Quote:
Originally Posted by xantonin
lol good point on the brakes (although I'm not sure on their accuracy).
I only bring up the Camry thing because I'm upset that Toyota no longer develops an engine for straight performance to be used in a performance car (exclude Lexus). Yes the tC isn't advertised as a race car but it is advertised as a performance sports car.
What I'd like to see is an engine designed for straight up performance and put directly in a performance vehicle FIRST. After that I'm fine with it being used in other vehicles like the Camry.
My reasoning is that I get the impression from Toyota that performance is always a side effect of any engine they make. After they are like "oh hey we could probably come up with a sports car to put this same engine in!"
The FT-86 is no exception since the engine isn't even designed by Toyota...
But I regress, my point was that Toyota's effort into Scion is half assed. I'm fine with Scion pumping money into motorsports and whatnot, I'm just saying the initial effort of making the cars comes off to me as being "Frankenstein" cars with parts taken from their family cars.
To me, performance should be their flagship (whether Scion or not) and then parts taken from their performance vehicles into others.
But hey, I could just have no idea what I'm talking about. If that's the case though, then what I'm saying is based on the image I am getting from what it appears Toyota is portraying.
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A couple things about Dragon there. He has done extensive work to his tC to make it fast. He is also probably a very fast driver himself regardless of the car he is in. His attitude is that he will make whatever car he drives fast through mods. These are all good enthusiast traits.
However he is a bit blind to the fact that the tC is a completely dull car right off the floor. His arguments usually revolve around racing and tuning programs that are either supported openly by Scion/Toyota NA, or through back door programs.
A good example of this is the Scion Tuner Challenge. It isn't something that he or any other Scion owner can enter with their own personal car. People basically submit a resume or portfolio to Scion, then if certain criteria are met, the successful applicants are
given their choice of Scion
and a $15k budget to mod it. Winners are picked, the cars go back to Scion and are used in the print ads that have the disclaimer that you basically can't do any of this because the mods are non-Scion approved and will void your warranty. How does this support a real Scion fan?
This is similar to the Scion racing programs. Scion threw a lot of money at all the top import teams that were becoming cash-strapped as the scene was beginning to fade. There is a Titan 2JZ 'Scion' for fuck sakes... (For those that don't know Titan is one of the biggest Supra drag racing teams out there.)
In both of the tuning and racing scenario it isn't 'real' support for the customers. It is pure marketing. The Tuning Challenge doesn't support genuine Scion owning enthusiasts that really do love their cars. It supports wannabe designers, that make stuff that the real enthusiasts will spend money on trying to emulate. It doesn't give back to the customers, it only takes their money. And the racing is not a real reflection of the car. Top teams that had the option prior,
but didn't, to choose to race Scions themselves were offered a lot of money and support to either change to using a Scion platform, or make their cars look like a Scion. If you give the best teams a lot of money but a mediocre (not bad or horrible, just in the middle) platform, they will usually still win.
For context, the holder of a bunch of Unlimited FWD time-attack records, prior to the twin-winged, bazillion HP factory-backed Scion, was a factory-backed Chevy Cobalt SS.
As for this not being shown in 'ads'. It is still marketing. Ads are only a small part of marketing.