5th Apr 2006, 11:37

I have to agree with you about the service. I also bought a Yaris and as soon as we left the lot I didn't hear a thing from them. However, I have to disagree with you about the quality of the car. The Yaris is nice inside and you get what you pay for. I think for the size of the car they have done really well making it feel bigger inside.

I just went in to the dealership to check out the yaris sedan and it seems like its a nicer car inside.

I do have one more complaint about Toyota. We bought the hitch so we could use it with our bike adapter and they still haven't even released a hitch for the Yaris and it has been 6 months. Very very annoying, and Toyota has nothing to say about it.

11th Apr 2006, 18:48

I'm sure if you bought a hitch for a Tercel or an Echo it could be fit to the Yaris.

10th Apr 2007, 19:51

I don't think I could regard the Scion brand as higher quality than the Toyota Corolla. I test drove both, and the Scion (a Tc coupe) rattled and rode rough, and had a noisy, shaky idle (much rougher than a GM compact I also drove). The Corolla was reasonably smooth, quieter, and looked better built inside. All-in-all neither car impressed me as much as the GM compacts, which is what I now drive.

11th Apr 2007, 08:43

You MUST be joking. GM compacts better than a Scion or Corolla? Was it the huge panel gaps or the made-by-a-five year old child plastics that sold you?

And how can you compare a TWO door sports coupe to a FOUR door compact? They aren't in the same class. I drove the TC and it is designed with sports intention, not some floating living room. I'm surprised you didn't test drive the Miata and then complain you couldn't fit four people in it.

11th Apr 2007, 21:42

With regard to comment 23:39, our WORST Japanese cars were two that were bought BEFORE they started outsourcing to other countries. They were made in Japan by the allegedly god-like Japanese who can do no wrong... except in our case. Both cars were garbage and never made it to 100,000 miles. I'll take a car from the Big 3 regardless of WHERE it's put together.

12th Apr 2007, 09:07

"You MUST be joking. GM compacts better than a Scion or Corolla? Was it the huge panel gaps or the made-by-a-five year old child plastics that sold you?"

I suppose you never drove a Cobalt or an HHR. The panel gaps died with the cavalier. Even some later cavaliers were assembled pretty tightly. And Toyota uses more than enough 5 year old child plastics themselves nowadays.

12th Apr 2007, 17:31

Drove both, one for over a week. Lots of gaps, cheap plastic.

Very competitive cars for 1991, however. 2007, forget it.

12th Apr 2007, 19:30

I really needed a good laugh, and comment 09:07 gave it to me.

Actually, the last car I drove right before driving the Scion Tc coupe was a CHEVY COBALT!! When the salesman brought it around for me it was idling so quietly I didn't know he had left it running and I turned the key to start it!! It proved to be a very quiet (obviously), smooth and peppy car with a very solid feel.

I then went to Scion to drive the Tc. Hearing it running was NO PROBLEM. The engine rattled like a DIESEL!! The obviously inexperienced salesman urged me to take the car over a very rough stretch of road near his dealership to show me how "smooth" it was. After about a quarter of a mile, I thought the fillings would jar out of my teeth, and there was such a cacophony of rattles coming from NUMEROUS interior parts that the noise was DEAFENING.

I immediately told the salesman I was NOT interested and quickly took the obviously very poorly built car back to the dealership.

The Corolla I drove was much better built and smoother than the Scion, but still a far cry from the ultra smooth and quiet GM compacts.

I LOVE my GM compact. I can actually hear the stereo in it.

13th Apr 2007, 09:11

You forgot the part where the Scion dealer told you to go buy a Cobalt, that Scions are always having repairs done, and that his dream was to be a Chevy dealer so he would always be able to sell quality vehicles that quickly leave the lot.

14th Apr 2007, 17:30

I test drove one of the last of the 2006 Cavaliers (a few '06's were built). It was a beautiful yellow RS coupe with a 5-speed manual. Having driven the Scion Tc and several other Japanese economy cars, I can assure you the Cavalier was MUCH smoother, quieter and faster. The Tc IS rough and noisy.

