
Trunk does stick, and the "handle" is not of good quality (just plastic). I also for the past year have heard a rattling coming from the trunk area, in which I cannot find the source and agree with another review about the A/C smelling mildewy, but I smoke, so that might have something to do with it.
For the price of the car, it's a great buy and I have recommended it to everybody. I've owned 5/6 vehicles before this one, and I can honestly say that I will pass this one down to my daughter next year, and will go get me another one. This time I want leather seats.
4th Jun 2006, 16:02
A friend recommended this website and it is great. I've been looking at cars, and the comments on here have really helped a lot. I wanted a Hyundai Tiburon, but there were too many complaints about the dealers not honoring the warranty, so I wrote it off. Then I was looking at Tc's and (fortunately) saw this review about the very poor paint quality. Now I've ruled out the Tc. I'll stick with American made cars. I've never had any problems with any of them.