I recently have my first kid on the way. I'm currently driving a small 2 door rsx type s. I have tons of money dumped into i'm in the process of parting it out selling the turbo and all the parts. I need more space and I never thought I would look at buying an xB but I really like the new xB a lot. I'm going to test drive one early next week and will most likely be picking one up. I definitely want to go with the navigation and the rear tv seats. I've only owned a manual car. But just wanted some advice on input if I should go manual or automatic and what other extras or options I should get and just other things to look out for. This will be my first scion so i'm a newb to them.

 

You're going to have a baby in the car... get the automatic so there is one less distraction. The less multi-tasking the better with a baby on board.

Also mileage is about the same, and this is a fun car, not a speed car (like the Type-S).

I also recommend Tanabe NF210 lowering springs for a safer and more comfortable ride than stock. (But then I'm a little biased.)

 

I have the auto so the wife can drive it also. The space is great, I am 6' 3" and sit comfortable, even with folks in the backseat. It's not racy like an RSX but I feel like it's extremely fun to drive.

 

I was going to say get a manual since its more fun but since you'll have a baby, the auto sounds like the better choice.

Get the TRD springs and the sway bar for sure! There's ALOT of body roll in the xb stock form & it is an absolute must upgrade.

 

i'm confused when you guys are saying its a fun car to drive ? what do you mean? from what I understand are automatic and manual equal for MPG?? But do you guys think this is a good choice overall? I've only owned a manual car but have driven plenty of automatics but the manual is cheaper so I might be leaning towards that... I know it maybe another distraction but i've luged my dog jumping in going crazy and was still able to tame him in my manual rsx... but i guess i'll test drive both and see for myself... manual more fun then automattic you guys think?

thanks for replies..

 

get a posi unit

 

My advice is not to get the stock navi or headrests. I got the stock lcd headrests and kind of regret not going after market. For the price of the stock navi and lcds, you can get a "better" setup. Even if price wasn't an option, an after market will also perform better. Here's my setup....

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...412&highlight=

 

both suffer from ridiculous body roll compared to the rsx-s so they wont be as fun as the rsx. i have the auto and have driven the manual.

i think that the auto is lacks the fun but its perfect for a family car. the shifts are un-noticable and the tranny computer is smart enough to keep the powerful engine in its "happy zone" when you step on it. also, the fake semi-auto is kinda cool, but 4 gears isnt like 5.

off topic. i drove a friend's rsx-s with a jackson racing supercharger running about 7-8psi and that thing is a ____ing beast. i wish toyota would bring back the spirit of the 4A-GE and create an engine that could compare to the K20

 

Are you trading in the RSX-S? Toyota will low ball you on the trade-in. If it's paid for keep it. If not sell it on your own through the RSX-s forums. You will get more. Parting it out you will get 25%-40% back on the mods you installed. The dealer will give you nothing for them.

 

umm one thing not mentions is can the wife drive a manual. why i say this is long car trips. if you get tired and she can't drive an manual. you have to stop rather then pull over and switch drivers.

as far as things to get off the get go. if you are tight on money at the time of puchase i would ___ the sway bar and strut bar into the loan. as for springs. umm dealer is going to rape you on the prices. if you can do the work yourself i would say buy them yourself and pop them on. aftermarket is much cheaper then dealership.

if you want a hid kit. moblehid.com with cliff is you best bet. he is highly recommended from a ton of people and moblehid kits seem to be easy to install.

this is what i would high suggest you do. go to the dealership drive both have the wife drive it as well. go out to dinner and take a piece of paper or two write down pro's and cons. if the cons revolve around replaceable part. then talk about doing thos now or later. if the cons are no replaceable parts. then talk about weather you can live with them or not. lets face it not everyone will like the car. now if all you pro's are ones both of you like. i would say get the XB. but after the dinner jump online and head to scion.com read everything about the car. let the wife build one she would like and let you build one you like. if any differences in the options color. talk about it.

if you sort all this out. congratz on the new XB. the rest of the modding can be done in time. Check out D units wife's XB he had done. and look at what other people did as well.

 

i'm sure you can get better aftermarket setup for entertainment however i like FACTORY OEM EQUIPMENT that will bring up the value of the car and not depreciate like aftermarket parts will... i will definitely look into sway bars, springs, etc down the road... my rsx was greddy turbo over 300whp and the thing just zooms... but its not practical i don't need that amount of power nor can a FWD car even handle that power even with quaife lsd... i'm going to be selling my parts out seperately i have a few offers already... i'm either going to with a trade in or attempt to sell privately i udnerstand i'll get shafted on the trade in but it maybe hard to sell privately especially under time contraints... i'm going to go ahead and test drive both manual and automatic and see which i perfer...

 

I was in the same boat. I drove an Integra GSR for almost 7 years and loved it but I too have a kid. Well his just turned two but it was a pain getting him in and out of the rear seat. Plus I didnt really feel safe with him in the car cuz the integra is so small.

