2011 Scion tC - High Speed Test Drive at New Hampshire Motor Speedway's Road Course

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Akio Toyota challenged Toyota, Lexus, and Scion to make their vehicles more fun to drive. This is part of an internal initiative to add excitement back into each brand's product line and get back into making exciting products. While this may sound like lip service to some enthusiasts, a lot of what's done internally never sees the light of day, and for good reason; the car industry is extremely competitive. Even more so after the rough times that the industry has gone through in recent years. Industry segments, like the sports car segment, have gone through some pretty rough times as well. With a shrinking market for pure sports cars, comes practical cars like the all-new, second generation, Scion tC. The 2011 Scion tC is the first sporty car to be released after this initiative, and marks the start of a new era for Toyota, Scion, and Lexus. The Scion tC is a practical five passenger coupe that makes no compromises in safety. 8 airbags, traction control, vehicle stability control, ABS brakes, brake assist, and electronic brake force distribution? All for under $20k in a sporty compact coupe? What a steal! And at speed, I was amazed how the TRAC would actually simulate a limited-slip differential and keep the inside tire from spinning. In my past experiences with racing the first-gen tC, on slower corners the 2.4L had enough torque to break traction with the inside tire that is unweighted when cornering. And the fact that it has these systems means that it is a car that you can drive through winters with relative ease. The TRAC and VSC will make a night and day different in slippery conditions, and can be completely turned off if you're in a situation where you're completely stuck. Six-speed manual tC's sprint from 0-60 in 7.6 seconds - not bad for a car that's priced under $20k. It will remind you of all of the reasons you first got into cars; it just does so many things right. Rolling through the gears with it's close ratio 6 speed, many of us were reminded of the Celica GT-S. When the tC launched, the price point was so much lower than what the Celica could ever hope to achieve that tC pretty much killed the Celica. The exhaust note reminded many of a built version of our late 80's FWD Corollas that utilized the 1.6L 7 rib 4age 4 cylinders. We drove for days with the radio off just listening to the music from under the hood. But while we're on the topic of stereos, let's just say that the 2nd-generation tC has an AMAZING stereo. 300W standard? For those audiophiles, the 340W Apline stereo upgrade adds RCA's so you can add an external amp setup and subs. The one thing that's great about hatchbacks is that you aren't stuffing subs in a sealed trunk. As long as you're careful about sub placement with the glass, you'll end up with an amazing sounding system with relatively low power requirements. The snappy handling of the 2nd-generation reminded many of us of some of the sportier cars Toyota produced over the years. Most of the testers have driven some pretty modified cars, so it was amazing to us the level of performance these newer sports cars can reach without the need for sacrificing your daily drive to and from where you're headed. After a day of testing, we developed a pretty thorough list of minor things we would do to develop the chassis, but we were really awestruck with the potential of this chassis; we're looking forward to seeing what the aftermarket will come up with! Part of what Scion does different are as simple as the fundamentals that influence every decision that's made. At it's core, Scion marks Toyota's commitment to shaking things up, and trying something that others may think is a bit too different to dare try. Take this video for example; normally this kind of internal testing doesn't see the light of day publicly, but Scion's approach is totally different. Enjoy!!!