I will be picking up my 05 Black TC this up and coming friday (crosses his fingers), however I still have a few questions lingering. I test drove a white AT TC a month or so back, at which point I put down $500 and called it a deal. At the time the AT felt pretty weak in terms of power, but I figred like most cars it would be much peppier w/ a 5spd tranny in it.

If you own a 5spd TC, what do you think about its powerband? Is it smooth? Peaky? Good amount of power? Weak on the freeway?

For the past two months I have been going back and forth between a GTI 1.8T and a TC - the 5spd 1.8T has ***** and I'd really hate to regret getting the TC for lack of power and have to wait for the S/C.

Thanks,

Tyler

 

This car has one of the smoothest powerbands in its class. Period. If you look at dyno numbers, you'll see how the torque is almost constant throughout, while other cars such as the RSX jolts up at higher rpms.

 

Its like an economy car that gets bad gas mileage, so its not really an economy car. Power is what should be expected out of it. Its not a sports car, not meant to be fast. Has enough to get onto the freeway, but thats about it. Make sure you drive one throughly before driving. Regretting a $17k-20k car purchase really sucks.

 

Chipped 1.8T GTI would kick tC's butt, But I like 2.4L potential and relaxed power. It's got enough, plus the 5-speed gearing is very agressive.

 

you hsould look up a rsx dyno. it may peak at 7800 rpm but at 4,000 the TQ is very near what it is at 7800. rsx have very good powerbands

 

Both the RSX and the TC being at 160HP, how would those of you who have driven both compare? I have driven a RSX and a GTI 1.8T and the GTI was way smoother. As well as just plain faster.

Could someoone compare the RSX w/ the TC in terms of power and torque?

Thanks for the feedback thus far guys...

-Tyler

 

my gf drove both the RSX and the tC in stick. The gearing in the tC is a bit shorter in comparison so it has a fair bit more of "PEP" to it. The tC also had noticibly more torque.

I wouldn't know how to compare it to the GTI 1.8T though. I'd imagine it'd be quite similiar in driving characteristics.

 

I am happy with it, but as short as the gears are... NEEDS 6 speed bad!

 

If you want the speed and performance, go with the 1.8GTI

It is a car perhaps better balanced and with a chip you gain another 50hp, which you probably have to spend about 3000 to crank out 50 more hp on the tC. 2.4L do have torque, but never estimate the power of turbo charger.

I personally will go with tC just because it has better exterior/ interior styling. And also too much R32 GTI around my area so the 1.8T becomes like nothing...

 

Wow, for a minute there I thought you were talking about a Volkswagen. Especially with the regret part (my 1.8T Jetta got traded in for a Honda Pilot).

I had a 1.8T Jetta, I would never go back. It was a great looking car with a lot of features, but the build quality was pure garbage.

When the TRD SC is out the price for a base tC plus the SC will be very close (if not less) than a 1.8T Jetta/GTI. So with the tC you get a bigger sunroof, larger stock wheels, a better stock sound system (MP3's?), etc etc but above all else, Toyota Build Quality.

Picking a SC'd tC over a 1.8T Jetta/GTI is the very definition of the term no brainer.

 

i don't understand the whole it's not meant to be fast thing. i must be a poor slob, cause i think the tC is pretty fast. it's not meant to be a lambo, but it is fast. i guess it's all relative. anyways, the gti peaks its torque at 1850 rpm.....i don't know how, but it does. so it will give you big smokey burn outs, but other than that i dunno. go drive both, open it up as much as you can on a test drive....and go from there.

 

Its a turbo engine. When the tubo is matched right to the engine you gain a great deal of low end power but somewhat at the cost of large amounts of high end power. I would trade off for lots of low end seeing thats where I drive at compared to a engine with no low end & lots of lag before you get into the high end.

 

Man Nick@AGP has only posted about how ____ing slow the tC ONCE in this post? Being 12 replies, I'd expect at least 2 posts by him saying how slow it is to the rsx, integra, etc. etc.

 

I'd also like to add.

Zero to 60 mph

RSX Type-S = 6.8 sec
tC = 7.4 sec

That's with the Type-S having 50% more horsepower than the tC. I personally don't mind getting a quieter ride, more options, and saving $6,000 with the tC.