I just got the XB 2 weeks ago and love it. I also got the Auto since it is my daily commuter and i live 42 miles away from work. When my son was first born, he didnt really like being in the car so I was wishing the teggy was and auto cuz trying the calm a baby down while going thru the gears was a bit over whelming at times plus the manual tranny became a pain in LA traffic. But love the ability to squeezz out the power of the gsr motor when able.

I know I'll probably miss driving stick since this is the first car I've ever owned thats not but I'm very happy with my decision to go auto cuz its one less thing I gotta worry about when entertaining my kid while driving..

I was thinking about getting the headrest dvd also but opt not too. I figured for the money I was gonna spend on the factory one, I can get a comparable setup aftermarker plus a sub wolfer and amp plus lowering springs since the xb handles like our other car... Honda Odessey in stock form

Im sure you too will be very happy with the XB... And congrats on both additions to the family

 

If you want the OEM Headrest TV's and Nav, you might be better off buying them on your own and installing them on your own. You can get them from TRDSparks or Ebay and save by putting them in yourself if you can/have the time. Unless the dealer won't rape you on labor for those installs.

I never drove an automatic, so I can't comment on that. I love my manual though. Others might be right though, and having auto might be better with a small human in the car. Although I've hauled our Yorkie and English Bulldog around a lot and never had to worry. But like everyone has said, just drive both. My wife can't drive manual, knock on wood a situation hasn't come up where it's been a problem. But her parents only live a couple minutes away and they'll loan a vehicle if she needed it.

And you might be surprised if you want to give it a shot selling your Type S instead of trading. My buddy had no problems finding a buyer for his. Might be worth advertising it on forums and see if there's any intrest.

 

if you are def. going oem than do what MikeInABox said and buy them online cheaper.

as for it being fun to drive... it is. it isnt what you would expect, at least it wasnt for me. when i got mine i first went looking at a RAV-4 to replace a Murano (would've got another but way too expensive). The murano was also fun to drive so i didnt wanna go to a family vehicle that felt like a family vehicle. decided to test-drive the xB and bought it that day.

with a child on the way i would go for an automatic. it isnt as fun as a manual but shifting is just one less thing to think of when the babys crying in the back, wife moving around trying to find the bottle, and still watching the road. plus, it makes sense resale value-wise.
oh btw, congrats

 

x2 on everything - especially the congrats! Our first is coming the end of March and that was definitely a consideration for buying the xB2.

Didn't know all this was going on when you asked this question in the other thread...definitely go with the auto for reasons everyone else has already covered. Plus, with the auto you'll probly be less tempted to wring it out, which you shouldn't be doing with 'baby on board' anyway (not that you would...I just know what that temptation feels like ).

Also, someone already asked this, but does your wife/girl drive stick? That may be a deciding factor as well...

 

Congratulations!

I have the automatic and I like it. You can select what gear it's in so it's still fun. You just lose the capability to do a high RPM launch. Another plus for the auto considering your new child is there are more door lock control options with the auto.

Don't worry about the body roll comments. They don't roll that bad. I was actually surprised when I bought mine because it didn't roll as much as a I expected. The seats don't hold the upper body in place well so I think people are leaning more and thinking it's the body. Either that or I just haven't pushed mine far enough and I've taken some pretty quick curves.

 

I replaced my tC w/ the new xB when our son was born. It's a great choice for carrying all his gear. But honestly, for trips, we use the Camry a lot more as the trunk is huge! With a kid in the back seat, all you have is vertical space in the back of the xB.

 

thanks for all the replies guys! you guys are a lot nicer than my friends on clubrsx.com... but anyway... i'm leaning towards the automatic now from all your responses and again if i get a manual i'll end up dumbing thousands of dollars into turbo, fuel mgt ect., and thats definitely not smart with a baby on board... and for all those questions about wether my woman can drive manual she acutally owns a manual "GETTA" they call them it was my old car that was a jetta and I swapped the front end with a GTI... but anyway i'm looking forward to test driving these xB's really like the stuff i'm hearing... i have my car for sale on the clubrsx site and will hopefully find a buyer soon its prcied to sell quick so we'll see... also when you guys are saying buy the aftermarket TRD options online where would you buy these? I didn't know scion hits you with thei nstallation costs when buying a brand new car? For example the scion navigation was what around 1500? so it'd be 1500 plus install price? Didn't know that... I'm not very good with wiring so i'd rather everything get professionally installed...

 

You can get OEM and TRD stuff from TRD Sparks, newscionparts, ebay, and a few others. Prices are the close, but they're cheaper than the dealer (at least cheaper than my dealer). But if you can get navi from your dealer for 1500, go that route. On TRDSparks and newscion parts Navi is over $2k.

You'd have to check with your dealer about labor charges for you options. I've read on here some didn't have to pay it and some did. Also, TRD Sparks has the instructions to install stuff in .pdf files on each products page. That helps.

 

it seems like the price at the dealer may include installation... but I guess we'll see when I make it over there... For example the tv headrests are 1700 but online there only 1300... it seems they priced them to include install?