Hello,

I am new to Scions, and just purchased my first new car. Very happy with it, and have future plans to put some mods on it.
It will be my commuting car to work and school.
It is a 2012 tC with 6-speed trans.

My first car was a 1999 Mitsu Eclipse RS. That was the first manual car i have ever driven.

I am still getting the hang of driving my tC (I havent driven manual in over a year at this point). It seems like the tC takes a little while to shift through the first two gears...or that could just be me(the shifting takes a while). Still practicing.

Its completely stock right now.
I am going to enjoy it for a while in stock condition. When stock gets old, I'll probably start building it up.

First mod will probably be lowering.
I live in a house with a rather vertical driveway off the street, so I do not want to go very low and scratch up my car everyday (my eclipse used to do that lol, but it was old so it didnt bother me much). I would probably be good with a 1" drop or around there.
Was thinking about TRD springs...
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Current Mods:
TRD Exhaust
Weighted Shift ****

Planned mods:
TRD quickshifter
Injen Short Ram Intake

Mods in the far future:
None



My goal for this car is to keep it stock looking, maybe customize it a little.
If anyone has tips and recommendations, I appreciate the help.

 

First mod SHOULD be sts kit

 

What's that?

 

Short throw shifter kit

 

Highly recommend the TRD exhaust over all others. Perfect exhaust tone for this car.

 

MGMFTW Welcome!!!

 

Thanks for the welcome and tips guys! magnetic gray color looks amazing on this car. Needless to say my car had to be that color.

Doh, I'm not great with acronyms yet. I honestly thought STS was some brand of turbo that i have never heard of haha.

Short throw shifter might be a nice addition, what benefits does it have over the stock shifter setup? I have never installed one on any of my cars, so i do know know yet. where can i buy a good one and how would i be able to install it? is it a DIY type of thing?

Thanks, I do believe i will go with that TRD axleback exhaust when the time comes.

 

Well, it is lol.

 

ok lets talk about the short throw shifter. I feel like i need a while to get used to the stock shifting first before i start messing with that.

Do all of you guys have short shifters on your tC2s?

 

Not everyone has it. Those of us that do love it. There are two main options you can get the TWM short shifter which replaces the actual shift **** and the TRD quick shifter kit which repositions the pulley on the transmission.
I can't speak for the TWM but the TRD shortened the throws about an inch in every direction. My car went from shifting like a Mac truck to shifting like a little import.

 

unfortunately it doesnt help against that annoying rev thing going on when you press in the clutch and try shifting into second gear, right? its less noticeable into third and no problem in the later gears. just first into second it has a lot of lag and takes forever to shift. Has to do with the ecu automatically revving the engine a bit during a shift from what i can tell?

 

That's where a throttle controller comes into play. I've got the Weapon R throttle controller, and trust me, there's zero lag.

 

i will research that one, thanks for the tip!

 

haha almost bought my tC from there and looked at that exact tC, decided not to buy from there because the two salesman were complete a**es to me and had no idea about anything about the tC so decided to get it from the toyota dealer closer to where I work

 

Really? Nice. This TC was originally from Crestmont toyota, which is where i first test drove it. The dealer there charged too much for it so I went to Prestige toyota. they offered a better price for the tC, so we bought one from them. Funny that they contacted Crestmont and decided to take their car and move it over, and sell it to me haha. i was surprised to see the same car that i originally test drove.

Where did you buy yours from? and do you have a thread for it yet?

 

nope no thread yet, when i get time i will, i got mine from johnstons toyota, they were really nice and the owner is very polite, i went to prestige and just felt so uncomfortable and johnstons offered me the better price actually like my payments were like $20 cheaper which in the long run is a huge difference, i got a cement grey tc with an automatic, still wish i got a stick but i think the auto will fare well when i start doing some more city driving and literally just ordered some 5000k hids from ddm tuning tonight

 

Nice! I wondered what the cement color looked like in person. would be interested in seeing pics of yours in your build thread.

Idk about price, since I bought mine, Prestige certainly gave me a better price than the Crestmont dealer. Crestmont wanted to sell for $21,100 or so, and the prestige guys went down to $19,700 including everything (tax title, registration, inspection, plate transfers.) The salesman was pretty cool too. We were looking at the FRS they had, and he gladly offered a test drive on that.

Though I opted for the tC in the end based on maintenance expense and practicality for commuting, and being an all season car. the FRS is mostly perfect for summer. I needed something for winter too w/o needing snow tires...

Looking forward to seeing your thread man

I am getting more used to my car. the clutch rev isnt as annoying anymore and I have found a way to shift to minimize the lag. I doubt i'll need the throttle controller after a while, but maybe someday I'll install one.
For now I am keeping the car stock as I have mentioned. Was in upstate NY, in the country regions, and not having a lower car helped a bit (my tC was loaded up heavily anyway)
Still wanting those TRD springs though when i can afford them. They will be the first mod I do. Aside from maybe the short shifter.

 

Getting my plates today.
Some more pictures.

