OpenRoad Driver Volume 11 Issue 1 | Page 60

60 » OpenRoad Driver Drive a Scion? Write a car review and win one of multiple cash prizes! http://openroadcars.ca/review 2014 Scion tC » To say Toyota’s youth-oriented Scion brand marches to the beat of its own drummer is quite the understatement. I mean, since when does an auto brand try to get away with just offering a sub-subcompact micro car, a subcompact hatch, compact wagoncum-boxy-crossover thingy and two compact sports coupes? Yes, two sports coupes. The fabulous FR-S got all the glory last year. Now it’s time for the tC to get a little attention, and the changes are welcome. The 2014 tC’s new LED headlight design and the jagged edges give it an aggressive new attitude, enhanced by a new longer hood that extends down to a much larger, more assertive grille that pulls styling influence from the aforementioned FR-S. Inside, the newest tC gets fewer updates, with a new lighter grey fabric design on the well-bolstered sport buckets. My tester featured the optional six-speed automatic which makes the exhaust note drone on at low revs more than it otherwise would have if I’d been given greater control of shifting. The new automatic swaps cogs twice as fast as the outgoing auto in the 2013 model, especially in sport mode where you also have the option of shifting manually. Mechanical motivation comes from Toyota’s 16-valve, DOHC, 2.5-litre four featuring variable valve timing for an impressive 179 horsepower and 172 lb-ft of torque. Slinging it up a steep section of Highway 1 dubbed “The Cut” by locals left me feeling pretty smug, this little coupe passing surrounding traffic with ease. While the tC is plenty of fun in the corners and cruises highways and byways at speeds that will get you pulled over by the local constabulary if you’re not careful, it’s also a comfortable place to while away the hours if stuck in rush-hour traffic.