Scion tC
The Scion tC comes with an auxiliary jack that will operate your iPod, but a $260 upgrade adds in steering wheel controls and displays song titles on the Pioneer head unit.
For years, automotive designers and marketers have done their darnedest to figure out what young and young-at-heart drivers desire. Honda and Mitsubishi have probably been the most consistently successful, but each has also had its share of disappointments, including the present-day versions of the Civic Si and Eclipse. Enter Toyota’s new youth brand, Scion, just when X and Y generation drivers are ripe for the picking.
This new line of autos carries with it Toyota’s reputation for quality and reliability, a base price of $16,515 (including a $515 destination charge), and fresh designs from angular and boxy to fast and furious. The latter describes the hot Scion tC coupe, which resembles the larger Infiniti G35 coupe in profile and comes standard with features like a huge sliding moonroof, a 160-horsepower four-cylinder engine, 17-inch alloy wheels, front and rear stabilizer bars, and a 160-watt Pioneer sound system.
With that standard audio system comes a CD player, MP3 player, and auxiliary jack. But for $260 more, you get the same system with iPod compatibility, meaning your personal portable music library is available via the steering wheel audio controls, and the titles to your favorite tunes will be displayed on the Pioneer head unit.