Hello from Denver!!! I am so close to buying new XB, but there are a few things that really keep bothering me. ..Any info or advise will be appreciated.

I am sorry if I repeated some questions.

1. Ground clearance ( 5.2 inches) - I love camping during summer (no off-road, just not very well mantained mountain dirt roads) and enjoy snowboarding in fresh powder at Keystone, CO....Do you think that XB's low ground clearance will be an issue for me?
Talked to the XB owner on the street: he said that he loves XB but bottoms out all the time and recommended Element instead of XB if I plan on keeping going to the mountains....Hope the guy is wrong ....

2. Paint - everyone is bit**ing about it!!! What exactly is wrong with the paint? How bad is it? How my XB will look in let's say 5-7 years...if everybody says that paint is horrible and starts chipping on day 1....

3. Interior - does it scratch that easy? Is plastic in XB worse than in TC or Corolla?

 

First i hate the interior, im really careful but there are scratches everywhere, it looks dirty and awful. i hate it


I would not recommend goin to the mountains or anything in the xb. i went to ouray this year and hit the undercarriage with a rock and nearly took off my front wheel. You can go if u wanna risk something happening to your car but i wouldnt recommend it

and as for the paint, it chips easy, scratches easy. poor quality. scion basically gave a couple kids spray guns and said go crazy

 

1. I don't have any clearance issues and I'm on TRD springs (but I don't go to the mountains though...). If you are worried you can upgrade with some coilovers or air bags and raise it when you need to.

2. The paint is OK (and that's being nice) but your front end will start chipping within a few months. Mine is going on 11 months of ownership and it already looks bad. Purchase a clear bra to avoid this problem.

3. The interior does scratch VERY VERY easily. I was quite disappointed at first, but after a few months it doesn't do it quite as bad *shrugs*. The only thing I can think of is the dye in the panels cured and its more durable.

 

I have a 08 XB and a 06 4Runner.....get a Runner and it will solve all your ground clearance problems. But I definitely would not go up to the mountains in your XB if you decide to get one....

 

Wow i might be the only one with faith in the xB2...

Yes the paint is crappy, get a clear bra = problem solved.

I have not had problems with scratching the interior YET, but it is plastic, so proceed with caution...

Clearance in a stock one shouldnt be too bad... i am lowered on Tanabe Df's and i WILL be taken mine to the so cal mountains this winter... Drive carefully and try and aviod low spots...

 

I lived on a really nasty dirt road for the first nine months of owning my 08, never once bottomed out, just keep your speeds reasonable and it should be fine, within reason of course.
I don't know what the issue is with the interior, I take my dogs with me all of the time, they are all over the place in there, and the only scratch I have is from when I was broken into, and the broken glass scratched the top of the door in one spot, but it's very small and not really noticeable.
The paint is soft, DO NOT go through a car wash with this car, you'll get all kinds of spider webbing everywhere, hand wash with microfibers. I only have one small rock chip in the paint, but I am rarely on the freeway.
Kiiski

 

I think the problem with the paint is, it actually looks like instead of putting each xb in a spray booth and painting it. When molding the body panels they injected color dye to keep cost down of production. I have a couple chips on the front bottom of my xb and from the looks of the way it chipped I came to that conclusion.

It all has to do with the shape of the body as wide and square as the 1st gen & 2nd gen's are your bound to catch almost all rocks that are flying on the road.

 

Well, the more I read the more confused I get. I guess paint is really bad....if I get a clear bra will it solve the problem? What about sides?
Most BMWs, Audis and Mercedes have clearance less than 5.3 inches and I see them in the mountains and at the campgrounds all the time. Why some of you think that with 5.1 in ground clearance XB is not capable of driving on a dirt forest road?