battlearmor

I am considering this car as my next vehicle.

I am wondering what you owners think of this cars fun to drive factor, specifically with the manual?

Thanks

Brenex

I mean, I love my car (black, manual) and I'm sure everyone else here would agree. It's also fun as hell to personalize and tweak just the way you want it and the aftermarket parts scene is growing nicely.

battlearmor

But fun to drive? How do you like the manual?

Brenex

I love it! I came from a manual 5 speed corolla and this was quite the upgrade. Much smoother and sensitive shifting. Though I don't mind driving manual in any condition including traffic which I know turns some people off. I average about 29 MPG consistently (+- 0.5) with a mix of highway and city. I know those car meters aren't always accurate but it at least it's consistent.

speterson82

As far as fun factor stock....that's pretty relative, If your coming from a car geared more toward stock performance (say sti, evo....) you might be disappointed. That said, this car is fun enough stock for the price, but the beauty of the tC is that with just a few simple/affordable upgrades the drivability/fun factor shoots up considerably. Someone in another thread today made a great point also when they said that if you take a 20k tC and put the difference in retail cost comparable to the evo, sti (30-35k) in customization; the tC is capable of wiping them off the road. As Brenex just said, the customization of this car is easy, accessible, and parts are starting to come out faster. The "fun" in owning a scion is making it your own.....Ive had at least 8 other cars of all brands and this is my second scion, I can say hands down it is the easiest car to modify on the market, and the addiction you will develop to tweaking this car is well worth the purchase.

Erager09

I love my tc1. Its a ____ load of fun to drive. Quick for a stock 4cyl imho. Tons of aftermarket parts. Car is in the shop getting a turbo cause I just want more lol. All in all...im keeping this car till it falls apart. Id say it definitely has a fun to drive factor.

I know this is tc2 forum but their similar. Wish I had your 6spd trans though...

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evilBOXevil

In total agreement about the performance for cost possibilities of the tC. Like the poster abover said- for the cost of the mods, you could have a car that can blow the Evo/Sti guys away... and still come out having paid about 10K less (and have a better looking car too).

I drive a gen1 xB now (and I love it), but the reasons above are mostly why I am looking at the tC for the near future.

A friend of mine has one (with minor suspension mods), which I have driven quite a few times, and it's about as balanced and responsive as you can get on a car with the front wheels pulling you. Really fun to drive.

MightyP

iTrader: (1)

Fun to drive... Fun to drive... Let's just say I started AutoXing my car so I could drive it the way I wanted to and avoid losing my license.

As others have mentioned, it's all in your perspective. For a $20K car, it's a blast. I agree you will want to throw on a few upgrades to really get the "fun factor" going, but you can get springs, cable bushings, a short shifter, and exhaust all for about $1K. With those your car will feel, look and sound great. For another $1K, you can upgrade your intake, header, crank pulley, brake lines and brake pads and blow away anything else you're looking at uner $30K.

But you seriously need to take one out for a test drive. Take a Kia Forte, Honda Civic, and Genesis Coupe for drives too. We can talk all we want, but until you physically drive the car, you won't be able to make an informed decision.

And one suggestion for the test drive. Before you go anywhere, press and hold the traction control button until you see 2 lights come on, indicating the traction control completely is off. This will make a huge difference in the car's fun factor.

Good luck!

Brenex

I... didn't know it would be more fun to drive like this. I must test this out later today!

speterson82

Jtk2 posted this in the crank pulley thread......credit where credit's due.

Backinblacktc2

iTrader: (1)

So what does this do unleash the beast? Give you full power a all time? Does the traction control really hold the car back that much?

rackatak

I'm still fairly new to the tC and to the forum, but I absolutely love it. I came from a Tacoma that I used for everything from rock crawling to mudding to dune jumping. So I like to thrash my vehicles a little and still use them for daily driving. This car has a definite fun factor. It cost way less than other vehicles I was looking at and it offered more in the way of affordable aftermarket parts. I just started in autocross and I'm hooked. But like MightyP said, go out and test drive multiple cars, find the one that fits your needs best and go from there. Ask lots of questions about the car, do you research and in the end I promise you will be happy any way you go.

