in my debates over what commuter to buy I went down to THREE scion dealers yesterday. Quite an experience. I'll start by saying none had a standard model so test drive was pretty much out (I have zero interest in an auto). The dealers were also disappointed when I said "Look, I want to test drive. If I like the way the car feels I'll work with you and wait till a camo standard comes available". It was very much a sell, now now. No one wanted to take that time to see if the car might be good for me... The one salesman from Power Toyota in Cerritos actually told me the car is for old ladies and my current car is much faster and I shouldn't be asking to test the power of the car, he then said go back and do some more research. I laughed and said "I have researched the car, however printed words don't tell me if the car is right for me." I just got the old we sell the most scions, people are putting down deposits, they are sold the moment we receive them, type comebacks.

So anyone wanna take me on a test drive in their xB I live in Whittier California heh..

Yeah the Scion dealers think they have the upper hand with the fact that all their scions are pretty much pre-sold before they even arrive. The experience is even worse with the tCs. That part of the buying experience ____ed me off because the dealers were acting like they were doing US the favor. Like we should be kissing their asses to buy their cars.

They need to be trained by daewoo or kia, then they will learn the proper ettiquette of begging their customers to buy a car. The customer is always right! Thats the way it should be!

Before I bought my xB I went to Power Cerritos 3 times, and all three times I left ____ed off. Call Longo, or Elmer or even Toyota of Long Beach ( I went to them all - mainly to test drive the box in different environments) The guys over at Cerritos tried to sell me a used xB with 12k miles on it for 18k. I repeatedly told him I wasn't interested and he literally argued with me about why not and why don't I just make an offer. I guess that whole no hassle idea doesn't apply over there.

Power had literally ten dealers seething at the mouth waiting for people to step on the property. The one who jumped me waved my car in and then started asking me about trade ins.. Won't go back there

I had a great experience with my dealer. They were very good with not pressuring me and understood my needs and time frame for purchase. However some salesmen lacked the inclination to try to sell me a car, that was dissapointing.
However i do echo the fact they had one manual on the lot. Its a fact that buying an auto with a 1.5 liter car is riddiculous. Its just no fun to drive.
They located a car for me and got what i wanted.

Performance Scion in Omaha, NE was awesome, talk to Mark Husar.
Come on out to Nebraska, the weathers fine.

I bought Mine at Long Beach Toyota/ Scion and they were Cool, they had alot od Manuals and a decent selection, and no pressure to buy. This was my first Experience buying a New car and Im happy to say It was a good one. So cruze down and check it out

:P

Performance Scion in Omaha, NE was awesome, talk to Mark Husar.

Come on out to Nebraska, the weathers fine.

Yeah... Nebraska in February. Been there, froze that.

Nice people though!

I am pretty loyal when it comes to purchases. If I like the product and the people selling that product I'll come back for more later. I think my car purchase should be no diffrent. This is something the owners and management of salesmen have to take the responsibility of. If I buy a car from a salesman he won't see me for a long time, if ever. He has not interest in me coming back and will want to get more money. If the experience is one where I am disatisfied I will never return to the lot. The management and owners suffer.

In short let me drive your cars and deceide that way.. Text on a website about storage capacity, MPG, and horsepower is not going to get me to buy. I feel for the salesmen, I am sure they get their share of people who they spend hours with for no profit, but when I am open on my expectations and requests and get denied I usually become bitter.

Man you all have some bad luck with dealers. I live in kentucky and I went to 3 different dealers (went to one dealer 2 times) and test drove the xB (5spd) right then and there.
Someone needs to B%$#H slap those dealers in Cali and show them whats up. Come on out to the Bluegrass and pick you one up. Good drive back to Cali to break it in.

Peace,
Mark D

Thats funny! I got my xB in El Paso, Tx. I was originally going to get a chrysler 300c but the sales person was an ahole. So I went to the toyota dealership. I filled out the paperwork that day. My sales person was pretty hot too(female) so it worked out real well. I didnt even test drive it. i had never seen one ever till I walked in. It took a few weeks for them to get the car i chose. I love my xB :D

Performance Scion in Omaha, NE was awesome, talk to Mark Husar.

Come on out to Nebraska, the weathers fine.

Yeah... Nebraska in February. Been there, froze that.

Nice people though!
If you dont like the weather stay awhile it'll change in 24 hours. Sad but true. And yes nice people.
GO BIG RED!

Alot of people treat the xB as Form before Function.. People just walking up and ploping down money for something they know nothing baout because it is cool. I'm not one of those people.

