I'm not really in the market for a new car, but I wanted to test drive the new xB, I stopped by my scion dealership and saw my salesman.
He was busy with another customer so he let me take it out alone. (Which is good, so I can feel the power w/o a passenger.) I drove a manual. It's true the clutch does come up high after it's engaged, but the clutch engages normally otherwise. It does have a short throw feel, but I was not totally used to it and missed 3rd at one point during spirited shifting.

Power: I redlined it in 1st, 2nd, and half way through 3rd. I wasn't all that impressed with the power. It was acceptable. My '92 accord w/ mods is faster to be sure. I'm sure it feels much better than a 1st gen auto box though.

Suspension: nice and smoth, should make for a good long distance freeway cruiser. I didn't corner it fast so I don't know if it heels over or not. Felt comfortable to drive all in all.

Styling: Like many said, better in person than in photos but didn't make me swoon like the first box did. I would say the styling is passable.

Conclusion: Ehh...OK, I'd shop a number of other cars too if I was really buying.

 

what other cars would you shop? Since xB is faster and corners better than most of them :-)

 

Just bought an '08 in SuperWhite with a 5spd and already own 2x '05 xB's with 5spds. If you redlined in 1st, you missed your shift point and the rev-limiter shut the ignition down.

The clutch is more of a high-pedal like a Tacoma compared to the Gen1 xB which clutches just above the floormat, so it takes some real getting used to. In addition, 1st gear rev.s up so damn fast that you do reach redline before you realize you have to hit 2nd until you get some practice.

I have 2x Mercedes 300SE L 6.3's (0-60mph 5.7 sec), so I understand stock-fast. The 2.4 VVT-i 5spd xB IS fast. Look down at the speedo at 70 mph on an open 2-lane and you'd swear it feels like doing 55 mph in the Gen1 Box. It may not 'feel' fast (especially if you miss your shifts) but I compared standstill accleration to my son's 2-month-old '07 tC with the A/T and the xB 5spd is faster (and the TC is no slouch).

If you can get a Gen2 with a dealer tag to drive around for a bit more to get comfy with the clutch, I think you'd find you leave pretty much most things behind at the light with the new xB.

 

Well I usually shift just before redline as the powerband tends to fall off there anyway. "redlining" is a figure of speach after all. Didn't hit the rev-limiter. I only missed my shift into 3rd on one of the fast starts. I'm sure I would get used to it though.

Like I said, power is adequate. Reminds me of the power/weight on a MK 3 Jetta GLX VR6

 

I passed up a couple of cars on the lot and waited over a month in order to get an xB right off the truck with 1 mile on the odo

 

Mine was the only one (and only the second one to-date my dealer has had since release in the Southeast) on the truck and I put 20 of the 25 miles on the odo on it myself during the test-drive, so mine has 5 miles on it that I didn't put there. I just lucked out that it just happened to be a white 5spd, which was exactly what I needed to eventually retire my '05 xB from business service.

As for making a choice on cars I chose the Gen1 xB because it was the ideal vehicle for my service business. I was afraid from the webshots and BBS naysaying by non-owners that I would not find the Gen2 to be as 'perfect' a choice and thought I might need to ****** up one of the last remaining '06 Gen1's to fill the bill.

I liked it well enough that I decided not to wait until the '05 hits 150,000 miles in another estimated 2 years but since it happened to coincidentally be just the one I would have bought in 2009 anyway... ...you know the rest

As to its speed, it's not a Spoon-powered drift-racer but the van-like dash/interior and even smoother ride than the 1st Gen xB make it seem deceptively slower than reality. (There's alot of interior in your forward perspective all traveling at the same speed as the driver which 'absorbs' some of the impression if speed.)

You really have to keep your eye on the gauges or traffic around you to realize how quickly this thing clocks up to the shiftpoints. If you slam through the 1st 3 gears to the line on the open road, you'll hit 65mph by the time you hit 4th and not realize you're doing 75-80 mph by the time you're cruising in 5th. The perception of speed is just not there like it would be if you were looking down on the asphalt across an invisible sloping hood from directly behind the instrument cluster and with a tight lowered suspension morse-coding your spine through the seat. Maybe not the fastest ride on the street but "adequately" fast enough to see most of the surrounding stoplight traffic quickly pass into your rearview and to make passing manuevers a bit safer than the previous xB.

 

....Well I didn't abuse the car anymore than the cars that I currently own.

 

This is ABSOLUTELY correct and is probably the best description I've read of what it feels like to drive the new xB. When I was driving my xB back from the dealership over the weekend I felt like it was driving like a fat elephant on the highway. It wasn't until I started paying close attention to the speedometer that I realized I was driving 15-30 mph over the speed limit with almost no effort!

It's a combination of the new xB's body style, the driver's position surrounded by a giant interior, and the excellent sound-proofing that prevents you from feeling the "road awareness" that most drivers use to measure their speed when they aren't looking at the gauges.

As you said, it's not a street racer, but the new xB moves quicker than you think.