adorable

I'll post and update as I go.

Just bought my self a new Xa from Power Toyota & Scion in Irvine, California.

1) Called them up, was told by the nice salesman that Mark isn't working there anymore!?! (Is this true?!? Some guys there still thought he was, one guy said he left a few days ago.)

2) From entering the dealer salesfloor and greeting the salesman to signing the papers took just under 1 hour.

Add a few more minutes waiting outside while the boy took out their Karz alarm (opted out), and for the post-sales boy to come by and ask "You need me to show you the car?" (opted out; how difficult can it be to figure out a car like the Xa? or any Toyota? Note: Not so with a Mercedes C-class - you really need to read the 300+pg manual to figure out some of the details.)

Total time of about 1:15-1:20 to walk out with a Xa. Note: this was Xmas eve with just about nobody there buying a car, so they definitely had time to kill.

3) Pretty darn nice overall. Sales wasn't pushy since I knew exactly what I wanted, and the finance guy pretty much laid out the optional stuff, but didnt' push for you to buy them. Pretty much just pick whatever options you want (if any) and sign.

Beats my first experience buying a car - fought for 3 hours to get them down $3000 on a little Nissan Sentra, and boy, was the finance guy there suprised when he saw how much I got my first car for! (on the other hand, you really have to be a fighter to go the traditional route.)

4) Pretty nice car overall. I've test driving the Toyota Camry, Corolla, Rav4, Honda Civic, Mazda 3, Chevy Aveo, and sat and tried a few more in my search for a car that got me the <10 miles to work, was gas efficient, had at least 4 stars out of 5 in crash tests, drove easily, was decently quite, stable, and basically was a bargin for the price.

Low-down?

Aveo - better overall than a 93' Sentra for base model suspension, noise, and general interior space, but nothing amazing. A decent town car if you're short on cash and just want something decent. Nothing bad about it really except having to gun the engine to pass, but nothing yucky about it ala Hyundai's of years past. It's a solid buy for the $10k, has lots and lots of headroom, drives easily, and all of the controls work well. Noisier than the others (but quieter than a several gen. old 93 Sentra), so depending on what kind of car you're coming from, it may actually be a nice upgrade. Few cars are decent at the $10k price, and this is one of them. Would not be sad having one as a college student or on a tight budget since it has ample room inside for passengers, and the feel is generally 'light and airy'.

Corolla - way too cheap for the fabrics, mushy ride and seats, not very reassuring at speed, but otherwise, did the job okay. Nice styling on the S models.
Camry - big, quiet, cushy, so-so fabrics, otherwise a long-distance commuter and a bargain if you wanted something for $17k for the long LA freeway commutes.
Rav4 - think xA's prior, larger recincarnation. Similar feel, but larger all around. Drives well, so it's a nice compact car that's a SUV. My top pick of these three alternatives.

Civic - Think crisp basic black suit. It's the car that does everything well at a basic level. Nice little touches like the cute auto shifter, the lighted ignition (on the EX model), the blue & red dials are all nice touches on an otherwise plain and simple car. Makes it feel like a touch above the rest of the compacts out there and not so boring.
But, this year's revision gets rid of the classy chrome front and back (probably going cheap because of a new 2006 model to come out), so it looks less classy outside.
Drives well, but has a unusually high brake pedal pressure -- no other car I've tested requires such a high brake pressure, and even though it is 'normal', it's still higher than even a 1995 era Civic (which I've also driven). Very fatiguing in long commutes and the biggest minus against buying one.
The other minus? They got rid of the front wishbone suspension, and I'll tell you, even on the freeways here with a little wind blowing, this baby floats and wanders around the lanes like nothing was tying it down!!! It is far more likely to float and wander than the 1995 era Civics. Now the 1995 eras were like glue! Tied to the freeway even with cheap tires, very stable at speed (not even an earthquake could unglue them from where you'd pointed them), and very reassuring. The latest generation? Weak and floaty.
Very good visibility all around, so the best of the bunch here on this point.

Mazda 3 - Think 1995 era Civic but on a higher platform with a bigger engine. Zoomy like the say it is, does everything on a "very good" rating, but in the end, the exterior styling and colors just didn't work for me. Handling is very good, stability is very good, etc, but really nothing stood out as 'excellent' for me, so that's why this expensive yet very good compact didn't make it on my final list.
Also, the silly custom audio dash = how do you drop in your custom DVD/navi unit?!? (you'd have to get a custom faceplate and wiring done...) Big negative on most Mazdas since they go zoomy (ie. tuner market), but don't make it easy to upgrade as a standard double-DIN.
Have to be gentle with the accellerator pedel if you're used to mashing a econobox -- you might just zoom a bit too fast backing up or doing slow maneuvers. Otherwise, very good pedal feel.
Overall, the car to buy instead of the Civic if you have a local dealer that's nice (since Mazda dealers aren't so numerous even here in So.Cal) due to the performance, nicer interior, etc. Just expect to buy extra repair insurace and put some money away since Mazda's aren't as reliable as Civics/Toyotas. (oddly, insurance is lower than a Civic or Corolla).
Plus here? Only compact that gives you the Xenon HID option.
Biggest MINUS?!? Low 4/3 star front/side impact crash ratings (Corolla/Civic gets your 5/4 front/side), so for a car so new, it's a pretty sad sight.
(Trust me - you'll want at least 4 stars all around in an accident if not better!! I've been in enough!)
Japanese crash tests also show that rescue personnel would not be able to open the doors with one hand after a side-impact, so that reflects the USA tests of 3 stars side impact.

Here, the Corolla does the best for front impacts with very minimal dash intrusion based on USA tests. The Civic does a bit better in side impacts, so you'll have to pick a trade off. (see www.safercar.gov for the ratings) Both, however, are very good and as safe as you'll find in any compact made today.

The smaller xA does a good 4 stars all around, so not bad, not superb. Hey, it's smaller and lighter than most compacts, so what do you expect?

Anyways, the xA matched the Civic/Corolla in general quietness at speed, stability, driving ease, directional stability, general suspension feel, etc, and while it's not zoomy like a Mazda 3, heck, that's why we tune our xA's with the savings, right? (or maybe a turbo first to get this econobox to move!)

5) Decent engine and transmission for LA traffic. It won't out-zoom a Mazda 3 (w/o adding a turbo to the xA), but it definitely is easy to get up to speed, into traffic, on the freeway, and so forth. An easy commuter to push up to 80mph w/o any problems at all, and it has the umph to get there w/o having to mash the pedals. You won't be getting there much faster in a Civic or Corolla, and you won't feel like you're in a out-powered Geo Metro.

Auto is smooth and no jerkiness at all.

6) Decently quiet. Can't beat it in a Civic or Corolla, and even the Mazda 3 sounds just about the same (and a touch louder when pressed). Not anything like the older generation of compact cars (which were noisier). Opening the engine compartment reveals the usual lot of sound deadening stuff - liner under the hood, engine has a cover, firewall insulation - stuff you usually don't see in most econoboxes.

