It sounds like a movie title: “Scion iA and the Affordable Precollision Breaking,” but be ready to be stunned when you hear the price that the nice engineers from Scion, or Mazda, have set for this astonishingly beautiful sedan that won’t just go fast, it will break fast. Are you ready?
$16,495.
There you go. Have we overestimated your excitement? Are you at all excited? Well, you should be. Because, the only other cars on the market that give you automatic breaking are the new BMW 3-series, or 5-series, or the new Volvos, maybe a Mercedes-Benz E-Class, or a Toyota Avalon. The last of those you can buy for just over 10 thousand dollars more than the iA.
In short, cars that can only be bought by up-and-coming football club owners, or people who’ve just won the lottery.
Ok, maybe that’s an overstatement. But here’s what you get besides the breaking system, for just 17 hundred dollars: 106 horsepower delivered by an inline four 1.5 liter engine, which makes accelerating a dream.
Yet, the lightness of moving does not come along with lightness in your pockets, as fuel consumption is more than decent. You’ll be pleased to know that you’ll do just 33 miles per gallon in the city, and 42 miles per gallon on the highway. That’s a combined mileage of just 37 per gallon.
Yes, you also get power exterior mirrors, a 7-inch touchscreen display in the car, and bonus, a rear-view backup camera, so you don’t hit your neighbor’s dog while backing into your garage.
Now, hold on, you might say, how does this breaking system actually work? Has it been tested? Well, it has. And it’s said to be “promising.”
What it does is use an infrared radar system to scan thirty feet in front of the car when it’s going between 2 and 18 mph. If it detects something big, let’s say – a wall, and realizes that the driver is not planning on breaking or changing direction, then the car’s survival instincts kick in. It will try to warn the driver. It will show flashing lights in front of the driver. If the driver still won’t break, it will break for him.
This system is also present in cars by Mazda, like the Mazda2. But the Mazda2 is not available to the U.S.
What is to be said, in conclusion, is that the new Scion iA looks like it’s mad at everything on the road, it’s a remarkable feat of engineering built for those who would prefer not to give their retirement money on a single vehicle. An economic, stylish, and roaring beast with the capacity… to tame itself.
Image source: thehoopsnews.com
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