Alot of people treat the xB as Form before Function.. People just walking up and ploping down money for something they know nothing baout because it is cool. I'm not one of those people.

i feel you man. its true, the xB doesnt have too much power, but the gearing makes it peppy...what i do with salesmen i dont like is make sure to know more about the product than they do. ill go in and ask them questions they know nothing about, then after he cant answer them, ask him how you are supposed to be able to get an idea of how the car drives especially if he cant explain to you. ask about gearing and compression...they usually dont know that stuff :rofl: and then after he is stumped, tell him you are going somewhere else

if you go to the tc general section and look up my "should I buy a tc3" we all seem to have that experience and I think it has alot to do with the no haggle pricing. Dealers have that take it or leave it attitude. Cali does sell more, but you can find them sitting on the lot in Las Vegas or Phoenix if you want to pay the $400 doc fee. Oops, I'm talking tc

The dealers in Houston, Texas are very kool. Some of them have around 15 xBs on their lots. I guess alot of the hillbillies down here with their monster trucks think the xB is "straaaaange" & they're not selling as well as in Cali.

:come: I'll meet you at the airport. What flight are you going to be on? :D

Maybe Scion Corp will get wind of how the Cali dealers are treating customers and take steps on retraining them to the Scion frame of mind. I can dream can't I. LOL

Dude, go to Longo, ask for Richard. He'll take good care of you.

Go to another city or state and buy one... Out here in NC, the dealers work hard for you. Not many people know about these cars out here and you can find them pretty easy. There several available when I went to buy mine... but the TCM was not available and I had to wait a week.
Heck, I even got cruise control and mats thrown in for free... An easy, quick sale

LONGO SCION. Simply put, its the best scion and toyota dealer out there (over 30,000 sales in 2004) im not affialited, but i bought my box there, and their service is superb. I will referr them to anyone on this board.

I know you probally will hate to do this but be a no bull____ person and lay it out for the salesman. If he is a respectable person he will appreciate you honesty and straighforwardness.
-The dealership i bought mine from was like that at first. It was a different salesman though.
1. I told the salesman i didnt like him and to get someone else. He did and i was blunt and rude to the new guy (see how they like it) He new i was un happy with his dealership and he busted his ___ to make me happy.
2. I also told everyone else i spoke to there (ie sales manager, finance manager) how displeased i was with the previous salesman.
3. Things worked out well because i was an _______. So in short be an _______ and they will realize how it feels to be treated that way. And they wont do it again.

I know you probally will hate to do this but be a no bull____ person and lay it out for the salesman. If he is a respectable person he will appreciate you honesty and straighforwardness.
-The dealership i bought mine from was like that at first. It was a different salesman though.
1. I told the salesman i didnt like him and to get someone else. He did and i was blunt and rude to the new guy (see how they like it) He new i was un happy with his dealership and he busted his ___ to make me happy.
2. I also told everyone else i spoke to there (ie sales manager, finance manager) how displeased i was with the previous salesman.
3. Things worked out well because i was an _______. So in short be an _______ and they will realize how it feels to be treated that way. And they wont do it again.
ya im sure there gonna stop being _______s because u were one to them. it would just give them a reason to screw you over while you think they are busting their asses for you. i work in retail. i love selling defective units to _______s then sit there and smile when they try to bring the ____ back after the return policy expires and we charge them a restocking fee :rofl:

As for the first reply. i work for a repari shop literaly around the corner fromt eh cerritos dealers (power toyota of cerritos) and i swear that the second i stepped out of my 94 ranger the sales guy was on me like stink on $^3@.. what a horrible experiance.. when i went to leave the sales manager grabbed my door and said why not buy today and blah blah blah blah.. so i ended up with Elmore Toyota in Westminster.. mostly for the fact taht Ryan the internet ssales guy returned my phone calls .. and that the guy at Cerritos couldnt tell me if the engine was a belt or chain drive. but anyways.. aside from calling me back he wasnt pushy and gave me 2 years of oil changes ..which was the promo at the time. but definatly a ++++ experiance at Elmore... cerritos toyota....... yarg....

.. oh yeah and just for fun if you want to scare the weee out of a sales guy you dont like. .ask for a test drive and they always say yes. .. do a big ole burnout out of the driveawy. take corners at as fast as you can w/o flipping our crashing and just floor it and slam on the brakes at the light... i made a sales guy turn white doing that more than once..

Never had any problems with the dealership in Springfield MO. Aaron, and especially Scott, have been great. I've gone in several times "just looking around"... climbing in and around the cars in the show room and never once have I felt like I HAD to buy the car that day. I've corresponded via email with Scott several times, and he has always been prompt and courteous with his replies. I was finally able to get in and test drive one a couple weeks ago knowing full well I couldn't buy right away, but Scott was MORE THAN READY to hop in and go for a test drive and answer any/all questions I had.

