Got my Blue Onyx xB yesterday and I couldn't be happier with it! I came back to work after picking it up and everybody was oohing and aahing it including former car salesman people whose comments were basically, "Wow... that's actually not a bad car at all!"

Anyhoo, I was stuck in serious rush hour traffic coming out of Boston yesterday, but it didn't get under my skin. I was too busy tinkering around with the stereo system (one eye on the road and one eye on the stereo!!!). The difference between 'Neutral, Hear, and Feel' on the stereo is tremendous. I had some techno music on and used Feel with the volume cranked and it felt like I was getting a leg massage! Nice!

My only complaint sound wise is that it feels like I'm only hearing sound from the front (people who have ridden in the back say that the sound is fine all around so I know nothing is broken). Maybe I was expecting something more considering I used to drive a two front speaker '93 Toyota Tercel. It's a minor complaint and really there's nothing wrong with the car... probably just me

As this is my first new car, I'm not sure about the gas mileage I'm supposed to get on my first tank. I put about 60 miles on the car by time I picked it up yesterday to the time that I pulled into work today. I'm already down a 1/4 tank of gas. Is this normal to burn through that much fuel for the first tank? Most of the driving was either city driving or gridlock... about 10 miles of it was highway driving at 60 mph.

 

Congrats on the new car.

Sound system is pretty good, but will need to adjust fade to the rear to get true surround feel.

Gas guage is not linear. Drops faster at first/. First several tanks with mixed driving will be in mid to high 20s.

 

I'm pretty new to car sound systems that don't just involve turning the volume up and down, so having a fader to tinker around with should be fun. Right now I think my fader is at 0. If I want to get the 'surround sound feeling' around what should it be at???

 

First and foremost congrats on your new xB. I know you'll love it. To answer your questions. Firsty about your radio. I have been selling the scions for about 8 months now and Ive noticed that depending on what setting you have it on it will make a huge difference. The best setup that I have found is the following where you can effectively hear all the speakers at their max quality. First turn your SSP to Feel. Then Hold down the SSP button to where it says car type xB. whenthis is on the display cycle through the car types until it reads car type xA. For some reason using this car type makes the speakers process sound and distribute it better. From here turn your bass to 0 or 1. Then adjust your treble, I personally like treble so I would set it to 5. From here your set. Your radio stations should sound awesome. And if you have an 05 model and your playing a cd , don't forget to turn on the SRT feature while playing the cd. This will enhance the way your cd's sound.

About your gas mileage. Your engine is a VVT-I, that pretty much means that the engine has a chip per-say that onitors your driving habbits and adjust the air to fuel ratio accordingly to your driving conditions. Based on that you will either burn more or less fuel depending on if your a cruiser or lead footer. Once the vehicle sets itself to your driving habbits it will automatically adjust the fuel to air ratio to maximize fuel economy. Basically for the minor break in period don't drive really really slow and don't red-line the xB because then the chip will remember that and think thats the way you drive all the time and you will get lousy gas mileage. Just drive normal and on your 2 or 3rd tank you will notice a diff in gas mileage and you'll notice that your xB is a bit more peppy.

I hope this helps

 

I got a new Geo Metro in 1991. I kept accurate fuel consumption figures for the first 7000 miles. Then I started to forget. However, the fuel mileage average was continuing to climb slightly at the time I ceased keeping records.

I have an xA on order and figure to drive in similar manner but with more rural road travel. Hope to exceed the government estimates of fuel mileage.

 

I got an average of 36 mpg for the first 6,000 miles on my 5-speed xB. Not bad, eh?

 

My first tank was 26 mpg. From then on about 32 to 34 mpg. If I get friskie just for a bit my mileage drops at least 5 mpg! It takes a lot of juice to keep it moving briskly--just remember what everybody else sez: "It's an economy car."

 

Exactly. Your mileage will increase with engine break-in.
And when your fuel guage is at the empty line and the idiot light turns on, you still have about 3 gallons left.

 

Congratulations on your car! I see you're in the Boston area. On Sunday Sept 19 Scion is sponsoring a HUGE event. Check out forum "Region - Northeast" and check out the Scion Exposed - Boston. We're meeting in Hopkinton, MA at 10:30 am then traveling in procession to Fenway Park. COME ALONG we need more Scions!

~Keith

 

3 gallons left when the red light turns on! Is that true? In most cars that means u got like a gallon left or so, or like 20-30miles. 3 gallons is almost another 100 miles.

 

I'm so there!

 

Thanks for the advice on the mileage and sound system! I'm absolutely in love with the sound sytem... hell, I love the whole car! I also got my first completely random compliment on the car today. I was about to get into my car when I was in a parking lot and a guy came out of an office building to grab a quick look at the car and tell me 'That's a really nice car!!!' Ah, it's the little things in life that make you happy!