i want to get rid of mine, i'm tired of the car already. Hopefully you can find your car.

 

Just my o.2
i have a 2010

complaining of roadnoise? get rid of those ____ty stock tires.

your worried about cup holders? for the driver you have acess to three. Two in the center and one on the door

Back seat storage? Under seat and then two cup holders in the middle and one in each door. (but how much storage do your passengers need?

MPG? Changing the tires helps a bit, and messing with your intake. But if you dont want to do that. I could average 23-25 not sure how your getting 21 in an automatic. I get 25-27 but thats because mine is heavily modded.


Pillar-I have had zero issues with visibility. You can see everything. Worst comes to it. get a wink 5 pillar mirror. Its amazing.

Suspension-rides to soft? get the TRD springs on the cheap. Great for ride comfort and makes it look way better and handling sky rockets.

hope that helps


DRIVE IT for yourself and ditch teh salesman. Hit some corners, open that throttle up and blast tunes.

Good luck

 

UPDATE: Over the last month I shipped my xB1 from Honolulu to L.A. and then drove/moved to Henderson, NV. While on I-15 to Vegas I noticed a faint anti-freeze smell coming out of the vent so I'm almost positive I have to replace the heater core, which is prolly at least an $800 job.

Looks like it's time to sell the old xB1, I'm going to shop for a 2013 xB2 with the only options being Auto trans, floor mats, and maybe the sporty steering wheel.

I'll keep you posted..

 

oh wow, sorry to hear about the trouble with your xb1!

as for your 2013 search, check out autotrader + cars.com to find the exact model you want. also, ask and be persistent about deals because i got one on mine. pure price is their motto but to meet numbers, everyone is always willing to budge.

looking forward to seeing your new ride soon!

 

My car is getting checked out tomorrow. Maybe I'll get lucky and it's not the heater core but either way it's still time to move on.

Thanks for the advice about haggling the price on a new xB2. As of right now I'd be satisfied with paying 19K for the car with another 2k for tax, registration. It'll be gravy if I pay any lower than that.

So, for approx 21K I get a new xBox with a couple of options, a three year warranty, a lot more power, more room, smoother ride, and a high resale value. Sure, it won't have the charm of the 1st gen but there are a lot of pluses that hopefully will make it worth while.

 

Okay, got the xB1 checked out and it's not the heater core and as far as the mechanic could tell there's no problem at all.

The night before I went to one of the five Scion dealers in this area, the salesman was a young hipster wannabe with no people/sales sense at all. He literally could not complete a sentence properly. He blabbed incoherently about nonsense during the test drive and it just distracted me to no end. The only thing I remember from the test drive is that it did seem the xB2 rides a little rougher than my xB1, either it's the tires or I just didn't have enough wits about me with chatty cathy in my ear. He pushed the "Pure Pricing" spiel on my and thus he stuck with the 18,505 base price. As of right now my impression of the xB2 is that it's sooo 2008, if you know what I mean.

At least I've bought some time since my car doesn't need any immediate repair work. Car dealers are a monumental pain in the ___, they're rated as the worst customer experience in America and I totally agree 1000%.

 

re: scion sales folks - i have been to tons of dealerships where i knew more than the sales people. very sad in my opinion that a consumer knows the product better than the people that sell it. also, pure price = pure bs. when a dealer needs to meet numbers, they'll budge. i've had dealers lose a sale to me bc they didn't want to budge on the price. a discount of $500-$600 would have meant they sell a $20k car but apparently dealers want to keep cars on their lot longer... :: rolling eyes ::

i definitely hate dealers in general (overly pushy, misinformed, unprofessional, treat you like a nobody, etc) which is why i do a lot of my homework before hand. that way, when im ready to buy, i just go to the dealer and buy my car - i try to limit my interactions with the slimey sales people as much as i can. there are good sales people out there and i've had the pleasure of working with in the past but in my experience, the vast majority are there for a paycheck and it shows in both their professionalism and their lack of tact when speaking with a customer. but i digress.

