If you’ve been holding out on buying a Scion tC until the right special edition came along, this is your last opportunity.
Scion’s parent, Toyota, took the youth-oriented brand behind the woodshed last month, making the upcoming Release Series 10.0 version of the tC coupe an aerodynamic swan song.
Developed in partnership with designer Kei Miura, the Release Series 10.0 goes to town on the tC’s suspension and body.
The tC’s ride will be stiffened up (and center of gravity lowered) with the use of TRD performance shocks, a growl will be added (to replace the brand’s whimper) from a TRD exhaust system, and a Miura-designed aero kit will boost the body’s visual aggression.
Available only in Barcelona Red, the Release Series 10.0 comes with gloss black wheels and red stitching in the otherwise all-black interior. Special badging will allow owners to tell their tC Release Series apart from their neighbor’s.
The model will be displayed at next week’s New York International Auto Show before going on sale for $23,190 (in six-speed manual guise).
The show will be Scion’s last. Like John Dillinger’s fateful trip to the Biograph Theatre, this lady in (Barcelona) red is a portent of the brand’s imminent demise.
Toyota claims that Scion’s existence was an experiment in luring younger and first-time car buyers to the company, and that the tC had the lowest average buying age in the industry (29).
Once the Scion name had been officially laid to rest, the remaining models in the lineup — iA, iM and FR-S — will have their badges swapped for Toyota logos.
[Images: Toyota]
Toyota must have a couple of train loads of Scion badges still in inventory.
Does 10.0 indicate the number of years since the model was last updated?
That one’s been updated? I thought only the xBox was.
I think they changed the front clip, and made the rear worse by making one of the reverse lamps an optional extra or something.
Why they wouldn’t change this to a Toyota Celica, smooth out the design, give it a,better suspension and the 2.0t option is beyond me, they would sell a few.
Honda could do the same thing making a special Civic Coupe as the Prelude, perhaps. I’m sure the Civic has gotten big enough now to be close in size to what the Prelude was.
I would love to see a review between this and a the FRS/BRZ. I bet Scion /Toyota would never allow it.
It’s essentially a Civic coupe competitor, so that makes as much sense as comparing a Civic to an S2000.
Or Forte Koup, yes.
Other then one being “right drive” and one being “wrong drive” They are a lot closer together than a S2000 and a Honda Civic Coupe. Both are 2 door hard top coupes with about the same footprint. So the FRS was built to be a drivers car while the TC was built as a sporty looking car. But how much better of a drivers car is the FRS actually, especially to this slightly modified TC? I bet to the average driver driving on the street the TC might be the winner. I think Scion is killing the wrong car. Not interested in either, but I would like the head to head comparison. Though I really like the rental car reviews too.
Fred, thanks, will go back and look up the FRS/BRZ review.
Mr Dykes did a review on this car and made a few comments comparing it the FRS/BRZ
You can compare a potato to a melon – whether you come up with any insights is another matter entirely.
I liked the tC but wanted more room. Still, the few times I’ve loaded up my TSX wagon I think I could of saved a few thousand and been happy.
Mild FWD 2-doors aren’t a big segment so it isn’t much surprise this car isn’t being transitioned to the Toyota showroom once Scion folds. I’ve never liked the exterior of this generation and while the first tC made you ask how they could deliver that car for the price, the interior of this one answers that clearly.
Still, it has some fundamentally good things going for it, like the price point, the powertrain, and the interior capacity and flexibility.
Still by far and away the best looking of the Japanese “Mild FWD 2-doors”, imho.
What others were there in this class? I say were, because there are only a couple left.
Tc
Civic Coupe
Forte Koup
Elantra Coupe (RIP?)
Altima RIP
Solara RIP
If you are going to count the Altima and Solara then you must include the Accord Coupe as well.
Fair enough. All Japanese FWD 2-doors, then? I don’t think I get where the mild part comes in.
See, there was the class of compact FWD coupes that weren’t particularly sporty, or are only sporty in high-performance versions:
-Chevy Cobalt Coupe / Pontiac G5
-Hyundai Elantra Coupe
-Kia Forte Koup
-Honda Civic Coupe
-Ford Focus Coupe
-Saturn Ion Quad Coupe
Then, you had the class of compact FWD coupes that marketed themselves as sports cars (sometimes rightfully so):
-Mitsubishi Eclipse
-Hyundai Tiburon
-Toyota Celica
This group started to die off in the late-90s and early-2000s, along with the personal luxury coupe.
The Scion tC sort of splits the difference between those two classes, because it doesn’t market itself as a sports car, but it actually has some nice performance credentials and could be a sports coupe if it wanted to (aside from being extremely boxy).
Oh, and I meant to say. You know we always do the “what was the last car to have so and so” around here. The answer to “What car was the last to wear a script badge from the factory?” was Solara, until it switched to block letters in 2007.
