New Owner, Experience

[Shouden]

Hello,

New to the forum, and being a Scion Tc owner. As I've watched my Focus's finance balance dwindle down, I knew it was time to buy the next car. The last was purchased out of necessity rather than personal preference. This time around I knew I wanted to pick the car that *I* want. I carefully weighed out several cars, Civic and Tc ended up in the final arena. I owned a Civic previously and really loved the car and felt at the time I would be a Civic owner for life. After the research I did on the Tc, my mind was made up that this was the car I wanted.

I scanned craiglist, the local newspapers, and autotrader online for a week or so to get a feel for prices and what I could probably expect to end up with for the amount of money I wanted to finance.

After looking through ads for about a week, I decided I was ready to start calling numbers in the search for the perfect Tc. My goal was to find one still under the manufacturer's 60k mile warranty, in excellent condition, with no accidents and a clean, non-rebuilt title. I wanted one a dark color, preferably dark metallic gray or black, and most certainly a stick.

I searched from Tampa(where I live) down to Orlando, and as far away as Miami. I was willing to drive pretty far to make sure that I got the best deal possible. The lowest miles and best condition. I narrowed my choices down to 10 cars, all within my parameters. Some with mileage as low as 17k, and some with mileage right up to 59.9k.

I was excited when I ordered my list and had the possibility of owning a Tc with only 17k miles one it! I knew the next step was to purchase a CarFax report for it and ensure it had a clean record. Bear in mind the ad claimed the car had a "clean title." I bought the 10-lookup account from them as I knew at most I'd only need to do 10 lookups. I find that it has a rebuilt title. Turns out all the ones I had earmarked with low mileage had rebuilt or salvage titles.

Looking through the remaining cars, one in particular stood out amongst the rest. It boasted "perfect" and leather interior ( rare ). I did my research to find that indeed the leather interior is rare, and is priced out at between $1800 and $2500. The car had 49k miles on it, I wasn't terribly thrilled it had so many miles on it, but I told myself that it is a Toyota and will last a long time.

I drove to Orlando to check out the car and take it for a test drive. The guy selling it was selling it for his brother who is a dealer, so it was at his house. He told me to take it for an hour and drive it around on the interstate. It was a dark metallic gray, with black leather seats, and black/tan interior. I brought my gf along with me, and I drove it over to a well-lit parking lot so her and I could look everything over together. I first noticed that the paint is more like a glittery gray. It really sparkled under the light and looked really sharp. It was not a flat-color paint like I had expected, very cool. She spotted a couple cigarette burn marks on the interior cloth material to the left and right of the windshield, as well as a burn on the sunvisor. :/ I noticed a couple scrape/smudge marks on the driver door, and some chip marks/light scratches on the hood and front bumper. Checking out the leather seats, they are REALLY smooth looking. But it looks like some dofus spilled some white paint on them and on the leather in the backseat. How someone spills white paint on such a beautiful car, even accidentally, is beyond me. It splattered into tiny droplets. In a couple places you could see where someone tried to color the paint black so it would blend in.

I knew to expect the ones on the hood and front bumper, but the other items were a little disappointing.

The driving.. WOW.. the Tc drives like a dream. It has terrific acceleration, RPM-range, the shifting is very very smooth. I took it for a drive on the interstate and tried out the cruise control. It engages flawlessly. To the point where if I hit it and let my foot off the gas pedal immediately you can't even tell it switched the cruise. Very cool, last car didn't have cruise or power anything. The sunroof is awesome, but it can get kinda loud. Weird thing is it seems to make more noise if it is just lifted or partially opened. If you open it all the way however it doesn't seem to make as much noise. I really enjoyed driving the Tc, my gf said her heart was racing, it excited her, and she loved it.

I was also concerned about the amount of space. I'm 6'1" and have heard that the car is too small for large people. I think those people probably have a tendency to sit too far upright. I like tilting the seat back more and resting in the seat, so the car was the perfect fit for me.

In the end, I decided to buy it. It went for $10350, I was told that it KBB/NADA at close to $15k. I know it has some problems. The sunvisor is easily replaced, but the paint and cig burns inside will be a little more difficult/expensive to fix. I've heard of some places that can fix interior material cig burns like this, but I have no idea what to expect in price for that kinda thing. I'd also think that there must be some kind of professional paint touchup service. I was curious if anyone had any idea how much I might pay for these kind of services? This truly is a beautiful car, aside from the leather seats, and Infiniti amps and speakers I just had installed, she's stock.

I spent about 4hrs the morning after I bought her with some olive oil, a toothbrush, and a pin carefully removing 98% of the white paint from the seats. Now, not only are the seats really comfortable, but they look great too.

Well anyway, that's my experience, and my questions.

thanks!!

[chyz-dad]

\WOWnot much can be said after that
welcome to the site

[bdis3]

didnt feel like reading all that. Welcome to the site

[Nathanr.6168]

http://www.club-tc.com/forums/appear...-interior.html

Why don't you try something like this to fix the burns? Would be a nice mod and fix the problem

[Redneck4csa]

Welcome to the club. Congratulations on the purchase. Good luck with the interior.

[chyz-dad]

http://www.club-tc.com/forums/appear...-interior.html

Why don't you try something like this to fix the burns? Would be a nice mod and fix the problem

Wow thanks for the recognition on that...btw I am repainting the interior....I decided to go with a HIGH Gloss black...gonna try a candy coat...haven't decided what yet....changing the entire color scheme of the car....

[Redneck4csa]

How well is that going to go over on the fabric? I would think if you were wanting to do something like that, it might be better to wrap some pieces in fiberglass.

[bwolfe84]

WAY to much to read

Welcome, welcome

[navylife59]

Shouden, I would have to say that was a nice read. You really did your homework on this one. How would you like to make this into a "How To" article for buying used Scions? As you play around with your car and read up on the forums, you are going to be well surprised at the features of this car. Treat her well and she will take you along way.

Sorry Nathanr.6168. Your car was on that rare exceptions list.

The number of salvaged and rebuilt used titles out there are probably due to the car being targeted at young, first time buyers. As you know the car can be a blast to drive. Problem is there are too many first time drivers who lack the skill to drive the car at it's limits.

[Shouden]

Thanks for the welcome and to those of you who read through my long first-post. I don't mind if this is moved to the how-to's.

I did a little more research and found a local mobile auto detailing company that does restoration/repair of any material on the car. They gave me an initial estimate(without seeing the car) of about $200 to condition the leather, fix the cig burns, and a couple of the scratches on the interior. Didn't realize that repairing these kinds of things was so cheap. Figured I'd post this up so others know to look in their area for mobile auto detailing companies that do interior restoration.

I keep looking down driving down the interstate, shocked that, yet again, I'm speeding.... lol

[Nathanr.6168]

I still think it would look better and cost less if you redid the interior like Chyz-dad. Once he posts up the walk through, I will probably do it to mine too :P just gotta think of a good color

[navylife59]

Show us some pics!!!