Hi!
I'm (hopefully) about to buy my first xB. I've wanted one for years, but they are hard to find in Europe unfortunately.
Now, one is for sale close by - from 2005, automatic, with 200 000 miles.

It felt ok when driving it, but the engine sounded more "sporty"/louder than anticipated. I don't mind that at all, but it just felt a bit weird.

The big thing however, was the roughness of the idling. It felt like it was idling too high and the break pedal was vibrating a lot. Well, maybe not a lot, but definitely noticeable. The current owner said that he usually put the car into Neutral when idling for longer periods of time like when waiting at a red light. When I tried that, the vibrations were nearly gone so it seemed to work fine as a fix. But I can't imagine this being a "feature" but more of a fault, but I might be wrong.

Is this a common issue with xB's? If so, is it something that is easy to fix? Or maybe I shouldn't buy the car because of this issue?
Thanks a lot in advance.

 

Motor mounts need to be replaced. All three of them. If you're planning on keeping it for a long time, try to stick with original Toyota parts or OEM. Aftermarket mounts have some issues. Mine was exactly the same way, and I did the shift to N at red lights to stop the "shakes". I recently had all three replaced - it's completely fixed now.

The high idle, though, is something different. It might need a throttle body cleaning or some other maintenance done. Whatever it is, it's fixable and shouldn't deter you from buying it. Good luck!

 

The throttle body has an Idle Air bypass. This lets air into the engine when the throttle plate is closed and is controlled by the computer. I'm sure is has got carbon deposits in it that is throwing off the computer control. It needs to be taken out and cleaned thoroughly.
I also suspect ('cos I did this) that the idle screw has been turned up a bit to correct for the clogged bypass. This works for a short time, but doesn't solve the problem that keeps coming back.
So once you have the engine running right after the idle air valve is fixed, you can turn the idle screw back down.

In Europe, does your car have to pass an annual test (like the MOT in the UK). That might give a clue as to how rusty it is etc.