re: xb rough ride - im just sharing my experience. the morning i bought my car, i took it for a test drive before hand and it was absolutely shaky/jumpy/bumpy and it turns out the reason why was because the stock tires were inflated very high. after i told them i wanted the car and they prepped it, they lowered the air pressure and that made the ride much more smoother. it's definitely a bit jarring on really bumpy roads (which there are a lot of where i live) but i think my xb1 was just as bumpy. i personally dont mind because when the road is smooth, the xb is a joy to drive. i just take it a little easier and am a bit more cautious over bumpy roads.

re: buying another xb - honestly, you said it, the xb2 -is- so 2008 so since your current xb is working fine, i would personally wait it out for the updated model to be released. the reason why i bought mine and did not wait was because i was without a car for about 4 months and needed something sooner than later. i think (and hope) that scion comes out with something just as competitive as other cars out there in terms of better mpg, more stock features, etc.

if you wind up getting an xb2, just keep this in mind - you will literally get HALF the MPGs (or close to that) compared to your current xb. my car is still new and i'm getting 21.x mpg which is horrible compared to the north of 30 i was getting with my xb1. i've said it several times, i dont care about having 160hp - it's an economy car and i personally dont need the extra 60hp. my 2013 i feel CHUGS GAS compared to my 2006 i had... and this is probably my biggest pet peeve with it so far... but just keep this in mind. i literally feel like everytime i take the car for a trip, no matter how short, the gas needle goes down. i feel like im driving a truck in that regard. my 06 would get north of 30 mpgs all day long, even in mostly city driving...

i am impressed with the stock features on my 2013 xb2 and am eager to see what the newer models will have in store for us.

 

they talked about pure pricing. but they slashed 1000 bones off the top because i was mlitary. couldnt go wrong with that. i was set to trade in my 05 mazda 6 that was in pretty damn good condition, only had 60k miles, and had all its major services done. dealer only wanted to give me 3500 for it. i inisisted on atleast 6500, but no-go. the thing about there only being one toyota dealer on this island has its downfall; they know you gotta come to them if you want that brand new scion. i told them to shove the trade, ill buy the car without it. ended up getting the xb2 for little oer 17k since they already revealed the numbers and they were anticipating me using the trade in. sold my mazda 6 then next day for 8500 to the first person i showed it to, and now the little scion sits sits at home with my 2013 trd offroad and my 08 4r ;).

(older pic, but this is the vehicles and the old one it replaced lol)

 

RE: Shaky/Bumpy ride - I bet your right, the tires are probably over inflated as I can't believe the car is that bumpy going down relatively smooth roads.

RE: xB1 vs. xB2 MPG - I manage to get around 30 MPG with my xB1 and it's a combination of city/highway driving. Although the xB2 would "only" cost me approx $500 extra a year in gas it's still the psychological effect of such lower mileage, it's hard to adapt to such a steep dropoff.

RE: Waiting for updated model - Not a bad idea but do you think they'll actually come out with an xB3?

I think the xB2 is fairly priced but I do hate paying 8.1% sales tax when private party is 0% sales tax. However, it is next to impossible to find someone here in Vegas selling a 2010-2012 xB private party. And the xB2 is the perfect used car due to its outstanding reliability!

The biggest problem for the xB2 is the xB1. In this case, almost everyone agrees the father is way better than the son.

 

BlingSlade,

My two cents:

• You can rent xBs at many Toyota dealerships. Weekend rental for an xB where I live is only $25 a day. I would recommend that.
• Yes, I think the ride terrible -- the slightest undulations causes it to capitulate like a pogo stick -- very uncomfortable and annoying. Find the huge post on nf210 springs -- it reportedly improves the ride A LOT. The rear springs are apparently the culprit. Being that they only take 15 minutes to do... you might consider ordering the nf210s and swapping the rear springs real quick on your rental, to see if that fixes the ride to your liking -- BEFORE you spend thousands buying. Of course, switch the springs back before you return the car. If it doesn't work out, I'm sure you can sell the springs at only a minor loss.
• Gas mileage...: Although it's not great, for a car that holds more than most compact SUVs (and costs many thousands less), it's also somewhat hard to complain. The automatic is nearly 3100lbs. I don't think you would want a small 4cyl lugging that around, especially with the A/C on. For comparison, the first gen xB was only ~2400lbs.
• Elevated ride: Yes, that is worth something too. Makes comparing this car to a conventional hatch/wagon with better mpgs hard.

