This fall, a new compact coupe will find its way onto the Canadian market. There aren’t many remaining, as only the Honda Civic and the Kia Forte Koup are left. The Chevrolet Cobalt will be a goner in a few weeks when it will be replaced by the sedan-only Cruze, and the two-door Focus coupe will be retired for 2011.
Is this good or bad timing for Scion to bring a redesigned tC coupe to Canada?
The 2011 sports brand-new sheetmetal, but only the trained eye will notice the difference between the outgoing model and the new one. The redesigned car sports slightly more angular bodywork, including flatter and more-detailed headlight clusters, a more aggressive front fascia as well as a squared-off rear end with smaller, embossed taillights.
The tC uses a front-wheel drive platform and shares the Toyota Camry’s base engine, a 16-valve, 2.5-litre inline-4 that develops 180 horsepower and 174 pound-feet of torque for Scion duty. Six-speed manual and automatic transmissions are offered, the latter including a manual shift mode. Compared with the first-gen tC, the new car gains 19 horses, 11 pound-feet and 2 extra gears in the automatic gearbox.
For those concerned about the tC sounding like their dad’s Camry, Scion claims that the car will get a new intake manifold design and a sport-tuned exhaust for a more aggressive soundtrack. We’ll see.
The coupe features a four-wheel independent suspension, with MacPherson struts up front and a double-wishbone setup at the rear. Electric-assist power steering, 18-inch alloy wheels, 225/45R18 tires, four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock and brake force distribution as well as traction and stability control systems are also standard.
The 2011 tC is 4,420 mm long, 1,796 mm wide and rides on a 2,700-mm wheelbase, which makes it about the same size as a Civic coupe and a Forte Koup. Same thing inside, where the Scion offers slightly more rear-seat space. Trunk volume is greater in the tC than in the Civic and Forte, however.
Is this good or bad timing for Scion to bring a redesigned tC coupe to Canada?
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| The redesigned car sports slightly more angular bodywork. (Photo: Toyota) |
The 2011 sports brand-new sheetmetal, but only the trained eye will notice the difference between the outgoing model and the new one. The redesigned car sports slightly more angular bodywork, including flatter and more-detailed headlight clusters, a more aggressive front fascia as well as a squared-off rear end with smaller, embossed taillights.
The tC uses a front-wheel drive platform and shares the Toyota Camry’s base engine, a 16-valve, 2.5-litre inline-4 that develops 180 horsepower and 174 pound-feet of torque for Scion duty. Six-speed manual and automatic transmissions are offered, the latter including a manual shift mode. Compared with the first-gen tC, the new car gains 19 horses, 11 pound-feet and 2 extra gears in the automatic gearbox.
For those concerned about the tC sounding like their dad’s Camry, Scion claims that the car will get a new intake manifold design and a sport-tuned exhaust for a more aggressive soundtrack. We’ll see.
The coupe features a four-wheel independent suspension, with MacPherson struts up front and a double-wishbone setup at the rear. Electric-assist power steering, 18-inch alloy wheels, 225/45R18 tires, four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock and brake force distribution as well as traction and stability control systems are also standard.
The 2011 tC is 4,420 mm long, 1,796 mm wide and rides on a 2,700-mm wheelbase, which makes it about the same size as a Civic coupe and a Forte Koup. Same thing inside, where the Scion offers slightly more rear-seat space. Trunk volume is greater in the tC than in the Civic and Forte, however.
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| The Scion offers slightly more rear-seat space than the Civic Coupé and the Forte Koup. (Photo: Toyota) |