I've read the negative review from Forbe's saying that Scion's brand name was not as good as Toyota has expected because

1- dealer experience hasn't been as promised as straight forward
2- JD Power initial quality review shows the scion quality is well below the industry average.

I certainly hoped that these will be addressed by the headquarter of Toyota soon enough.

On the other hand, Consumer Report's survey shown Scion is as reliable as any other Toyota series.

My worry is that tC is not selling as hot as Prius, and won't be a blockbuster. Is that true? The youth market is a highly lucrative and yet unpredictable market. Look at Mitsubishi, the irresponsible youth drivers default so many 0% loans that they almost put Mitsubishi out of business. In fact, there’s a rumor around saying that Mitsubishi as a brand will disappear in the next decade or so.

What do you guys think?

 

Remember to look at the reviews as a whole. That guy in Forbes is just, one guy. Why are you worried about it selling so well anyways? Last I heard was that the tC sold over 31,000 at years end...good considering it was only available for months, and hadn't spread out to the east as common as the west...

As for Mitsu, it's their management and lies that's messing everything up for them.

 

Yeah I read an article where they were comparing the tC to the Tiburon and stated that the tc sold over 30,000 in 6 months compared to the hyundai that sold little over 17,000 the whole year....

 

Forbes was uninformed. They favor expensive cars. The purchase experience for me was great until I reached the financing part. The Scion sales person had to hand me over to the TOYOTA FINANCING person and things went downhill from there. Even during the financing part, it wasn't too bad, just alot of waiting and offers from Toyota about paint/extend/upholstery warranties. I said no to all of them.

 

I agree, picking my tC and initiating the deal was very straight-forward but once I got handed over to financing is were it really slowed down. Scion, as a brand, shouldn't be penalized because of Toyota's financial process.

Scion did as they said they would, streamline the buying (not financial) process. Other brands you have to negotiate on prices and options (packages, features) and around and around we go. As for quality, exactly what are they comparing it to? The engine is tried and true (and frankly I trust it more than any other), as for other little things (interior stuff), I think the quality there is superb compared to cars that cost much more.

How do you compare the sales of Prius to the Scions, you really can't, but both the tC and Prius are selling about as fast as they can be produced. The gov'ment gives a tax break to Prius owners, that combined with high fuel prices greatly aides its popularity. These magazine reviewers will print whatever will give them more money and can be bought. For all we know GM could have paid Consumer Reports to print what they said.

 

I trust Consumer Report more than any other magazines like C&D, Motor Trend, R&T, Forbe's, etc. I assume Consumer Report is completely reader subscription funded, unlike all other magazines that rely heavily on advertisement and free lunch offered by manufactures.

On the other hand, I have to say that Consumer Report is a little too much on the quality side, and overlooked the total organitc quality of a certain product. For example, they will probably always prefer honda motor bikes over Harley, because the quality. But somehow , people still buy Harley more often.

Back to tC, the reason i compre it with Prius is because if Toyota wants to make Scion a great brand like what they did to Lexus, they have to make tC a unbeatable, one of a kind blockbuster. The experience similar to that of Prius, or the 1989 LS 400. This is the key for Scion to success.

 

IIRC, JD Power numbers are down for Scion for a couple of reasons. First off, a lot of new buyers are picking up Scions. Most of them have never owned a new car before, and were being very nit picky about noises after the purchase, some of them with good reason, others maybe not so. JD Power looks at all of the complains, so 500 complaints about a sunroof pop are the same as 500 complaints about engines failing in the first 1000 miles. Now, personally, I don't think either of these faults should bear equal weight, but JD Power does. So the mass of complaints about small noises and rattles brought the Scion quality down. Most of the magazine reviews I read were positive, however it seemed that most of them tested the cars with enough options to push the price into the $20k range, none of the options were TRD suspension upgrades or anything like that either.

I don't think I've read any major publication warning of any mechanical failures or problems, most of the compaints on this forum tend to fall into the "pop or rattle" category. I wouldn't worry about the JD Power rating being on the low side, it should even out as Scion gets more years as a brand.

 

Has Consumer Reports done a review of any of the Scions yet? And where is this survey of theirs at?

I'm a little confused as to how Consumer Report can state quality of the Scions is high due to Toyota, but on the flipside, JD Power can also imply the complete opposite about quality. Just frustrating when that happens.

And mancide, that makes plenty of sense if you're right. Good to know, thanks.

 

there was a thread about this before..i remember one of the complaints from a new Scion customer was too much wind noise from the sunroof at some ridiculous speed..something like 110-115mph..so take it for what it is...

 

Just off the phone with a rep from Scion Nation Headquarter. Basically, he gave me a survey and ask me my overall impression of the purchasing experience.

I certainly gave him a year full about how the financing dude trying to make feel like stupid of not buying the extended warrenty. On the other hand, I told him that I am impressed with the fast and no haggle experience.

He asked me if I have any suggestions. I told him if I can order the car online, and bypass the entire dealer experience would be nice. After all, we are living in the 21st century, why not buy cars online?

 

Why? I still want to be able to have a place to go to test drive a car before I buy it. I mean, some things are ok to buy online, but others arent.

Take for instance a mouse. Your going to be holding a mouse in your hand every time you use the computer. Are you just going to buy a mouse online based soley on the way it looks in pictures, and what the manufactur lists the specs as?

I sure as hell wont. I find a local store that actually HAS that mouse in stock and on display. Ill go down there, and fell the mouse. See how it glides in my hand, etc. Often times that has either sealed the deal... or made me look elsewhere for other mice,

 

Some of the dealerships will let you test drive a car w/o actually buying it...

Test drive it - if you like it - buy it online.

I think that's what BigMouth is talking about.

 

I say screw Forbs I love my Tc I went to the dealership not even looking to buy and walked out with one also the financing I had no problems all I did was say look give me your rate thats it I dont want anything added for the car except for the best warrenty you sell little bit later boom im out and I have no complaints. ( and my sunroof dosent make noise)

 

Do you know who pays magazines like Motor Trend and Forbes... your $10 a year doesnt do it! Its the car companies... do you really think Motor Trend will say anything bad about Toyota/Lexus or Honda/Acura in their magazines (being some of their biggest advertisers) ... no! of course not.
...not that Id have anything bad to say about either company ;)

 

Toyota's not trying to sell a zillion tCs, they've already passed the 2004 goal on all Scions sold. For every tC they make, they lose a Camry. They sell a ton more Camrys and I'd imagine that they make a nicer profit off of them as well.