I'm hoping in the next couple weeks to reward the considerations they have allowed me with the purchase of a new BOPxB.

.. oh yeah and just for fun if you want to scare the weee out of a sales guy you dont like. .ask for a test drive and they always say yes. .. do a big ole burnout out of the driveawy. take corners at as fast as you can w/o flipping our crashing and just floor it and slam on the brakes at the light... i made a sales guy turn white doing that more than once..

So yeah seriously who is coming to pick me up for a test drive..

My "test drive" was my 140 mile trip back to the house after getting my BOX. Who needs to test drive an xB??? You either want it or not and also whats not to LOVE?

Look I'll be stepping down from a fast car into an xB. I just want to know if I can handle the diffrence. Do I know it will be slow, yes. Do I know the power numbers, yes. However none of that changes the fact I do not know how it drives.

Comments like "You either want it or you don't" don't really help dude. You may like rolling the dice and ending up with a car you don't like, but not me. I am not a magazine racer or a listener to lines by dealers.

Bottom line, if you really want one you will call around and find one to test drive. Then make the decision to buy. Most xB owners prolly didn't even need to test drive. All I can say is the car is perfect compaired to everything else in it's class. If a testdrive is THAT important the xB will never live up to your expectations and you should look at other vehicles.

wtf ... is it really that hard for u to get one to test drive ???


hell i went to my dealer and they had both stick and auto to test drive...

i ended up going with the stick .. felt ALOT faster then the auto .. and with 108 hp .. you need all the help you can get (ie; control of the gears and shifting)

it sux that they are giving you such a hard time

LONGO.... only dealer you need to mess with ..

i went in to test drive and just check one out...
late at night also (less peeps)
and i didn't get hassled and well i just had to have one...
i do miss the new car smell....

i recommend LONGO....
"hands down"

If I was in the area, I'd let you drive my box. I pined for
almost 3 weeks for my manual BOP. I almost broke down
and got an automatic....nah, not worth it.

When I bought mine I had no trouble with the salesman/vultures. They waitied till I had checked out about 4 of them on the lot by myself before they even approached from there lookout wire. Test drove one and then told them I wanted to put my whole family in for a ride. He said "rent one for a few days from our sevice loaner car fleet for $25 per day" Best thing I ever did! Rent one first if you can it's worth every penny !

Hey HoshNasi … sorry to hear about your experience with Power Toyota in Cerritos. I have had a very different experience there, twice. I bought an echo from them in 2000 and they gave me a better price than any other dealer offered me. Then I traded that in for my xB. Once again, no pressure, they offered me a payment amount that I did not like and I told them what I was willing to pay, and they did it. And … when I went there, I had a choice of 3 different manual xB’s and an automatic sitting right in front of the window. If you want the name of my sales man, pm me and I will send it to you. He was very cool … not a prick like most of them just trying to make a buck.

I know that we all may have a different experience while car shopping, but have you looked at the dealer reviews on this site?

Regardless, I had a pretty good experience looking for an xb. the local dealer didn't have any man. in stock, so I test drove an auto. My sales guy was great, really didn't seem to care whether I bought or not, didn't even need a deposit even though I was trying to put one down.

I was also thinking about flying to LA and getting one from Carson Toyota(I think I emailed Adrienne, very nice and have read many good things about her). On'y because it seemed like the xb I wanted wouldn't be in for a while at my local dealer.

Best of luck...and if you have a good or bad experience, post in dealer reviews.

Thats funny! I got my xB in El Paso, Tx. I was originally going to get a chrysler 300c but the sales person was an ahole. So I went to the toyota dealership. I filled out the paperwork that day. My sales person was pretty hot too(female) so it worked out real well. I didnt even test drive it. i had never seen one ever till I walked in. It took a few weeks for them to get the car i chose. I love my xB :D

Did you go with Dick Poe or Hoy Fox scion? I am curious since I will be buying an xB in a few months in El Paso.

