Well, a buddy took his tc out and offered me to codrive. I said, "what the heck, why not?"

First, he has a stock '08, sans k&n drop-in. everything else is stock, down to the shift ****, tires, etc.

the tires were set all-around at 29psi. no adjustments to camber, toe, etc. the car had 3500miles.

Brakes:
What, a, pile, of, crap. Mind you, it was like 50degrees out, but still... the car would NOT stop. ABS wouldn't kick in until you pushed the pedal so hard that you felt like your foot was trying to slow the car by dragging it on the ground. The car is on the stock tires which some would say played a role, but engaging ABS was such a pain in the ___, that it was more likely due to the pads/____-poor braking performance.

The brakes never faded (likely due to the short course), but never felt confident or strong.

Possible fixes: new pads, whole new brake kit (Celica GTS?)

Tires:
I've read a lot of negative talk about these tires... and they aren't that bad. very predictable and broke-away cleanly. they tracked along a very understandable line and never complained.
Obviously, stickier tires would benefit, but the stockers aren't crap.

Throttle:
DBW is crap in this car. It's almost as crap as the brakes. trying to modulate the throttle coming out of a turn and the engine thinks that it should give you full power, spinning the tires... of which you get no feedback from the pedal cause it's such a crap system. You do get some feedback from the steering wheel, but absolutely nothing from the throttle.

Handling:
Stock, the car handles remarkable well. It's not tight, but it's definitely responsive. Obviously the car's hampered by it's weight, which makes it less tossable and sweeping turns get a bit hairy. But, overall, it maintains the feel of a hatchback.

Power:
The power-delivery is nice. Much nicer than the hondas I'm accustomed to racing (and the honda i took for a lap that day). You don't have to shift as much, which can save time, and the power feels plentiful. Closer to the redline though, and it dies off sharply. My only real gripe is, when shifting to the next gear, all of that momentum feels lost. It gets all excited, approaches redline, starts to trail off... shift, nothing.... then some build-up, accelerating faster now... rinse and repeat.

Overall:
Of the hundreds of cars I've raced at autocrosses and track days. This fits squarely just below average. Of course, this includes many, many modded cars so it's not completely fair, but of the stock cars, it's still an ok car.
The tires and suspension work well with each other, trying to get all of the weight around the track. The power delivery is nice for a 160hp car, but the brakes aren't up for the challenge. The throttle feedback is non-existent and subdued, making you feel a bit disconnected from any tire spin or traction loss. The shifter feels a bit better than say a base model civic or sentra, but not nearly as nice as a GTI or any of the Mazda brethen (3,mp5,etc).

Now to see how it handles a road course. Of course, after fitting it with better brakes.

 

I always wondered the ability for a tC to do well in an auto-x because I aways had the Scion to beat at the ones I attend. I believe it's cause the xA is light and has a short wheelbase being the main reason.
But then recently my buddy who goes to many auto-x's with me among a handful of other Scions, got quick...

I co-drove a tC (red rs1 supercharged) with tein ssp's, and yohkohama Prada tires and it still seems to push a lot so I wasnt impressed with it and couldnt get much out of it. But my other friend must have set his tC up correctly because for the first time ever he posted a faster time than me! I then rode with him on a run and the car was set up nicley for sure! The acceleromer was reading well over a G, I think 1.08 to 1.10 G's which is impressive. The Scion Noics inRichmond, VA are dedicated to auto-crosses and I go with them to as many as I can and it is a blast! Scions are making a presence in NASA Mid-Atlantic autocrosses.