Interesting … they love the xB but aren't terribly fond of the xA.

http://info.detnews.com/autosconsumer/autoreviews/index.cfm?id=12071

:evil: I have been driving SCION xA since the mid. August and am very haapy about it. Its style reminds me of Mercedez A class sold in Europe and Asia more than anything else. For the out of door price of $15K, the standard features are impressive. What do they expect from a 1.5 Liter engine? I was ____ed because they compared SCION with Ford Focus!! My friend purchased a brand new Ford Focus despite my advise and he has been spending a great amout of time at the Ford dealer arguing with the Service Manager. On the ohter hand, I have never been to SCION dealer for anything. Yeh, the rubber on windows are not installed well, but that is the only thing I noticed about the quality issue on SCION. I strongly recommend xA to anyone who is looking for an affordable car with a reasonable standard features. The standard stereo really rocks! If you are opted for automatic tranny, xA is the choice as xB is bit too heavy for it.

I love reading car reviews like this one, where there reviewers basically read various web sites, Scion tech specs and write a review w/o driving the car.

They supposedly drove it for a weekend in hot weater in Detroit, with 2 adults and a dog, and the AC on and they write "Our xA got good fuel economy, at 32 miles per gallon in city driving and 38 mpg on the highway." Wow, amazing that they somehow got exactly the same mpg as printed on the sales sticker.

Here they complain about the "Incomprehensible radio controls" but in their xB review 2 months prior they praise the "Great sound system" - Uhh, they both have the same stereo, why the different review?

Guess we just need to remember to take reviews with a big grain of salt.

screw the competion...i'm in total love with my xa....I could give a care about negative reviews because every where I drive it, people want to know WTF it is. I tell them it's a new toyota and drive off with a grin.

I don't have one yet but...I went thru the same stuff with my S2000. Every review about that car talked about the lack of torque and how it's slow below 5000 rpm. (Yet these same morons say the Miata with 1/2 the hp is a fast car.) Total BS. Whatever. Many reviewers are idiots, and I don't give a rat's fat a$$ what the magazine geniuses say. Eff them, and just love your car! :D

ya, they LOVE the xb...but the xa is underpowered??? dummies.

i dont care i love my xA for everythig but the motor but this car is as good as my civic and i love them both :D

13 year olds love it tho!! lol. I parked my XB at a church function last night right next to a lady with an XA.
For the record, I got 2 positive comments about my car from 12 year olds! So I'm REAALLLY hoping that 13 year olds like my car too.
My point is...What's their point?
Hellooooo, it's a small car that has 108HP! Does it do what it should for a car with that type of engine? (rhotorical question) People don't get it.
I love the XA. Sometimes I second guess myself when I look at the "rallly" style possibilities of the XA and go hmmmmmm.
In any case, you know we're tradin the XB in for the open deck when it comes out. Either that or replacing our mini-van with another Scion! :D

I love mine also. Some people have told me that it's a stupid car. I tell them that they are just upset because they went out and spent 30K on their car, and get 20mpg. I spent half that and get 30.

Plus, in Seattle, no one has one yet. And for being such a stupid car, I sure do get a lot of people asking me where they can get one.

Bottom line, who cares what the reviewers say. I bought the car because I like it, and that's all that matters.

i hate the look of the XA but hey thats my opinion....i hope they discontinue that piece of crap...XBs rule!!

:shock: What up w/ that review. I think my little xA is rockin'

There must be a little 13 year old girl hidden somewhere in this mans body. hmmmm!
They dunno what there talking about :!: :!:

These people are obviously mentally retarded. They called the Ford Focus a terrific car. There is no way the Focus is better than the xA.

I've had my xA since June and I love it.

I also want an xB.

These people are obviously mentally retarded. They called the Ford Focus a terrific car. There is no way the Focus is better than the xA.

Well, I don't know about that. Opinions are just that. I know there are Focus owners who wouldn't be caught dead in a Scion, too. Plus, the Focus was named one of Car and Driver's 10 best cars for the fourth year in a row, and was named a best small car pick from Consumer Reports.

I still think the article was a bit harsh.

Have you ever driven a Focus? I had it as my rental when I got in an accident with my car. The car is a piece of crap. I don't care what the other reports said about the car, I am speaking from experience with the car.

Have you ever driven a Focus? I had it as my rental when I got in an accident with my car. The car is a piece of crap. I don't care what the other reports said about the car, I am speaking from experience with the car.

Yes, I drive one on a daily basis. I am dead shocked to Car and Driver naming it a "Ten Best Cars" again . Thats a total of 5 times in a row! Jezzz, ive taken mine into the shop at least that many times this year for various things { Bad ignition, leaky headlights, bad weather seals, oils leaks, car wont start, ECT...}

but i must say, i think the Focus is a good idea, but with bad timing( rear ind. suspention, SVT!!, 2.3 PZEV engine, cool design, ECT} What ____es me off is its reliability, and this is why come June, I will be driving a xB!!!

the focus won 10 best again, but the wrx,sti and/or lancer evo did not. for shame.

i have not had a lot of experience with the focus, but i have driven a new escort, and that thing was literally the biggest piece of crap i've ever driven, especially for a late model. whatever they are selling that thing for is too much. seriously, that thing was so bad. the seats are made of the softest foam you can buy, and wrapped in the thinnest material available. maybe they intended the escort to be a race car, because everything on it feels so lightweight and cheap. and don't get me started on the power. the throttle is basically just a volume control for the engine. it doesn't really make it go faster. it's like the autopia at disneyland. you push the pedal down as far as it will go and hope for the best.

oh yeah, both scions were in the running to win "10 best" and neither of them made it. so now they have no chance of getting it next year. very sad.

