Is it just me?
 

I love the new xB's more powerful engine (it's one of the reasons I bought the new xB and didn't buy the first gen xB). However, am I the only one who is blown away by just how fast this giant brick of metal moves?

I am a very safe (in other words, grandpa-like) driver. My wife always complains how I don't step on the gas. Well, since getting the new xB I have a hard time NOT going 15+mph over the speed limit unless I'm really watching the speedometer.

This morning, on my way to drop off my daughter at daycare, I stopped at a stoplight and when the light turned green I took off from zero to 35 in the blink of an eye ... and that was in a 20mph school zone!

I quickly brought the xB back down to 20mph in the scool zone, but after I merged on the highway this morning I realized that I was going 90mph and the posted speed limit is 65mph (the other cars on the highway were only going 70-75mph so it wasn't an issue of keeping up with the flow of traffic).

Have other new xB owners discovered they're driving faster than usual or is it just me not paying enough attention to my speed?

I kinda drive a little fast anyway. Always pushing that extra 10 mph. Yes you do look down and find yourself well over the speedlimit. I love the new xB.

When I went for a test drive the other day, i found myself going faster, quicker than I was used to.
I think the quieter ride then my mazda, coupled with an auto gearbox (so i wasn't as sure what gear i was in) definately contributed to my travelling faster than i was expecting.

Thankfully the large speedo (visible from to the wife as well) should help keep me from speeding too much.

Yep, it runs like a scalded dog !

Agreed. It's prety quiet on the freeway and the engine isn't buzzy at all I already speed, but I do go a bit overboard if I don't check the speedo.

I'm guilty of it, too. I think the new XB is comparable to the BMW 3 series. haha

^^^ LOL . I am the owner of a gen 1 but know what you're talking about. I may not be doing 90 on the freeway, but on regular (non-major) roads, I am always doing over 10-15+ the speed limit. the xB just glides and i have to look at the speedo to realize that i'm above the limit!
- sh00k

I actually thought my speedometer might be wrong because I'm constantly catching myself at the top of the 10 over that I allow myself before I even think I'm up to speed.

The room of an SUV with a mini-cooper feel. (okay not quite, but it's my mid-life crisis and I gotta juice it up somehow!) :P

ahhh, so the speeding tickets begin!

I'm constantly catching myself going way over the posted speed limit. When going from first gen. xB, you really got to watch yourself. The first time I drove it, I had a huge grin on my face, I was in shock! I honestly didn't expect the drive to be this smooth and fast.

I don't think it's just the former first gen xB owners who need to watch out. My last car was a 2004 Volvo S40 (my last "pre-parenthood" car). The Volvo has been amazing on the road. Before the S40 I honestly believed that you had to have at least a V6 if you wanted power because 4-cylinder engines just didn't have muscle. It was the S40 that made me realize a 4-cylinder engine can really move.

Still, I'm breaking the speed limit all the time unless I really watch the speedometer in my new xB.

I don't know what Toyota engineers have been doing differently, but the 4-cylinder engine in the tC and the new xB is VERY impressive.

I have had some conversations on this topic. The perception that your travelling slower than you are may be attributed directly to your field of view.

Bear with me here. Kinda hard to explain. Watch as you drive down the road. In particular the dashed line. As it comes closer to your car they seem to pick up speed. However, right at the moment that they travel by at a visually correct speed, they disappear into the hood. You can also look out the side. The high window sill on the xB again slightly prohibits you vision of the road in very close proximity to the vechile. Being that you can only judge speed to a reference and the references that would be the most visually accurate are obscured, you sense that the speed of the vechile is less than actual.

Pretty good theory. Try that one on the cops. :)

Re: Is it just me?
 

My wife is likely the first person to ever get a speeding ticket in an '08 xB. (she got pulled over on March 13.)

Her comment was "I had literally no idea I was going that fast." She was doing 86 according to the policeman.

Most of the roads I drive daily have speed limits of 40 or 45. (My commute does not involve a freeway.) The car just wants to go 55, and does so with little effort. It somewhat reminds me of my days driving an Eclipse Spyder GS-T in that respect.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with our insurance. It actually went down $4/month moving from the '06 xB to the '08. We'll see how much the ticket bumps things up.