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2005 Toyota Scion TC & Other News

Below is an enthusiast article written by the automotive experts at Sport Compact Car. 2005 Scion tCToyota's Scion division revealed its third product at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the tC coupe.

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LEARN WHY

IntelliChoice Value Rating

The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.

One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.

What is a good car value?

A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.

But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?

For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.

This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)

Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.

Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.

So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.

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Article From Sport Compact Car Magazine

2005 Toyota Scion TC & Other News - Spin Out

All The News Without Fear Or Favor / Article provided by: Sport Compact Car Magazine

2005 Scion tC
Toyota's Scion division revealed its third product at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the tC coupe.

Based on the JDM Avensis and Caldina, the tC has been conceived strictly for America. "We picked that platform for its double-wishbone rear suspension," explains Gary Boler, Scion's senior manager of sales marketing and product planning. "No other American Toyota model has that. It's something typically found on more expensive Lexus products."

At 106.3 inches, the tC's wheelbase is just 0.8 inches shorter than that of the 2004 Solara. However, the tC stretches 174.0 inches overall, which is a full 18.5 inches shorter than the Solara and 3.5 inches longer than a Celica (which has a 102.4-inch wheelbase). That gives the tC a taut, athletic appearance with the wheels pushed to the corners of the car; something like an Acura RSX with more curvaceous flanks and a more distinctive nose.

Power for the tC will come from the Camry's super-familiar 2.4-liter, DOHC, VVT-i, four making 160 hp feeding either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic front-drive transaxles. Seventeen-inch wheels, P215/45R-17 tires and four-wheel disc brakes are also part of the package. The rear suspension may have a double-wishbone design, but the front is, yup, MacPherson struts. All tCs will be made in Japan.

When the tC goes on sale in June (with a base price well below $20,000), Scion will already be supporting it with a range of performance and appearance items. That includes body pieces, lowering springs, wheel and tire packages and such vital components as shift knobs. But a few months later, the most interesting dealer-installed package will arrive: A new TRD supercharger system.

Unlike previous TRD blower systems, which were built around the Eaton roots-style blower, this new one will use a Vortech centrifugal supercharger. "We investigated various solutions and this was the best one," Boler tells us. "TRD is doing the development with TMS and TMMC and the supercharger's casing will be a little different, but the rotating components are common with other Vortech blowers. The Vortech is well known to us and is a good-quality unit." The Vortech's most significant advantage, Boler adds, was that it fit nicely in the tC's tight engine bay. A full 200 hp is the goal for the blower installation. If the blower is as keenly priced as the tC itself, Scion may, in fact, have produced a car a young person will crave.

Detroit Auto Show
Acura TL A-Spec ConceptIf the Acura TL is good (It is.) wouldn't a wider TL be even better? That's about as profound a question as Acura's TL A-Spec Concept is capable of mustering. Shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the A-Spec Concept is obviously based on the 2004 TL and features a 42mm wider track with fenders swollen to cover it, 21-inch prototype wheels, 15-inch diameter Brembo disc brakes clamped by eight-piston calipers, a panoramic glass roof that virtually replaces the metal between door tops, tweaked front and rear fascias, and a three-stage Mica Pearl paint so lustrous it could have been yanked out of an oyster.

Power for this concept comes from a modified version of the TL's 3.2-liter V6 that, Acura says, wallops out 300 hp and feeds it to a six-speed manual transmission and limited-slip differential. That's nothing much different than what's in today's TL.

The crowning glory of the A-Spec Concept is the interior, which features open-faced seats done in matador red leather with built-in heating and cooling ventilation-critical for those of us cursed with a butt that turns to ice in the winter and boils in its own juices during the summer.

As close as it is to the production TL, what this car really showcases is the potential of the TL as a tuner car. Anyone out there want to take up Acura's challenge?

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