Video: 2016 Scion iA - First Look

Let's kick the tires. If you think you've seen the IA before from another Japanese brand, that's because it actually reflects a unique partnership going on right now between Toyota and Mazda. This actually shares its roots with the redesigned Mazda two. You can definitely see some of those cues in areas like the tail lights, some of the cut lines along the door, but Scion does get kind of a unique face with a big trapezoidal lower grill and a piano black center bumper. And let's take a look at the inside similar themes between the IA and the Mazda two on the inside as well with a very asymmetrical dashboard here, but some interesting eye candy, especially for an affordable car, nice stitching and padding here along the center part of the dash, kind of a satin finish here along the door handles and padding here along the doors where your arms kind of come down. Now there's no center arm rest. And some cars in this class kind of do have that, but there is a telescoping steering wheel. Nice to have again, because again, that's not something you always get in an entry-level sort of subcompact car. Now the IA has a center screen here. It's standard. It sits above the center part of the dash. It's actually controlled by this knob down here with some shortcut buttons alongside a very familiar theme. If you've been in any new Mazda lately, we've used it in a lot of Mazdas, very easy, very user-friendly. So we expect that to kind of continue to be the case here in the IA. Now the backseat definitely shows the IA subcompact routes, good headroom for me, cause it's a pretty tall sedan overall, but leg room definitely lacking. That's where I'd sit to drive. My knees are digging in I'm about six feet tall. Now the head restraints, they nest in the seat to clear up visibility out the back, which is always a nice feature, but they actually sit in a way that makes it very uncomfortable to have them here if a passenger is here. So they definitely have to deploy them, pretty easy and a safety benefit. Now the IA comes with a very small four cylinder engine, but did we mention it's cheap? Scion says this car is going to start right around $16,000. We don't know yet if that includes destination, but a very good list of standard features. 16 inch alloy wheels, push button start, Bluetooth, a backup camera and low speed collision warning with automatic braking, all standard features in the IA. Now it may not exactly chart new territory in terms of styling, but Scion needs new shoppers and the IA should definitely help that once it goes on sale in fall of 2015. (car trunk shuts)