Scionlife.com - Happy to be back in a Scion...

Hello, future friends! I'm very happy to say that I've got my butt back in a Scion!

Back in 2005, my father purchased a brand new Scion tC in the indigo ink pearl in Northern Indiana. It was his "mid-life crisis" (I know, a far fling from Toyota's target audience), and the first car he bought truly for himself. He loved that car for 13 years until he gave it to me in 2018 when I moved out of the house to go live in Cleveland, OH. I loved that car for only another 2 years before it became too expensive for me to repair. I, regretfully, sold the tC when my dad passed his 2010 Chevy Malibu on to me in 2020. Man, I hated that Malibu. It was too big, sluggish, ugly..... but it was running (mostly) and I had no payments on it, so I begrudgingly kept it.

Flash forward to March of 2024, I'm browsing around on CarGurus after realizing the Malibu would need front new CV axles just half a year after I already replaced all of the brakes, tires, and front sway bars (thanks, Chevy). I come across this bright highlighter green Scion hatchback. A model I was not familiar with, the iM. Now, I've always been a fan of compact hatchbacks, I've had my eye on the Civic Hatchback, Veloster, Mirage, etc. So the sight of a Scion in that style caught my eye. But what the heck is an iM? After some Google-Fu, I realize that this was one of the last two Scion models debuted before the death of the brand (RIP) and the iM was rebadged as the Corolla iM and then later the Corolla Hatchback. Only about 5,000 of these cars were sold under the Scion iM badge.

This iM was sitting in a used car lot about 30 miles away. 152,000 miles, multiple owners, one of which being a lease, I was apprehensive. But the car fax showed good regular maintenance history, the dealer had good reviews and the photos showed it in surprisingly good condition, so it was worth a 40 minute drive to look. One test drive later and a thorough inspection, it was mine. After trading in the Malibu, the final cost was about $6k. A decent deal IMO. Y'all, I love this car. I've had it for almost a month now, I've put some additional work and love into it, and I am just so happy to be back in a Scion. The size is great, and I foresee a long life ahead with this little hatchback.

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