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Wagons Scion xB Scion xB Test Drive - What Did You Think?
42 messages, Last post on Oct 13, 2006 at 1:43 PM
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Hi everyone, I'm looking for a commuter car and really didn't think about Scion until a friend mentioned it and read what you folks wrote got me thinking. Its a little more than what I intended to spend, but keeping an open mind. The power is ok, it does the job. The noise on the freeway was almost as loud as my 10 yr old cherokee, but thought of possibly adding or changing the weather-stripping might help. The dealer says the car is only sold at MSRP, I've read yes and no here. Has anyone purchase the car at invoice? Another question, I'll be vacationing in Vegas in the summer, "IF" I purchase the Scion there and brought it back to CA. Would the emission in NV meet CA's requirements? I asking this because if I can get a better price and pay no taxes, it maybe worth it. Thanks. |
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I went to our local Toyota dealership (they will be a Scion dealership when the market opens up country wide). They have one xA and one xB available for test drives. I prefer the styling of the xA (plus the available side curtain air bags) but unfortunately, there is not enough room in the xA for me. I'm 6'-7" tall and my head was in contact with the headliner of the xA when I tried to sit in it. When the salesman sat in the back seat behind the driver seat, his knees were firmly imbeded in the back of the driver seat ... and the dealer was about 5'-11" tall. I thought I would try out the xB just to see what it was like. I am not too wild about the exterior styling of the xB but WOW is there a lot of interior passenger room in that little car. I was able to sit comfortably in the front seat and adjust it all the way back to fit my frame. I had plenty of leg room and had about 2" to 3" of clear space above my head. I then got out of the vehicle and sat in the rear passenger seat directly behind the driver seat. I was amazed! There was plenty of head room (still 2-3" clear) and I had over 1" of space between my knees and the back of the seat in front of me. I have sat in a lot of vehicles and I have never been in one that costs under $25k that has this kind of leg room in the back seat. Typically you need to step up to luxury sedans to get this type of room. I decided I would take it for a spin to get a feel for the vehicle on the road. The model they had available had the automatic transmission but there was still enough get up and go to get the car motivated quickly from stop lights. The vehicle is a fun city car for stop and go traffic and corners very well for a tall car ... and it draws attention like crazy. Since the vehicle isn't available for sale yet in this market, it is unique around here and turned heads wherever I went. I even had the obligatory drive by wher a car would slowly drive by me on one side, pull in front of me and then to the other side of the vehicle, then slow down to let me pass so they could get a good look all around the vehicle. Visibility out of the xB is great. I didn't notice any blindspots during my test drive. The interior materials were pretty nice for a vehicle in this price range. The drivers seat was pretty comfortable too. It would be interesting to see how comfortable the seats would be after an extended drive. I moved onto the freeway after a short drive around town. The xB was able to get up to freeway speed without too much drama but once it hits 65 MPH it takes a lot of coaxing to get it to go any faster. Also, when I started up any inclines, the transmission hunted a lot between overdrive and 4th. I was able to turn off the overdrive but the RPM's jumped to nearly 4k and the engine noise was quite high. The dealership had added the 18" TRD rims on the vehicle so the ride was a bit harsh ... particularly over speed bumps. My son in the back seat complained and asked if the car had any springs. The stereo was not overly impressive, even with the optional Bazooka subwoofer the dealer had installed. The sound was pretty muddy without very clear perfomace in any of the SSP settings. My son liked the "feel" setting since he was right in front of the subwoofer. If I was ever to get one of these cars I would opt out of any stereo upgrades and go aftermarket and replace the whole system from head unit to speakers. Over all I was quite impressed by the little xB. It has gobs of interior passenger room, decent performance for around town driving but struggles a bit on the highway. I wouldn't want to try and take this vehicle up any of the local canyons though, at least not with the current normally aspirated 1.5L engine. I would be relegated to the slow moving right hand lane. If I had any adult passengers in the xB with me, I would likely have big rigs passing me as I made my way up the canyon. I'm sure it would do just fine with adult passengers in city driving though. As a side note, I noticed that the specification data here at Edmunds has incorrect rear seat leg room numbers. They list the room at 31.8" and it is actually 38". |
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I test-drove a 2005 xA and xB a couple of weeks ago. Based on the tendency of the xB to lean on curves, I eliminated it from my list. Later I learned that the rear seats can be removed. Suddenly I was interested in the car again. (After all, the xB does have automatic stability control. How this works or how effective it is, I don't know.) I paced around the outside of an xB I later saw parked on the street and estimated that with the rear seats removed, there might be a flat, carpeted floor with a diagonal as much as 6'8" long. Could anyone tell me what the diagonal actually is when the seats are removed and the front seats are all the way forward? I am 6'3" and want to know if I could comfortably sleep in the back of an xB with its rear seats removed. (I can’t just run over to the nearest Scion dealer to check this out, since the nearest dealer is almost 200 miles away.) Thanks, John |
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Noiser in a rainstorm. Oh my!!! I expected a noisey engine and usually don't mine it at all but, it's beyond noisey. The automatic I drove barely had enough pickup to get you going it's very noticable. Perhaps a little dangerous for my way of driving. Now take into consideration both of those items are usually last on my list when I look at cars. But I feel they are so bad it takes the scion off my list. I love the MPG, I love the interior room, I like the interior design for the most part, Very well priced. I hate that your head is so close to the front windshield. I do not like the lack of great bumpers. Specially on the doors, I can see it being a ding magnet. I don't like having a console in the middle. Your right arm will get very tired as you drive. I think on long trips you would get exhausted driving this car, from the lack of a armrest console, the noise, and lack of good pickup. It really suprised me how bad these were. One last thing the placement of the speedometer is very awkward. You tend not to check your speed as often. The search goes on.
