Yesterday was my 1st "long distance" drive in the tC - From Albany, NY to Buffalo and back - roughly 9 hours in the car.

All Highway (NYS Thruway) - Cruise set between 72-75 mph. Weather: partly cloudy and low 50's. Not too windy.

Manual transmission. 3,320 on the ODO.

Mileage: 27-28 mpg - Roughly 3/4 tank each way.

Comfort: (5'8" @ 175lbs) I was pleasantly surprised. The seating was very comfortable the entire trip. I did not find myself consatntly searching for a comfortable position as I have had to do in other cars. And, I was not fatigued from sitting in an uncomfortable seat all day. The dead pedal in this car is spot on...left foot was comfy the entire trip.

Noise level: From a bit of noise to very quiet...this mostly depended on the road surface. On the gray macadam surface the car was a bit noisy (not bad for 16k) - NOT overly noisy and not as noisy as my 96 Jetta. On the black asphalt surfaces (most of the trip) the car is very quiet...I repeat - very quiet. Most of the noise I experienced on the asphalt surface was wind noise from the leading edges of the car - windshield edges, etc. Road/tire noise was very low. No squeeks or rattles to speak of - I had the rattling roof fixed last week (TSB) and it's been good so far.

Radio: Very nice. I opted for XM when I bought the car - I had the Roady in my other car and now I can't live w/o XM. Besides...I'm getting $250 back from Scion because their XM price has gone down since I bought mine. Anyhow, it was nice to maintain reception the entire way and to be able to listen to the same stations...Mostly audio book channel - Old Time Radio show channel - XM Public Radio and CNN - Yeah, I guess I'm old...ha ha ha.

Headlights: Superb stock lighting - especially the high beams - the best stock halogens I have seen on a car...period!

I'm not sure what else to say. The tC was great on this trip. I continue to be impressed by this car.

Happy motoring,
Josh

Edit: changed "sane" to "same"

 

The Driver seat i found, is a little tight, being I am a little taller then you, and the noise is loud on the hwy, I have been driving my friend to and from work in his tC, (he has way to many points),, I still think the Xa and Xb are smoother and soooo much less noise...

 

As far as the seats being tight I can't see what you mean, because at least in the tC I own The seats are wide and engineered especially for the McDonalds American in mind. If anything they aren't tight enough... but this isn't a race car after all.

All the scions don't have too much in the way of sound dampening material. It's a shock to a see the tC does have some under the rear seats, considering it's class. That being said, much of the road noise in the tC is attributed to the low profile tires and 17 inch rims, vice the xB's 15? inch rim (well, hubcap, but doesn't matter).

I personally am going to invest in some e-dead paint stuff and put a few coats on when it gets cooler (if ever in this horribly hot "winter" us south floridians are having, you know what i mean). I'm sure it will make a hell of a difference. The noise in the tC at highway speeds isn't bad at all compared to my last/first car, '93 mazda mx-6 LS, and that was a 25k car back in the day.

I haven't driven the xA or xB (rode in an xA though), but i must say the tC's handling ability is very good, besides some body roll which is fixed by $200 TRD springs.

 

I did a 1200-mile trip from Western Mass to Northern Maine a couple of weeks ago, with the return trip consisting of a stop in Boston before trekking back out to the middle of nowhere in Mass. I noticed the car ride was quite smooth the entire time, especially considering it was a 10+ hour drive each way. Never felt my ___ hurting as it has been like that in all of my previous cars. As for the noise, I noticed that once I would hit about 4K RPMS's in 5th, the engine would start to roar, a much more noticable difference than with any other gear in the car. It still wasn't bad, I only really noticed it because my stereo had stopped reading CD's, and there were no radio stations up in Northern Maine. All in all, I love my tC, despite the minor issues I've had with it (rattling roof, cd player breaking, no radio stations where I go to school, forcing me to purchase XM when I have money for it).

 

By Northern Maine do you mean "the County"? I love Maine...plan to retire there when I get out of the Navy in 6 years.

 

Really? Hmm...it's weird because the seats are a bit too wide for me. The Civic seats fit me better and I'm of the same height as 3IGs. The noise on the highway is loud, being a bit louder than my '01 Civic but alot of that comes from the roof and the tires. The sliding shades help with the noise when drawn.

 

Hey josh, what part of NY you from? i live in albany now...

:D

 

I'm up in Saratoga...only a couple of other tC's in these parts.

 

You only got 27-28 mpg? I guess thats not too bad. I went to the outer banks and back a few months ago. I live near Pittsburgh PA. It was like 10-12 hours there then 14 back because of a huge accident. Was around 70-80 degrees the whole way up. Might have been low 60's when we started cuz it was like midnight. But it was me, my wife and a bunch of luggage in the back. We had to put the back seats down too. We were carrying stuff from friends too. Now our tC is an auto. And we managed to get about 32-35 mpg. I know that seems like alot but thats the truth. I put in 91 or 93 octane gas in. And I had just installed the K&N drop in filter. We were driving and putting around 400 miles per tank of gas, give or take some. I think the best we managed to get was around 450 or so. Close anyways and that was filling up shortly after the light came on. This is just my experience. I do take care of our tC, oil changes ever 3k on the dot, fuel systems cleaners, and anything that Toyota recommends I get done. Not sure if that would make much of a difference.

 

Oh and between 70-80 mph the whole way. I few 65-120's on the way home play racing with my buddy and his 08 Impreza.

 

This has to be a record of some kind, a 5 year old bump.

 

Wow.