I think I may already have said that a few times.

http://tijil.org/blog/

Tom

 

that tokyo city car is great when you actually live in a city like tokyo. i've been there twice for toyota and scion but a majority of scion owners don't even live in an urban city. i grew up in nyc and i go back every year to visit the family and i'd be lucky if i saw one xA or xB a day. i've been to seattle, san francisco and many of the major cities in the U.S. and they all have one thing in common, public transportations (subways, buses 24hr taxis). people that live in these urban areas don't need cars. if they want to get out of the city they rent one and if they wanted a car its usually something north of $30k. most scion customers lives in the burbs and when they go to work or school they have to drive on the freeway which requires more than a 1.5L. a 1.5 is great in stop and go urban driving where 40mph is the top speed but to keep up in U.S. freeways the car needs more. i remember driving the jdm bB back in january 2003. they brought over the 1.3L and 1.5L and i drove the 1.3L in irvine and i still remember people at the irvine spectrum staring at us when we were driving in the parking lot. when we left to hit the 5 freeway the 1.3L struggled to get above 60mph. when they asked us what we thought we all said don't bring that one here. the 1.5L is okay but not the 1.3L.

Scion was created not just for gen x and y buyers because that's what scion marketeers are always saying and it's true. one of the other major reason Scion was created was it was a way for Toyota to build small affordable cars again but they didn't want it to look like a Toyota.

there will be a good percentage of people that has the B1 and will probably come in to buy a B2, but what Toyota really wanted Scion to do was for people who wouldn't think of buying a Toyota product buy a Scion and if they were happy with the Scion would come back and upgrade to a Toyota or a Lexus. they succeded in that regard because there were a lot of Scion trade ins for Toyota in 2006 in their database. what they were able to do with Scion was grab 80% of buyers that were new to a Toyota product. 80% is huge and if they can get 50% in another Toyota product 3 to 4 years later is even better. they wanted to keep them within that family tree of Scion, Toyota and Lexus and hopefully get a Toyota customer for life.

its going to be the same for the B2 and xD. i guarantee when both vehicles are released this year you will get a lot of new owners in ScionLife whose never owned a Toyota and you'll get a lot who will be between 17-30 who knew about the 1st xB and xA and didn't own it.

 

i agree!

a majority of the new cars sales will be to new owners not current. there's a good number of owners that have traded their Scions for something else. the people who buy the B2 and xD are people that remembered the B1 and xA.

 

One thing you should remember.. Yes it's wider and longer, but the car is more "rounded" thus making the interior room much smaller. Every "boxy" shape they take away, every corner they cut and make it rounded, you have less and less room. Those who have sat in it says it "feels" smaller inside and they don't like that compared to the Classic...

I'm not happy... I'd love to have the front end of the new b, molded to the old B... The front end and the instruments are the only thing I like....

I will not be buying one.

 

this ties into what I was saying in the other thread. I'll post it here for those that didn't get a chance to read it. It read:

Ok, I'm gonna chime in here. I've been reading through pages and pages of haters. Guess what? A majority of them are xB1 owners. Surprise, surprise. Of course you are gonna say what you have is better. That is human nature. Its like coming on a tC forum and asking which is better between a tC and a Mazda3. I neither love nor hate the new xB, so I will say this from an unbiased perspective. Do you know why Scion asked the "haters" what they wanted and not the owners? They've already got your money. Of all the xB1 owners on here, probably more than 90% won't trade in your classic box for a new one: whether because you don't like it or can't afford to switch cars at will.

They want to ask the people that DIDN'T buy the xB1 what they wanted so they could make them xB2 buyers. Get it? In a nutshell, Toyota doesn't give a crap what you classic owners want. They already got what they wanted out of you. They want the other guys to buy the new ones so they made it bigger, gave it a bigger engine, and even added projectors. So with that said, I don't think its as bad as everyone is making it out to be. I wasn't one of the people that went to Miami. Thats why I'll reserve judgment until I see t in person. I urge all of you to do the same. Some of the same people that dogged the xB1 before they came out are the same ones that are driving one today. If they kept the original design, their would be twice as many "box" shaped Scions on the roads by 2008. I don't think thats what Scion is going for. They want each model to be unique in its own way...not a stretched box.

 

Guess I'm a totally atypical car owner then. :D

I live in suburbia, in a small town abutting a larger town. Local population is around a quarter million.

Closest public transit stop is close to a mile away, and doesn't go anywhere I really want to go anyway.

If I hadn't taken a couple trips to Montana in my xBs first 10,000 miles, those 10,000 miles would probably have had less than 1000 miles of freeway use. Since around town mileage mounts up less than half as fast as freeway miles, that means probably less than 2% of my time in my xB has been spent on other than city streets.

From what you are saying in your post, Rich, I may be the only xB owner in the United States that uses my xB as a City Car. I don't think that's true, but OK.

Tom

 

For your arrogance.. I hope they screw up the "tC" replacement and will mark this thread so I can hear you whine and complain about that vehicle.....