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Replying to: w2323 (Mar 30, 2005 8:18 am)
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Replying to: crazedcommuter (Mar 31, 2005 6:43 am) It seems I can get a Vibe/Matrix for 16500, with sunroof, stabilitrak, sounds pack, power everything, five speed. Has more storage room than the xb, better gas mileage and pickup, and quieter. But there's something about that xb. I'm very conflicted.
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Replying to: johnnyb11 (Mar 31, 2005 5:02 pm) |
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Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum and thought I'd say hello! When I first saw the Scion xB back in 2003, I wasn't sure what model of vehicle I was seeing, but it definitely caught my attention. (And yes, admittedly, I too thought the car was ugly as hell, but have grown to embrace this "milk carton on wheels.") I initially mistook it for a Mini Cooper.  These cars have taken quite some time to pick up any sort of popularity in my area. The only person I saw driving an xB on a regular basis looked to be in his 40's, and it was impossible to miss seeing him drive his Scion because it was in that funky metallic orange color. Here we are three years later, Jan. 2006, and I'm seeing a few more xBs around town, used mostly as delivery/business vehicles. I am not seeing any Generation Y'ers driving this car, even though they were the targeted market. More often than not, the people I see driving these cars are people who are around my age (36) and the occasional elderly driver. I'm presently driving a Honda Civic LX 2002, and I gave my 1998 Honda Civic CX hatchback to my husband after his Chevy van keeled over in 2001. While I absolutely adore my Hondas and their reliability, I'm starting to feel the need for more space, and am exploring my options and doing my homework for my next car. The Scion xB has held my interest for quite some time now, and I'm also considering a Toyota Matrix. Much as I wouldn't hesitate to go out and buy a Honda Element, I can't in good conscience do so because they're rated as only getting 20-25mpg. Any car I'm going to spend my hard-earned money on needs to get 30+mpg in order to justify the expenditure. Oh sure--if money weren't a factor I'd go out and buy the Toyota Pruis. I'd opt for the Toyota Prius rather than the Civic hybrid because, hybrid or not, who wants to spend $21K+ for a Civic?  At any rate, I went to the LeBrun Toyota dealership in Canandaigua on 1/28/06 and test drove a Scion xB. I liked the feeling of sitting up high in the car--almost as though I was in a truck. Once I had it out on the road, I found the acceleration to be a bit lacking. I'm accustomed to driving a 5 speed, and the xB I tested was an automatic; however, I found this to be a nice change from always having to shift gears. Definitely WON'T be winning any races in the xB, but after getting pulled over one too many times on Route 332 by the Staties, do I REALLY need to drive any faster than I already do?  Even after the test drive, I wasn't sure what to think about the xB. Truthfully, it's a nifty little car, and I like the space it offers. I think they're ugly and cute at the same time. The one thing that stands above everything else: It's a Toyota, and you can't argue the reliability of ANY Toyota vehicle, the same way you can't argue about the quality of Hondas. (Except for the Passport, which was a big ol' POS!)  Next on the list was a baseline Matrix. Overall, I liked this vehicle much better. I drove this in both an automatic, but had to drive it in a 2003 model in order to try the 5 speed. Surprisingly, I HATED the stick shift; loved the automatic, though! While I'm not planning on buying a new vehicle for probably two more years, I'm doing my homework NOW. It always helps to be prepared. Here's hoping that Scion/Toyota will opt to put in the 1.8L engine of the Corolla into the xB rather than the Echo's 1.5L engine. The OPTION of some extra power would be nice, and might sway my decision accordingly. I was wondering if there's any "adult" drivers out there (the 35+ crowd who aren't spending mommy and daddy's hard-earned money to buy a car, and have mortgages of their own to pay, kids to care for, etc.) who have purchased the Scion xB and can tell me what you think of your purchase? I'm not into street racing or any other modifications to "sport up" my car--I just like to get from Point A to Point B with the least amount of hassle. Once you've been stranded with a young kid in the car, reliability is of the utmost importance. Having said that, I will NEVER buy another VW EVER. Looking forward to hearing from you!
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Replying to: hondacivic2002 (Jan 29, 2006 4:31 pm) If you like the Matrix, and like an automatic , why not buy one? |
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Replying to: hondacivic2002 (Jan 29, 2006 4:31 pm) |
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