I've had my xB for about 5K miles. I love the way it looks, love the interior, and have really enjoyed the car but have recently found myself in some dangerous situations that have made me think twice about the car.

I bought the car a few months ago in a DC area dealership. It was fine there because I did either a lot of city driving or was stuck in traffic whenever I was on the highway. We recently moved to Dallas, TX where my commute has changed to all interstate driving and a much longer drive to work (28 miles).

The weaknesses of the car are really exposed in constant highway driving and it's just not suited. At least 3-4 times, I've had to pull on the shoulder because I simply cannot merge with traffic when I'm packing 108 hp and competing with Dodge Ram's and Suburban's. If I want to change lanes, I have to carefully look in the oncoming lane to see how quickly the next car is gaining. if he's coming along at 70-80+ mph, forget it! You just have to wait for another window.

I had the recall done on the A/C and it still is subpar. It's adequate right now but will not be in June, July, and August in the Texas heat. One thing that first started to getting me thinking about the car is when the repair was being done, they gave me a Corollla loaner car. Wow, what a huge difference in performance! I'm puzzled.....the Corolla has much more zip and gets better fuel economy than the xB. If only it were a little larger inside....I'd get one of those.

I know the shape of the xB is unique but with that little 1.6L engine, the fuel economy just isn't accepable to me. Yeah, you can get in the low to mid-30's in mpg but only if you drive it with a light foot. I've gotten as little as 27-28mpg in the car and as high as 39 mpg on interstate driving. The difference is that I was driving 75mph for the low end and 55-65 mpg for the high end.

Jemo

 

Yeah, it's definitely not a race car.. 9 times out of 10, it can't get out of its own way, let alone someone else's. So I feel you on that part. Luckily I only have mine to promote a business, it'll be driven but nothing much is expected out of it. It does need more power though, when you have no good aerodynamics to a box shaped car, making it 2400lbs with 108 crank hp is not the smartest thing to do. I've been driving mine with a lightfoot, very light, and so far after two fill ups I have only seen about 26mpg, not too impressive. I'll be keeping mine but I'll agree, they are not going to make everyone happy.

 

Got to agree with both of you. The xb lacks power, and the ac may or may not work well depending on who you talk to. THe only time I calculated mpg was on way home from Lake Havasu (180 miles from phx), wife drove about 80 whole way, got 28mpg. Pretty good IMO given that it hung around 3500rpm pretty much all the way home.

Others will argue that you have got to cut some corners for a $14k vehicle. (you know, the whole "cognitive dissonance" thing)

Either way, best of luck

 

people people any car that can get anywhere near 30mpg is awesome. phizer. people just want the whole world. champagne taste on a beer budget

 

Not bad-mouthing it, just saying, they could have done better. Hell, a mustang GT can get around 30mpg on the highway lol. a 3700lb V8. But yeah, the mpg doesn't concern me nearly as much as the power that it lacks.

The Echo is around 400lbs lighter than the xB, using the same 1.5L 108hp engine. That's adequate for 2000lbs, but not 2400. Maybe they will step up and add a larger displacement engine for whatever replaces the xB.

I, for one, will be attempting a nice swap, to put me in the 180hp range, before the turbo. :-)

 

Glad to see that I'm not the only one feeling this way. It's not that I have a champagne tastes on a beer budget. I can think of a handful of cars that are priced the same or lower that have more power and as good or better fuel economy. Civic, Sentra, Aerio, and Corolla. As Chris said, even the Mustang gets fairly good mileage on the highway. Heck, the new Accord V6 has 240 hp and gets 30+mpg on the highway. Yes, it is $5-$6K more but it shows that the technology is there to have plenty of power with decent mileage.

My wife just replies with, "I told you so" because this was the only issue when I was looking at the car. She skeptically said, "are you SURE that you're going to be happy with the power?" It was perfectly fine on the East Coast but just doesn't work well for me and my commute.

 

I am not sure where you are finding a mustang gt that gets 30mpg, mine got 15-21 on a good and also you can buy two xb's for the price of one mustang gt so we are comparing apples to oranges.

I also owned a geo tracker and a nissan sentra and all had about the same performance and were around the same price hence the ';economy' portion of the car.. A corolla does have more zip to it but it also is about 5k more with all the options the xb has or atleast thats what I saw when I was at the dealer last week.

