By David Colman

Hypes: Incredible Handling Precision
Gripes: Where’s the Turbo?

It’s a lot more fun to be the driver of an FR-S than its passenger. The lucky driver enjoys the diminutive coupe’s exceptional road holding while the passenger gets a head lashing from excessive g-Forces. The driver picks precise lines through switchbacks while the passenger gets jounced like a bobblehead. If you’re not in the captain’s chair of the F-RS you might as well stay home, because this Toyota is all about the art of driving not riding.

You might think that saddling the FR-S with an automatic gearbox would detract from its ultimate appeal as a back road weapon. I know that I was crestfallen to discover — after lacing up my best driving shoes — that this FR-S had but two pedals on the floor. But I needn’t have worried, because the paddle=shifted 6-speed automatic is so responsive to driver input that you can make it sing the same high-pitched aria as its stick shift sister.

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By David Colman

For: Light, Swift, Agile, Racerized
Against: Needs Stickier Tires, 6-Speed Automatic Is Buzz Kill

The bold new Scion FR-S looks best when painted in Hot Lava, a shocking shade of pearlescent orange that perfectly summarizes the impertinent nature of this sizzling hot hatchback. With the FR-S, Scion engineers have managed to craft the perfect autocross car. Once properly classed by the Competition Board of the SCCA, the FR-S will win many national titles, not only in autocross, but road racing as well. In fact, the FR-S is destined to become the next Mazda Miata/MX-5 in terms of affordability, competitiveness, and cult interest. The FR-S will also launch a cottage industry of tuners dedicated to making it go faster and handle better.

Video from Ignition

This is a ground-breaking product, because its design was generated, not by considerations of practicality, comfort, nor gadgetry, but by performance metrics alone. This is not to say that the FR-S is impractical, uncomfortable, or bare bones, because it is not any of those things. But those ancillaries never factored into the basic equation here. Toyota, with input from Subaru (who sell their own version called BRZ), never wavered from their laser-like design vision: “Build a sports car – not by committee, but by passion – that is light, compact, agile, and intuitive, delivering true sports car performance at an affordable price.”

Just like the original Miata of 1990, the FR-S offers quintessential sports car performance. And it does so at a remarkably affordable base price of $24,200. In fact, the out-the-door bottom line on our test car was $24,997, including $67 for wheel locks, and $730 for delivery processing and handling fee. At the long-lead press presentation of the FR-S, Scion included hot laps on the Spring Mountain motorsports and country club track in Pahrump, NV. Just to prove the car’s bona fides, event planners also included a testy autocross course on an adjacent skidpad area.

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By David Colman

For: High Grade Standard Seats, Sunroofs, Vast Hatchback Opening
Against: Expensive TRD Options, No Paddle Shifts

At a base price of just $19,575, the Scion tC puts you in the driver’s seat of a solid, enjoyable product of Toyota engineering. Redesigned with a turret-top and slit headlights for 2011, the striking tC remains unchanged for 2012. Its specification list surprises you with unexpected extras. Under the stubby hood lies a 2.5 liter, in-line 4, decked out with variable valve timing (VVT-i), twin overhead camshafts (DOHC) and 16 valves, all of which conspire to produce a hefty 180hp. Now that almost every engine compartment is hidden from view by plastic modesty shielding, it’s a pleasure to be able to examine the workings of this Scion’s lively four binger without having to remove an obstructive cover plate.

Unanticipated extras keep on coming once you slip inside the low-roofed cabin. The driver’s seat feels like it belongs in a much more expensive vehicle, with its nubby fabric gripping your torso, and its high side bolsters clamping you like a vice. Given the fact that our test tC was optionally equipped ($2,199) with 19 inch anthracite TRD alloy wheels and high g-force generating Toyo Proxes S4 tires (235/35ZR19), the cosseting seats were more than a match for the exceptional side loads posted by this Scion. Another unexpected benefit of the tC’s redesign is the standard double sunroof that brightens the interior. This solarium effect more than compensates for the short side windows that give the new tC its tank-like profile. Once you’re settled inside, you almost feel like you’re driving a convertible. The separate rear sunroof makes even the rear seat seem like a hospitable place, though access to it is inhibited by the car’s short wheelbase and bulky front seat backs.

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By someone posing as Derek

Likes:

• Optional Alpine sound system
• Smart iPod interface
• Reclining rear seat

Dislikes:

• New exterior design looks very close to the first generation
• Too much use of hard plastics inside the cabin
• Droning exhaust note
• Uninspiring road handling dynamics

Toyota merrily points out that Scion has the youngest average customer in the industry and that 71 percent of all 800,000 or so Scions have been sold to buyers who are new to the Toyota brand. It seems Scion’s customers are America’s newest generation, the Millennials, who are in their middle of this coming-of-age phase of its life cycle. Its oldest members are approaching age 30; its youngest are approaching adolescence. Interestingly enough, with a median age of 29, it’s the tC coupe’s 310,000 total sales since 2002 (accounting for 41 percent of all Scion production) that manages to attract the youngest customers of all.

