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Enhanced Driving Performance

The 2011 tC enters its second-generation riding on an enhanced platform, including a MacPherson strut front-suspension and a double-wishbone rear-suspension that were specially tuned to offer the driver a sporty ride that is both nimble and confident.

Larger 18-inch aluminum-alloy wheels are wrapped in wider tires, giving the tC a broader stance and elevated handling characteristics. The new model also comes standard with disc brakes on all corners that are larger than its predecessor's.

Aggressive Styling

The Scion tC's all-new design projects a bolder, more aggressive stance. Inspired by the Calty-designed Scion FUSE concept, the tC is a high-impact sports coupe with simple and unique elements.

Calty designers took inspiration from the athletic look of a racing helmet. As a result, one of the boldest design features of the new tC is the sleek cabin shape with wrap-around window graphics that add to its sporty profile.

Adding to the fresh design approach is a strong, renegade face. The sleek front grille and projector headlamps are complemented by protruding fender flares, which amplify its wider, lower stance. The front interlocks with the dynamic, muscular rear fenders. The shape of the rear taillights flow cleanly into the overall shape of the trunk, finalizing the iconic and purposeful nature of the design.

The Scion tC can be wrapped in an urban palette of seven colors: Super White, Silver Streak Mica, Black, Magnetic Gray Metallic, Sizzling Crimson Mica, Nautical Blue Metallic and the all-new Cement.

Interior Design Offers both Comfort and Convenience

The sporty design of the new Scion tC carries over to the interior with a look and feel that is sophisticated, sporty and functional. The front cabin design provides a driver-centered cockpit with spaciousness and freedom for the front passenger.

A tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel features a flat bottom that provides additional thigh room. Dual illuminated combination meters for the speedometer and tachometer have a three-dimensional appearance with large meters and needle indicators for good visibility.

The trip meters also include gauges for outside temperature, average MPG, and an ECO-drive indicator on automatic transmission models that helps the driver maximize the tCs fuel efficiency.

The sporty new Scion tC does not sacrifice driver and passenger comfort. As part of the redesign, engineers made significant interior upgrades in the area of driver and passenger comfort and convenience.

Among the many interior comfort features is a driver walk-through seat- memory function for both the seat and backrest. The driver and front passenger bucket seats and rear passenger seats are upholstered with premium fabric designs. Added comfort was accomplished by making the seats thicker, with firmer seat bolsters, while the driver seat is six-way adjustable. Entry and exit for rear passengers is made easy with a walk-in lever located at shoulder level on the front seats. For added comfort and utility, the rear seats are 60:40 split and recline up to 10 degrees.

Staying true to Scion tradition, the new tC has an abundance of storage throughout. Additional driver and passenger comforts include four bottle holders, a large console box that can hold up to 18 CDs, two cup holders, a flat storage area in front of the console, an assist grip handle, sun visors with vanity mirrors and a map light.

Audio System Designed to Impress

The tC features a powerful standard audio system with a total of 300-watts feeding the eight-speaker sound package. With an emphasis on amazing sound quality, the tC's stereo system shares some speaker components with the Lexus LX 570, and features mid-range and woofer speakers that are superior.

The tC comes standard with a Pioneer AM/FM/CD head unit with USB iPod connectivity. The 160-watt Pioneer head unit powers the tweeters, mid-range and full-range speakers, while a separate 140-watt, two-channel amplifier is designed to drive power to the 6x9-inch door-mounted woofers.

The standard head unit integrates track, artist and album information from the iPod into a one-line display on the head unit's screen. Connectivity is achieved by simply plugging the iPod into a port via a USB connector cable, while the car's stereo system provides outstanding sound quality and constant power to the iPod. Music is controlled through the head unit and steering wheel audio controls. An auxiliary port is also standard, allowing users to listen to various portable music players.

The optional Alpine Premium audio system has the same basic features as the standard Pioneer audio, but adds a 4.3-inch color touch-panel thin-film-transistor (TFT) screen, HD Radio technology, Media Expander (MX) and front and rear RCA outputs. Passengers can listen to HD Radio technology with the premium audio system and view text, song titles, album and artist name on the head unit. Alpine's MX improves compressed audio sound often found on digital music. The RCA outputs allow for up to three amplifiers -- front, rear and subwoofer. The optional audio system is also navigation and back-up camera ready.

Scion also offers an optional plug-in navigation unit for the Alpine Premium audio system. Navigation and audio functions utilize the head unit screen for display. Features include voice guidance; day and night screen modes; support in English, French and Spanish; 200 available address book entries; map coverage across the U.S. and Canada including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Hawaii; three map views (3-D, north up, and heading up); and more than six million points of interest. Users can also program up to three destinations before arriving at their final programmed stop. Scion makes this navigation unit customizable by allowing the user to change the vehicle position icon from an arrow to an icon of the tC, which can be customized to the seven tC exterior colors.

Both the standard and premium head units retain key Scion audio system features such as Scion Sound Processing (SSP) where listeners can choose from three pre-set equalizer settings, satellite radio compatibility and MP3, AAC and WMA capability. In addition, both units adjust the volume control based on driving speed.

A Scion Navigation System is also available, featuring an audio/video/navigation unit with a seven-inch LCD touch screen. The system also has iPod connectivity; SSP; Alpine Equalizer; Alpine Focus, which allows users to move the center of the sound field; Clear Sound Effecter (CSE) to enhance compressed digital music data; Alpine Digital Sound Processing (DSP); automatic volume adjust; and satellite radio capability. This audio system also features HD Radio capabilities include HD Tagging, rich sound and on-screen text information, as well as Bluetooth Hands-free mobile phone communication and Bluetooth Streaming Audio.

Added Standard Safety Features

The second-generation tC will add a supplemental restraint system (SRS) front passenger knee airbag, bringing the total number of airbags to eight. Additional SRS airbags include driver and front passenger airbags, driver and front passenger seat-mounted side airbags, driver knee airbag, and side curtain airbags.

All 2011 tCs will come standard with Anti-lock Brakes (ABS) and Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD). New for tC and also standard equipment are Brake Assist (BA), Traction Control (TRAC), Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and a brake override system. The tC will also feature a button that allows the driver to turn off the VSC and/or the TRAC features.

Additional safety features include a tire pressure monitoring system and newly adopted active front headrests.

Scion tC: Photo Gallery, Review (1/2) and Specifications