Have you ever driven a Focus? I had it as my rental when I got in an accident with my car. The car is a piece of crap. I don't care what the other reports said about the car, I am speaking from experience with the car.

Yes. I actually owned one for one year; a ZX3 with the sport package. I had a lot of problems with it and thus, no longer own it. I liked the way it drove and looked. However, I had a lot of dumb problems with mine that didn't warrant a long life.

Car and Driver does not judge it's 10 Best cars on reliability, resale, and such. They judge it on how it drives and how good of an overall car it is at the moment, not after you've owned it for a year and have had a buttload of problems with it.

There's a reason that the Focus is on that list and it's because it offers a lot of features for the price and drives very well. If you had a rental Focus, you had a base model with the crappy SPI engine, which wouldn't leave me with a great impression either. My ZX3 drove wonderfully, when it wasn't in the shop.

I doubt the Scions will make it on the list – they're not mainstream enough. Most of the cars on the 10 Best list are pretty mainstream or are at the top of their class (e.g. the A4, the Accord, the S2000).

holdup....leave the focus alone..........DSM's break wayyyyy more then foci any talk about a cheep pice O' crap....are we all forgeting the lil thing called a chevy malibu humm!

Equally impressive in their own rights, just very different. Next time someone calls either car a piece of crap, ask them where can they get a car with all power equipment, traction control/ vehicle skid control and a factory Pioneer MP3 player for under 15 grand out the door.....NO ONE!!!!

Sam :D

It is sad that a car like Focus get the best car award. I agree that its design is good. Reliability is awful even new. Gas mileage is not as good as the same displacement J cars, either. Before I bought my xA, I test drove few different brands...Suzuki Aero SX wagon, Mazda Protoge 5, Ford Focus, and Hyundai Rio. Hyundai was not even worth mentioning. Focus with ZX eingine did provide a pretty good performance, but it started making strange noise from the suspension during test drive. Sales person said, "Oh, you know, this is nothing. It happens during initial break-in. It will go away once you drive 1000miles." I had to laugh at him. I am not a 18 years old without any knowldge about cars. I am a middle age guy with enough experience with car buying and car itself. Suzuki was not bad. Mazda was really good. Overall, however, SCION xA won when I thought about bang for buck.

I love my xA...nothing is quite like it on the road...im a college student and girls love it...they think its cute, but when they get inside is when they like it even more...the gauges fascinate them...Love my xA

Car reviews are often like moview reviews....95% of what you read is just someone's personal opinion. The critic might love the movie, but I might hate it. I don't really care what a car review has to say about the xA. I love mine.

I'm in michigan and IMO they are both idiots. They seem to think only the Domestics really count-I mean they thought that the Hybrid Escape used Fords technology-Morons-Toyota sold them the technology from the 1st generation Prius-you know the one they released in 1997. I'm going to stop here or my comments will be snipped.

marcelino

WOW, way to dig up an old thread

I looked at the xA. Never drove one. I liked the xB interior better, larger but seemed like a very very short school bus (xB). So I never gave the xA a thought. But, now the more I see them the more I like them. Actually my opinion is the xA is a gremlin. If they were to ever redesign the gremlin and bring it back its the xA. As far as an xA compared to a Focus there is no comparison. I also had a rental Focus for a while with no power steering or brakes etc. That car WAS and still probably is garbage. I would almost rather own a neon than a Focus. Rock on xA owners!!!!!!!!

Uhhh...I didn't even need to read past them comparing the xA to the Mini Cooper...who ever said they were competitors? The Cooper base price is over $4000 more than the xA, and when you're talking about a $12,400 car, that's more than 30%.

Would they say that a $40,000 is in direct competition with a $52,000 car?

Morons.

Oh, and I have one of each...for them to give the xB a rave review & cut on the xA further shows that they're clueless. They're so similar in the way they drive...the xA feels smaller because it is...it's more nimble around corners, and more confined inside.

Beyond that it's very obvious that they're close siblings...same car, different skin.

Even though a car cost $1,000's more does not by any means make it a better car! My personal opinion. Mini's Im sure are nice cars but once again read terrible owners stories on reliability. I had a Jeep that outlived my moms Cadillac if that says anything. Not as fancy but much better auto anyway.

You last 3 people who responded are aware that this thread is over 2 years old correct? The site that reviewed it in 03 hasn't even reviewed the 05 or 06 models.

I like reading reviews like that just to see how wrong some people can be... I believe that only persons who own a darn car and drive it for tens of thousands miles are the only true source of info about a cars behavior/charactersistics...

Just my $0.02