The all new Toyota Zelas [w/video]

After a very long time, Toyota has finally decided to bring one of their cars which was produced under the name of Scion tC, to Arabia as the all new Toyota Zelas.

We've been seeing this car's ads all over the city on buildings, bill boards, magazines. And got us curious about how it would perform on our Ammani streets, How will Toyota lovers react, and is it really different from the American Scion version?

We took the car on a sunny day fresh and clean, and had a list of stuff we wanted to try this car with.
Dividing the test drive into many categories, such as Performance, Quality, and looks.

Before we drove the car, we did a small research online and got the following:

Engine: 2.5L Straight 4 VVT-i
Transmission: 6 Speed automatic (w/Tiptronic flappy pedals)
Drivetrain: FWD
Horsepower: 176 hp
Torque: 170 lb ft
Weighs around 1,400 kg

It should do 0-100 km/h in 7.4 seconds
and a quarter mile race in 15.1 seconds

But this couldn't just satisfy us, so we headed to the NMK Dyno Centre. Mounted the car, and jacked it up to do some of our own tests

You can click on the dyno sheet below to have a better look

As you can see the numbers are a bit different from what we saw online.

Horsepower: 146.6 WHP which means (146.6 * 1.25 = 183 HP)
Torque: 183.6
0-100 km/h in 8.84 seconds
Quarter mile: 16 seconds at 84 mph


For us, we just categorized the car as a City sporty car. A daily used car with a sporty cool style, that has more reliability as a Toyota where the parts are available the whole time and can't really go down on you. at least I know my personal Toyota never did.

The interior looked great, the car had leather seats, LOTS of speakers, the gauges were cool, and the media interface was friendly to use. There were a few things we couldn't help but notice, such as the steering had no multimedia buttons (Maybe it's a lower trim), and Although none of us smokes but we couldn't find a cigarette lighter in the car (Health scores!). the car was very well built from the inside and any sport car fan would love it.

The car is a 4-seater, and has lots of space in the back. along with a 2-mode stability control system. Pushing the button once for Mode 1, where it deactivates stability but turns it back on if needed. and for Mode 2, you need to have the car in Park mode, hold the button till the second light flashes; which we had to use for the Dyno run.

A weird fact about the car: it has a wiiiiide door and opens very widely (almost 90 degrees), But that's only to give the door panels more space for the passengers in the back to get in or out. so It's not really a bad thing.

So now about performance,

The car accelerates well and it's strong enough to speed in a safe way. As I said, it's a sporty city car.
Wouldn't be enough for car enthusiasts but might do the job for daily drivers.
Fuel consumption was high, although it has an Eco driving mode which should give you a more economic fuel consumption.

As a summary:

Pros:
1- Lovely well built interior, and has a really nice audio system.
2- A reliable car and can be used on daily basis.
3- Has 4 disc brakes for better braking, with a 2-Mode stability system.

Cons:
1- Price is high for its specs
2- Fuel consumption was not really economic

But I'm sure it's not only me who's waiting for the new Toyota GT86. Hopefully being released in Amman by June 2012! Woohoo