G'day all and sundry.

In Australia, the Scion xB, 2nd Gen was sold as the Toyota Rukus with the 2.4L 2AZ-FE motor. However it did not come in Manual.
I was wondering, Does it come in manual Right hand drive in Japan or any other country? Is it possible to convert to manual or is there some kind of design/structural problem that prevents it.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hey welcome aboard

Would love to tool around the states in a RHD! On the streets w/xB daily driver, i prefer the auto

When driving my track day ready Mitsu, l love the manual

 

It should be able to be done. Maybe not with Rumion parts since they came with smaller engines but have a look at the 3rd gen RAV4, 2005-12. They came with the same engine/transmission as the Rukus and were offered in the Australian market in a manual. It won't be cheap or easy conversion as you'll need to change the ECU but overall it should work.

 

Thanks Greg, I know the engine and gearbox are available in manual. I just don't know if they fit in the Rukus/xB. Further to that, if I wanted to be really silly, how about the full RAV4 all wheel drive system?

 

I think they should fit fine. After all the Rumion does have RHD manual models, albeit with a smaller motor, but I don't think there is much difference in size between the gear boxes.

As for doing the full RAV4 AWD system it has been done. Back is 2010 the US Marines did it for Scion's Battle of the Builds event. I don't recommend it. From talking with one of the original build members it was a lot of kludging stuff together to get it to work. If you really want to go AWD I think the best bet would be to import the back half, drive train, and rear suspension of the Rumion AWD from Japan. Similar to what the Mighty Car Mods guys did recently with their Mira.