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By David Colman

Likes:

• Urban champ
• Nimble
• Recasts microcar as premium product

Dislikes:

• Still tight dimensions
• CVT drone
• Wear a helmet

Microcars have always demanded that you make concessions to absurdity. Most of them look like circus clown cars or they make you behave like a circus clown. Generally speaking they’re pitifully small and slow. And there’s always been something demeaning about them, whether climbing through a clamshell windshield for entry, or cowering next to an adjacent semi. While they might be perfect for collecting microbes or reading microfiche, microcars have historically been impractical. But what if you could design one to behave like a real car? Then you’d have a Scion iQ.

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By contributing editor David Colman

Hits:

• 1 of 2,000
• Utilitarian
• Affordable

Misses:

• Glacial acceleration
• Alpine Premium iPod Ready stereo not ready for my iPod

Let’s say you’ve set yourself a price limit of $25,000 for a small, but fun-to-drive 5-place transportation module. You want something that’s minuscule enough to park anywhere, but large enough inside to forestall claustrophobia. In addition to those seemingly contradictory requirements, your ideal pick must also be sufficiently idiosyncratic to stand apart from anything else in the parking lot. Allow me to introduce you to the Scion xB Release Series 8.0.

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The return of the affordable, sensible, fun-to-drive coupe

By Greg Gaillard

FR-S stands for Front-engine, Rear-wheel drive, Sport. Pretty simple. Jack Hollis, VP of Scion, personally believes it should stand for Friggin’ Really Sweet, but the legal department at Toyota was NOT feeling the same way.

Initially people questioned Toyota’s investment in Subaru. GM had struggled to create a profitable partnership with the off-beat brand, so what could Toyota do differently? The unofficially named Toyobaru answered by not following the traditional strategy of re-skinning existing platforms to fill out brand portfolios. A decision was made to build something new; something that melded both companies’ best components and ideas. Soon thereafter rumors suggested that the first product from this mindset would be a co-developed 2+2 sports car that would put a halo over both companies’ showrooms.

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Scion tC Consumer Reviews	Scion tC More Expert Reviews	2011 Scion tC Photo Gallery	2011 Scion Tc Specs

By contributing editor David Colman

Pros

• Generous bump in horsepower and torque over the previous generation
• Retuned suspension makes the new tC fun to drive
• Flat-bottom, fat-rimmed steering wheel adds to the fun factor
• Available TRD options for off-the-scale fun

Cons

• Sequential transmission missing steering wheel mounted shifter paddles
• Inside sunroof cover is flimsy
• Small buttons and knobs make it difficult to use the Alpine stereo
• 5 inch navigation screen too small and difficult to read with a quick glance

Despite the fact that Scion would like you to think that their new second generation tC is the perfect parcel designed exclusively for Gen Y, this smart new coupe outsmarts its own parent company by appealing to all age groups. No, you don’t have to love discordant music played at ear splitting levels to love the new tC. Nor do you need to cock your flat brim farmer’s cap sideways to appreciate this latest effort from Toyota’s youngest offspring company. In fact, it’s something of a mystery just why Scion limits their marketing to an age group that can barely afford to purchase a tC without parental assistance.
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Here’s some solid evidence that Toyota’s Scion brand sure knows it’s market: The 2010 version of the quite popular xB is getting a new and better audio system, and the prices for the car aren’t going up a cent. The 2010 xB which is exactly the same vehicle as the 2009, apart from the all-new, and standard 160-watt Pioneer audio system, and the car’s base price that remains at $15,750 (MSRP) when equipped with a five-speed manual transmission, and $16,700 for the four-speed automatic with sequential shifting.

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By Kurt Gensheimer

Blings

• Unique Styling
• More powerful engine
• Long list of standard features
• Longer list of aftermarket options

Dings

• Unique Styling
• Still fuel efficient, but not like xA
• Snowplow understeer
• Lifeless Toyota handling

Ruling: Regardless of what ridiculous appearance analogy you can muster, the xD offers incredible value and personality for the money.

For automotive journalists, it seems the most exciting part of reviewing a Scion is coming up with an assemblage of knee-slapping analogies as to the car’s appearance. The selection ranges anywhere from Whirlpool on wheels, rollerskate, and UPS truck crossed with a garden shed to a rolling doorstop, midget bullet train, melted stack of pancakes and petrified excrement. Read the rest of this entry »