 

Out of the above posts, how many have manual transmissions? I find that in my manual, I'm at 60+ before I shift out of 3rd. I have to be careful when I'm "playing" 'cause I'll be doing 90 before I realize it. My car seems to have about the same preformace in a straight line as my '99 Miata.... Try driving a stick and shift above 3000 RPM, there is a little bit of power there... Just an opinion... :?

 

I dont know about you guys, but I have had NO TROUBLE at all merging with traffic.. I do have a manual and it is peppier than the auto, I think. Never once have I had trouble merging, passing traffic, or getting up a hill.. I too will be going 85 and not even know it..

 

i agree. i drive on new york city highways everyday and i dont have much of a problem. sure if i wanna pass someone thats already doin 50-60 or even 70 ill downshift to 3rd if i have to but i can get the box to move

 

Same here

 

Jemo, I think it's interesting that you took the time to post your complaints about the car.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say smart people buy cars based on their needs. If they drive almost exclusively in urban settings, they will buy small cars with small engines that get good gas mileage. If they drive principally on the highway or at high speeds, they will tend to buy cars with bigger engines and more hp.

The problem is not with the xB. The problem is that your needs have changed, and the xB is no longer suited to fulfill those needs. There are very few automobiles that can serve every single person's needs, and even fewer that can do so affordably.

If I had to drive on the highway every day at 90mph, I wouldn't buy a Ford Festiva. And if I did, I wouldn't act surprised or angry when it couldn't handle the job.

The language of your post implies a desire to convince people not to buy the Scion xB, not because it has some kind of inherent design flaw, but simply because it is no longer the right car for YOU. Instead of posting all of your complaints about a car that never promised to do what you now require of it, just trade it in and get something that can handle the expectations you now have. End of story.

 

Nice post Louisville327!

I think some of it is the car, the region, and perception. I have a manual trans and mine feels fine most of the time. I can tell when the air is good or bad for performance. I don't have any problems merging or keeping up with traffic. I still get 34 MPG based on individual fill-ups. Some days it feels sluggish and some days it feels like it's ready to roar but I think it does well considering the cost and what it was designed to do. 6th gear would be nice and a few extra horsepower.

There are many here that complain that it can't make HP but it is in there somewhere. There are racers that are using 1800 CC Honda engines making 1000 HP and stock 1000 CC motorcycles making 180 HP. We are in the middle so the HP can be made it just depends on the cost.

 

Just drop the Celica GTS engine in it... 180hp.

 

If it was that easy, alot of people would have done it already .

 

Good post, but one thing I had to comment on:

I had two Ford Festivas, one a five speed, the other a auto. Both 1992 models. And the both had zip on the highway. In fact, when I drove around the Beltway, in D.C., I never had a problem. Great cars, with great mileage. I drove them both over 150,000 miles. So, not a bad car.

Back to the xB. I would agree, you can't always get the best of both worlds when it comes to cars, you know, speed and mileage.
But I don't have a problem with the xB merging or driving on 95 here in SOUTH FLORIDA, and I get 35 to 40 MPG around town all the time.
I have a five speed, with stock rim wheel size (not stock rims, mind you, but lighter 15 inch ENKEI RPOJ-2 rims) ...My A/C had the upgrade, and I really don't feel much of a change, however, I had tinted the windows (front windshield as well as doors) before the upgrade. It's not as cool as my Beetle, that is for sure....But it cools well.

Sounds to me, that if the car does not suit you now, then you need to change the suit.

 

The only time I really feel a lack of power is starting from a stop light. So ironically this car is porbably not so great in the urban setting!

Once the car is rolling I have no trouble keeping up with traffic (mine is stick shift). You need to work the engine and work the shifter- that's what they are there for

 

hmmm.... i swerved in, out, and around traffic on my road trips to New Orleans and Miami..... I have an (engine/wheel stock) automatic, and I was hauling ___ all around the M3's and Mustangs in my way

I don't have any complaints

 

I was just using an example of a car with a small engine. No hate intended!

I guess I could have cited anything similar, like my brother's old Geo Metro. That thing could barely stay at 70mph, so I guess it would have been a better example.

My bad.

 

No hate received! I just was defending my old cars...They got no love during their all to brief run with the Ford company.

That's all! :D