Will Toyota kill the Scion brand today?

[2o6]

XB didn't suck

[Madman]

XB didn't suck

Yes it did.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Yes it did.

Nope.

[Raza]

XB didn't suck

Granted, 12 years ago I didn't have the widest experience with economy cars, but yeah, it was kind of shitty. 

[Eye of the Tiger]

Granted, 12 years ago I didn't have the widest experience with economy cars, but yeah, it was kind of shitty.

Nope.

[2o6]

Yes it did.

Now I know I'm right - if it had a Fiat badge on it you'd love it.

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the xB wasn't the most refined thing in the world, but it's exceptionally reliable, easily serviced, and had loads of room for being such a small car. The shifter and clutch relationship are actually kinda sporty, and the 1.5L in those cars are pretty OK as well. Handling is soft, but it wasn't really meant to be a corner carver, either. Automatic xB's are pretty slow, but most anything from that era is.

It checked a lot of boxes for a lot of people, and there's a reason why xB1's are so damn expensive on the used market.


The problem is that in 2008, cars like the Honda Fit, and later in 2010 the Kia Soul showed that other automakers could also produce a high quality subcompact car - and Toyota gave us the lame xD and the fat and wrong xB2.

[Raza]

The shifter was notoriously fragile though.  The one I drove felt very bad, like something was wrong with it.  And, as I recall, one of the car mag long termers had serious gearbox issues. 

I'll give you that it was exceptionally spacious for its size.

[MX793]

The only thing the xB offered over other subcompacts of the day, including the Echo it was based on, was funky styling and an extremely space-efficient package.  That was apparently enough, because they sold tons of them.  The 2nd generation lost the beat.

[2o6]

The only thing the xB offered over other subcompacts of the day, including the Echo it was based on, was funky styling and an extremely space-efficient package.  That was apparently enough, because they sold tons of them.  The 2nd generation lost the beat.

I disagree, it was leagues better than these








In 2004, the only subcompact cars out there that werent trash were the Scion twins. The Korean cars were garbage, and no one else sold anything yet. By the time the Fit went on sale, the xA and xB were out of production. The Fiesta didn't get here til 2011, and the next Yaris picked up where the Scion twins left off.

The shifter was notoriously fragile though.  The one I drove felt very bad, like something was wrong with it.  And, as I recall, one of the car mag long termers had serious gearbox issues. 

I'll give you that it was exceptionally spacious for its size.

That is true, the synchros on this car and the next Yaris are a bit fragile, but there are a lot of cars out there that are just fine.

[Madman]

Now I know I'm right - if it had a Fiat badge on it you'd love it.

Sorry, but no, I wouldn't.

Thirteen years after the xB's debut, I am still wondering how something that looks like it was designed for the express purpose of transporting invalids to hospice care is supposed to be some sort of youth icon?  Look, I have nothing against crisp, angular styling.  I did once own a Volvo 740, after all!  But even that Volvo had some subtle, gentile radius curves that helped to soften its appearance compared to the brutalist, square-set xB.  Overall, I felt the Scion was trying too hard.

Then there was the petrochemical palace that served as the xB's cabin, the less said of which, the better.  Curiously, for a car that positively bragged about it's comparatively vast interior volume, the xB lacked the pockets, cubbyholes and oddments storage nooks one would expect in any car, especially one allegedly optimised for practicality.

I'll admit I've never driven an xB but I've ridden in one.  I found it tinny and buzzy, the seats were uncomfortable and the handling didn't seem to inspire much confidence, either.  Also, in my experience, young people tend to like performance.  This is yet another quality oddly lacking in the original xB.

And finally, we come to the elephant in the room.  Namely, the douchenozzle hipster marketing campaign which guaranteed that anyone with a modicum of good taste would steer clear of the xB and, by extension, the Scion brand as a whole.  Bear in mind, I was already in my mid-30s when Scion first hit the streets, so I'll freely concede I was not part of the target demographic.

Let's be honest here, the Kia Soul does the whole box-on-wheels thing much better than the XB ever did.  I'll even try to ignore the giant hamster commercials, which look more like a trailer for a bad children's television show than a marketing campaign aimed at adults.

In the end, no matter what badge the xB wore, this car proved was not hip to be square.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Element is best box. Only drawback is less MPG.

[ifcar]

Sorry, but no, I wouldn't.

Thirteen years after the xB's debut, I am still wondering how something that looks like it was designed for the express purpose of transporting invalids to hospice care is supposed to be some sort of youth icon?  Look, I have nothing against crisp, angular styling.  I did once own a Volvo 740, after all!  But even that Volvo had some subtle, gentile radius curves that helped to soften its appearance compared to the brutalist, square-set xB.  Overall, I felt the Scion was trying too hard.

Then there was the petrochemical palace that served as the xB's cabin, the less said of which, the better.  Curiously, for a car that positively bragged about it's comparatively vast interior volume, the xB lacked the pockets, cubbyholes and oddments storage nooks one would expect in any car, especially one allegedly optimised for practicality.

I'll admit I've never driven an xB but I've ridden in one.  I found it tinny and buzzy, the seats were uncomfortable and the handling didn't seem to inspire much confidence, either.  Also, in my experience, young people tend to like performance.  This is yet another quality oddly lacking in the original xB.

And finally, we come to the elephant in the room.  Namely, the douchenozzle hipster marketing campaign which guaranteed that anyone with a modicum of good taste would steer clear of the xB and, by extension, the Scion brand as a whole.  Bear in mind, I was already in my mid-30s when Scion first hit the streets, so I'll freely concede I was not part of the target demographic.

Let's be honest here, the Kia Soul does the whole box-on-wheels thing much better than the XB ever did.  I'll even try to ignore the giant hamster commercials, which look more like a trailer for a bad children's television show than a marketing campaign aimed at adults.

In the end, no matter what badge the xB wore, this car proved was not hip to be square.

The Soul came out six years later than the xB. Of course it was better, terrible gas mileage aside. There was nothing else that even tried to be compelling in the subcompact field of the early 2000s, nothing with power, nothing with seats as comfortable as the Scions, nothing with interiors with any measure of style or build quality like the Scions, nothing with as much of a handling focus as the Scions (your feel of their handling from the passenger seat aside). What standard are you holding a 2004 xB to, other than a 2010 Soul?