15th Apr 2007, 09:52

You either drove lemons, pre production mules, or you didn't drive them at all. I'll bet on the latter. Oh and lets just ignore the fact that the Cobalt uses much better interior materials than any toyota compact.

15th Apr 2007, 11:13

Okay, whatever you say. Of course, once again, if the aging Cavalier was soooo superior to a MODERN Toyota why did GM waste money on the Cobalt? And why are Cobalts sitting on dealer lots rotting away while Scions are flying out the door? I mean, if the Cavalier is the best small car out there and the Cobalt is even better, what you say makes no sense.

Guess you're clearly in the minority.

15th Apr 2007, 15:20

No, they were both off dealer lots. One a newish Cobalt that was a rental car (3,500 miles on it), the other off the dealer lot.

Sorry I couldn't live up to your myth of American cars. But, then again, no one else is either, given all the hundreds of acres of unsold Cobalts strewn across the country.

17th Apr 2007, 18:16

What myth? I have no myth. Just the experience of test driving basically all of the economy cars on the market. The Cobalt was simply a much better appointed and roomier place to be than a Xa, Yaris, or Corolla. And I'm not quite sure where you saw these hundreds of acres of unsold Cobalts. I don't see any more Cobalts on the dealer lot than Hondas or Toyotas.

17th Apr 2007, 21:32

Hundreds of acres of unsold Cobalts?? Are you sure you weren't looking at the employee parking lot at a Toyota dealership. Here the Cobalt is selling much better than the Scion, which is regarded as a pretty poorly built car that is not even up to Toyota's low standards. The Tc is as rare as the equally poorly built Yugo here. A few kids who want to rebel against anything attractive may drive Xa's and Xb's, but they are rare too.

18th Apr 2007, 09:09

You're obviously not from America since the story you paint has no basis in reality. Try reading ANY business magazine about the Cobalt's failure and how dealers can't get rid of them no matter what the incentives. This is NATIONWIDE.

Also explain to me why Scion DOUBLED its original sales estimates and is now REVAMPING its model line to include higher end models - not something you do if "no one is buying your car". Also explain how Scion, which conservatively started in California, has now expanded to most states and continues to open more dealerships.

Scion's average buyer is 31 years old, the YOUNGEST of any car make. And yet they are in high demand at every age level (I saw a senior citizen driving an xB the other day).

My friend in his late 40's had one and it was 100% bulletproof in reliability unlike the Cobalt which is made to GM's usual low standards.

18th Apr 2007, 09:56

Suggest you look at how long the average Cobalt sits on dealer lots vs. Honda or Toyota.

The Cobalt's future is just like the Cavalier's - it will be sold at firesale prices as well as dumped into rental fleets.

20th Apr 2007, 21:08

Oh, you mean like the remaining 2006 Cavalier RS that I test drove that the dealer flatly refused to sell for less than $18,000. Sure, some fire sale.

21st Apr 2007, 11:15

Funniest post this month. Yeah, refused to sell it. That's why it's sitting the lot.

He's just looking for some sucker to think the car is worth anything.

Do yourself a favor and check out the REAL WORLD resale values of a Cavalier (which isn't even made anymore) vs. the Toyota/Honda competition.

22nd Apr 2007, 17:58

The Cavalier RS coupe I test drove was sold 3 days after I test drove it to one of my neighbors. He traded in a 1993 Cavalier with 210,000 miles on it. We've actually had a Honda Civic. It was one of the most unreliable cars ever, and was sold to a junk dealer at 90,000 miles with a blown engine. People who have never even so much as SAT in a domestic should not be posting false and misleading information about them. Out of over 30 domestics my family has owned we have never had a single engine or transmission failure (or anything else really) in cars that were driven over 300,000 miles in one case and 240,000 in another.