Prius 2010: The new Celica?

Hmm.. I thought Toyota basically rebranded the Celica into the Scion tC, no?

Of course when the Honda CR-Z comes out, Toyota will have to put the Hybrid Synergy Drive into a sporty coupe to compete, so a sporty 2-door Prius might not be that far-fetched..

 

Interesting thought. I owned a 1979 Toyota Supra. It has been my only hatchback until now. I do see some similarities to the sporty styling of my 2010 Prius V, but doubt there was any intentional retro styling.

 

I still like the latest celica model. I see them on the road a lot and it's such a seductive car! And I'll admit to spending more than a passing few minutes thinking about how I could "re-skin" a Prius to make a hybrid Celica! That would be HOT!

 

By next summer, maybe sooner, the 2nd generation tC should be released. There is a picture of a concept vehicle called the Fuse viewable on the Scion web site. It is not known if it will look like that.

They did drop the Celica after the tC was introduced but tC is not exactly a rebranded Celica. Like all Scions, it is priced and equiped to appeal to young first time buyers. It is a great value but if you want true luxo features, you're out of luck. At $17,000, it does come standard with features that some Prius buyers lust after: panorama sunroof, 17" wheels and directional signals in the side mirrors.

If you haven't figured it out I am a tC owner. I will be giving it to my daughter when I get my Prius. I'll miss it.

 

I love my prius, but it's about as sporty as a chain-smoking grandma is sexy.

 

Remember that the Gen III Prius uses a (down-graded) version of the last 2ZZ Celica motor.
It's still a Twin-cam, but in Prius guise, puts out a lot less power at less-stratospheric RPM with torque generated in an area where it can be used with the Hybrid System.
Horses for courses.

 

A new Celica, with the added torque and traction control of synergy drive, would be very well received. Not a two seater Prius, necessarily, but lessons learned could certainly be applied with a sportier intent.

 

The engine family is 2Z.....different variants have different letters after that.

 

Comparing a Celica to a Prius is a bit of a stretch.

By post 70's energy crisis standards the '82-85's were actually very competitive with anything out there for performance other than the Supra's and Z-cars.

Back in the day I cross shopped the Celica GT with the Mustang GT and Camaro.

Curiously or coincidentally, I did the same thing again 27 years later and disqualified the muscle cars for the exact same reasons. The Mustang's solid rear axle is still a miserable ride on broken pavement and the Camaro's design is way too impractical for daily use. In both cases I was looking at old tech repackaged as new.

Now if they had put the Fusion's hybrid system in the Mustang, that would have changed my decision. At the price they are asking for those things, why not?

 

I always considered the Scion tC to be "the new Celica" but for thousands less.

Having been selling Toyota since 1980, I have seen so many models come and go - but most stay. While I was pretty surprised the Celica and Supra died off in the 90's, it was evident in the mid 90's that Toyota was moving toward a different era of cars... and era that spawned some strange and wonderfully unique models that perhaps did well in Japan but were met with mediocre results here. To name a few?

Echo
Paseo
Camry coupe (pre-Solara)
Camry station wagon (pre-Highlander)

and some cars evolved into others that did well but were, in essence, morphed to other cars ... Cressida became Avalon. Camry wagon sort of evolved to Highlander, in my eyes. And, Camry coupe became Solara... of course Tercel = Echo = Yaris!

A few thoughts.