What gives you a right to call me a Hater??? tC owners shouldn't even have a say about the boxes.

Karma

 

Wow, great tC owner. You are so wise. Thanks for your jackass insight.

BTW, its not like us classic xB owners are just crossing our arms with an attitude like: "Haha, NOTHING can ever beat my almighty classic box! Muahahaha!!" I for one was totally ready for Scion to come out with something new that would wipe the floor with my current xB. In fact, I was counting on it so I could trade my current one in for an upgrade. Needless to say, this xB2 aint it.

Now, go back to your tC sports coupe forum.

 

My xB is the first car I have ever purchased. However, I have been a VW man since I first drove my Dad's 1974 Beetle. When it came time to buy my own car I knew what I wanted. Surprisingly, I bought my RS3 xB instead of an overpriced, understyled gashog veedub. From the first moment I saw the xB I loved it. The shape was unlike any car I had ever seen. When I bought my box I fully intended to keep it until it died and then place it in a garage somewhere to admire. I also planned on buying another one sometime down the road. I heard that the xB would be replaced and was excited, because here was a car that I could purchase when the time came to buy again. But, I am not sure Toyota intended the xB2 for me. Nothing about the styling gives me that feeling of "Wow." There is nothing about it that makes it the same class of car as my xB. I am not a Toyota fan and if they want my business they had better come out with something unique. That's why I didn't buy the VW, they had nothing unique.

In other news, I recommend Tomas' blog, if you haven't read it, for a great perspective on the xBs. He said what I would if I could write better. By the way, Tomas, I also use my xB for city driving 95% of the time.

To address the complaints leveled at the xB classic I say: we are car people. Since when did we start liking everything about a car that we drive? Car people buy high priced performance cars such as Ferraris, Lambos, etc. and modify them. That is what we do. No car is perfect, but we will make them as close as we can after we buy them. I think that we didn't expect such a drastic change because of the complaints. A few tweaks would have been enough for me.

But, in the end the xB2 will sell, and sell well. I will keep my car and hope that someone makes a car that appeals to me like my xB classic.

 

if you actually read my post i said "most" xB owners live in the suburbs but you make it out as the B1 is just and only an urban tokyo car. "most" B owners do not live in an urban city but live in the burbs where they need to drive to get a cup of coffee or newspaper.

 

Yeah, I'd pretty much have to drive to get to the closest bus stop.

I'm no longer "downtown urban" but still urban enough that a tiny, versatile, fun ride is a definite plus. I don't need to take a freeway to get most places I need to get to, and stop-and-go traffic is normal, traffic light to traffic light.

My xB has spent most of it's two year life under 40 MPH, on paved streets, dodging other cars. That's urban enough for me. (When I park at home, I am one of about 600 parking spots in my apartment complex - mine is covered, but it's not really SUV size...)

Tom

 

you just proved my point you tard. You are 29 years old. Maybe you can afford to trade cars at will but for all of the under 21 year old (and yes there are alot of them) they don't have rich mommies and daddies that will give them whatever they want. Most of us can't change cars at will, thereofre, we were not Toyotas target audience with the new box, and just because I own a tC doesn't mean I can't like the box. I think it is ignorant to say tC owners have no say about the box. In fact, I was thinking about getting one. stick with your "ALMIGHTY CLASSIC BOX". hate on hata

 

TomLiving in Seattle I can comment that there are xB's-a-plenty here! The reason: public transit is in fact not that great here and yes often my commute sees me going no more than 20 mph tops (including "freeway"). The xB is fabulous for parking in this city too.

Chris

 

How many days later and this is still getting tossed around?

The decision has been made. Scion will be moving forward wth the new xB. It will not be getting a name change. It may get worse fuel milage then the first. It may not be the answer to everyones gripes. None the less, it is what it is. Like it or not, deal with it.

For those who keep calling it a cult classic. As with life, every thing changes. People get old, gain wieght better fuels will be made cures for diseases will be found and cars will come and go. Terrrific if you found that the frist xB met every last one of your personal needs. You may be part of the minority and not the majority. Obvisouly Scion did take all this into consideration and decided to make what will now be produced. All the whining and crying under the sun wont change their minds. If your afriad that you wont be able to find parts for the car you currently own, then you may need to seek professional help. Its a car ... it gets you from point A to point C and every where inbetween. Can one be saddend that they arent making it any more, sure. Should poeple still point out that in thier opinion Scion made a mistake or Scion is a sell out almost a week after .... grow up. Change happens, deal with it.

 

i do have to agree somewhat with public transit in seattle but its better than most. when i saw those tunnel buses i did a double take cause they were the weirdest thing i saw. i honestly was waiting for a train not a bus to come out of those tunnels.

maybe it was where my wife and i was at but i hardly saw any xB or xA but then again this was september of 2004. it probably has changed in the past two years but i've been in three major U.S. cities in the last 10 months and i still don't see "a lot" of B and A compared to living in southern california where mass transit is non-existent.