I came upon this dilemma myself when I upgraded cars. I test drove both and in the end went with the xB. I like the roomy interior, the stylishness and of course, I am among the minority owning an xB as there are tons of beetles in my town!

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^It is so obvious, but hardly ever mentioned.

My wife leased (thank god) an '00 NB. cool little car, fun to drive, etc. Had plenty of mechanical problems and burned more oil than a Kuwaiti oil well following Desert Storm..


Oh, and try to find some objective info on both cars, maybe the Apr 05 Consumer Reports car issue.

 

My wife and I were talking with this girl who had the new beetle. She said she enjoyed driving it but she said mechanically it was'nt very sound. She said that a part actually fell off while driving and it had several other mechanical problems. I was glad because my wife really liked them, and after she said that it was XB all the way.

 

no question to it

 

the motor problems depends on which motor.

 

I'm wondering what kind of answers you would get from NB enthusiasts on one of their forums? like [url]www.newbeetle.org[/url

as for me, i would go with the xB, and not because I own one.. in fact, if you were to ask "what car should i get, a new beetle or a <insert any other car here>?" I'd be inclined to say get whatever other car you are considering.. well almost any car but i think you get my point.

i owned a VW GTI before my xB, and i experienced all the standard VW woes.. electrical and mechanical problems, almost every other month! my good friend owns a NB and she is having all kinds of problems from electrical (a fuse keeps burning out and they can't figure out why) to weird sounds coming from underneath her car (and they can't figure that one out either!). and it gets terrible gas mileage. with gas prices only going up, you'd do well to get something that is fuel efficient - xb or otherwise.

 

convertable in the summer, 4x4 for the winter, get those jet skis to the lake,offroad travel.

 

hmmmt I beleive TJandBOXCARWILLIE had a a new beatle and traded the VW for another Scion due to problems...

 

exactly! many cute teenage girls drive the Beetle here in SoCal. i saw a guy drove one of the beetle and it doesnt look right.

funny thing is that my friend's older brother (works at VW), he said that his old Baja Beetle is more reliable than the new Beetle.

 

not the most manly thing to a dude with a flower on the dash.............

 

Those Beetles are just so... round.

Too bad VW has been coming in near the bottom of quality rankings lately. A friend of mine bought a jetta about 2 months ago. Its been in the shop 3 times already and it still isn't quite right.

 

Depends. Do you want a car LOADED with stuff at the get go? That takes away the guess work? Then get the nB. The GL, has a ton of stuff with it right away. Great lights, disc brakes, peppy car with a healthy growl. I had one, and it was great at the start.
At the start.

Now, truth be told, the xB comes rather plain at the start. But has a better stock stereo then the nB. And, it is far cheaper in price also.

Now, both cars get stares, but the xB gets far more. Even when my nB was two toned, I never got as much attention as I do when I drive my xB. The Box stands out more so then the Bug.

The Box gets better MPG, hard to believe, but true. The Box, without any CAI, or BORLA EXHAUST, is not as peppy as the 2.0 nB. I'll give you that. But you put the CAI and BORLA on the Box, and it takes off, no kidding.

The BOX is more geared to the tuner crowd then the BUG. You can trick out a Bug, of course, but there is more stuff to do it right from the dealer with the Box. Which, in my case, means the dealer covers my mods with a three year warranty.

The Box is built in Japan by Toyota, and brings with it a time tested engine and craftsmanship. It is a quality car.

The Bug is built in Mexico, for VW, and can be a quality car...but it seems to be hit and miss. Look around the NewBeetle.org site, and you will see threads with lots of problems...now, not all Bugs are like that. My brothers '98 ran fine, with no problems.

I would say, also, that the Box has more room then the Bug, and with four doors, offers limo seating in the back, and plenty of headroom. The headroom in the front of the Bug is great, not so much in the back of the Bug. And the leg room in the back of the Bug is not as much as the Box.

I think it's up to the person. But one thing is for sure: Both those who drive the Bug, and the Box, share one thing:

A desire to be different. So go with your heart. I would say, the Bug is going to be around longer the Box; SCION has made it clear that the Box will be only around to about 2007, to be replaced with something new.

Hope that was fair and helped.

And yes, with a few edits, I said the same thing here

FWIW.

 

if you wanted an old beetle i'd say screw the scion but u want a nb. lol.

 

Too true.

I still like VW, but am disapointed in the quality VW has had, as of late.

TOYOTA makes a far more reliable car, for the most part. I am sure some SCIONS have been lemons, but not nearly as many as nB's.

IMHO, of course.

 

I can tell you. For the most part, mirror answers like you got here. The one thing, I have noticed, is that a LOT of nB owners on that site, don't like the fact I own two SCIONS.

I owned a VW. I have owned 13 or so, VW's. I still like the nB, for the most part. At least the ones owned by friends.

And I have some 'real world' friends over at that site. But man, they have some that seem to be out to chew me a new one, since I 'jumped ship', so to speak.

It's odd, because to me, the Box and Bug are so much alike, when it comes to it's hard core fan base. Both cars are not the same usual kind of car you see all the time.

For a while there, I owned the xB and the nB, and thought that was cool.

And I know some peeps over there own both the Box and the Bug still.

 

We owned a nb...Yellow {of course} turbo power everything....then it hit 30,000 miles and the fun was OVER! Other nb owners liked to wave though more than xB owners do.

I dont know how you were going to get unbiased answers here though, but Im speaking from experience. We owned our nb as long as I've had my xB now and boy am I glad I HAD to give it back!!! I never found out what was wrong with it either...

The nb is for speed though...the xB is for cruising!!!

 

Beetle?

This choice is like minivan vs mustang.

xB vs. Mini I can see, but if you trying to choose between the beetle and the xB then I think you need to take a breath and come up with another list.

 

i work for a VW dealer

and I drive an xB.........

 

I have to admit, I'm a little surprised that after thinking about a Mini Cooper and a new VW Beetle, that the Scion you're thinking about is the xB and not the xA. It seems like the xA is more along the lines of what you've been looking at. Either way, you can't go wrong. I have a xA and a XB and I love them both! The xA is a little sportier, but the xB is very unique with TONS of interior space.

Edit*
Here's what I mean:

Sing it with me...One of these things is not like the others.....

 

i have not read what anyone has wrote yet i just voted and writing this.... but u can't go to a scion website and ask to see which people want more a SCION or a vw....
Of course we would go with an xb.... oh and my vote is for the xb