7) Decent tires. Nobody will sell you 'great' tires for a compact, but on mine, got Bridgestone RE92's that roll well (ie. decentely quiet), handle decently (no significant wandering problems; no skinny tire feel), and overall, do the job well for what comes with a car. Regular drivers won't have to worry much about going out and swapping out tires right away (those that drive fast, well, maybe work on turbo'ing the baby first -- it sure as heck won't go anywhere near =fast= stock).
Sadly, for me, they're only T rated, so nowhere near the Z rated I had on my totaled Sentra (now that was FUN! nothing like zipping through a fast & tight left turn w/o worry! Poor baby - totaled in a poor accident =( Then again, nothing like 10,000 mile tread lifes!)

Silly rear side seatbelt holder clips when folding the rear seats down. Toyota recommends you latch the belts to these clips to keep them out of the way when folding the seats, but really! Couldn't those designers have come up with a way to get around this?!?

9) Only one rear cup holder!?! Okay, understand the Japanese almost never drink & drive, but in the land of the Big Gulp, two, please? Also, while the front and back cup holders are all positioned so tall bottles and cups won't bonk into anything, they're only standard cup sized (not Big Gulps =( ). Then again, I've only seen Big Gulp sized holders in a few of the very largest US SUVs, so oh well.....

10) No underseat storage trays ala Japanese model. They took that out.
No HID. They took that out.
No auto climate control. They took that out.
A few nice touches got taken out when they designed the xA for the USA market, so it stinks they still send us 'stripped' cars instead of the nice Japanese models that have all of the goodies.

At least the space under the seats w/o the pull out trays = room for amps.

11) Silly middle rear seat headrest & seatbelt. I'd just toss out the baby entirely and just make it a 4 person car, IMO. Awkward design having two belt latches, and why they even bothered....?
Anyways, so-so rear headrests. They do block quite a bit of the rear view, so think 1/2 the width of the rear view mirror is what you'll really get for backing up. They should have gone with donut-hole headrests, foldable headrests, or just rethought the whole thing because backing up, you'll only see two headrests blocking your corners looking back.
best bet here? Raise them up all the way so your passengers get full protection, and you can just barely peek under them to see what you've just ran over =O <grin>
(here, too bad we don't get the LCD rear view & front side monitor cameras ala Honda Legend in Japan! Then again, we don't get the heads-up infrared nightvision of the Legend anyways, so.....)

12) Silly map pockets on the door - way too slim to fit a hand in to reach anything that has dropped to the bottom, and you may just get stuck. They should have made them fatter and easier to get stuff in and out of them. Cubby area under the glove compartment isn't all that useful either, so you can only put a few small things there - lipstick? Compartments are limited center, mostly taken up by a useless ashtray (who smokes in California? <grin>) so putting a bunch of stuff in the car is limited vs. other cars. You basically get one middle slot, the cupholders, and maybe the glove compartment if you empty that. No place for coins on the dash, glasses above, etc. -- they should have thought about adding a roof sunglass holder bringing the ist to USA.

(No, nobody but nobody wears sunglasses in public in Tokyo! Just got back and they just don't. Must think those that do still are gangsters very strongly!)

Mostly, the lack of space is due to them not leaving in the underseat storage trays from the Japanese model.

13) Easy to fold down seats - not complex like a RAV4 where you have to yank out the rear seats to get flat storage space back there. But, not totally flat and too short for most of us to sleep back there w/o some extra blankets to cushion the back against the plastic bag hooks, and to bridge the gap between the flat deck and the front seats (which don't fold down 100% flat to make it truely useful as a camper). curl up and cuddle is the best you'll get. Still, not bad for a car that is shorter than the Tercel (the 1996 era).

14) Nice storage area cover. It retracts easily, can be taken out completely to fit in a big item w/o tools, and does the job well. so even if you dont' have the space anymore to put in several big luggage bags w/o folding down the rear seats, at least you can take a few small bags in the rear. (from the land of the super-small fridges, Japan, where everyone tends to buy fresh food on a daily basis -- instead of weekly ala USA)

15) WoWa! This baby rides high! I'm almost eye level with other SUV and truck drivers, and it's really odd for a compact car. Still, stability isn't a big issue being up so high, so no bouncing around ala some squishy light duty truck. The view is reassuring, so at least that's a plus. Easy entry w/o sitting way down ala sports cars is nice, but the high front dash = you'd better be at least 5'4"+ to get a comfy view out front -- otherwise, it'll be like sitting in a tub low (else bring cushions to boost you up a bit)., and you'll have a fun time trying to see what's close in front of the hood when parking.

16) Crisp controls all around. Generally good feel for all of the controls, so no problems here. Audio volume on the default deck should have been a dial, but otherwise, the mute button & MP3 makes up for that loss. Standard Toyota layout, so you'll get used to them fast and they'll generally last years before problems occur.

17) AC/interior Air filter?!? Really! Reading the manual, says it has two of them behind the glove compartment (darn it! that's a tough one to unlatch out). Have to work on getting the glove box out tommorrow, but that's a nice touch - reduces the pollen and dust getting into the car, and that's nice! (most new compacts like the Civic and Corolla now have them, but some cars still don't - think Aveo & Mazda 3 perhaps; most older gen compacts didn't have them except the luxury models ala BMW 3)
Too bad no carbon/gases filter ala BMW/Mercedes to get rid of the exhaust fumes we breath in LA....

1 Single direction air vents. You can only move them up and down, can't rotate them (else I'm not trying hard enough), so that's it. One of those styling things to look cool (ala RAV 4 vents), but otherwise, they could have just dropped in something more flexible in terms of air venting. (eg you can't make one vent vent just a little bit of air and face it upwards while having the other vents vent a lot of air ala traditional designed air vents with seperate direction and airflow controls)

19) Interior dome lighting - nice, bright enough to see everything clearly, two - one front, one back. You can read maps and books easily with them, and they work well. 5-second delayed shutoff timer upon entry/exit is a nice plus, too.

20) Jacking. Okay, few will every need to bother, but hand jacking this baby is limited in terms of the points on the car you can use. Read the manual carefully else you'l break something. (not like those old K-type's where you can pretty much just find any ol' solid spot and up you go; then again, those were the days of solid metal bumpers)

21) Wacky (sometimes) engine compartment tubing, wiring, routing. I've never seen a tube go 360 degrees just to connect to the something in the engine bay, but in the xA, there it is right up top and center (towards the back). Haven't had time to figure out what it is, but the rubber tube comes right out of the firewall, does a 360, then goes into the engine. A few wires aren't as well protected as they ought to be IMO (eg. a few wires are just that - thin bunch of wires going into whatever w/o exterior boot, tape, or protection). Definitely need to work on that for wetter/colder/messier climates. That said, don't think that bouncing through water puddles the size of pools won't hurt this car - something's bound to splash right up there and maybe short the wires on the way down. This bay just isn't laid out as nice and straight as I'd want, but guess that had a reason for all that -- crash safety? space? cheap?