....cali..'nough said .
come to a red state , get treated like an equal .
we know what scion is about .

ok, so my salesperson gave me the whole run down on the vehicles, she even knew the history of the bb... she did her research. So how much did you guys pay for your 2005 xB? i paid msrp 14,230 :)

yeah every dealership iwent to were sold out of Tc's and they pretty much said the work "pure pricing" about 52 million times, basicialy like a dont bug me, your going to pay the sticker or leave.
i had went to bingham toyota and the dick there who i test drove with stold my pda, i didnt see it, but i left my 500 Dell in the test car and 20 minutes later when i went back to the dealer it was gone, i talked to every person i could find and they all said the last person to touch that car was that guy. also when i asked for TRD parts they said they carried nothing there and that if i wanted my car any different that whay they have to go online and order it because they couldnt order anything.

lazy ___ bastards,

Thats funny! I got my xB in El Paso, Tx. I was originally going to get a chrysler 300c but the sales person was an ahole. So I went to the toyota dealership. I filled out the paperwork that day. My sales person was pretty hot too(female) so it worked out real well. I didnt even test drive it. i had never seen one ever till I walked in. It took a few weeks for them to get the car i chose. I love my xB :D

Did you go with Dick Poe or Hoy Fox scion? I am curious since I will be buying an xB in a few months in El Paso.

HOY FOX and talk to Erica! she is hawwt too :)

call scion corp..youll get some free stuff if you complain.
dont test drive it. i test drove and bought it regardless i liked the drive or not. i fell in love.. and love is grand.

Wow, I went to two Scion dealerships in Houston. The first was awesome. Had a female salesperson who was very friendly and outgoing. Quickly showed me the white Xb manual I was looking for. Without question, she gave me the keys and let me drive it. I told her I was well-versed with the features and didn't require any further explanation. Turns out though that her dealership wasn't a member of the BBB. So I head down the road...
To another Scion dealership. They didn't have a white XB manual, but could get one. This dealership was a BBB member and offered me the use of their Xb demo car for the weekend. So I take the demo and come back on Monday. There is my Xb... now I asked that they get a car with 5 PDI miles, so it would have the least amount of miles on it when it was delivered. Salesmanager assures me it has around 40. Turns out it had 80... dood looked at the wrong odometer. Finance guy was a total loser... tried as hard as he could to sell me ANYTHING. Over and over. "Look douche bag... it's a Toyota... it isn't going to break down. If it were a Neon, it'd take your extended warranty because it would shoot a rod pulling out of the parking lot!" Other salesmen milling about the dealership were less than professional. Overall, a very poor experience. Should have gone with the first dealership. :nope:

Go to another city or state and buy one... Out here in NC, the dealers work hard for you. Not many people know about these cars out here and you can find them pretty easy. There several available when I went to buy mine... but the TCM was not available and I had to wait a week.
Heck, I even got cruise control and mats thrown in for free... An easy, quick sale

Here in Texas, my dealer didn't have a BSP 5spd at the time, so he let me drive a BCP 5spd for a week free of charge while I waited AND he through in TYC tails! 8)

That's customer service. :clap:

Go to another city or state and buy one... Out here in NC, the dealers work hard for you. Not many people know about these cars out here and you can find them pretty easy. There several available when I went to buy mine... but the TCM was not available and I had to wait a week.
Heck, I even got cruise control and mats thrown in for free... An easy, quick sale

Here in Texas, my dealer didn't have a BSP 5spd at the time, so he let me drive a BCP 5spd for a week free of charge while I waited AND he through in TYC tails! 8)

That's customer service. :clap:
Lucky Freakin You!!! I waited for 5 weeks with no vehicle, no freebies and no 50 buck gift card for financing through toyota credit. :nope:

i went to longo and the expierance was cool, i got a free rear bumper aplique.

HOY FOX and talk to Erica! she is hawwt too :)


THANKS! I'll give her a call.

Go to another city or state and buy one... Out here in NC, the dealers work hard for you. Not many people know about these cars out here and you can find them pretty easy. There several available when I went to buy mine... but the TCM was not available and I had to wait a week.
Heck, I even got cruise control and mats thrown in for free... An easy, quick sale

Here in Texas, my dealer didn't have a BSP 5spd at the time, so he let me drive a BCP 5spd for a week free of charge while I waited AND he through in TYC tails! 8)

That's customer service. :clap:
Lucky Freakin You!!! I waited for 5 weeks with no vehicle, no freebies and no 50 buck gift card for financing through toyota credit. :nope:


Oh yea, I got the $50 gift card, too. Sorry, Man. I had to rub it in a little bit. 8)

For some reason, there seems to be somewhat of an abundance of xBs/ xAs on dealer lots here in Houston. I'm not sure why. I think that it's got something to do with not being able to strap a dead deer or other poor animal to the front of it. :gun:

Dealers here seem to try harder than in Cali. Come on people....fly in, drive home! I'll even pick you up @ the airport.

freebies eh? i have recieved 2 scion mesh ballcaps, 1 beenie, 1 DJ bag aka luggage, that flashing necklace thing, 4 old style keychains and 3 new style keychains and 4 tickets to the LA auto show.

and my before mentioned rear bumper aplique.



(disclaimer only the rear bumper aplique came from the dealer)