 

Like someone said, performance wise get a GTI. Either the VR6 or 1.8t. 1.8t stock will bust the tC's ___ all day long. Vr6 as well of course. I have been a big VW/Audi nut, and still am. I loved my 1.8t, and had no problems with it till someone drilled my car and it hasn't been the same since. 1.8t has one of the best engines, as well as a great aftermarket section. The vr6 has a great powerband, but of course with the 1.8t , you will not experience anything close to a N/A 2.8lt V6.

I was a heartbeat in trading in my car for a R32 cause the car is just really nice everyday car that I would have fun driving. Also, alot of my mods like OEM HID's and all can go onto my R32. I think it is a great compromise car between performance and comfort..but that is nowhere near the range of what we are talking about.

with 350 dollars you can get a Upsolute chip or 500 for a Revo or APR and get a nice increase of 30hp, and then with the rest of the bolt ons like full turboback exhaust, CAI, N75 race valve, and can be looking at 215fwhp with about 230ft lb tq. With race gas, it is a whole different story. The car is capable or running 13.2 with a GREAT GREAT driver and that is with the stock turbo. Also, many ppl are breaking into the 13's with turboback and chip with race gas.

I really like the tC cause of one great thing, well I like the styling, and I also like that it should be reliable, atleast more reliable then VW's are right now. When stepping into german cars it is a completely different ball game. As I am learning stepping over to japanese imports.

 

This is kind of a specific question but has anyone gone from a 95 Grand Am to a tC? the HP numbers are the same but the grand am has about 20ft/lbs over the tC. Not that either car was/is made to be a speed demon but i dont wanna take a step down, but I know the tC has it beat in just about everything else. :D

 

im going from a 98 chevy malibu to the tC does that count lol

 

i went from a 300hp camaro to this no comparison lol but i like it dont regret sellin the camaro :D

 

By the time you get a 1.8T GTI matching the tC in terms of options (sunroof, 17 inch Monte Carlo's, etc), the price between it and a tC with the optional TRD supercharger(coming this fall) will be very close, if not +/- just a couple of hundred dollars. If the difference is a few hundred bucks, but with one I'm getting Toyota reliability and resale, I'm gonna go with the Toyota every day of the week. As I said before, this choice is practically the definition of the term "no brainer".

The R32 is impressive but that's in the $28K+ crowd with Evo's, STi's and used S4's. I'll argue any day that the R32 has the most potential of the bunch: it isn't even blown yet. I totally expected Car&Driver's review to dismiss it immediately due to lack of power, but they were actually pretty objective (they've been surprising me a lot lately after losing their fanboyism for BMW by giving recent nods to the S4 and RS6 over the M3 and M5 respectively).

In my year+ of frequenting vwvortex I saw way too many people characterize their car this way. It was always funny to then see the same people in other threads say "yeah I had my window regs fixed, under warranty". Did you honestly never have any problems with your 1.8T?

I had all the common ones with my '02.5 Jetta 1.8T GLS:

door/dash rattles
driver side window dropped in the door
coil packs
Monsoon radio re-wire
doors leaked grease on hot days (this one was particularly funny, no matter how many other people and/or the dealer claimed this was "normal", I've never heard of another car doing this, ever)

I guess I'm lucky that I got the Tiptronic, otherwise I might have had the 2nd gear grind problem too :D.

Maybe its just me but VW owners tend to put the smaller problems out of their mind whenever you asked them about how reliable their car is. On the good days my 1.8T was a great car, but on the bad days it was the worst $20K+ purchase I've ever made. And with as common as those problems were (specifically among readers/posters on the 'tex), it surprises me that VW gets any repeat customers...

 

Im starting to hear more and more about VW reliability - quite sad I guess cause I really like the GTI 1.8T and its aftermarket support. Second, I'm coming from a more unusual ride, something that isnt really comparative - a 1957 Ford F100 pickup w/ around 400 horse and matching torque. Resale is important to me as well as build quality, but most of all it has to be fun to drive.

What is the powerband like on the freeway? RPM's / at 70MPH? Are there any aftermarket options for a HP boost thus far, other than the usual intake and exhaust?

-Tyler