22) No interior rear hatch release. Hope you don't get locked in there on the way into the ocean/ditch/river. They usually have some sort of trunk release on most cars nowadays, and while the rear hatch isn't really a trunk, not having one means going camper in the xA at night = having to go out the side doors and opening the rear. Not fun if it's wet/cold/drowning/whatever, but then again, it's a car on a budget.

23) Rooftop antenna. I've got issues with these. They do look cool on some cars, but I'd much rather have a built-in window antenna so I don't go bumping the antenna into just about every low building/tree/bridge/parking lot/whatever. It's so pointless, too given how well window antennas work nowadays!

24) Foldable outside mirrors. Nice touch on a econobox, but where am I going to find a parking space that small in L.A.?!? The xA is already so small, it makes parking spaces look like open fields. (yet another leftover from Japan - super tiny side roads and parking spaces)

25) Decent paint. Unless you get a hand wet sanded Honda Legend (the latest just out in Japan) or whatever exotic, forget about having pefectly smooth, flat paint with no bumps at all. The xA has the usual decent compact car paint, which means decently smooth from normal viewing angles, the usual visible bumps and undulations from side angles up close, but otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary. Pretty good overall.

26) Paint that side-sill! Wish they'd paint it ala the latest Japanese model so we dont't have to worry about that long strip of plastic looking ugly in a few years. Just hate it when they try to save money by not painting stuff that should. Rather have everything painted white to match the car.

27) Nice seats! Good back support. Nice, firm (Civic like) cushions. Can probably do 2 hour commutes easily in this baby (haven't tried) just guessing by the feel alone. Nothing yucky ala Corollas, and they feel good from day one. Easy to adjust and nice one-piece continous bar up front to adjust it front and back (those who wonder, the 93 Sentra had a lever on one side in the front of the seat, and that always got caught up in something on the way out -- pants, straps, etc.! so annoying!)

2 Annoying spare tire cover lock *****. One turns clockwise, the other counterclockwise to unlock!?! Oh, please!!!! Standardize and have them both turn the same way!!!!! (and while they're at it, make sure the USA model unlocks counterclockwise like bottles in the USA instead of clockwise like bottles in Japan)

The ***** are pointless, and they might as well have none of them like most cars so you can get to the spare w/o having to lock/unlock the cover -- just lifting it open would be the best design.

29) Only having the rear hatch pull down on the right side for shorter people. Hey, some people carry kids in their right arms, so how about having that on both sides? Oh, well, cheap car = one side is what you get. Works well however as it is.

30) Rear hatch doesn't pop open with the unlocking of the hatch ala a trunk. Wish they would change that so you don't have to do a two-step to open the hatch. No point really!

31) Cheap looking ignition key switch. Of all of the parts in this car that looks dirt-cheap, this is it (if not the side-sills). Should have spiffied it up with a lighted one and used metal that isn't so cheap looking ala a Civic, IMO. The metal alone is some mottled looking thing, so not very nice looking vs. the rest of the car.

32) Short visors. Expect lots of sun in your eyes commuting. Wish they extended the SUV/Hatch thinking on this design a bit further and put in extending visors ala real SUVs. Just too short to block sun from the sides when it gets down low.

33) Interesting rear wheel well tubing/cabling/wiring. Haven't ever seen a rear wheel well like this one with so many tubes exposed, but we'll see if accidentally going over tree branches/etc. causes problems. I can just see something getting wrapped around the rear tires just ripping one of those tubes and there goes the trip.....
Limited space means they've got no choice to help protect all of that, but still.....

34) White - nice color. Have seen the red, silver, dark gray, dark blues zipping around So.Cal, but I still like the white xAs the most. At least they have a color I like (hard to say about some other cars) for the design & body styling. Silvers look old and dated too easily the moment they're barely dirty; red - good color if you like the $18k premium to buy the RS; dark gray and blue - too blah for me and I'd want someone to spot me before they run into such a small car.

35) Gas. 12 gal. tank is good on the MPG, but nice to have are the low-tank warning lights. Some compacts don't have it, and the warning's nice to have in an econobox.

36) Battery. Nice standard size (unlike the small 95 Civic's), with the visual indicator for charge level. (Yeah, not entirely accurate, but a decent guage I like on my batteries.) Most Toyota's come with these indicator batteries, so that's a nice touch.

37) Plastic oil dipstick?!? Oh, please get real! Metal one, please! I'm just waiting to see when this baby breaks/melts/etc. Funny, esp. when the transmisison is metal - why do they even bother?

3 Center dials. Still annoying. Not bothersome, but wish it were in front of me like other cars. Maybe a design thing to keep the wiring cheap and simple, but annoying because I have to look away from the traffic in front of me to check the gas/speed/etc., and while the 'talked about' reduced time you need for eyeballs to adjust to the distance may be good scientifically, it's worrisome when you're commuting L.A. rush hour hell. You're always looking at them towards the lane two to the right from you, instead of dead ahead, and that = crashing in suddent stops if you're not careful.

(Like gee, talking on the cell phone, adjusting the sound, kneeing the wheel, and looking sideways is already enough on top of watching out for the sudden stops! Please, back to front of the driver! That way, we can at least keep our eyes looking forward where we need to! while eating/cell phoning/etc. at the same time! <grin> <yes, multitasking happens> <yes, you know you can drive LA freeways when you can do all the above and knee drive at the same time> <yes, those girls driving shift & pulling on panty hose with one leg on the dash with both hands on the hose do take my breath away! scarry & awesome at the same time - I couldn't pull that off w/o crashing!>)

At least they could have done the backlighting & design better. The not-white when it should be pure white guage is annoying. Like they went cheap and didn't bother to find some real white lights or something. At least make them cool if ya can't put them in front of the driver where they belong!!!! (Figher pilots have everything dead in front of them for a very good reason!)

39) Way bigger inside than it should be!

Simple said, it feels way bigger inside than it should feel. Very nice design whatever Toyota did, and it feels like a bigger miniSUV than a compact. Reassuring even next to SUVs & trucks on the freeway, and that' s a good sign.

(looks tiny from the rear seeing other xAs on the freeway however, so it's still a tiny tot among monsters on LA freeways - bet if they designed it in the USA, it would have been 25% bigger)

40) Still dreamy to own. Okay, only have it one day, but it's still a car I want to take out for a spin past midnight. Not many cars get me to explore the world in that way, and that's a nice sign. It's like a good dog that's waiting for you to go out and bark down something together, and not like other cars where you just go oh,whatever, I'll just stay at home. (Corolla would be my pick here - way too mushy for the seats and suspension!)

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Well, off to think about car alarms and which security systems allow for keyless entries and aren't so easily disabled.....

eugovector

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. As you do upgrades such as keyless entry (maybe get a popper for that rear hatch), please keep us informed. Thanks again.

Guest

Very nice and detailed review of the xA :D You spotted most of the standards rants and raves about the xA which is pretty impressive itself.

Then again, I also own a polar white xA and love it to bits 8D

adorable

Spent the morning Sunday thinking about whether I'd want to drive around being a big advertisment for Power car dealers or not, and figured Not since they seem a bit "corporate" to me. (Odd, but it's true. They've gotten perhaps a bit too big in So. Cal. for my tastes, esp. in a car that's supposed to be 'unique'.)

