my district manager stopped by yesterday at the dealership to show his new demo. a classic silver auto xB with 16" alloys, spoiler, avn, headrest monitors, int lighting and more. he added everything he could to the car and judging by the vehicles window sticker he did.

when he stopped by he knew i wasn't interested in the accessories or how the car looked but how it drove on the freeway. so, after a little hesitation he handed me the keys and off we go. i made a left out to the dealrship thinking i would go to clairemont mesa blvd 163 south on ramp to balbao ave which would be less than a 1/2 mile of freeway time. so, i made a left to go to convoy to hit the 52 east freeway where i could drive the car for a good 9-11 miles both ways.

acceleration: as soon as i make the turn for the 52 onramp i gun the throttle w/o using the autoshift and the car shifted about 200 rpms shy of the redline and all i could say was whoa! i gunned it from a roll of 10mph and stopped at 70mph to get two lanes over before i hit 15 and 52 split up ahead. which was good because it allowed me to slow the car down to 60mph to merge because of faster traffic. when the traffic cleared i stepped on the throttle 2/3 in to see how it would do 60-80mph and this time i let a "yeah" out. the car gets up to speed really quick and by the time i looked at the digital speedo it read 85.

rpms the other test i wanted to see was rpms at 70mph which is the average crusing speed for most and when i slowed the car down it read 70mph@2500-2600rpms from where i was at. that's about 400-500rpms difference between an auto tC. the only other reasoning i could think at the time was the 16" wheels vs the 17" for the tC.

ride very smooth at freeway speeds and of course its due to the longer wheelbase and wider track. it transmited less vibration/harshness to the cabin because the occupants is farther away from the suspension and wheels/tires. i tested suspension compliance by going back and forth hitting our freeway pods and the suspension soaks it up without upseting the chassis. these are all signs of a really good car and if you see cars as much as i do or if you test drive a corolla, civic you will know what i mean right away. its the same when people compare the tC after driving the competition. the words they use is "solid", "expensive", "more substantial" compared to... . also, its a lot-lot queiter and i could tell based on our conversation decibel cruising and road noise.

handling we exited of santo rd to go to 52 west and any of you who live in san diego know the on ramp to 52 west from santo has a bit of high speed slalom and the B2 ate it up like the tC. the car is very stable during left to right transition and these were with the oem alloy wheels and tires. i can't imagine what a better set of tires or suspension mods or both would do. when we headed to the 163 south off ramp from 52 the crest is where i test cornering load. a stock tC will start to squeal at 85mph unfortunately i did not have enough kahunas to try it with the B2 especially it was mikes demo but i did get it up to 78mph without any tire squeal or any hints of undeersteer or oversteer. again, very stable at high speeds.

all i can say is what a car for the price and yes you're probably thinking of course you're going to say that you work for Scion or my all time fav, you're salesman. but when i do these reviews (1st to review trd spings) i look at it always from a buyers standpoint not the seller.

 

thanks for the input

 

Thanks for the nice review.

It sounds like xB2 is missing that "raw" part of xB1.

If I was to get Accord, Camry, Highlader or even CRV, I would get xB2, it is a good deal. I just wish that Toyota still offered us 1.5 liter, five door. Here in L.A, it is $3.45/Gallon today, ouchh. I do not understand why Scion bailed out this great niche that they themselve created.

 

Nice review. I like what I'm seeing except I wish the revs were lower. Someone else posted around 3 grand at 70 in another thread! That's too high. That's higher than my 89 Caravan with 3-speed auto which did 2800 at 70.

 

Thanks for the review, Rich.

I'm hoping your 25-2600@70 is correct, but using the published specs for the xB2, I get 2700 with OE wheels/tires. Hopefully we can sort that out over time.

What you experienced in your freeway run matches nicely with what I experienced in the low-speed runs at Backstage. Good feel to the chassis and drivetrain (hate the speedo...).

Tom

 

i read his review too but if you look at his 2nd post he talks about clutch travel on the 08 xB vs his 06. i can see the manual B2 rpms 300 higher than the autos.

 

Yeah, the manual is wound tighter at speed.

Checking the dealer booklet for the new xB2, I get the following:

Tire size: 205/55R16
Final drive ratio: 4.235M / 2.74A
Top gear ratio: 0.731M / 1.020A
and that means:
835 * 4.235 * 0.731 = 2585 RPM at 60 MPH manual
and
835 * 2.74 * 1.020 = 2334 RPM at 60 MPH automatic
(rev per mile) * (final ratio) * (top gear ratio) = (engine RPM at 60MPH)

So, for the manual transmission xB2:

2585 RPM @ 60 MPH
3015 RPM @ 70 MPH
3445 RPM @ 80 MPH
plus or minus 10 RPM.

For the automatic transmission xB2:

2335 RPM @ 60 MPH
2725 RPM @ 70 MPH
3115 RPM @ 80 MPH
plus or minus 10 RPM.

Tom

 

Does this mean the Scion is more quiet for auto users at 80mph?

 

More quiet than what? More quiet than the original xB? Definately! More quiet than a Lincoln Town Car? No.

There is a LOT of sound deadening in the new body/chassis, and it appears to work.

The Scion automatics have always been quieter and "more relaxed" at freeway speeds than the manuals, due to very noticeable differences in engine RPM.

Tom

 

Ahh, got it.

 

That sounds better. I gotta remember this is a 4 cyl too. I'm used to V6 cars.

One thing I've been thinking about is minus-sizing tires/rims. But with the new bigger brakes that may not be feasible. So now I'm thinking about just upping the sidewall on the stock rims - say 205/65/16. The increased circumference would have the added benefit of dropping the RPM's further. Though I don't know by how much. But I think it would still fit into the wheel wells.

 

How did it look in silver?