Learn Me: First-gen Scion tC

My one niece just got her license and her parents are looking at buying her a cheap used car just to get back and forth to work until she can get money together to buy something nicer. Their neighbors are selling a 2007 Scion tC with 187k miles for $3000 that my brother-in-law is considering for her, and they've asked me to look at it for her sometime. I'm honestly not super familiar with tCs. Am I incorrect in thinking that it's basically a Camry drivetrain in a coupe body?
 

It reportedly has a new starter, battery, plugs, wipers, front and rear brakes, emergency brake shoes/cables/etc, transmission lines, and 02 sensor. Ad says it has a faulty transmission speed sensor and "will eventually need front struts". Anything else to be aware of? This is in CNY, so I'm no stranger to looking at rust. 

Back when my brother was selling Toyota's, I had driven 1 exactly 1 time. I made a comment that the TC was for when one wanted the performance of a minivan and the looks of a sports car. My brother said that was insulting to the Sienna. 

Didn't some of them have a recall due to burning too much oil? I seem to remember that being a thing with one of the engines. 2AZ-FE I think. I'd make sure that was taken care of and be relatively vigillent about checking the oil. But probably a good option for a new driver. 

Also not what you asked, but I would rather go for a Solara if I wanted a Camry or Camry-esque coupe. 

mtn said:

Didn't some of them have a recall due to burning too much oil? I seem to remember that being a thing with one of the engines. 2AZ-FE I think. I'd make sure that was taken care of and be relatively vigillent about checking the oil. But probably a good option for a new driver. 

I did see something about that. Considering it's had a ton of work done to it but are still getting rid of it and they've had it listed on Facebook marketplace for 2 months without a sale, I'm wondering if it's got an engine that burns a lot of oil. Something about this car doesn't really sit right with me, and I kind of am leaning against it.

Honestly, for $250 more, I found a Yaris hatchback with only 87k mile, which I would be much more inclined towards. I own a Yaris, I know them, and I have a stockpile of spare parts.

Not fact but I seem to remember something about a unique steering rack where the tie rods are integrated to the steering rack.  I seem to remember expensive front end work if needed.  I'm not sure if this ties into your car's need for front struts or not?

A tC is a hard sell.  Who is the customer base?  It's not anyone with kids in car seats because that then is negated by the difficulty of getting kids buckled into a 2 door car. 
It is not really a sporty car.  It only pretends to be sporty and therefore the two door sporty crowd overlooks it.  

The engine is Camry but the trans is geared differently.  I think this difference was an attempt at sport.  The real result is poor mpg.  It does not get Camry like mpg.  Therefore, the 2 door economy car crowd overlooks it.   

If it can be bought cheap it might be a wise buy but at regular market price there are other choices. 

Here's the car in question. Anyone else just get kind of a funny feeling from this one?

My guess is the driver's door was replaced ( a generally easy fix) but fixing the rear quarter is difficult and remains unfixed.  My guess is that it has a rebuilt title.  That in itself is not the end of the world but just another thing that needs to be factored.  

What is a rear sub plate?  Seems it was replaced?  

John Welsh said:

What is a rear sub plate?  Seems it was replaced?  

I'm guessing that he means the backing plate for the brakes, since it's lumped in with the e-brake stuff.

I don't know your market but that just strikes me as a really bad deal.   I don't think the Scions are really any worse then any other car but $3K for a nearly 200K mile car with that much accident damage is just a big ask.  

nocones said:

I don't know your market but that just strikes me as a really bad deal.   I don't think the Scions are really any worse then any other car but $3K for a nearly 200K mile car with that much accident damage is just a big ask.  

The CNY rust belt market is pretty wretched, but I also think that this isn't a stellar deal as well. My sister and her husband are interested in it because it's local (next door) and they're friends with those neighbors, but I also think that that is kind of a bad idea. If it turns out to be a lemon, now you're peeved at your friends.

Speedo only works some times...  

Not the end of the world for all of us but when teens get speeding tickets it really jacks their insurance up high.  As new driver's they also don't have enough experience in what proper speeds feel like.  

If you need an out, I would hang on this flakey speedo problem and the increase to insurance rates that it could cause the whole family!  

John Welsh said:

Speedo only works some times...  

Not the end of the world for all of us but when teens get speeding tickets it really jacks their insurance up high.  As new driver's they also don't have enough experience in what proper speeds feel like.  

If you need an out, I would hang on this flakey speedo problem and the increase to insurance rates that it could cause the whole family!  

Also, looking it up, it's a $20 sensor that goes in the top of the transmission case. So why not just do that and not have it freak out prospective buyers. Smacks of "Just needs an 02 Sensor" to me

Juice isn't worth the squeeze for them to replace that part, if a non-essential item still works most of the time. 

That said, that car feels like a $1,200 car to me. The one big draw these cars have is that they look cool, but this one looks rode hard and put up wet. 200k miles and they've not been easy ones. 

It would probably give reliable transportation for quite a while, but I can find better versions of reliable transportation for $3k.

Here's my quick-find preferred choice:  

'05 Pontiac Vibe awd w/101k asking $3.75k

Or, the Yaris you found.  1.5L for the win!

I always wished that the tC had something unique to offer  but, alas, they are not. If synergy is something being greater than the sum of its parts, then the tC is the opposite of that. Somehow it's amalgamation of Toyota engineering resulted in a product less-than. Anyway, for the intended purpose, buy a Camry or Accord. 

This is what I'm going to try to lean them towards 

2008 Yaris with 87k for $3250

Had three of these in my family. All first year 2005s acquired between August and November of 2004. All manual.

#1 mine. Sold with 150k miles and zero issues. Autocrossed this car for two years and it was a lot of fun, contrary to what everyone else says here. 

#2 My brother's. Sold with 285k miles. Issues, one alternator bearing and one clutch disc spring failed.

#3 Brother in law's. Sold with 180k miles. Only issue was a broken tailgate handle plastic, common issue. This car started life in Florida and it ended spending about 12 years in Pittsburgh. 

I think its an awesome car for a new driver. I wish I would have bought my brother's for one of my kids. I found out he traded it in the day after. He got $500 for it. 

Ill go against the grain here,my daughter wanted a "cool looking car",I wanted her to get something I wouldn't have to work on all the time. I wanted her to get a Camry/Accord, she wanted an Eclipse. We settled on a TC. It has been very reliable,  only issues have been driver inflicted. It has a good amount of interior space. Motorsports potential wasn't a criteria. It's a front wheel drive Toyota with a  body some will find "sporty". Because of who bought them, most have been beat. And insurance rates were high, I don't know if that has changed.  As transportation,  I don't have any  issues with them.

Is this a car the seller has had for awhile?

Kinda seems like the work done is the "make it run and pass inspection so we can flip it" minimum.

I don't like that body damage.  

The concern with oil consumption is traced to oil control rings getting gummed up. This engine was scared with the Camry and solara of the same vintage, with similar age related oil consumption. I

The solara I brought to the challenge in 2019 wound up using some oil. I bough a $300 rebuild kit off Amazon and went through it before sending it down the road.

The gearing for the Tc was shorter than Camry and solara in order to get better acceleration performance, at the cost of economy.