I just picked up an xA 3 days ago. It's totally pimp. I have no regrets. F motor trend! gHost_AZ_XA is right, if you tint/wing/rimsify your xA it is simply awesome looking.

The xB is funky and cool, the tC is sporty lookin, and the xA is still a very nice lookin ride. What makes it even better is the awesome community out there for them. I've learned so much about my car just on this site alone.

 

My only concerns were, in order: Consumer Reports ratings, price, mileage, safety. If I get 33 MPG or better, and the car lasts 200k, I'm happy.

 

ya know you can always flood motor trend with "disapointment" emails...and state your disatisfaction with their article. I am a long time Toyota owner...and had to express my dissatisfaction with an artical here and there...i think i will be sending an email to the editor of MT on this one. They sould have an unbiased review of the cars...not...hay this one is new ...so...it hase to be better.

My 2cents

soon to be a 2006 XB owner
1974 toyota FJ40 OEM soft top w/435,000 miles original!

Ya can't beat a TOYOTA!

 

Nevermind all of that. Check page 16...top article.

I'm going to have a coronary.

 

Y'all I agre with matt ,mostly.I have found that mags like motor trend and consumer reports put the Scion Xa down mostly cuz;it does not open with a cost of 20 grand! I often go to new car dealerships and compare the Scion Xa with models of cars that r byond the price range range of the Scion Xa.In comparing the Honda Fit for example I found it lacking a few options that r standard in the Scions.Some choices that anyone has on the Scion Xa for example u will have to pay xtra on the Honda Fit.I have noticed that most cars r still not MP3 compatible for example ,the Honda Fit I was looking at only had a cassette player(give me a break,lol).I only got few xtra options on my Scion Xa that I think ought to b standard in this day and age but,nonetheless 5 air bags on it .The total cost for this option was $500.00 .On other cars I have noticed it is slightly higher even up to a $1000.00 for this option.I have even been bold enuff to compare my Scion Xa with car models that r supposed to b outside the limit and find a lot of these cars lacking.Consumer Reports ,out of all mags put the Caddillac STS car as a "best buy" for crying out loud.Let's just say the Scion Xa gets only 30mpg thats better than this?Anyway ,I think the main reason y they put down the Scion Xa is merely a fact of affluenza .It doesn't have a base price of at least 20 grand.

 

By the way, I saw an ad at the movies that had the xB and the xA instead of the tC. Seems like maybe they rotate the ads and leave one car out.

 

When I went to see the fast and the furious 3 they had an ad with all three of them...

 

You were not looking at a Fit if it had a cassette deck in it -- unless it was put in aftermarket. Both Canadian and US Fits in all grades only come with AM/FM/CD stereos, although the Sports are the only ones that are MP3/WMA/iPod compatible.

As for Motor Trend, they blow -- they can't even get their stats right. It's pretty agreed upon by most reviews that 5MT Fits do 0-60 in 8.3-8.7secs, with the autos doing about 10. If they can't even that right, how can anyone believe anything they say? xA is a good car and always has been, period.

 

I saw that magazine as well I just said Honda will do everything in its power to get those praises Why did they bring the honda jazz and turned it to honda fit for US. Because they saw that scion/toyota did very well with the compacts.

 

You can't blame Honda for making an excellent car. The Fit's been #1 in Japan for quite a while and hugely popular in other countries in addition, so the praise the Fit's getting seems only natural. It'll taper off eventually, just like it has with Scion.

The great thing that Scion/Toyota did was open the eyes of many Americans, and other companies as well, to the fact that reasonable, stylish, fun, excellent quality small cars are totally viable here. They may not be as hot as some larger cars, but for many people who want a good car at a fair price, they hit the spot. Now that Honda has a big hit w/ the Fit, it only means it'll push Scion and others to top it. That's great for everybody I think.

 

Scion may be pushed to improve in some of the areas where the Fit has the xA beat (cargo area and interior), but I'm afraid in doing so they will lose the area where the xA has the Fit beat and which is why I will buy an xA instead of the Fit (exterior styling).

I don't blame Honda for Motor Trend rating the Fit with 4 stars and the xA with 2 stars. I think that is ludicrous, but its not Honda's fault. I think they should probably both be rated with 3 stars. The Fit deserves 3 stars for being an incredibly practical car for a good price. The xA deserves 3 stars for being practical (but not quite so practical as the Fit) and looking like more than an economy car for a good price. Both cars should be very reliable. I think the Fit is having a couple of issues like paint peeling, but I would guess that is just the price people pay for buying early in the production cycle.

Both cars are excellent in many ways, but I don't know how anyone could argue that the Fit doesn't look like a minivan. Honda made the front look decent (at least on the Sport Model) with the headlamps, foglamps, and air intakes, but the side and back just completely look like a minivan.

I wish the Fit didn't look like a minivan. If it looked sort of sporty like the xA, I would be buying one.

 

One thing I've found that is a big point of the Fit is that its looks belie its capabilites -- it is waaay sportier than it looks and handles like a sports car. That's why it gets such rave reviews from the press and why it's popular in Japan as a budget racer. It's also why there is a huge aftermarket for it. As good as the xA is, you just won't find stuff like a header-back full titanium racing exhaust for it (J's Racing). I mean, right now T1R just dynoed a new carbon fiber intake for the Fit that added 11.8 whp/17.2 ft-lbs over stock with no other parts. That's just over 120hp total for about a $320 investment, and you still have headers, exhaust, etc. to go yet. With that kind of potential, you have to ask yourself -- do you want to look sporty, or do you want to be sporty?

 

To be honest, look sporty.

For me, I doubt I'll ever do any serious modifications beyond lowering springs and new wheels, so having more aftermarket parts for the Fit isn't a big deal for me. Both cars supposedly handle fairly well stock. I haven't seen any direct comparisons that indicate the Fit would be more of a "sports car" in stock form. They are both OK to 60 in manual transmission form and slow to 60 in automatic form. They both handle better than a typical economy car.

If your real desire is a sports car, I don't think starting with a 1.5 Liter engine would be the best place to start. I wouldn't buy either car with the intention of it ever really being fast or being a "sports car."

They are both reliable, practical, low-cost cars. If Honda had wanted, they could have given it a sportier look. It might have cost them a slight amount of interior volume to have given it a more sporty stance, but it still would have had alot of cargo room. Honda made their choice, but as much as I like the cargo room in the Fit, I can't get myself to buy a car that looks so much like a minivan. Both cars have alot of great attributes. If you can get over the styling of the Fit (or if you actually like it), then it is an excellent choice.

 

That's cool, it's a good honest answer. I plan on autox'ing/tracking my car regularly next year (just had a baby, so this year's out), so I'm more concerned with the performance than anything else. It'd be great to have an STI or the like, but they're twice the cost, which means they're not gonna happen here anytime soon. The Fit's strength is in the corners, which is all I care about anyway.