Very nicely said, Don.

This is NOT suggesting that the new tC station wagon is not a nice car and a tremendous value, nor is it suggesting that the xB should have been continued without change.

You forgot one thing in your re-designed tC, though, Don...

"Next year they redesign the tC (keeping the same name) and give it a 103 hp Yaris engine, [square off all the lines], and make it smaller.... A LOT of tC owners would be crying foul and demanding that the name be changed... I mean, it's not a 'tC' anymore, right?" ("[ ]" added)

The new tC station wagon will be a winner for Scion and will bring in a whole new batch of interested, dedicated buyers who need/want a tC station wagon. It is not necessarily intended to attract owners of the original xB. Most of all, it isn't an xB.

Tom

 

Say what you want Tom ... its still going to be called a xB

 

Can't help that, Chris, they will of COURSE call it what ever they want to - heck, they could call it "George" if they wanted.*

Simply trying to explain why some think that was a poor marketing ploy.

Tom

*From a classic Bugs Bunny 'toon:
Hugo the Abominable Snowman: Oh, boy, a bunny rabbit! [cradling Daffy]
Hugo the Abominable Snowman: I will name him George and I will hug him and squeeze him...
Daffy Duck: I'm not a bunny rabbit...
Hugo the Abominable Snowman: ...and pat him and pet him and...
Daffy Duck: You're hurting me. Put me down, please.
Hugo the Abominable Snowman: ...and rub him and caress him and...
Daffy Duck: [shouts] I ain't no bunny rabbit!

 

here Tom...

<<passes medication to Tom>>

it'll be OK...
it'll be OK.

 

Hehe...Scion, in this case, is the Abominable Snowman, moving forward....without ever looking behind.

 

Well, we can all speculate, but we won't know until the first sales figures come out and we can compare with the real xB. Since Tom and Jere don't fit their taget dems anyway, I suppose that won't matter (if they ave buyer goes from youngish pretender to older baby tender, it doesn't matter, cause they're in it to sell cars).

 

Does anybody know if fog lights on the bronze xb will be a option on the production model. They look kind of sweet!

Also check this out http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...rticleId=70534

 

Well, hopefully xB gen 1 prices will go down now :D...

 

riiiiiiiiiiiiight, so now the tC and xB2 have the similar shape. You must on the stickiest of the icky.

 

right, since the new mustang looks SO much like the previous body style

jesus, I would think the xB1 owners would be happy they look nothing alike. Now instead of 70,000 boxes runnin around, you wany 140,000 of them? Hey if you want more clones, thats fine with me. Just makes the tC that much more unique. Its funny because so many of the xB2 haters are the same ones that said the T2B was hot ish. I looks VERY much like the T2B, but much more practical. They removed the sliding/suicide door. DUH! how many cars right now have suicide doors? (rx8, ion to name a few) they removed the LED headlights. NO ****, they aren't practical. The removed the 20"s. OF course you won't get dubs on a sub 20K vehicle. In many ways the xB2 is a T2B but not so futuristic and many of you xB2 haters used to like the T2B. I understand though, if you asked which I thought was better between my car and another, I'll always say MY car.

 

forget the way the car looks. that not the problem. its grown a foot longer will likely weight 500lbs more and has a gas sucking engine. if the tC gets ~25mpg this is going to be bordering sub 20mpg. plus its going to be (i would guess) $17,500. its not the same KIND of car anymore.

you could use the same design on a car that is the same size as the current xB, put the 1.8l engine inside and keep it under $16,000 and everyone would love it!

 

the xb is going to be heavy. i would have perfered if they put the 1.8 in it.

 

I can tell you right now the xB2 will cost less than a tC. I would say under 16K for a 5spd. Mark my words. Also, don't speak of things you do not know. It makes you sound ignorant. My s/c tC gets about 20mpg and I have a lead foot. The xB2 will be about the same weight as the tC at right around 3000lbs. with the driver. I would say it gets at least what the stock tC gets at right around 25mpg. Then again, its all speculation until Scion releases the specs

 

regadless..anything less then 30mpg is not what the car is about. remember its still a birck and the tC is much more aerodynamic. it wont get 25mpg. its going to cost the same if not more then a tC.

 

It should have moved in the same direction as the xA. Slightly more aggressive body, 1.8L motor (giving more power AND better gas mileage), upgrade to things like projectors and more gauges, yet allow the car to keep the same basic concept.

The xB2 is not the same concept. They looked at what made the tC successful and tried to force those ideas into a Tokyo city-car. What they created was some strange hybrid of two cars that appeal to two different audiences.

Speaking of the t2B... They removed everything cool and kept the one thing WE ALL didn't like, which was the offset lights. The only thing we all pretty much agreed was stupid on the t2B was the single offset foglight and reverse light. Guess what the xB2 has... OBVIOUSLY Scion is not listening to their customers. Or at least not paying attention.

-THE DON

 

^^^^ ok ... we are going on 2 weeks now .. and your still on your soap Box DON. Common .. all the hate in the world isnt going to change Scions mind. They get it ... you dont like it. You wont buy it, but someone out there will buy one in your place.

 

I totally agree with you. After really sitting back and looking at the 2 new cars, I feel Scion did OK.

Let me put this in Baseball terms.
RE: The new xB and the xD, I feel that Scion just got on base with a walk.
I think they would have hit a home run it they put the 1.8L in the current xB with MINOR body changes. options like GT, turbo,
AWD, Drift Spec.......ya I know.
The more I think about it, I feel like I got hit by a pitch and took my base.

Heck keep the new xB, just call it the xC, get it?

My 2¢

 

Yes, the newgen xB will still be called an xB. Yes, the newgen xB will appeal to a new batch of buyers. Yes, it got hit with the usual "longer, wider, lower, more powerful" stick that almost all US models get hit with at every model change.

Some of us may have thought Scion would be different, but those very things are the things Scion is most proud of.

From their site:


It will sell, and sell well, that's the American way.

Tom

 

^^^^ Just want to focus on that quote...

Like I said earlier, the new xB shows Scion's true colors. They are Toyotas at heart. Not edgy, or different, or "designed to be customized". It's all BS. Toyota wants sales numbers and profit, that's all. Don't get me wrong, I can fully accept that. It's just funny to look back on Scion's original marketing ploy and laugh... I laughed when the first "new" Scion (the tC) came stock with 17" rims. How "customizable" to charge us for rims right off the lot.

Like Tom, I think the new xB will sell. It's a nice car. It just proved to me what Scion is all about.... Not making "blank canvas" cars for young people or designing and building "off the wall" stuff that would never fly on a frumpy old Toyota lot... No, no, no. Scion isn't about that at all. The tC, xD, and new xB would all be right at home on a Toyota lot as Toyota models. So kill the BS hip-hop based, urban, funky marketing gimmick, that's all.

-THE DON

 

^^^^WORD!

The Don speaks the truth. Now kiss his ring.