Other things to pay attention to if you rent an xB:

• To me, the second biggest downfall of the xB is the headlights. Take it to a neighborhood with no streetlights, or on a windy, hilly, country road with no streetlights and see what you think. You might want to budget for a fog light kit and/or HIDs.
• Although acceleration is rather effortless around town, on the freeway it really lags. Like if you are already going 60-70 and want to get around someone fast, it's going to struggle quite a bit. Probably because it's a huge box, and also due to the meager 4 speed automatic. Also, if you live in a state where the speed limit is 70 and you like to do 75, or a bit above, your gas mileage will be terrible.
• The interior plastics scratch easily, in my opinion. If you rent one, use your fingernail on the underside of a door panel, or some other inconspicuous place no one will ever see. You can permanently scratch it with your fingernail. But there are probably lots of cars like this.

All-in-all: No car is perfect and there are always tradeoffs. Although the xB isn't as competagtive as it use to be, it's very hard to compare against other cars due to the amount of space, torque-y engine, elevated ride height, etc.

 

Like others have said before in this post, if your XB1 is doing fine, then keep that as long as you can. To me an $800 or $1000 heater core replacement is a better outcome then a car payment.

I don't think there will be a 2014 XB and I think the XB is done as a production vehicle and no redesign will come. So if you want a new XB then you best go to a good dealer and buy it as you may not get another chance to get a new XB before the model is done.

That said have you looked at 2012 XB's? You can probably pick a low mile 2012 XB up for a good price and save some money on a good car. The 2012 XB's have the bluetooth radio just like the 2013's. There was a minor refresh in the 2013 models BUT it is 2 step forward one step back thing, Toyota made a minor refresh that included running lights in those fake plastic ducts on each side of the front bumper and have a better looking key/remote combo BUT they took a step back by dropping the rear door cup holders.


Sadly you will find most(but not all) Toyota Scion dealers are ether full of crap or have their heads up their rear ends because they think Toyota is is the best company in the world and if anything goes wrong with the product it has to be the customer who is in error. Toyota has learned nothing from GM.

Good luck on your search for the XB2

 

blingslade:

as one of scions best sellers, i think it would be dumb of them not to refresh the model but it is getting harder for me to believe that since they're taking their sweet time to announce ANYTHING about it... there was an article i posted on here a few months back in which the scion CEO or someone high-level mentioned that they are coming out with a next generation and that it MIGHT BE related to the current toyota BB model that is being sold in japan.

about sales tax - i paid almost 9% and still got the car for under $20k.

about gas: i am almost sure the extra gas use will cost you more than $500 a year. it's seriously a night and day difference in my case. comparing xb1 to xb2, i feel like i went from a 1-liter engine economy car to an suv. it's that noticible in my case.... i wish they put the versa engine (1.8l) into the xb2 because that gets incredible gas mileage but as natesi mentioned, it would be tough to lug around a 3,100 car with that...


natesi:

you made some awesome points that i wanted to chime in on. i def think that if the state speed limit is over 65-70, gas mileage would be horrible. i am doing about 60 usually and think it's bad now... re: interior plastics - you said it, they scratch so easily! my car has 800 miles on it now and i have at least 3 or 4 permenant scratches from simply getting in and out of the car (door panel is the main area in my case, and a couple on the dash, by the glove box).

re: renting an xb and testing the hell out of it - i could not agree with you more. i fully support the try-before-you-buy method.

and thank you for the info re the nf210 thread - i had never seen that before and im looking at it now ( https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=124875 in case anyone is wondering).


journeyforce:

i debated on getting a 2012 instead of a 2013 but the dealership was literally not budging on the price of the 2012... so i went for the 2013 just because it was newer. and i hate that my 2013 doesn't have rear cupholders/storage space :-/

 

Great replies, didn't know about how easy it is to scratch the cheap plastic. I'd seriously consider a 2012 for 16-17K if it was private party(remember, I wouldn't have to pay ANY sales tax).

Also keep in mind I don't have to worry about financing as I would pay cash.

