sofakng

After waiting two weeks for any of my local dealers to have a Scion tC in-stock for me to drive, a dealership around 75 minutes from my house finally had a manual silver streak mica. After taking a quick look at the car, I went inside to talk to the sales rep. After talking for a few minutes, she gave me the keys to the car and we went outside.

My first impressions from looking at the exterior of the car: it was big (I've been describing it as "fat"). It seemed "heavy duty" but it did look very sleek. Overall I would say that I was a little disappointed. Why? The body style looked GREAT, but just "extra big".

After getting into the car, the first thing I noticed was that the visor was almost in my line-of-sight. I'm not very tall (5'10) but the roof of the car was way too close to my head. I felt squished, but I'm not sure thats the best word to describe it. Also, the dashboard seemed quite high and it didn't seem to give much room to see out of the windshield (this is common for sports cars though). Besides that, everything else seemed fine. The guages were a little hard to see, but were exceptible (odometer had a whopping - 7 - miles on it! ). The stick shift felt very firm, but in a good way. When I shifted gears, it felt like I was shifting and not just "moving the stick shift." (again, hard to describe) The MP3/CD player itself wasn't very impressive, but the audio quality was quite nice with good treble and good bass. The case to the MP3/CD player felt a bit junky though (it got stuck on me while trying to open/close it).

Some of the things that impressed me the most were the front/rear defrosters and the extra-large rear window. It didn't have a rear windshield wiper, but I don't think it needed it (it was raining last night too so I would've been able to tell). It's nice and easy to see out of. The cuper holders were nice and it was nice to not have to see an ashtray since I don't smoke. One of the nicest features of the car was the extra space in the back seat. I had the sales rep sit in the front of the car while I sat in the back just so I could see how much actual room there was. I was impressed. However, the roof in the back of the car could be a problem anybody over 5'10 (my head was almost touching the ceiling and I didn't like that feeling of being cramped).

Overall, I was disappointed. I realize my experience would be considered rare (one out of ten people maybe?) but I just thought I should share my opinion with everybody. If you wanted me to summarize what I didn't like about it I would say the car looked and felt too big to be comfortable. I'm glad I didn't order the car without driving it first.

Hope this was helpful.

jlaznlover

i am 6'0 and i have no problems with my head touching the roof. the seat height might have been set to its highest setting. the middle lever lowers the seats. you can try this out next time at the dealership. it helps alot.

ScummyMcOwnage

Good write-up. However a couple of questions for you. Did you adjust the driver's seat height? When I got my car, the seat was jacked all the way up and it was extremely uncomfortable(I am 5'11) until I lowered it. Same thing for the backseats. Until I reclined them a little, I felt squished.

I also felt the car looked big until I saw it parked outside of my apartment building. Looking at it from a distance and comparing it to a civic and a mazda3 that are on my street(I was parked in-between) the tc didnt look as big as it did at the dealer.

Also, keep in mind the scion brand was built for people who like to personalize their car, and it shows in some places, such as the headunit.

The tC is not for everyone, and I hope you find something that is right for you. I am not trying to bash your review, I just wanted to hopefully point out those things if you may not have known about them.

Xonic

yeah, I am about 5'11 also and felt head room was plenty during a test drive. must have been the seat height.

I like the steering wheel feel. it's towards the heavier and tigher side and it felt great as a sports car. My impression was that the wheel diameter was smaller than other cars, and it's a good thing.

agree on the cd unit cover issue. I had problem opening it.

sofakng

Thanks for the feedback!

I did try to adjust the seat height, but it didn't seem to help very much. The seat height was about in the middle... When I lowered it any further it felt like the dashboard was too high.

I would agree that when you stand back from the car, it looks VERY nice. It's one of the nicest looking cars I've seen actually (when viewed from a little ways away). Even up close the car looks very impressive just a little bit big for my personal preference.

The car did feel very nice though. It didn't feel like I was driving a junk, it felt like I was driving a very reliable (and powerful) car.

I'm not knocking the car at all, I was just saying what my personal impressions were.

empleh

i don't like the way the back of the car looks. it's kinda weird. but the back looks good....i guess it just didn't feel snug enough for yah huh? i know what you mean about the dash and being to low though. although it doesn't bother me that much. i still drive our demo fine to all the events....

jasonbegin

i noticed that to, the dashboard felt really high?>

jasonbegin

:?:

dante

did you see it in the showroom? cars there look HUGE!!!! (to me at least) The Mazda3 5-door was massive, one of the reasons I picked the tC. Agree that the tC is roomy on the inside, which is good b/c I end up hauling a decent amount of crap around on road trips. Much better than my friend's older Integra. Just a question to the original poster, what other cars are you looking at, or that you liked? Just want to get some type comparison, as it felt much more compact than the Mazda3 I tested.

BTW, I'm 5'11, and have no problem with the seat all the way down. Dash isn't that high, or at least it doesn't bother me. Definitely glad you tested it before you bought it though!!

(am going on 2 months and 4k miles, and loving it.)

TrafficinLA

Then the tC is not for you. No biggie. Different cars for different people. Try test-driving the tC's closest competitor, the Mazda3 and tell us about the comparison.