Biznox

Fair enough. I should rephrase that. I definitely think an xB will last 10 years, I just think unless you keep it in a museum, it will be a rattletrap punctuated with 1000's of tiny little dents in the paperthin sheetmetal and the stuffing coming out of the corners of the seats by then, unlike a car that is actually intended to last 10-15-20+ years like an Audi, Volvo, Mercedes etc.

Yes, yes I know the xB is statistically more reliable than those European brands, my point is that a $14k Japanese econo box doesn't have the rugged build quality, paint, cloth and plastic quality to look good at that age. Sure, it may still run, but it wouldn't be anything I'd want to drive by then.

I agree that it's a shame to waste resources, but I take some solace in the fact that they use a fair amount of recycled and recyclable materials in modern cars. I was buying a car I intended to keep 10+ years at this point though, I'd be shopping for an early 1990 Mercedes, BMW or a Volvo 240 series.

Tsuihousha

ya right, in 10 years it will be about half way to be smog exempt and you know what that means =) so it will be far from scrap metal thats for sure hehe.

Tsuihousha

besides, if you have an rs1 it will be worth bank! hahahah. well i hope its at least worth a little more since it was limited.

spwolf

actually, 90's BMW interior doesnt hold up a lot more than 3-4 years. My 92 3 series back seats completly fell apart in 96, without anyone riding in them for months at time. Lets not talk about water pumps, radiators, gearbox, suspension issues it had as well.

small Toyota's will hold up a lot better than cars 4-5x more expensive, and that includes interior. In fact, harder plastics used in cheaper cars holds up a lot better than softer materials and leather used in luxury cars.

on to the bB, I think it looks awesome. Front is cool, back is pretty ugly when you see it first time, but you get used to it, but interior is AWESOME. By far the best interior design I have seen in small car, armrest music control looks cool as hell.

zeorai

I would say that the new bB design has lived up to the Scion branding. Scion was meant to be different, the whole concept was niche to begin with. How many mainstream people would drive a box? More than they figured, but it's not going to be a Civic or Corolla type seller...ever. When they debuted the little cars they caused quite a stir and from the comments on this thread, they've done the same with the new bB design.

Me personally, I like it. But the real question is, do I like it enough to buy it? No, but then again I didn't like the xB enough to buy it either, the xA was a little more to my "buy it" type liking. But you never know how it things work out in the future.

Oh and yes, Toyotas do run forever. Ok, so that's a bit overboard. But my 20 year old Corolla ran really well until just last year when the original engine finally died. Now it's got a new engine (well newer) and it's running fine again. Toyota's hold up very, very well with just standard maintenance, not a lot of other cars do. I'm not saying the can't just that on average Toyota's do very well. Even the rear seat headrest just got it's first tear only a few months ago.

Biznox

OK guys.

I guess I am just judging by all the other entry level Toyotas I've seen. Paseos and Tercels don't look so hot these days. It's not a criticism that you need to defend against, NO entry level car, with the exception of aircooled Volkswagens, stands up to the test of time.

Like I said, I'm sure they will still run, but when you have sheetmetal as thick as a piece of tracing paper, I'm sorry but it will have 10,000 little dents and the car will creak and rattle when it's 10+ years old. That's just a fact. Corners are cut to make a car for $14k or under it's not something you can deny.

I'm surprised to see what spywolf said, because the majority of older BMW's and Mercedes I've seen does not bear that out, sorry. Mercedes especially earlier models hold up extremely well. It's not uncommon to see a 1970s or 1980s Mercedes with a near perfect interior and no dents. How many 1970s and 1980s Camrys, Corollas and Tercels can you say that about? You do (at least you DID) get what you pay for.

Reliability is great, but I just don't love any econobox enough to want to drive it for 10+ years. The little shortcomings that come along with an economy car would just start to get on my nerves before then. The car has just barely adequate power now, what's it going to be like when it's lost compression and it's out of tune and making 89 hp instead of 103?

Say what you will, but these cars are meant to be disposable items, that is how it works in Japan. If you want a basic econo car that is built to last 20 years, buy an aircooled Volkswagen. The steel doesn't crinkle if you look at it wrong and it's solidly built like a tank.

bBlover

I hate it!!! Ughh!! The styling version A on the first page looks nice.

rdclark

And that's your preference. But it's just a preference, not a fact. There are hundreds of thousands of well-kept entry-level Japanese cars out there more than ten years old that serve their owners well and allow them to spend their money on something more important and worthwhile than new cars every 4 years.

If I had sold my Tercel after only 10 years, I would have been selling a car in perfect operating condition with less than 100k miles on it, that cost next to nothing to maintain and run, that was cheap to insure and long-since paid for. For many people, that describes a better car than you can buy new.

RichC

mitchell

good god this design is a mess...
I can't believe somone was able to sell THIS in a meeting...if they release this I may sell my box just to avoid the association....

Biznox

That's funny because every Tercel and Paseo I see looks like dogsh1t now with faded paint, a million dings and a raped interior. But there are exceptions to every rule. I'm sure if you baby it and treat it like it's precious it will hold up better.

Kudos to you for keeping a cheap car that long and really getting your moneys worth out of it and being ecologically responsible.

The world needs more people like that.

Biznox

I couldn't agree more.

They basically did everything wrong that the first model avoided. Trying too hard to make the car "interesting" by going crazy mixing nonsensical lines and curves and stupid shapes in a random mess. Same thing that made the Element less classy than the xB.

The xB got it right and would have been hard to improve upon, except with small touches to modernize it a little.

This design is atrocious and represents the worst traits of stupid JDM design from the same school of though that spawns the FUGLY over the top bodykits with cowcatchers and non-functional intake scoops that lead nowhere.

I'd take a Porte over this thing any day.

rdclark

I treat my cars like something that costs three months' salary to buy. But I don't obsess over how they look on the outside, just how they run and feel on the inside. I'm not trying to impress anyone except my broker.

Nevertheless, sometimes we see what we look for. Try looking for well-kept entry cars instead of junkers and you might be surprised by what you see.

RichC

Biznox

That's a good point. I think it's also fair to say that people are less likely to treat a Paseo or Tercel as nicely as they would a more valuable investment, that probably accounts for alot of the ragged looking cars I see.

Then again, my car is barely 2 years old and the rear door already has a cheap sounding rattle in it from being slammed too hard by someone ONE time and various parts of the interior plastics are showing wear and tear and I don't abuse my car at all. It's things like that that make it hard for me to beleive this car will look nice in 10 years. I'm not complaining though, it is what I expect from an economy car, nothing more, nothing less.

LuxNova

This saddens me. It looks like somone took a first-gen bB and left it out in the sun for too long.

ahoahoman

Come on now, how many of you guys actually liked the Xb from the start? I'm sure there were some converts out there. You know when it hits our shores you'll be the first one in line to trade in that 2004-2006 Xb.

Tomas

I may not be the 'usual' sort, but I wanted the xB before I even found out
who made it.

As I've said here before: (It was obvious to me it was a "Tokyo City Car, but I didn't know who's.)

My first thought on seeing the 'new' bB that toyota just released was
"Mazda? Chrysler? Eweww!"

bBlover

I actually liked it when it was the bbX.

Biznox

Um... it looked exactly the same dude. Except for the grille and headlights it was pretty much identical, but I agree.

bBlover

I know that is why I am saying that I liked the xB from the start!!!

firesquare

I'll take it in black cherry pearl please.........