I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but the 2013 RAV4 XLE does look enticing as it's a lot more car, more room, better gas mileage, smoother ride, 6 speed auto, for around 26K after taxes. So yeah, I'd be paying approx 6K more and it certainly could be worth it.

 

I think you can get a 2012 for 15.5. But are you sure you don't have to pay sales tax if you buy used? In states I've lived that have sales tax, you end up paying the tax when you go to license the car.

As for the Rav4, if price is not a concern, then of course... get what you want.

1 -- It doesn't have a ton more space though. xB has 69.9, and the Rav4 has 73.4

2 -- The ride is probably different. However, I don't think the ride is smoother. I've mostly read the exact opposite -- that it is harsh to very firm. One review I was watching on youtube, the commentator's voice was quivering every time he went over a small bump in the road -- he was getting the wind knocked out of him. Not cool.

3 -- Unless you travel a ton, or gas goes to $10 a gallon, you're not going to make up the thousands of dollars more that the Rav4 costs.

Using fuelly.com: The 2013 Rav4 gets 24.6mpg. Whereas, the 2008 - 2012 xB got from 24.7 to 26.2.

Even if you did a worst-case-xB to best-case-Rav4 and assumed you could get 27 mpg (combined hiway/city average) from the Rav4, versus 23 mpg for the xB.... and you traveled 12000 miles a year, and paid 4.50/gallon for gas, you would only save $347 a year.

4 -- The Rav4 gets a lot more attractive, however, if you bought a new xB and had to add a lot to it, to get it the way you want -- and the Rav4 already has those things. For example: moon roof, rear spoiler, fog lights, rims and tires, a temperature guage (yeah, they took the freaking temperature gauge out of the last few years of the xB -- how freaking lame is that), auto off headlights, variable intermittent wipers, heated mirrors, rear camera, etc, etc. These all come with the XLE... plus more horse power, a 6 speed transmission, and wee bit better crash scores (the xB already had pretty good safety).

Some of that would be so spendy you probably wouldn't even want to attempt adding it to an xB. But you get the idea: If you start adding up stuff you want to change, you might be within a 3-4 grand of a Rav4. And keep in mind that you can bargain on a Rav4, and most likely you won't be able to on an xB. So a 3-4 grand might get as close to a 2-3 grand difference. Then... yeah, it would be way easier to justify the price difference.

BUT lets me honest: We could all drive pieces of craps for years, if we really had to. So, it really comes down to what you what you like more... not necessarily the numbers. Unless you're like me and the thought of spending $26Gs on a car gives you a stomach ache. heh.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

$15.5K for a barely used 2012 xB sounds like a freaking sweet deal though. If it fits your needs and you leave it mostly stock.

 

Yeah, the deal with Nevada is if you buy from the dealer you pay sales tax but no sales tax if you buy private party. I double-checked this when I went to the DMV to register my xBox1(only $128!) and the guy there said Nevada used to charge sales tax for private party sales but it's too easy for someone to say they sold/paid only $100 for the car.

i definitely need to do my homework if I'm shooting for another car like the RAV4, Toyota has finally updated it after ignoring it for years. I hear good things about the Honda CRV but I lost faith in Honda about ten years ago and I don't want the atypical Honda road noise.

I see how Toyota has worked at integrating Scion into the American marketplace. They enticed a lot of people, young and old, with the first, cheap xB. They sold tens of thousands of them but I guess it was just to draw people in, they prolly weren't making any money off them at all. Then, they came up with the bigger, more expensive xB2 to keep the enthusiasts around while eventually coming up with other cars for the younger crowd like the FRS. I really think the xD and iQ are screwups but maybe there's a method to their madness.

I can definitely keep my xB1 for another couple of years. I've always like the practical, hatchback type cars. I bought the 1988 Honda Accord DX hatchback and I lusted after the 1990 Honda Civic Si but couldn't afford it at the time. My xB1 is light years ahead of those cars when it comes to fun and practicality. I'm glad I can remember those years and how far cars have come since then. I think the xB1 is the closest to the Holy Grail of cars that I've ever come across, it's carried loveseats, 9.2 surfboards, large recliners, 4 large suitcases and 3 people, and a lot, lot more. I'm sitting at 36.5K as I type this. There's just nothing to replace it with right now.