This thread is NOT meant for all you drama queens to gang up on me just stating my observation to see what other complaints some of you have.....OVERALL I LOVE THE NEW B....but I have built up a few gripes since I used to have a gen one.....

1. Drivers armrest......Love the arm rest but feels like it is gonna break....my gen one had the optional armrest and if felt solid IMO
2. HU.....NO pause button I have the upgraded HU and coming from my alpine deck I miss the ability to pause a song currently if I want to stop my IPOD or CD I have to change modes to AM or FM....I hope the NAVI has that ability
3. Position of the IPOD hook up.....I think the car was built without the realization that theives look in you car.....in the gen one the IPOD hookup was below in between the seat but you could tuck the ipod out of the way....in the new B the only way to hide it is to stick in center console but the cable is exposed indicating you are trying to hide something if they could reverse the plug inside the center armrest console then you can hook it up and it would be out of sight.....currently I have been unplugging it.
4. less cubbie storage.....coming to realize how much crap I had stored in all those cubbies....we have manage to store most of it (gate/garage openers etc.....) between the center armrest and glovebox...it would have been cool to have storage below the shifter where the 12v is...
5. Still no locking glove box.....I know it is petty but being broken into and having people go through your glove box sucks....
6. More lighting for the hatch area.... I applaude them for the light but wish they were on both sides....
7. Reverse light....I love the design and it is not so much a problem for me rather than for OTHER people....I have almost been clipped everytime I back out cause these idiots (I live in texas for those that are wondering and it isn't AS BAD AS some people make you believe) don't see my reverse light....I even had bubba in a pick em up truck tell me "you need to fix your reverse lights" "lights" I was like WTF it a light not lights guess he was looking where most reverse light are placed.....granted I enjoy design and it DOES light up your area at night when you back up....it is not practical to other drivers what you are indicating as far as your intention to back out.... want to put a F-ing HID BULB in there so it will be BRIGHT AS $hit for them to see
8. If you can drive manual get the manual.....feels better IMO than the auto....we have an auto cause the wifey is tired to fighting traffic in a manual and I agree but when I get mine I want a 5spd....the seq. shifting is decent if you know how to use it properly....

Now this is just my two cents.....overall even if scion said FU and raised the price I would still buy this car seeing it is another awesome product out of the house of toyota.....

Now my question to you guys is.....without being too negative on the car and to each other are there any other noticiable things that bug you???

 

You nailed them all for me. With the exception of the manual, these are all concerns as well. I do have to say that I had an American car before, so this is still a step up. I love my car, but I have to agree....

1. Armrest - Wish it was at least both sides.
2. HU-Pause - I knew there was something missing from my old unit!
3. IPod Connection - really? No one thought - "maybe we should hide this?"
4. Storage - No complaints here, but I come from an American car with much less.
5. Locking Glovebox - No complaint here, haven't had one in awhile.
6. Hatch lighting - Come on, how much would this have cost? One more little light!
7. Reverse light - Ditto from 6 - this is almost dangerous.
8. Manual - I live in California stop and go traffic - Manual trans? NO thanks.

I think the complaints are absolutely valid AND I love this car still.

 

My list of issues with my new Nautical Blue xB automatic in no particular order:

1. Windshield is a bug catcher. (Solution use anti-bug washer fluid)
2. No daytime running lamps (DRL)
3. No auto headlamps on when dark
4. No battery run down protection
5. Buzzer level very low, when light left on or keys left in ignition
6. Poor stereo reception of FM, head unit is OK it's the tiny antenna (Solution install larger antenna)
7. No variable speed on the intermittent wipers.
8. Non linear response in accelerator (i.e. 20% movement of accelerator provides 50% of the torque/power)
9. Speedometer overindicates by about 5%.
10. No fulltime clock or temperature readout (you need to cycle thru display)
11. Non telescoping steering wheel.
12. Poor elbow support with hard armrest on door
13. Short seat bottoms (Poor under leg support)
14. Poor rear view through rear window with center head rest on back seat
15. Loud thumps when hitting ridges and bumps on road although no rattles (I wish suspension was softer with more suspension travel) ... Make sure the tires are not overinflated my dealer inflated them all to 37 psi instead of 35 front and 32psi rear
16. I wish engine was quieter when accelerating (I not one of those Civic dude whose machoism is determined by how throaty my car sounds.
17. A dial speedometer in front of the driver would have been better.
18. The Scion rear floor mats slide around.
19. When I put the sequential auto in to gear 4 is will downshift to 3 when I put even modest accelerator pressure unlike the Mercedes and Chrysler versions of sequential (so sequential gear 4 is no different than putting it in D) - I would like if it would stay on the higher gear for fuel economy purposes.

