I honestly dont see why people are so hot on the forte. It really isnt that special. Price is the only reason it really competes IMO and it still just competes with the 6 year old tC design And I love how a car company can produce decades of junk, unreliable cars (aka hyundai, kia) and come out with something that looks cool and say "we are reliable now" and everyone jumps on the bandwagon instantly calling them great cars. Magazine reviews, which have no way in determining reliability help fuel this. It takes a LOT of miles to tell if a car is reliable, not 10,000, 20,000 or even 50,000 most times. If a car runs 50,000 miles without issues, it is doing what it SHOULD even if it is a half arsed car.

Not saying Hyundai, Kia etc havent improved in the reliability category, but there isnt any real data to say either way yet. Personally would not go out and buy a new car from a company that built utter crap up till recent until I saw them consistently improve.

Mitsu... well I havent ever seen a reliable one. My dads customers who own them spend most of their time taking them to his shop until they can dump them and buy another brand. I will say the Evo is a blast to drive, but I dont think I would want to own one. Plus... its a 4 door.. I just dont get into the whole 4 door "sports" car thing. I would rather own a Subie than an Evo and liked the subie I drove on the autox course, but not much about it screamed something I would want to drive every day. The older STI's were much better looking IMO than the new ones.

 

^ I think its based around cost & aesthetics. Personally I think the Forte looks much better than the new tc, in fact I think the design of it is a better evolution in design then the new model tc. Reliability....eh you get what you pay for. I'm not paying 30k for a sub compact so unfortunately that either means I buy used or something cheap new. And that goes back to what I was saying about where Scion perfectly filled that void of cheap & poor reliability with quality featured laden vehicles that are reliable & loaded out the door for under or right around 20k, not starting @ 20k and then 30k out the door.

 

That's another good point, Scion initially offered a supercharger for the tC which gave it that "edge" against the Civic Si... sadly the S/C caused more problems than it was worth so that option got dumped, the other car manufacturers however are now starting to think about having turbo options, thus knocking the tC off of its "performance" pedistal.

Now who knows for sure if Scion will revive either the supercharger(lets hope improved) or a turbo edition for the tC, imo I think they are going for a different target group all together thus ending the tC's influence on the "Sport/Compact" market, and inching it's way ever so closer to becoming more family oriented.

Let's hope that the FT-86 comes out and is offered at a reasonable price with power to rival the STi and Evo and backed by solid reliability to boot.

 

burrito, because my tc is tasty as all___ and has many layers....lol

 

LMAO!!! Absolutely Brilliant!

 

BLAND.

I'm sorry if this isn't a popular opinion, but the 2011 tc to me is just plain fugly.
I love my xB2, and plan on owning it for a while. But while I would love to own a TC, unless they put out a stock model that looks similar to the one Troy built at 5Axis




and then gave it some decent power, its just never going to happen. I mean comeon, FORD puts out a TAURUS, with twin Turbos now? FORD? I mean F***er Only Rolls Downhill ford. FORD? and I would not expect it at rock bottom prices either. But its not even an option. I was going to put the TRD supercharger on my xB2, but turns out it was a piece of junk. now there is none. I don't want a turbo, I wanted a supercharger. So Scion just drops the option, offering no new one. now NOONE makes one. LAME. IMO

 

Wow, this thread is all over the place!

 

TONS of people make great options for boost on the tC Redbeard. They just dont use a centrifugal supercharger, which negates most of the benefit of a good supercharger setup anyways People went straight to the aftermarket from the day kits came out for the tC which would have killed the SC biz for TRD anyways. Yes, they should come out with a turbo option, but the SC they offered was not worth the money.

I do agree though that the new tC doesnt look that great. I dont like that one you pictured either. Even if I did, them making one like that would be a huge mistake. People forget the majority of the market for these cars. IF they make a tC that looked like that, they would only sell to the kids that wanted a more extreme looking car like that and were in the market for an econo coupe. People with more money that wanted a wilder look would buy a sports car, not a tC. And the majority of tC buyers are not "tuners" or enthusiasts. So they would basically severely limit their customer base to the point they would lose money on the brand. You have to keep in mind that they need a large customer base to make money and that just wouldnt do it. That is why so many concepts get toned down before final production.

I think the xB2 looks worse than the original xB personally. Didnt really like the original either. When it came out it made me want to puke. Over the years I have gotten more used to it, but I think the newer ones have gone downhill in looks. They made a much better choice in engines with the xB2 and up though

 

NOT for the xb2 though. There is actually very little out there especially compared to what is available for the TC. As I said, I really don't want a turbo, but would love a Supercharger. And there are NONE. I too prefer getting aftermarket, but there IS NO aftermarket SC for the xB2. TRD's was the only one. If you really research them, most of the turbo's for the xb2 are just crap. The only one I would consider putting on my xB is the one made by descendant, and it's almost 5 grand.

 

Readbeard, the lack of that sort of performance parts for the xB2 may be due to the general perception that it the equivalent of a soccer-mom's van, without the sliding doors, and is commonly expected to carry mom, 2.3 kids and a dog. (It is a Corolla Wagon, after all.)

Doesn't make it a bad car - it is actually a very good one - it is just the way it tends to be viewed by the aftermarket: Family Car.

 

yeah, NOW. When i first bought it, it was presented as the hot NEW edgy model of xB, aimed at 20 somethings. And ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL these after market options were going to be available. half of which you cant even get any more. and some, except for TRD stuff, never materialized. HUGE difference in the xB1 and xB2 aftermarket. They are just slicker liars, that figured they can say whatever they want to sell a car. And that by aiming at a younger market it would be easier to pull the wool over the eyes of consumers. Now, I love my car, but I was suckered in too. I don't think the whole family car thing started, until this whole economic crap started. then a lot of consumers found that the xB2 was a reliable car, that got decent gas milage, and was half the cost of what they really wanted.

 

yeah, the timing was really bad for this one. The great recession took a lot of projects off the drawing board for both Toyota and a number of other aftermarket companies. This really did leave a void that was not intentional, just a matter of survival. Many companies were fighting to stay in business rather than gamble precious capital on R&D for a dying market. I can appreicate how you feel redbeard, but things don't always go as planned. The xB2 does boast some great improvements (factory cruise control, 4 wheel disc brakes, horsepower and torque, etc.). Another thing to look to are the HUGE changes in the leadership for Toyota that really began in 2007 (Jim Press goes to Chrysler, Jim Farley goes to Ford and Akio Toyoda who took the reigns of TMC in June of 2009.) I am excited about how things are going, sales are beginning to climb and I believe there are good things ahead.