Anyways, at least the Power dealers have a nice logo designer - white letters on black with a can't miss yellow logo. It can be spotted miles away, esp. on a white xA, so me being me, off they came - front & back.

Now what to do?...... two frames with their logo (gotta go for sure), two plastic ad sheets.

At least the backs of the two sheets are pure white plastic, so an idea came about -- black permenant marker neatly hides any show through from the back side of both sheets, then a little super glue to stick them face to face to give them a bit more thickness and strength (w/o those license frames), and back to the computer to download some of the "ist" logos from Toyota Japan.

Print the "ist" logo nice and big on a plain piece of paper, then a nice sharp Leatherman quickly cuts out the paper from the letters. Some tape to hold the stencil in place on the 'new' blank white plastic sheets glued together earlier, another black permenant marker to paint the "ist" in, then another pass with strong, clear 3M packing tape over the lettering with the paper stencil in place to provide winter/wet weather protection (you never know how permenant those markers are in a rainstorm - figure the last thing I need is a black, streaked bumper this upcoming wet & rainy week).

Finally, another pass with the Leatherman to knife out the letters one-by-one that have been taped over, remove the paper stencil carefully, and voila! Very nice handmade "ist" license plate.

Way nicer looking that the Power logo, and very clean on a white xA rear!

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Baby is still feeling very nice after a few days. Thinking it over, this really is a 100% Made In Japan toy and the build is really good vs. the other compacts not made in Japan, and it just feels solid & tight. Can't believe they're still selling these so cheap! (esp. when the 1.5l models are going for a bit more in Japan... then again, we don't get their 1.3L HID model either....) Guess Toyota is testing the market and seeing just what little monsters sell over here (looking at one of the latest "Driver" Japanese car magazine issues for all year models made in Japan, there's quite a lot of these mini's! Must be well over 50 such models from all brands and they come in all super-small sizes and shapes.)

The latest from Suzuki with built-in external temp monitor, auto temp control and so forth is making me drool a bit, but hopefully, Toyota will smarten up and fully load the next gen of babies to hit the market after the xA-Tc lineup. (I just hate stripped Japanese model cars when they land in the USA. -- eg. even the Honda Legend (the Acura RL in the USA) is missing the infrared nightvision headsup display, the front sides and rear cameras, and a whole lot more.) Heck, even the missing under-seat slide-out storage trays on the xA ticks me a bit - like they don't have to go THAT cheap on pricing of the xA in the USA!

Still, biggest drool goes to the TRD turbo package -- sigh..... we =need= a stock 200+hp xA <grin> =) on these LA freeways!

(well, actually, never during the rush hours daytime; mostly for those 2am sprints down the 405 at 120+. ahm, km that is, right? <grin> wonder what those caltrans drones watching the freeway cameras are thinking at night?>

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Anyways, off to find some seat covers and plastic sheeting. Definitely will need some sheeting to fend off the water inside when the rains come this week, and definitely don't want the water to soak through the rear seatbacks if/when they're folded down for use.

=)

Ashe_WCM

I dont get what the plastic Sheeting is for.

jct

pictures must have pictures

adorable

The plastic sheeting (cheap, buy it at any Home Depot for <$4 for 9'x12' roll) goes on top of the trunk + rear seat back (when folded down) to protect the carpet from water/dirt/grime/etc. when you're loading in stuff into the xA.

Stuff like Bikes, anything from the Beach, new 30" LCD display boxes, etc. all have some sort of dirt/grime/water/etc. on them, and the last thing most people want is to have the whole rear area grimy after lots of use.

The smart thing to do is to unroll plastic sheeting on top of that (esp. on rainy days), then put your items on top. You can also buy absorbent painters clothes (plastic film + absorbent cotten/towel layer) for a little more (~$9 at Home depot) that will also absorb excess water/snow/etc. instead of allowing that to roll off the edge when you're removing the sheeting later on. (good for areas with lots of rain/water/etc. and/or dogs/cats that might just take a leak on the ride over somewhere).

Anyways, the 9'x12' roll is about the size of a small compact umbrella and fits right around the spare tire area to keep it out of your way.

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Was transporting a 30" Powerspec LCD from Microcenter today (nice $999 after rebate until end of month; too bad it wasn't mine =( ) and the box fits with about 2" of clearance vertically. You could fit two panels side by side into the rear easily, and it's nice to know what's the largest LCD HDTV I can carry home someday. Happily, even 30" LCD monitors weigh less than 40lbs, so it was easy to squeeze the entire panel in. The xA's roof is nicely designed to you don't have anything lower than the rear opening.

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Wondering what's up with the speakers? Found the Power Irvine guys didn't set the correct car setting in the audio deck, but even then, it's hard to get a nice sound from this deck. Maybe time to break in the speakers for awhile and see what happens then....

Just a bit too tinsy sounding -- weird and maybe the SSP/equalization settings on this deck is just trying too hard for its own good?

Anyways, we'll see....

The deck either pops/crackles/skips a lot over scratched discs, or it doesn't like as many MP3 encodings as my Philips portable MP3 player. Quite a few discs play fine in the portable, but just pop and crackle in the stock xA deck. Then again, the Philips portable is one of the better portable MP3 CD players in that it really takes a lot to make it not read a scratched track.

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Very interesting ride setup. Having driven the last gen. of Tercel's Toyota released for the USA, it's interesting to see what happens to a mono-beam rear when there really isn't any rear to support -- basically, the front end is stable, the rear is the one that seems to bump about over bumps in the road.

Too bad they didn't have space for the double-wishbone setup of the 95' gen Civics - the xA is feeling a bit 'loose' now that I've driven it more. Normal striaght line is decent, but any bumps do get to you now and then for no reason at all -- here, the Civic was more of a dream - mostly solid as a rocket on rails, and whatever bumps got through felt like nothing to worry about at all. Here, xA seems to dither between telling your butt "Hey, this is an important bump" vs. "Hey, just bad suspension".

Suspension is interesting. A normal turn, and the xA just winds into the turn like any regular car. A quick turn and the opposite side just squats down all of a sudden like they decided to give a few more inches because they're being pushed a bit to fast. Not at all like the Civic, which rides very flat all around with curves being lots of fun to dive into. Guess the combo of suspension and height in the xA is just doing squishy things.

Anyways, maybe a few inches lower and new springs would help? Have to save up a few months for that, and the rear wheelwell is definitely looking exposed with all of that height.

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Arghh! Just had to read tirerack.com's Bridgestone RE92 customer reviews on the stock tires! Oh, terrible ratings and people really, really beg you to avoid these babies or have fun skidding! Hasn't rained yet, but we'll see how they perform on the stock xA. May just have to drop in some Kumho ECSTA's or something (the 712's were lots of fun on my totalled Sentra! =)

RE92 - A Sad tire - only dry traction got a 6.9 and every other score below 6.4 (out of 10).

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....l=Potenza+RE92

anyways, having driven some more, a good slice of road noise is definitely coming from the rolling noise on these tires (6.3 noise rating), so just about anything else would probably make it a lot quieter.