That all said I bought the car because based on value versus features metric the car still beat everything else I looked at and the LIST OF POSITIVE FEATURES IS AT LEAST 10 TIMES LONGER.

 

1st, this is my wife's car, so I am not ALLOWED to use it often, but think that putting an HID in the "back-up light" sounds like an awesome idea to me! Gonna check that out and see if I cannot do that, although would have to remember to wait a few secs before expecting light to actually be on. That ought to provide enough light and the morons would certainly be able to see it any time we were in reverse.

After the chit that Honda went thru (as well as my wife's old Corolla, which read about 7% high on the MPH), I decided to check the one of the new xB2. Using 2 different Garmin units and the mile-markers on the local freeway (which I clocked long ago to verify that they were indeed correct), the odometer and MPH indicator both read pretty exact. At 60 indicated, the vehicle was actually doing 61 and the odometer error was negligible (at least in the short distance I tried it, granted was only about 10 miles.)

I think the concerns you guys have are pretty reasonable, but you have to consider what the competition is doing. My other vehicles have had lists that would take a tome to list.

All in all, the designers of the xB did a pretty dayum decent job, IMO. Designing something (anything!) to make everyone happy is not possible, believe me, I tried to do that for years and years.

This is NOT trying to discount your concerns, as I share the biggest part of them, but I think Toyota / Scion did one hell of a job with the xB2.

 

I'm really happy with my new xB. But there are a few things I wish they changed.

1) Not as much storage in the dash as gen1, a lot of wasted space and too much plastic.
2) No Variable speed for Wipers. My Celica at least had 2 speeds for the rear wiper.
3) Only 1 12v outlet.
4) Waste of space under shifter. Could of added a nice little storage bin.
5) Needs a new armrest (Come on Aftermarket)
6) No passenger armrest - I've ridden passenger enough in this car to complain)
7) Cupholders are retarded. Upper cupholder is not able to hold a 20oz coke.
6) No Lumbar
7) Front headrests do not adjust forward or back.
Visors are tiny and are useless when used to block sun from the sides.
9) No Auto-Up drivers window.
10) No standard sunglass holder in roof.

All of these are minor complaints that I already knew of before I bought it. Some of them can be fixed by the aftermarket. All in all, I still love this car.

 

My wife's complaint... Since it's her xB. While the mirrors in the visor are a lot better than the 1st gen, there is no light in the mirror.... I told her she shouldn't be doing her makeup in the car anyways... :D

 

1. Needs more storage cubbies (my Matrix has a ton)
2. Armrest: I don't even bother with it
3. Seat positioning: maybe I'm too short but I can't get the seat in the exact right best position
4. Daytime Running Lights: my Matrix has them and in 4 years I never had to turn on my headlights
5. Single back up light: worries me
6. My matrix has an outlet, I guess it's A/C? Like a plug in the wall, not a cigarette lighter, that was useful, and I miss that...

 

Good information to know for us yet to buy one. Thanks!

 

I agree with most of what has been said.... Honestly I think a few of these little details would have made this car a grand slam home run. I love mine too, but a few things I would change... put me on the design team for 2012

 

When I told my wife that, I was glad I was already leaving the room! hehehe

Seriously, its dangerous to put on make-up or comb hair while driving, so who cares if it has a light or not? Guess that is cause we are not ladies, eh?

 

you guys are making me realize some of the comforts i will be giving up when i trade in my Grand Prix

 

Hey all,

Just wanted to chime in here about the new xB. I agree the single back up light is somewhat comical.

Since I happen to have a ton of HID kits laying around, is there anyone interested in helping me find out what bulb type it takes?

Thanks.

Clifford

 

Somebody set off Clifford's opportunity alarm.

Btw cliffud, my wife is totally jealous of my HID's I got from you for my new xB . Thanks.

so while I don't find any of the issues brought up here new or unrealistic, they do confirm that there are a lot more things I like about this car than any other one I might have chosen.

Besides, if it was perfect what the heck would we have to mod?

 

roxor boxor. lol. glad you like the HIDs!

Can you find out what bulb type the back up light takes and maybe you can be the first one to have this mod? ;)

It unfortunately will be VERY difficult to get a dedicated power wire to the ballast for this setup though. Of course unless you have an aftermarket system in the car with amps in the back. Either way, it will be an interesting mod.

 

I have no problem with the stock unit, but here ya go.



Good Luck.
I think just for the reason you mentioned about access to power it looks pretty tough.

 

So...
A: you never drove at night, or
B: For four years everytime you drove at night you had no dash lights and more importantly, no taillights. Plus the headlights weren't burning at 100%.

Maybe you mean automatic headlights?

 

hmm- that doesn't look too conducive to an hid light... might melt the housing.

 

Then again, how long do you leave it in reverse??

 

Maybe someone could retro a projector in there!

 

I found this on ebay.