 

@Newman

I lucked out and got the TRD Lowering springs and STS installed by the dealer for $19,700 luckily I am a recent college grad and got the 1k rebate. I can honestly say I love my car and would not trade it for anything. As far as driving stick with a STS; for never having driven stick before (literally the first day picking up the car) it was fairly easy. It took me about 3 days to learn not to stall. I know what you are talking about when shifting from first to second and the lag... I am interested in adjustments for that as well. I think the TRD LS are a perfect ride height for the car, especially with scraping concerns. When you pull into a parking spot with the concrete stops, the front bumper is high enough to not scrape. I plan on moding my car over time and I think the first item is going to be installing a CAI (cold air intake), followed by new pipes and exhaust. As far as asthetics, the stock rims are pretty nice; I plan on painting them black, throwing some 10mm spacers on the back tires and getting some colored lugs. Beyond the CAI, I think brakes and some coil overs will come next to help with handling (not that the TRD springs aren't enough). Also blacking out the scion badges and debadging the TC, as well as a stubby antenna are on the list for physical mods. Over all down the road im sure a turbo kit will follow, but as my DD I think im good for now.

@ SL compadres, I am new as well and I'm sure I will be asking for advice like Newman here. I am a DIY kind of guy and could use your expert opinions.

One question for you guys; I saw an add for an ECU chip from GF tuning, anybody have reviews for it? is it a pos like it seems?



p.s. how sick is the sound system in this beast?!

 

Time to revive this thread a little bit.
Car is doing awesome, it went in for its first maintenance a few days ago and everything was great. The dealer washed my car too, which was a big help - it was starting to look horrible and i just didn't have any time because of school and the ongoing rains. going past 5,000 miles now.
Unfortunately my windshield is now cracked decently on the passenger's side. crack is about 13" long. Some random rock from a bridge fell and chipped my windshield and then the next day a passenger slammed the door too hard and it cracked(the day it was going to get filled with resin as a repair).

I'm going to have to replace my windshield now, but am waiting on that since i cant afford it right now and in case another rock decides to mod my windshield even more...
I was thinking of going with Safelite company for the replacement. quoted at $500-600 for everything included. expensive but still better than the dealer's nonsense($900+).
Going to wait on the windshield replacement until police start to bug me or something. the crack isn't very noticeable.

My overall plan with this car changed. it will no longer be going turbo and will stay N/A. This will be my commuter and daily driver for a long time. It will eventually get replaced with a Lancer Evo a long time from now. The Evo will be the one that i would be working on more seriously. Its really not worth sinking a lot of money into upgrading my scion at this point in my life since i can barely afford anything, and engine longevity and reliability are the main focus of what i need in my car now. a turbo would likely kill the engine much faster than if i stay N/A. I'll leave the turbo fun for the Evo.

This doesn't mean that my tC is staying 100% stock though. a little bit of customization is inevitable haha!
Here are the things I am still going to do to it:
TRD springs
Short Ram Intake
Exhaust
Header
Pulley

Mods in the far future:
Rims (if the stock ones rust or chip)

Another thing I will not be getting is the TRD quickshifter. I got so used to my car that i do not see how i can benefit from a quicker throw - it doesnt make that big of a difference since the shifting itself is not improved like a true shortshifter. in other words the throws are already short enough for me, and i don't mind if I have to "shift like in a Mac Truck" lol. Also the clutch rev is a non issue now. its rather helpful in climbing hills, especially with a large amount of cargo. I got very used to it and no longer consider it a bother. Wont need a throttle controller or anything.

I would also like to hear ideas about which short ram intake would be good to use?

I can consider my first mod to be floor mats (rofl) since its the only thing i was able to recently afford, and since my tC was bought as base as it can be it didn't even have mats. i want to protect that cloth on the floor. had to clean it too many times now...
Floor mats are arriving next week.

Otherwise my first REAL mod is going to be the TRD springs. i would probably get them installed at the dealer. i don't really trust anyone else with something like that. everything else though i am going to do myself because the dealer would never approve of any of those mods anyway. Hopefully one of my friends can help me. He works on cars as a hobby and has a much better understanding of how to install and replace parts than i do. I could really use his guidance.

@socaltc2nubie:
That is a good deal. Though you likely have the TRD quickshifter and not a short shifter. they are slightly different, and short shifters are supposed to be better for what we really need - faster shifts instead of just faster throws.
Cool that it only took you 3 days. I remember with my first manual car- the 99 eclipse i talked about in the first post it took me a few weeks to get used to the whole thing. the first day i drove it - it was the day i bought it from the owner- he made me drive up a steep hill before i bought it from him and i just couldnt do it haha! It took me about 10 stalls to finally figure out that i need to give it mad gas in order to make it up that very steep hill. great feeling of accomplishment when i finally did it though!(that thing was so steep that if you had to walk down it you'd have to be careful to slow down your pace or you'd trip over yourself lol. idk how they built houses on such a steep incline.)
I'd say avoid chips. they seem worthless. its always an option if you want a little more power, but its not a very good option from what i read and have been told by friends who restore cars.
I like the sound a lot. to think its not even the more advanced sound package (the one with the amp for extra $$$) is surprising. it has a surprising amount of bass. I listen to my CDs on about 39-40 volume if i want to hear nice bass. radio is much louder. i'm afraid to turn my radio sound near 39. it might blow out electrical or my windows xD JK.