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White just gets dirty =fast= in So.Cal. Barely had it out a few hours and already there's a layer of black smog dust on the baby. =( Looks like weekly car washes....

Black interior also gets dirty fast, and non-black debris is already showing up all over up front. Lots of vaccuming as well it seems... (Still, it's a nice black, so can't beat the look of black & white on the xA, IMO.)

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Good thing I had a plastic storage bin in back (Target, Walmart - any $5 cheapie with lid). Burger King odor just goes right through their bags, and w/o the bin, the whole car would have smelled yucky like a burger in minutes coming back from lunch. Bin was good enough to seal all that in, but looks like another thing to wash out every week. (or less burgers - healthier....) Lack of a trunk can be annoying at times - smells from food-to-go goes through the entire car w/o a bin, and well, there really isn't a trunk! (a few bags of groceries fill the back up completely)

A few inches more back there would have been nice.

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Rear vision for backing up is still like being in a minivan/SUV - poor for the size. Should be as clear and easy as the latest gen. of Honda Civics, but instead, you've got massive pillars and headrests all around. You really do have to look all around backing up, esp. with a 30" LCD panel behind you, due to the many blind spots.

Interesting - front pillar is really wide for the small car. Don't know what Toyota's structural design idea is behind that, but it's more SUV/Minivan wide rather than compact. Haven't had a problem with the placement thus far, so at least that's a good sign.

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Needs some metal around those keyholes. You really have to target the key spot on or you'll scratch the paint around it, and no metal around the keyhole means you can't miss.

Rear trunk lock is typical made-in-Japan backwards - turn counter-clockwise to open instead of clockwise here. A bit annoying having to remember the door locks turn the opposite way of the rear lock.

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Air filter does a decent job at filtering at dust so far; forget about smog however, it just goes right through.

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Brakes are nice. Not so hard like a current gen Civic (way too hard to press!); not too soft. Just enough to go from light tap = light braking to moderate tap = braking quickly.

Steering is a bit on the lighter side, but okay for commuting (where lighter is nicer). Not so light you feel like it'll wander all over, but could use a touch more feedback.

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xA does have decent pickup up to about 50 mph in motion. Gets up to speed pretty quick (for a compact) and feels perfectly fine in city driving. No Geo Metro slug-slow here. One of the few automatics where I've seen that goes to 6000 rpm+ when pressed moderately hard, and I wonder how much higher it'll go flat down? (Haven't tried yet, still in the breaking-in period.)

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Hee, hee! Parked next to a BMW Z3 today, and the xA looks a touch bigger (not really, but height helps - actually, xA is still a few inches shorter 154 vs 15. Nice to know it's not the smallest car around (by appearances).

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Wierd. Did everyone in my neighboorhood just pickup a Scion? Seem to be spotting two or three everyday now, and none a few months before. Spotted two white xAs already, and single tC & xB in two days. Maybe they're just cloning at night like in the commercials....?!

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Oh, dear! They didn't light up all of the interior dash controls at night! Nothing for the guage brightness or mirrors; nothing for most of the door window/lock controls. You'd think they'd put in a few extra $1 lights on a $13k car just so we'd be happier, but then again.... (heck, even my <$12k 93 Sentra had everything lit up)

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Have learned to ignore the center spedo. Totally useless except when trying to stay under speed passing through those evil photo cam intersections (nice then, fine dial lets you eyeball the speed down to 1-2 mph easily), and it's better just to keep pedal to metal the rest of the time and go by feel for current speed. Still don't know what they're trying to hype here -- better to have the spedo front and center.

Both dials would have been better if white/red on black ala the tach, but only if they made the needles more visible. Just too thin and small to see what they're doing with a quick side glance. (2005 Honda Civic EX's have got it just bout right)

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Air vents are another note today. Turned up the heater and noticed they're not the same distance - sides vs. centers. Sadly, this means one right hand warms up faster than the left hand on cold days with the vents aimed at them, so another looks-interesting-but-fails-in-real-life design element of the xA. They probably had to push the outer vents back to serve double-duty as window defrosters since they didn't drop in two vents on both sides (winodw + regular) to try and save on costs.

Guess you never notice these things until you get into a 'stylish-looking' car like the Scions -- all of the other 'regular ol' cars all have smartly designed air vents the same distance from you. (can't think of any other car I've tested where they're not either right now...)

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Regular/Medium sized drink fits into the cupholders up front, but just a little more wider and they won't. Don't know if a Large/Super from McDonald's will fit yet, but that's one easy part Toyota could have easily swapped in for USA xA's. Taller sides, too! Haven't had a cup tip and spill, but it's not so tall as to be 100% reassuring it won't ever happen in a powerslide.

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Wow! The xA's either sell quick, or they make just enough to keep up with all of the demand here in the States. Noticed my xA was made 11/04 and bought it just a month later, 12/04. Good sign - not a baby that's been sitting in the lot and test driven dozens of times over several months, but fresh off the lot as can be. Just about right -- just enough weeks to sea ship, clear the docks and be delivered to the dealership.

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Still, despite the nit-picks (which I'm good at), car is still decent for the price, and the styling (main reason instead of buying a Civic for most looking at cars I'd say). Hatch is already useful, and I'm already looking forward to the summery days to return to hit the beach!

=)

jontul

In the '05 models, Scion has changed the rear seat headrests. They are now about 1/2 the height of those in the '04s.

adorable

Thank goodness they changed the rear seat headrest height in the '05s because it's still tought to back up while checking the blind spots. It's really odd -- a car smaller than a Tercel, but harder to backup (almost like you're in a SUV or big truck). But getting used to having to crank that head all around to make sure nothing's being run over -- sure wish it had a backup camera & LCD display....

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Audio system is still being broken in, but still get some CDs that play fine; others that sound like there's nothing you can adjust to make it sound sweet. Maybe that SSP is just trying too hard? At least Jessica Simpson's Xmas CD plays decent as does the soundtrack to the movie "2046". System seems to like classical/band music more, so maybe that's just a reflection of the listeners in Japan who are the target market for the ist? (Mom's; city commuters; guys who act just like the dummies in the ist commercials)

Gwen's latest, Love Music Angel Baby, also rocks pretty nicely for whatever reason -- you can literally hear all of the background vocals and effects clearly (same with the 2046 soundtrack), so at least I know something in this setup can spew it all out without muddling the finer aspects of the songs too much.

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Office Depot bag continues to do good duty in keeping the gunk from the rains out of the car on the front floormat. Easy to pickup the four corners after a rainy day out to take it inside the house for a quick rinse off, then hang dry for use the next day. Really, really been rainy here in L.A., so lots of gunk washes away that would have otherwise gotten in my new car =)

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Yep, no trunk space. Went grocery shopping and a small load (didn't even fully fill a shopping cart!) doesn't even fit in the back w/o the rear seats down. Definitely not the car for a big family or mouths to feed -- just not enough space to really load this baby down with lots of groceries, nick-naks, shopping and hauling for a family, etc. -- unless you think ahead and plan your storage space well.

