The front bucket seats look and feel like they were designed for racing, but that doesn't mean to say they're too narrow or too hard. We found them very comfortable, with enough fore/aft adjustment to suit tall American drivers regardless of age (including our tall and, shall we say, experienced correspondent). The driver's and shotgun seats can be reclined all the way down into what Scion calls a sleep position.

The core model's rear seats recline through 10 stops and 45 degrees to convert the interior into a conversation bin. With seats up, there's more than 26 inches of cargo length there; with the second seats dropped, almost 60 inches; and with the front passenger seat folded over, almost 104 inches of cargo length available.

Attention to detail is evident in the mechanical seat position memory on the front bucket seats, the 60/40 split folding rear seat, the dead pedal for the driver's left foot, fully closing vents, and a cover for the stereo faceplate.

The three-pod instrument panel is amber-illuminated, deeply tunneled and easy to use, day or night, as are the balance of the instruments and controls.

The R.S. 3.0 has black Alcantara seats detailed with a gray perforated center seating surface on a white background. Alcantara is a suede-like material often found in luxury or performance vehicles and on aftermarket racing seats. A Blizzard Pearl Razo weighted shift knob with black leather insert is also standard.

The Pioneer single CD system that comes standard on all tC Scions (even the Spec Series) features a user-customizable welcome screen, MP3 capability, four speakers and 160 watts. A 10-inch subwoofer is optional and either Sirius or XM Satellite Radio are available at extra cost. The head unit was redesigned last year (2006) with a knob for volume control, a welcome change. Core models feature audio controls built into the steering wheel.

The iPod upgrade allows owners of the nearly ubiquitous music player not only to listen to iPod tunes through their car's speakers, but to actually control song selection and read stored information through the car's stereo head unit. If you don't have the extra cash or don't have an iPod, all tC's come with an auxiliary mini-jack on the console to allow you to listen to your own MP3's through the car's speakers. However, it doesn't allow control of the player like the upgrade does.

With RS 3.0, a Pioneer six-inch subwoofer with 35-watt maximum power complements the standard audio system and is tuned specifically for the tC. This compact subwoofer is mounted in the under-floor storage area, keeping it out of sight and leaving the cargo floor clear.