By Jim Brennan

UDMan

There was some excitement in the Scion booth, as the new tC was introduced. It’s rather hard to remember when the tC was first introduced in the States, and it’s one of the more successful Scion products, so when coming out with a replacement, Toyota was a little conservative, with basically the same styling, an increase in horsepower, larger tires and brakes, and a new six speed automatic along with a six seed stick.

Continue reading "NYIAS: the New Scion tC" »

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Over the weekend we heard unconfirmed rumors that Chris Rado had driven his Scion tC into the 6′s at Pomona, making it the first front-drive drag car ever to do so. There has been a little discrepancy regarding the time, but I just got off the phone with Chris who gave me the the quick rundown of what happened. With the car running faster than ever, and a solid coating of rubber on the track Chris laid down an astonishing 6.97 second ET during eliminations.

Unfortunately the incredible traction that the car had off the line caused the timing beams to misread the 60-foot time, technically making the ET “unofficial”. Nonetheless, the complete 1/4 mile time is still legit by all accounts.

By Mike Garrett

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It seems like Scion’s booth gets better with each successive SEMA. This time around, it seemed to be scaled down a little from last year, but that made for a more efficient delivery–Scion’s offerings really were all fun, no filler. Every single vehicle present had undergone extreme modifications, like the roofless Cartell Customs tC below the jump, or was being used to showcase some visionary over-the-top concept, like the “mobile kitchen” xB, the wood-bed pickup conversion with the moped in the back, or the “DJ 2.0″ by Five Axis–complete with lights and disco balls, a monster Pioneer sound system, and a mini dance floor. A trio of rides from Scion’s xB Tuner Challenge rounded out the fleet, including this turbocharged xB by Peter Colello. The theme for the booth was “Become One Of Us By Becoming None Of Us,” in keeping with the brand’s emphasis on individualism and transformation. Follow the jump for more pics and a video tour.

Continue reading "Cool Booth: Scion At SEMA" »

By Austin Knight

Gotadime

If you’ve spent even a small amount of time on CarDomain, you’ve most likely crossed paths with Dawn’s Scion tCat some point. Her matte black, murdered-out tC has been attracting a lot of attention around here lately and she’s already won Showoff of the Week, surpassed the 100,000 views mark and received nearly 8,500 comments from interested CarDomain members. Why has her car gotten this attention? Well, she didn’t drop six figures on it and it hasn’t been in any magazines, like some popular cars on here. Nope, it’s just because her tC is a cool car driven by a cool girl that’s very in tune with the automotive ccommunity. She’s a very nice person who knows what she’s talking about when it comes to cars, and as we’ve found in the last couple months, that’s more than enough to win over the heart of the CarDomain ccommunity. Dawn always has stuff planned for her beautiful tC and she’s even looking at getting a new, better paint job (as if it could get any better), so make sure that you stop by and check it out. Trust me, it will be hard to resist adding this perfect combo to your favorites.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Of course we already saw the blue Tuner Challenge tC at SEMA, but I figured you guys would want to see the Scion booth anyway, since they always have such cool displays. More pics after the jump!

Continue reading "Scion at NAIAS" »

Given how much I ask it to do, my trusty little IBM ThinkPad—running Windows XP—is pretty stable.  But obviously, its maddening idiosyncrasies occasionally reduce me to a seething, profanity-spewing toddler who just wants to go kick holes in something. So I found the Matrix Runs on Windows pretty funny. Anyway, here’s the news:

• Talk about irony. Shannon Nicole Adkins’ senior project was a study how dangerous the roads of her rural county were for young drivers. She died Monday after being struck head-on by a drunk driver who crossed the center line. Damn, that’s sad. MSNBC
• Apparently, the recent drop in gas prices is still translating into increased sales of SUVs. And while I know this isn’t the first time I’ve talked about this ridiculous phenomenon, I feel like I have to keep mentioning it. Seriously America, maybe it’s time to start thinking further ahead than lunch? ABC Charlotte
• Looks like the next gen Scion TC is going to be RWD. The car itself will be the product of the long-awaited Toyota/Subaru partnership, and I can’t wait to get a look at one in the flesh. Which company’s do you think will look hotter? My money is on Toyota. CarScoop
• When I walked into the office on this morning, my credentials for the LA Auto Show were sitting on my desk. Now, it’s not clear which member of editorial team is going, but I can tell you that the General won’t be hosting any press conferences. Yikes. Freep

By Katherine Helmetag

AKA atomicalex

World War II is officially over, because now we have a Japanese car decorated like an Allied bomber. This tC built by Eddie Hahm gets points for over-the-topness. The interior is full of vintage aircraft styled bits, including old perforated steel seats.

Continue reading "Scion tC P-40 Warhawk edition" »

This car was just kind of sitting out all by its lonesome. No one touched the car the whole time we were there–not sure what they have planned for it at Formula D this weekend. More pics after the jump. I also shot this short walk-around vid.

Continue reading "RWD Scion tC Drift Car at Evergreen Speedway" »

This was my first off season not working for a publication full time, and I have to say, it was a relief. What many don’t realize is how difficult it can be to fill content for a publication during the off season. This year, however, there were a lot of exciting things happening, including the development of the Scion tC drift car that I am sure many of you have already heard about.

It is interesting that Scion is getting involved with the sport of drifting. Sure, it raises brand awareness, and gets another group of potential consumers interested in Scions, but does this mean that they will be producing a RWD sports coupe? With their continued support in all facets of the industry, however, I can only hope other manufacturers take notes and realizes that the aftermarket industry is here to stay.

This past weekend was the Formula D season opener, as well as the Battle of the Imports season opener. Battle of the Imports is making a statement this year, capturing the attention of many pro teams and doing a full blown schedule supporting the racers. They’ve gotten many sponsors on board, and it’s important this year that drag racing picks up some steam and continues to grow.

This year will be interesting for the sport compact crowd. We have Time Attack events taking the West Coast by storm, and it will be nice to see all facets of sport compact motorsports working together to help the industry as a whole grow. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) for me, I won’t be traveling much this year, but I’m always keeping my eyes on the forums to see what’s going on. Race weekends are always exciting watching my favorite forums update with live results.

To compete in this year’s US Grand Prix Professional Drift events, drift tuners RS*R cooked up this fantastic 400 hp rear-wheel drive Scion tC drift car. The RWD conversion was made a lot easier by the fact that the tC shares its platform with the Avensis and Caldina, Toyota’s JDM 4WD and AWD offerings. The tC’s stock transverse-mounted 2.4 L 4-cylinder was replaced with a turbocharged, longitudinally-set 3SGE Beams motor. Aftermarket goodies include a HKS GT3037 turbo and intercooler, an AEM EMS engine management system, a G-Force 5-speed sequential trans, a Tolton triple carbon clutch, Project Mu brakes, RS-R coilovers, and Enkei wheels. You’ll first be able to see this little monster scorch those nice new Toyos on April 12 at Formula Drift’s Round 1 in Long Beach, CA, which’ll be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. But unfortunately, there’s no plan to produce a RWD tC for the domestic or international market. See more pics after the jump!

Continue reading "For Drift Use Only: RWD Scion tC" »