At least the rear seat folds down easily from the back. No auto retract for the headrests however, so you got to make sure the front passenger seat is set foward enough that the rear headrests don't catch on the back of the front seat and prevent it from folding all the way down/up to do this. You still get decent legroom up front if you've set the front seat right, so it's not annoying.

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Baby xA needs more compliant suspension - the littlest jiggles and ruts in the roads and freeways make the entire car bump hard (gets a bit annoying after awhile sometimes in rutty areas -- you feel like you're getting knocked about). Still putting in the miles to see if/when it'll soften up a bit more. (And we're talking about pretty minor road irregularities - the stuff that any 95' gen civic or latest gen Camry would soak up w/o anything disturbing the passengers at all.)

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Braking and pedal feel remains very good. Brakes require very little travel to come to a regular stop, and a very easily modulated. Very easy driving for the city and stop & go traffic, and just right. A bit more and the braking kicks in a bit more progressively, and lets you confidently stop in moderately faster braking (like when traffic decides to rush hour stop for no reason.) Still feels secure and you still feel like you've got ample braking power to go.

Accelerator is about the same, but requires a bit more travel -- still very good feel and you can easily adjust the speed gently. The car is setup to Go in city speeds with a moderate touch, so never any problems keeping up with traffic or merging in daily driving. At least they put in an auto that knows what's important for city driving.
Still, we're not talking Mustang here, so don't expect the 20-50mph to pass all 'that' quickly in comparison -- it's compact car fast, not street racer fast.

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xA does get eyeballs - got a modified blue Integra pacing the baby out by Irvine heading out to dinner -- too bad my xA isn't one of those funny car setups (push a button, flame flies out the rear, pops a wheelie, and I hit 60 in less than 3, so my xA says) - that would have been fun to do!....

"Hey, since when does the xA go off dreaming big thoughts on it's own?!?"

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Bigger than a MINI! =)

Thank goodness I'm not in one of those! Headroom kills, and it's just way too small next to the 'huge' xA on my way past one. xA wins here for sure! Still, where's the movie credits ala "The Italian Job"...?

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About 140 miles for the first 5 gallons of gas. Sometimes running it with the AC on, sometimes just zipping it through the lanes fast. A lot of city driving and short trips. Wonder what the car's real Cd value really is?

Still, it's not bad, and the wind noise rarely intrudes below 60mph. Mirror noise starts to enter past that as does over all noise, but remains nice up to the 80-85mph range (you can still talk w/o raising your voice too much at that speed). Overall, a nice city street cruiser - quiet at the usual 20-50mph range, and nicely insulated from noise for the short trips out.

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Spedo reads about 3500 rpm on auto at 80 mph. A bit high, so you'll hear the engine work. Does about 2100 at 50ish, so definitely geared to be a city cruiser, not a super-fast freeway speeder. But the engine still has enough pull to get you across lanes and past traffic up to that speed, so the auto tranny & engine are nicely mated.

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Windshield wipers on both ends work fine and quietly for stock wipers. No bad rubbing, scraping, or other wiper noises on glass, even on the highest speeds. The front wipers clear off a good, wide path so you retain most of your front view just fine; the rear smartly gives you a decent opening angled towards the rear passenger side to let you see what's behind you.

Wowa!

Three front spray nozzles for each of the two sprayers up front! It's like gee! Three?!? Let me try that again! At least they cover the front area just perfectly, so you don't get any dry spots or over coverage. The rear is somewhat so-so, just a stream out back, nothing fancy.

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Seats are decent, but a touch less supportive and easy to adjust to as the ones in a 95' Civic IMO. The latter has better lumbar support, firmer cushions, and just instantly feels better forming than the xAs, which require some adjustment after a few dozen minutes of driving. It's either a touch too soft, or a touch too close/far from the steering wheel, or the seat back is a touch too straight/laid back, etc. Pretty good overall, and I'm still adjusting, but it seems like the notches they have in the xA seats are a bit widely spaced (ie. doesn't allow for as fine adjustments as I'd want) and/or notched just in between where I'd like them.

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Whew! You'll never lose the xA in a parking lot outside of a Scion meet! Easiest thing to find it coming out of a store - good thing I didn't buy a Civic/Corolla!

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Headlights are very nice - very even, wide coverage up front with no real hot spots of note, and high beams are just brighter and better at night on side streets. Those big reflectors up front do a great job.

jontul

Of course, when I park my little baby in the Target parking lot, a couple of Monster SUVs inevitably end up on either side and I end up wandering around looking for my ride for awhile. We need our own area in the lot for "reasonably-sized" vehicles.

boilerman

I parked my xA in the lot of the local Dollar store recently. There were four or five sedans in the same row and the xA was taller than all of them. I need to put a small banner on the top of the radio antenna for ID when around taller vehicles.

adorable

Pic of my xA sunning out this weekend on the beach.
(Hey, I only take 1/2 a parking space! Do I get 1/2 off to park?)

Two more at:
http://www.silverace.com/ist/

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Black interior is nice, but gets dusty eventually. Also, seems like touching anything and rubbing with the hands to get the dust off only results in white smears across the plastic dash and other surfaces.

Solution?

Grab-It static cleaning dry wipes! Baby sucks up dust like a dust magnet and leaves the car clean and factory fresh in seconds. Recommended!

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Hmmm, just noticed the side sills already have black plastic ones there - did I remember them from before?

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White picks up dirt fast - one week out and it's already needing a full wash, but with more rain coming up, oh, well, might as well wait.

(Or go over to that car wash on Magnolia & Warner next to Starbucks and Sportmart in Westminster, CA and have them wash it the day before it rains - they'll rewash the next day free.)

=)

2tone_xB

Nice pic of the xA. I wanna visit Cali.

gobblez

Lots of great information. I never would have thought of most of those things, but understand the points you make clearly.

adorable

Holy Cow!!!!

Here I was thinking about how to pull the rear view mirror off the windshield and remount it, and then I look up at it again on my way to the dry cleaners and guess what?!?

The rear view mirror is mounted on a fully articulating, height-adjustable arm!?!

Holy Cow!!!

This is very rare on modern cars - most can't be adjusted height-wise at all - and suprised me with open eyes! Goodness, this really is a "Made in Japan / ie. overdesigned/thought-out" car!

That said, I retract my earlier note on how the rear view mirror always gets in the way of one's eyes looking towards the right out the front windshield. On the xA, if you're short or tall, you can move the entire rear view mirror up or down to your eye level.

Gee, this car is really nice.........

adorable

Two ticks on the gas guage = 70 miles driven after my first fillup. Don't know exactly how many mpg that equals, but that's going to be about 350 miles from F to E if mileage keeps up.

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Vents are can be aimed any which way - up/down & sideways, but like noted before, no way to cut the amount of air coming out of them individually while directing them somewhere (only the main air vent speed dial). As a result, cold days = warm right hand (closer to that side's vent), and cold left hand (farther away). Sigh.....

