Through another car forum I came across information that said if you drive the xB in a "spirited or agressive manner" that the roof and or doors will bend.

A buddy of mine confirmed that his friends xB has shown signs of this happening.

What's the scion world have to say to this? If I buy one I want to be able to haul around corners like I do in my car now, without worrying that the car will look like a twizzler afterwards.

Thanks.

 

i would hope this is not true... cuz i tend to throw my B into corners pretty hard to see how hard i can push it. it cant handle as good as my rabbit, but its not bad. I hope i dont see any bends in my roof or doors. anybody else have any insight or opinions on this?

 

What's the forum you heard this on? Where in the world did they get their info?

I've only had my xB for 3 months, but I have a sunroof and drive very aggressively and there are no bends anywhere...

 

Maybe by "spirited and aggressive" driving he means getting airborn on the streets of San Francisco like they do in the movies.

 

yuh what forum did you hear this in the element forums

seriously though Toyota is one of if not the leading automative maker in the world so I am pretty sure all this has been covered, the xB is built the same any any other car it just has less insulation I think so you get that 'coke can' feeling in the doors the same you did in geo trackers, suzki sidekicks,samurais etc.

 

Yea, I read that dumbass' reply in the Car Lounge at VWVortex. No, I have no idea what the retard was talking about, it's not true.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1537322&page=1

 

No reason to bash people you don't know (apparently you overlooked the checkbox regarding bad language when registering). It may be a single incident, but it doesn't hurt to ask now does it.

I want to drive the box, not commute in it .. so I'd like to know - be it true or not.

 

Just to clear things up, I was referring to tnesh at VWVortex wih the comment. Common, this is a modern automobile, nothing like that is ever going to happen unless your vehicle comes in contact with another object. I believe common sense should rule in this situation.

 

Heh, probably should have just typed "dumbass'" instead of "dumbasses". I, too, thought you were referring to all of the people in there.

 

Opps, it was a possessive grammar error, I meant "Dumbass'", so I edited it

Besides, I replied to that thread @ VWVortex, and surely I wouldn't call myself one

 

Ok, so if you're talking about common sense .. what about the common sense that 1st generation models are prone to manufacturer defects, which can't be tested for and which these days show up ever increasingly?

I drive a 17 year old car - there are no more surprises here, everything's happened at one point or another and everyone knows about it.

With a new car, it's difficult to avoid surprises - no matter what the reputation of the manufacturer may be. I will say that I owned an 86 Celica, which proved to be rock solid apart from two mechanical issues, over a period of 3 years - and I didn't treat it great either.

On the other hand, the warranty should cover defects - but again companies are increasinly stringent with what flies and what doesn't when you claim something.

In any case, the point of this thread is to see if anyone had problems, and if not then it's all good

 

The xB is the US version (more or less) of the Toyota bB which has been around in Japan since '01 i think. That being said, there shouldn't be much of any major defects. If there will be any, they will be miniscule problems (radio/mp3 issues and stuff like that)
just my $0.02

 

i highly doubt that the roof will bend under "spirited" driving. if you ever see an xB without the headliner in, you will notice there are seven cross members in the roof. i would think that would prevent it from twisting.

just my $.02

 

well 19" rims themselves might bend or dent from curbs/pot holes, but the car itself?

Not likely. The chassis might flex a little, but it shouldn't bend out of shape permanently.

 

Would FBSS have anything to do with structural integrity???! :D

 

Well, lets set this straight... the xB is an urban cruiser... not a sports car. Yet, we can change out suspension hardware to improve the handling of the vehicle. Still, in its stock form, no way will the doors bend or roof cave. I drove my car stock for 15k+ miles over the mean streets of I80 & I880. I think your friend is either very-misinformed or just straight lying. In either case, no asses here!

 

Oh yeah- I just took a sharp turn on the freeway on-ramp this morning, and my xB turned into a banana shape.

Luckily there was an offramp coming up- so I took another fast turn, and the car flexed back to normal.

Also- if you look at a panel too hard it'll bend. So you'll have to walk around to the other side and look, so it will bend back the other way.

 

every car has some chassis flex, but it won't bend or anything. . .

 

Actually, '99.

If you want to make sure that your car doesn't bent like mine did, be sure to buy the Hotchkis Strut Tower Bar from the dealer. Let me say this again, from the Dealer. That will be the only insurance you will have against it bending when you take a 80mph turn at 130mph.

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My opinion is that it's less likely to bend a brick than it is to bend a rod. I could see chassis flex / frame flex in a '71 fleetwood @900hp running twisties... but our wheelbase is kinda short, our hp is kinda lacking, and last I saw, xB's were missing from the Rally line up.

Although on another note, has anyone Autocrossed their box? I'm too lazy to do a search.

 

yeah, these cars don't suffer from extreme problems of chassis flex, and bending is absolutely out of the question. . .

However the xB is no S2000. No car is without any chassis flex. . . although some have very very little. If the chassis had zero flex, you wouldn't last very long. . . cracking, snapping, and all together dangerous car. . . as it would be stiff, but any sudden jolt and the thing would snap. Karbon Kevlar has tons of flex, but good luck getting a bullet through it. The xB, and for that fact any car under 25k, isn't built of the best racing materials, and most new cars use extensive amounts of aluminum, if not 100% aluminum. As in any car, it may signficantly improve handling to use suspension braces, like strut bars and the like to stiffen up key areas that see a lot of stress. Even race car chassis are not flex proof, that's why they have tons and tons of braces and tie bars. But nowadays cars are over-engineered. I don't see the xB having problems of structural integrity from extreme driving. However, as in any car manufactured, upgrades will definitely improve upon an already well designed car.