But now, the Elantra Coupe has a script badge from factory.
CoreyDL, I have also seen modern Challengers running around with fender script badges that are probably exact replicas of the 60s badges. However, they could just be Mopar catalog badges, or something.
I haven’t noticed those, can’t find any pics with some on them. I’m thinking they’re stick on catalog order.
The Challenger script logo can be had from the factory. It comes on the R/T Classic trim, as well as the 392-powered cars with the shaker hood.
The problem with a direct comparison to all of those is that none of them are a 3 door hatchback like the TC is. It looks like a 2 door coupe but it is a lot more versatile than an actual 2 door coupe.
Geez if it’s limited to FWD two door hatch…
Umm. Old RSX?
Exactly. How many hatchs with manuals that have any sort of sporting pretensions do we have left?
The Honda CR-Z (which admittedly is being ended in 2016 as well) is a small, manual transmission, FWD hatchback 2D coupe with sporting pretensions.
That counts definitely. I’d take an old RSX over the maligned CR-Z for sure, but it counts.
So there are two options and they’re both dying.
Agree on both points, 30-mile fetch. The first generation had a nice, clean design. The second generation worsened things, all too predictably, by moving in a “masculine” and “aggressive” direction. The refresh of the second generation, also all too predictably, made things worse still with the hangnail headlights. (I like that term, PRNDLOL.)
But both gens had some good “all-rounder” qualities: reasonably quick, reasonably economical, reliable, a usable back seat, hatchback flexibility, and so forth – things that didn’t necessarily endear it to the press but made it a solid choice for some buyers.
I’ve owned both, quick take: I like the styling of the 2nd gen better, the powertrain is a definite improvement with much more usable power and gets 3-4mpg more to boot, but the cost cutting on the interior is definitely noticeable… seats aren’t as comfortable, plastics look cheaper, and everywhere you look you see where they saved pennies. Also, one of the big advertised features was the glass roof and large sunroof, it’s quite a bit smaller now and not as nice without the moving deflector in front like the first generation was.
Good point about the powertrain improvements, lzaffuto. I was a tad harsh on the 2nd-gen (though I still prefer the styling of the 1st).
Your comments about the interior match my experience with other Toyota/Scion/Lexus products. Still good products on the whole, IMO, and better in some ways, but worse on some details. It may be that the general public is less picky or doesn’t notice these things. Some of this undoubtedly has to do with exchange rates, features/dollar, and overall costs adjusted for inflation.
Besides the quality of the plastics themselves it’s really simple stuff that a lot of people miss… example: First gen has separate map reading lights for driver and passenger and a dome light, where the second gen only has the dome light. First gen has auto up/down for both driver and passenger windows, second gen has driver side only.
Not too bad for a farewell front end, as far as hangnail headlights go anyway.
If I end up keeping my own tC for the long haul, I’ll have the Sam Hell Jr release series…
16 inch rims with 55 aspect ratio tires
Camry suspension bits
Aftermarket sound insulation
A Camry exhaust
Aftermarket back up camera
AKA the Solara hatch that could have been.
Then again I find myself on the wrong side of the average tC buyer’s age these days…
Sam Hell Jr: a sane person trapped in an asylum
Via AutoGuide: FR-S becomes the 86:
http://toyotadriverseat.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=12605
I will be so happy when the black wheel fad DIES.
(not directed at Toyota or Scion but to the industry at large)
I agree. I hate the way black wheels look 99% of the time. Every once in a while I’ll see one that looks okay, like maybe a white car that has black accents and black wheels with silver trim on the wheel rim. But solid black wheels just remind me of an alloy wheel caked with brake dust.
So, let’s keep the pokey FR-S in its current garb around but dump the coupe that actually sells somewhat?
Ohkkay…
Wait….this outsells the FR-S? Is that true? And if so,care you accounting for BRZ sales too?
tC vs FR-S
17,947 – 14,062 – 2014 Total
16,459 – 10,507 – 2015 Total
They could have tweaked it a bit and rebadged it as a Celica. I’m sure there are plenty of Toyota customers who have fond memories of them and would like one instead of a vanilla Corolla.
I saw one today similar to this but with a faux center exhaust. TRD does offer a supercharger kit for these which apparently gives it more grunt.
Corey & Kyree
RE: Challenger script
The presence or absence of the call-out depends on year and model.
My ’13 R/T Plus had the fender script and HEMI on the hood bulges.
My ’16 R/T Plus has the HEMI replacing the fender script and nothing on the hood.
I see. Thanks for the info. Do you know if the script badge on your ’13 was factory, or a dealer-installed option for certain model years and trims?
Interesting. I bet it will be a while before they return to script again for that model.