The amount of pressure required to tilt the vents up/down is a lot higher than to swivel them around to point somewhere sideways or at an angle, and I wish they required a lower pressure to do this -- almost a fingertip touch should be enough. They're not the easiest things to grip well and position accurately with thick gloves on, and without, still hard to nudge them around w/o making big changes while driving.

moaiD

the extreme aircon vents can be closed fully right??

it takes awhile to get them moving left right up down smoothly bro... after a few adjustments... it will be easy to rotate 'em... just stick a finger in the vents and move them around....

adorable

The air vents can be closed by rotating them all the way to their sides. But, they can't be modulated when open -- ie. you can't adjust the amount of air coming out of each one independently of the others ala most other cars with dual direction + flow controls.

This is a BIG drawback for me -- I'm always having my right hand too hot; my left hand too cold in the mornings with the heater on and the air on my hands from both nearby vents. It would have been best to have dual direction + flow adjustments on the vents - that way, I could compensate for the different distance they are from me.

Anyways, sad but true - look like that's been totally fixed in the new Vitz model Toyota is releasing in Japan in Feb 2005 -- vents with flow controls.

I just bought a Japanese car magazine that goes over all of the details of the new Vitz in and out, and this is a straight-on replacement for the Ist as far as I can tell by specs and all -- it's practically identical outside in width/height/length/weight, and they really did make quite a few improvements I'd love to have had in my Ist -- remote wireless walk-up to unlock the car control, push-button F1-like starter, Sharp IonCluster air cleaner, automatic climate control system, steering wheel mounted controls, more useful cubby holes (eg. door cup holders, cell phone holder, etc.)

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Finally figured out what that almost useless slot under the glove compartment is really for in the xA! -- the picture of the Vitz has the same -- it's for the umbrella everyone has in rainy Japan. Duh! I was wondering just what could Toyota possibly have thought would fit such an awkward, slim slot.....not a map, not a CD, not coins w/o sliding all over, not pens (too dangerous in an accident), etc.

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Windows -- found out in this rainy season that for whatever reason, the outside airflow past the side windows really don't clear them of rain at all unlike other cars. The drops just sit there w/o moving, and even rolling down the windows don't help much -- for whatever reason again, they used some felt lined window seal that doesn't clear the windows of rain either. Anyways, that's very annoying vs. my old Sentra, and makes it a pain to see right on very rainy days.

Rear window clears off quick with the wiper, but looks like all of the water spray kicked off by the rear tires and whatever goes over the top flies right onto the rear window pretty quick. The usual problem of vortex being built up behind a hatchback.

Anyways, whenever I get a dry day, looks like every window will get a new coating of Rain-X ASAP!! (The stuff really does work -- water just rolls right off.) Here, the outer mirrors need them as well -- again, rain just doesn't roll off them as well as on my old Sentra, and forget rear view vision out the sides on rainy days -- this car needs more wiping off than I'd expect for something straight out of rainy Japan.

Well, it's either that or the windows off the Lexus LS430 -- they've got special silica (as I recall) coatings that repel water just like Rain-X, but w/o the hassle of application.

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So far, the car has stayed pretty solid so far in the rain -- no scary wipeouts yet, so at least the stock (previously noted on Tirerack.com as being a 'AVOID' model) Bridgestone RE92's work decently in day-to-day driving on this car. They certain don't push water out like better tires, but as long as you slow down, you'll be fine. The feedback from the steering wheel on hydroplaning is decent -- you get a feel as it starts to go so you'll know to slow down a bit.

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Why they designed it with a SUV-look (ala interview with the Ist designer on Toyota Japan's website), but didn't give it any more ground clearance is beyond me -- esp. for SUV-ville Los Angeles. The ~5" of clearance they've got on the xA just isn't enough to clear some of the flooded streets here, and that recent video of a Jeep going straight through a flooded street to pickup his girlfriend and return on the news just made be wish I had a Hummer. (Ahhhhh, 16" of ground clearance and 30" of water depth clearance!)

Oh, well --- crazy Japanese -- they make the outsides look like something, but often fake the insides for practicality (like who's ever going to need 16" of ground clearance the designers ask themselves....).

Then again, what's the point w/o a V6 or a 200+HP/200+ftlbs engine? It'll never be the SUV on ground clearance alone.... (they've got the 4wd tranny in Japan already)

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Here, at least it's designed about the right height to slide you're butt into the seat w/o having to squat down much at all -- this is a nice change from my low Sentra or even lower Civic. Don't have to worry about bumping my head on the sill so much =)

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Argh! Another problem with the almost vertical side glass/doors -- open them and the entire inside gets wet in seconds from the falling rain. They should have made it more curved on top ala my old Sentra (where the doors went up to where the rubber seal is on the roof of most cars on both sides; actually most sedans have this design -- look at them and they're sort of a ( or ) shape.). This keeps out the rain when you've got the doors open, and is totally workable.

At least the rear stays perfectly dry -- the big hatch opens up like an awing and keeps the entire rear spot free on a rainy day.

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Hmmm, wonder what's the click? Start the car, start driving, and usually as it speeds up past 5-10 mph, there's something that seems to click in the front. Never repeats itself after it's done, but maybe that's just a rock in the tire? Seems like something's activating.....

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Guess they didn't apply the 'all controls will have even lighting brightness' Toyota applied to their top of the line LS430 to the Ist -- some controls are a little darker (AUTO window down) vs. the others at night.

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Gas cap and door design is interesting. On my ol' Sentra, it had a gas cap holder in the door so you didn't have to worry about it falling, swinging or bumping into you during fillups. Here, Toyota designed the Ist with a plastic band that prevents the cap from falling to the ground (which will eventually break or scratch the paint), but no cap holder in the door itself.

sigh.... you'd think they'd spend a few more dollars so it would be as nice as a ~Sentra?!?~ of generations old (93' model), but guess not. Personally would have prefered that vs. the plastic band, but suppose it costs more to make a metal holder attached to the gas door.

At least fill up is easy -- spout goes right in, docks easily, and lets you do the auto-fillup/popup thing w/o having to hold the nozzle in place (unlike some cars that are just fussy).

Not a lot of gas goes in - about 8 1/2 gallons with about 1-2 ticks to go, so just like my old Sentra - tiny tank.

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Gas milage continues to be so-so -- looking at about 150 miles at the 1/2 mark, so that's less than 30mpg given the almost 12 gal. total tank size (probably marked so you've got 10-11 gal. F to E, with a gallon or two spare).

How they got 31/38 is beyond me..... (and I'm not even racing the car -- just easy day-to-day driving).

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Door handles are nice - big, smooth, enough room to fit with gloves one, and just about the right height. Nice touch on a small car. (Hate the boring ones where you have to roll your fingers under the flap to pull and open -- these pull-to-open bar handles are much nicer. A plus is emergency crew will have something to pull on in an accident.) Maybe next gen. we'll see the Vitz's auto-unlock when approached car security system?

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Car's got a decent amount of insulation -- even on cold days, it's not that cold once in the car (my Sentra was freezing). And it heats up decently fast as well, so heated seats and steering wheel isn't needed in moderate climates like LA (hah, hah). A block of driving and it's usually getting too hot with the dial on RED hot and the vent on the 1st or 2nd speed (nowhere near the fastest).

