Hi all,
My wife and I are the new owners of a tC {for her} and I've been thinking about an xB for myself in the not-too-far-future.

I've never had a chance to drive one, and when I do I won't be able to test it under the conditions I'm curious about. Here's my question for xB owners...

If I were to get a xB, it would be an automatic transmission car with few if any mods. If you put four adults in a car like this, how's the driveability on the highway? The car I'm driving now, you can load it up like that and set the cruise control... on the interstate the speed remains constant almost regardless of the grade. I'm sure the tC would do even better but I couldn't cram these four people into that car all at once. I wouldn't even ask my inlaws to try to get in the back, and I'm 6'-3"...

I'm not out there to race anyone but my biggest beef with my S-10 pickup has been lack of driveability on the highway {it has a low output 2.2L 4cyl}. Having to kick it down out of OD just to maintain a decent speed on grades is annoying.

Other than my question about the engine I think the xB would be close to perfect for me... plenty of utility to replace both my pickup and my four-door sedan, environmentally responsible in terms of gas mileage {and my wallet!}, and really cheap for what you get. I figure with snow tires it won't be too bad to drive in the winter either.

Just curious what your experiences are?

edit- thanks for the replies so far. Truthfully I won't be "loaded down" with passengers often at all, once in a great while really. I don't know what constitutes a "fatty" but I'd guess our average weight would be about 180 lbs or so, with me being heaviest at 200-ish.

 

well here it is from my end if u are loading nothing but phattys in the car then u are askign for OVD 90% of the time to get here going pased 80 but all and all it is like any othere car and if not phattys are being driven around then u should have no truble. Rimember thought are qt little xb only has a 4 banger with 108 hp so it up to u. and why can u test drive it how u want just go with 3 friends to the dealership and take one for a test drive and see for your self how it dose.

 

That was my first car in highschool! ;) Its a pain w/ an MTX too, as I'd have to downshift to 4th to get it up hills on the highway up to Austin. The trick was keeping it right at 80mph where the RPMs were high enough in 5th. What is the Cd on a xB?

 

I have a 5spd so unfortunately I will not be of help. However, I cannot imagine a car on cruise actually slowing down. It should downshift happily when it needs to. My old Previa was notorious about this, shifting to 2nd all of a sudden when going up a hill on cruise. I don't have cruise, since Cruise + 5spd = ???

Other than that, I have zero problems putting up a speed and sticking to it, and it's shockingly smooth at 80mph (my old car had really really easy steering and it was scary at high speed, you could throw yourself off the highway if you twitched). Mind you this is in a stick, but I can't imagine it getting harder to drive once you get an auto. Be prepared to stomp the gas on the auto if you need go. I discovered in my test drive that you really have to step on it for the electronics to do what you want.

Hey, I just tonight hauled three of my friends around. I could have fit another in, but he wouldn't have been happy. No highways, but you could tell there was a lot more weight shifting around. The car seemed to take it fine. No worse than when I used to fill every seat of my Previa.. I'd say if you have three other big adults in there and some gear and you're driving on the highway, you take it kind of slow. You do that with any heavily loaded vehicle though.

 

I have a 2004 Automatic XB and love it. There are a few grades where I drive and I do not have to take OD off to go up them. I can maintain 75+ MPH no problem. However, my XB is not fully loaded with passengers either. All in all, I am very happy with my XBs performance.

 

I have a manual transmission xB and drive on the highway for most of he 7500 miles I currently have on the car...the engine is small but I find that I have no problems keeping up or passing on the freeway whatsoever. I don't need to blow by people - the car gets me where I need to go comfortably.

While my xB was in the shop recently I drove an automatic xA for a few days and I definitely found that acceleration and general engine performance was better with my xB, even though the car is bigger, heavier and boxier - just because with the manual you can control the shiftpoints...with the auto xA, the gearing in 1st is really long and the engine is really put to work (and loud) when you accelerate, but that does tone down when cruising above 50-60mph.

I would suspect that if you're looking at packing people in you're not going to be all that happy with the performance of the 108hp (or whatever it is) engine in the xB though, especially with an automatic.

 

Another thing to remember is that the auto transmission used in the xB has a feature called "grade logic", here is a quote from the Scion website:

"When equipped with an automatic transmission, this advanced powertrain includes grade logic, which controls shift logic when traveling uphill or downhill. Upshifts can be inhibited when lifting the throttle for a curve; thus keeping the engine rpm in the peak torque band and providing a smoother ascent. Similar logic applies during downhill driving to provide more engine braking by not upshifting needlessly."

It seems to work well because I get few (if any complaints) from customers here in Phoenix that live (or drive) north of us in the mountainous areas like Flagstaff .

 

i haven't quite figured out what some people who have replied are saying (english?).. but
I had the same concerns... the auto xB is fine... you won't be gunning it past any cars though. Keeping up with the flow of traffic will not be a problem... even weighed down (actually it feels more stable sometimes) but it will probably effect your fuel mileage.

But passing and accelerating to highway speeds is another matter. And in NY once above 60 or so... you'll definately feel crosswinds or headwinds (when its windy). The crosswind effect is great enough to remind you to keep a firm grip on the wheel (but not really that dangerous).

If you are going to constantly weigh down the xB .. (4 heavy ppl) ... get some power mods... the intake should be the first thing... and helps out a lot especially under load. Look into getting the Injen short ram or the AEM CAI... (there are others out there, but those are the two most well known on this board). After that is exhaust, then headers... Other stuff to look into is ground wires (if not DIY go with ground fusion), the perrin lightweight pulley, and i guess the weapon-R engine damper (though I think I might try covert an ebay one).

With just the AEM CAI, I pretty much drive at 70 without really noticing... and the engine sounds much better. The ground wires help a little bit... but they mainly help the electrical equipment function better.

All told you can easily get the car to where you want it with less than 500$..

oh also post up in the northeast forum... I'm pretty sure there's someone around westchester with a box there that can help you