Scion xA Speedster
Who knew the xA could be so cool?
by Justin Kaehler
November 22, 2005 - Scion and Five Axis have had a seemingly long and prosperous relationship with each other. You may not know the name Five Axis, but if you are familiar with Scion's "crazy" show cars, then you are most definitely familiar with 5Axis' work.



The first big collaboration between Five Axis and Scion was the chop-topped and flared orange xB. A low and wide bright orange xB is eye-catching enough as it is, but Five Axis loaded up the box with tons of stereo equipment and then went and threw in a motorized DJ booth that pops out the back. After the orange xB, a flared lime-green tC received the 5Axis treatment. It didn't have anything as radical as a motorized DJ booth, but the massive monitor that filled the back hatch sure seemed to impress show-goers.

The latest Scion to receive some TLC courtesy of Five Axis is the somewhat-ugly xA. The xA is kind of the bastard child of the Scion family, as it doesn't have the appeal that its xB and tC siblings enjoy. However, that sure as hell didn't stop Five Axis from turning this so-so compact into something totally awesome.

We can just stop typing right now and tell you to just look at the thing: it's been cut up, lowered and made into a proper roadster. Let's look at the obvious stuff first: the top's been chopped off completely, the windshield has been given a low profile and the doors have some massive holes cut out of them. Oh yeah, as with all Five Axis Scion projects, this xA has been given the wide body treatment and is now 6 inches wider than a stock xA.

That's not all: a tonneau cover now sits where the back seats used to reside. However, these covers house a secret: 19-inch Samsung monitors! But of course, those monitors are worthless if they don't receive any kind of signal, so Five Axis connected them to an Xbox 360. Yes, Five Axis had access to this system weeks before it even hit store shelves. Lucky bastards. Occupants of this car can "get their game on" thanks to the MadCatz MicroCON wireless pads or the MadCatz MC2 racing wheel. We wonder if occupants in the passenger seat ever bust out the MadCatz wheel and pretend that they're driving the car. We know we would do that...

A Casio XJ-560 projector sits up front and does it's "projecting thing" onto a screen hidden under the hood. Naturally, one can't drive and watch this screen at the same time, but we're sure it's nice to park the car, fire up the Xbox 360, recline in the Sparco Fighter front seats and soak in the Pioneer 5.1 Dolby Digital surround system. Admit it: this in-car entertainment system is nicer than your home set-up!


With a car sporting this much body work and ICE, we'd figure that the performance aspect would have been overlooked altogether. Hell, we'd be surprised if this car still had an engine! Well, get out your "surprised-color" Crayola and scribble all over us, this xA can still move under its own power. What's more, the 1.5-liter inline four even got a few goodies. An AEM intake, DC Sports header and Five Axis custom exhaust help the engine breathe a little easier. However, it would be hard to tell that anything was done to the engine because it now hides under a custom Five Axis engine cover.

The xA's "shoes" are also pretty dope: 19-inch Rays Engineering G-games 99Bs sit at all four corners. The front rims seem fat at 9.5 inches wide, but those soon seem skinny when compared to the 10.5-inch wide rears. These rims are wrapped in Yokohama AVS Sport rubber, and the whole package serves as a nice frame for the TRD 4-piston brake system.

To ensure that this Speedster sat at just the right height, Tein supplied its Super Street Damper system. It did not, sadly, provide any of its models to stand next to the car. Oh well...

With an xA looking this good, we're almost tempted to go out and buy one. However, upon realizing that we could buy a house for the money that was dumped into this car, we will hold off and save our pennies for now. Can anyone step up and top Five Axis' latest creation. We doubt it. But if a fresher xA is out there, we'd sure like to see it.