Vent fan is only noisy in the 3rd and 4th fastest positions -- when will these car designers ever design a fan and vent system that is QUIET at max?!?

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The COLD engine light (Blue) always comes on in the mornings, and it's the oddest thing to see in a car. Like so-what? The manuals mentions it, but says nothing about what to do when the light is on.

Certainly wish they'd explain what, if anything, it's really for (besides telling you the engine is cold; and yes, I already know, maybe the oil needs time to warm up and circulate).

I can understand when they've got a cold engine warning on a BMW M3 or something exotic, but a ~100 HP engine?

Let me tell you, my Sentra's engine ran fine for 150,000+ miles over 11 years w/o worrying about a cold engine at all. So unless they dropped in the most fragile engine on the planet into the Ist, Toyota, please, get rid of the silly thing (or let us know what we =should= do when it's on every morning).

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still wish the dials were right in front of me instead of in the center of the dash. still wish both were white/red on black instead of the gray on white + red on black the dials are now (at least they partially fixed this on the Vitz - going back to white on black).

Never understood why they'd think having such a bright light right in your side vision at night (unless you turn down the console brightness) is such a good thing?

Car makers should be banned from making 'costmetic' silliness after they've found the optimal -- here, plain red or white on black is the best. And keep it simple ala my Sentra's dials. A quick glance at those at any speed or time was instantly readable -- unlike those on my xA. Sigh..... (and no super fine divisions either -- like anyone cares in L.A. if they're going 66 or 67 mph! Hello? Try 80 or 100mph <grin> And even then, the cops don't care until you're well over 80mph around here.... everyone's already blasting past on the 405 daily at 75-80mph to being with).

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Door handle finger slot on the inside is just big enough to drop a credit card parking pass into for storage. Keeps it handy, doesn't have any chance of dropping out, and works. Better than flipping that center console up and down all day, or using up that awkward lower open slot. (What we need here is the flip out box console they've got as an accessory for the Japanese market Ist to replace everything from the ash tray down in the center console; or just a nice open, rectangular DIN slot).

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Rear wiper doesn't have intermittent mode, nor tied into the front wipers. Sigh.... sometimes, the rain just doesn't fall fast here, and it can squeek on the only setting it has with an almost dry rear window on a light drizzle.

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Ride is not affected much by carrying two other people. It pretty much drives and rides the same to me, so that's a good sign the engine isn't too underpowered for the chassis or that the supension is too soft.

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Strange -wide as this year's Civic, but it's harder to reach back there to the rear seats to grab stuff than I remember in my old Sentra (93). Seats are really close and the space in between really doesn't let you reach much back there from the front. Wonder where all that width went?

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Rear armrests. Still wondering about these as well -- why they made them so much smaller than the front ones?!? Like who's got arms that thin? (yeah, the Japanese, but who else?) Maybe they figure only kids would be back there? Still, wondering why they did that since you really can't rest an arm on them -- they just roll right off these slender rests.

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still tough to back up due to the headrests, big rear pillars, etc. Here, the new Vitz will have fixed a bunch -- they made the rear door dividing pillar much smaller than on the Ist, and restyled everything back from there to 'hopefully' allow better rear vision.

At least it doesn't have a high trunk lid ala most compacts nowadays -- that's just bad -- the slim rear view back on most compacts is just crazy vs. the nice and clear view back I had in my Sentra. Oh, well - guess none of the car designers cares about running into a short kid or whatever's back there....just having bigger trunk space to report to the specs. dept. so they can say in their advertising they've got more trunk space than the competitors. (Even though the latest short lid, tall trunk opening compact cars are less useful than the older cars with long lids and shorter heights -- here, you can't fit many items through the tiny 'slot' they've got now as trunk openings.)

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Plastic side sills -- argh!!! Spot like crazy after rainy days, and why they didn't spend the paint and money to paint them is beyond me.

Things like this make me wonder who's in charge of design. Like on the Sentra I had, the water channels on the roof were completely shielded from the sun by the upper part of the doors that wrapped right up and over them. On most other compacts (eg. ist, Civic, etc.), they're just two rubber strips that run front-to-back on the roof, and like anyone who's had them knows, they're among the first pieces to deteriorate and fall apart in the sun (ie. looking quite ugly as well).

One less thing to worry about is a better design. Would have loved to see them redesign it ala the Sentra's covered water channels.

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Plus - the door window motors are smart. Once all the way up or down, they don't continue to operate ala older cars like my Civic. Smart!

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Wipers are nice up front. They pretty much clear everything off the windshield except a patch in the upper right looking out. That's decent coverage and they leave a big area dry, leaving you with a nice view out front.

Strange but true -- the wipers are the noisiest thing on the car up to about 60mph -- past that, wind/tire noise matches. Car must be pretty slick -- maybe it's in the same range as the 0.30 Cd they reported for the new Vitz? At least you know it's not a NOISY car ala older generation compacts.

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70mph is about 3000rpm for this car.

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No lock on the glove compartment =( No interior light in it either =(

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adorable

Raining cats, dogs, and sheep today, and the streets are often flooded here.

Took the xA out for a pizza run -- basically, forget anything faster than 40mph with the rains pouring as heavy as they are today -- the tires just don't have any more grip -- good time to think about Aquatread replacements if you're driving in rainy states -- and you'll definitely lose grip if you try to go any faster through the flooded right lanes.

The side windows are even worse today w/o any Rain-X on them, and it can turn nearly impossible to see anything not lighted out the side windows when the rain's coming down so hard the wipers in front can't even clear it fast enough on the fastest speed. That said, the rear wiper is now a touch too slow with rains this heavy -- another reason Toyota should have tied it into the front wiper speeds.

Anyways, rear stays suprisingly dry with the hatch open, so it's really, really good coverage as long as the rain doesn't start blowing sideways.

Too bad Rain-X needs a dry windshield to be applied - haven't had a dry day in days here...

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Tip for good pizza - Gina'a Pizza. They've got a few spots open in Orange County, and the House Special Pizza with House Salad is always a great combo. Keep you warm on a cold day.

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Tip 2: If you don't want the xA to smell like Pizza, grab a medium (10 gal) or regular (13 gal) white trash can bag before you go out, wrap the pizza box in it before sticking it in your car, and roll the top over a few times to keep the steam inside. You'll arrive home w/o having the entire car smell like a Pizza shop the next day. Good for rainy days, too - otherwise, that pizza box will become drenched, and so goes the pizza. (It's really wet today!)

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Brakes remain super-easy to modulate even in these conditions, and you know just how much grip is left in those tires as the braking distance gets longer under the same pressure you'd normally apply. Good feedback, works well.

Parking brake holds well to a light accelerator push - the rear of the car bounces a small bit in complaint while holding still, and you get it right away - to release the parking brake.

joshtravis

Have you ever been diagnosed as having obsessive compulsive disorder?

Make your car smell good... Put your cologne in the glove box and leave it there. When you get in the car to go to work, give yourself a squirt and one for the back seat.

My wife loves the smell of my car.