Just calling as I see it. I was actually excited at the prospect of driving it the first time. There is so much hype around Toyota products, even their "cheap" cars like the tC, that I was eager to compare it to my fiancée’s 2004 Saturn Ion coupe. To me the Ion is in the same class as the tC, albeit at the bottom.
I was sorely disappointed when I climbed into that hunk of shit and found it to be no nicer than the Ion. Same cheap plastics you find in a GM. The engine is noisy as hell and even more rough than the 2.2 Ecotec in the Ion - which is a feat (the 2.2 is a great engine, but quiet and smooth isn't one of its redeeming qualities). Her tC is an automatic and I felt like I needed a master’s degree to understand the quirky shift pattern. The trans isn't smooth, the car doesn't ride nice or quiet. It was to me, an Ion with different clothes and a few shiny bits of rhinestone.
It left me with one resounding question - what's the big deal about Toyota?