Scratch

iTrader: (3)

You have to define "fun" for us.

You may find fun to be something totally different than others, do you modify cars? is that fun for you?

Do you drive aggressive? Do you sit in traffic all day? Do you want an impressive audio system? Are those things fun?

Bone stock the car is more fun than driving a typical economy car. It is not fast, it corners decent, the manual transmission is sloppy but can be tightened up for about $100, the automatic I found to be just ugly and slow. Fun? kinda. I wanted a new car for under $20k and this was the best I could find. If I had wanted a fun car, I would have spent the time to get a used M3, or an S4.

What folks have said about mods is close to being correct, but again it depends on your idea of fun to drive. You can upgrade the suspension but as of now there is no way to correct rear camber. If you rock hellaflush, there are fewer options for coilovers, but more will come in time. You won't get fast with bolt-on intake/header/exhaust mods but you will get foolish loud, but you will still be around 150-160hp at the wheels. If you are willing to spend the money, you can get one of the 2 or 3 turbo kits out and break 300hp easy, add a LSD and yes, the car will be stupid fun. IF you consider that fun.

Also, get the 2012, not the 2011. The 2012 has a supposedly better radio with bluetooth, and 2 reverse lights.

MightyP

iTrader: (1)

In a word... yes. As much as a naturally aspirated, 4 banger can be anyway.

From 0-30 mph, the traction control really limits the car. This car has more than enough power stock to break the stock tires loose and the traction control slows down the car to try and maintain traction.

Often as not, I drive with my traction control off because of how much quicker the car is under 30 mph

Brichard0625

^ i agree, its sounds dumb and it cud be my imagination, but when trac and stability is off its like the car has so much more torque! And now that i have headers/intake/exhaust/quick shifter/throttle controller...this car is pretty beast! when i first got it i was like blah but now its so hard to control myself from revving the ish of it!

Backinblacktc2

iTrader: (1)

Lmfao! I have the same mods they you have except I have a twm short shifter and I don't have headers or throttle controller any way all I can say about turning the trac off is WINNING!!! lol what throttle controller do you have and how much was I'd also what setting do you have it on thanks in advance.

Druidiron

Check out this video. Yeah, its an automatic, and the manual is even more fun to drive. At one point the guy says he looked at everything under $40k, (I wish I had that kind of budget) including Porsche , and he chose the tC. Sure, he could be exagerating, but seeing his house at the end.......I dont think he was. Pretty much says it all:


This is the most fun to drive car I have ever owned, and the manual gets even better after you put a TWM short shifter in there.

MightyP

iTrader: (1)

Guy did a good job with the video, but I will say one thing. His house looked nice enough, but it couldn't have cost more than like $80k. I mean, he lives in Canada!

Brichard0625

i have the weapon r throttle controller..alot cheaper than the sprint booster and i have to say it improves fun factor and i feel i shift a little better. Something weird i noticed tho is that when i have the weapon r throttle it shows how much throttle your using ex.15%, 20% so when i push the pedal all the way to the floor i only hit 85%to90% sometimes and i thought the controller was just reading it wrong..i would literally i have to jam my foot down to reach 100%..so i decided to use my edge programmer to see what kind of throttle % i was getting and its the same i have to jam the pedal down to reach 100% throttle..im not sure if its just my car!

dm1336

Before I bought my tC I took several cars for a test drive. The tC just wasn't like the other cars. A Civic, Mazda 3, Matrix, Lancer and Forte I found were more family type vehicles. The tC is different. Loud muffler, not much sound insulation, stiff suspension, and not much interior luxuries.... A perfect vehicle for me ;)

I found the tC much more fun to drive than those cars. I have the AT but once I enter sequential sports mode the engine is just so different in performance. The car comes alive when shifting.

Now I just need to do some customizations before the snow starts falling... Lol

I do feel a Civic Si (8th gen) with its RSX engine is a better engine but like those above the price difference and the customizations you can do to boost performance is worth it. Plus the Si requires premium fuel vs the tC with its Camry engine that needs only regular fuel.

I love my tC and it's so much fun to drive compared to the others I have tested.