If you’re tired of hauling your college student – and all her stuff – to college every year, take at a look at the latest Cars.comparison. This month, the 2011 Ford Fiesta, 2010 Honda Fit and 2010 Scion xD face off to find out which car is the best for college-bound students. Keep reading to find out which one earns an A.
Cars.comparison: Off-to-College Cars
Toyota Group sales were down 34 percent this month compared against last August. Stacked up against last month, sales were down 12.3 percent.
Toyota was a big winner in last summer’s Cash for Clunkers sales race, which might explain the large sales drop. Then again, year-to-date Toyota/Lexus sales are just about flat compared to the first eight months of last year.
âWhile August results trailed year ago levels when the CARS program generated significant incremental sales for the brand, weâre pleased with how the month shaped up,â said Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. âCustomer loyalty rates have returned to traditional levels as Toyota continues to lead the industry as the number one retail brand year-to-date.â
The only Toyota car to post a sales gain from this month compared to last August was the newly-refreshed Avalon, increasing 17.3 percent on a daily selling rate (all August 2009 to 2010 comparisons below for Toyota are on a daily selling rate basis). Every other Toyota car — from the Yaris to the Prius — was down at least 35 percent.
Camry sales totaled 30,764, down from 35,058 units in July 2010. The Corolla compact sedan saw a huge drop of 51 percent from this August to last August, and was almost 26 percent below sales last month.
Among Scion, Toyota and Lexus, Scion is definitely in the worst shape. Sales have collapsed at least 55 percent for the xB, xD, and tC compared to last August. Year-to-date, sales are down at least 25 percent for each Scion. Getting the redesigned tC into showrooms should boost Scion’s sales figures.
Toyota’s SUVs and trucks sold better than the cars for August. The new Sienna was up 15.7 percent while the FJ Cruiser and 4Runner each saw increases of more than 200 percent.
Tacoma and Tundra sales were down, though the Tundra is up 23.3 percent year-to-date. The Tacoma’s year-to-date sales are 11.8 percent lower than this point last year.
Lexus performed better than Toyota, though the premium brand’s sales were still down 11.6 percent. Sales of the ES, IS, and GS sedans were down, but all others — including the HS hybrid — were up. A total of 35 SC hardtop convertibles were sold this month, up from 34 last August.
The picture was a bit better with Lexus’ family of SUVs. With 8506 units sold this August, the RX remains Lexus’ best-selling vehicle, and was down 5.1 percent for the month. The huge LX and midsize GX each saw sales increases of at least 58 percent.
Source: Toyota
Toyota hatched its Scion brand in an effort to think outside the box (unless you count the xB), but we’re not certain this wild tC racer is what it originally had in mind. The folks at World Racing Speed recently finished building a 1400-horsepower, all-wheel-drive tC designed to slay the competition in Redline Time Attack events.
A few years ago, driver Chris Rado came up with the idea to build a car that could dominate in the Time Attack series. After 19 months of hard work, you have this: one monstrous car that resembles a stock tC in name and appearance only. The coupe has been completely stripped, and virtually every panel — even those that appear stock — have been replaced with carbon fiber duplicates. Fenders have been dramatically widened to accommodate wide racing slick tires, while gigantic front and rear spoilers — resembling those we’ve seen on some powerful Pikes Peak hillclimb cars — reportedly help keep the car surefooted.
That’s a good thing, considering what Rado and his crew stuffed into the engine compartment. You won’t find a stock 161-horsepower, 2.4-liter I-4 in this beast. Instead, the 2AZ-FE block was completely rebuilt by Rado’s Descendent Racing sponsors from the ground up, and treated to a gigantic turbocharger sourced from Turbonetics. The result is a four-cylinder that throws down over 1400 horsepower and 1000 pound-feet of torque, and delivers that insane power to all four wheels via a custom all-wheel-drive system.
We’re betting that’s a hot engine in more ways than one. We can’t help but note the exhaust exiting the hood just above the turbocharger, along with the gold-lined firewall designed to help reflect heat away from the cabin.
Rado’s so-called Need For Speed tC may look pretty ridiculous, but in racing, form often follows function. We’re waiting to see how this purpose-built beast manages to score in the Time Attack season.
Source: world-racing.com
