I’ve commented here a while back, really to express my frustration with the direction the ‘xB’ model was taken by Scion designers. To me, the xD is a reformed xB… spec wise for mileage. Since that post over a year ago, I’ve been tracking my 2005 xB mileage, and I’m averaging 29.5 mpg. The sticker said 30 to 34 for my automatic trans. Since car review mags have tracked the newer xB into it’s position in it’s car class, it basically went from BEST gas mileage to WORST IN CLASS!

So, the xD certainly sounds like maybe a re-visit is in order after your review, literaturelover.

Thanks again.

That the xD is the best Scion is f’d up. xD seems like an American Yaris, rather than a Scion.

The embarrassment trifecta will continue with the tC coupe’s replacement. The Fuse concept may be uglier in production than the 2 gen xB, we’ll see.

looks like a good little car- sorta like the xA.. but not quite! Hey, its a Toyota, and built well- esp. for the $$.

Go to http://www.scionlife.com , for some REAL information on the subject on xD, other Scions, the people who bring Scions/Toyotas to life, and some good down to earth home cookin collaborations between Scion owners!

Tell everyone Adam w/ the PW Scion xA 2006 sent yea!

If Toyota was is cahoots, they would probably make cars safer and take a cut of the profit made by paying less out for accidents.

But, if Toyotas are causing MORE accidents isn’t that a boon to people who would profit from that? Possibly, insurance fraud rings/cartels?

As for Honda being bland, either that or way fugly. Civic and CRV are nightmares of styling.

Which ones? Blanda has some of the blandest looking designs, from a mini-minvan looking Fit to goofy Civic to fugly Accord. In my neck of woods, cool kids drive Mazdas and Subarus.

I have a 2006 xA, so I’m looking forward to test driving this to compare. The xD gains standard (as opposed to optional) side air bags, optional traction/stability control, standard cruise control, optional nav system, and 25 more hp, for about the same price. Sounds good to me. I don’t like the huge blind spot in the rear from the wide C pillar, though.

Megan, I liked your review… and I can only agree that the xD and the new xB are well aimed shots at pushing out my demographic (and older). They’ll say it was a two purposed shot… 1. shed the price conscious geezers, and 2. pick up more young hipsters that can’t afford anything more. I think they could have kept everyone and garnered more new buyers leaving the specs alone. Sure, if you’re going to offer a bigger engine, then add a little itsy bitsy weight to flash up the skin a little if it evolves the model, or just put a lower price tag on the TRD Supercharger for the kids that want it so badly… and in that, you’d keep the grays and get the newbies. More market share for all…

Instead, when my xB’s tour of duty is up… currently, Scion is not where I’m headed. Nor Toyota, sorry Toyota if that was the plan. And no one driving a Scion today is seriously considering switching out to a Lexus tomorrow… you may like them, but that’s about it.

I test drove all of the Scion offerings near the end of their first model year including both a manual and an auto xB. The auto xB bordered on frightening when entering the freeway using one on-ramp in particular. Took the same route in the xB with the manual and had no problems getting up to speed. As long as you know what you are doing, you should always get better overall performance from a small engine mated to a manual than mated to the auto, because a human -using their brain-can see what’s ahead and adjust accordingly.

While I ended up passing on the Scions, I would not have hesitated to recommend an xB with the manual transmission to anyone looking for a cheap people hauler. In my opinion, it’s voluminous interior space, good gas mileage, and relatively low price made it a winner as an every day driver for a lower middle income family. The new xB misses the boat entirely. It is uglier and less efficient. Drive away your current customers in pursuit of a demographic you’re just not going to win over. Brilliant. I haven’t seen an xD locally, but hopefully it is a better redesign.

You still need a car for transportation; you can’t carry everything in handheld bags.
You need a car that’s small enough so it can maneuver through crowded streets. There’s a lot of stop and go traffic so the gearing needs to be there for quick acceleration from a stop, but doesn’t need to be too fast, because you’ll be stopping in about 100 feet.
Suddenly the full size sedan that was great for running around on the highways becomes an utter drudge here.

I think that they had the even more crowded streets of Tokyo in mind when they designed the xD.

One fun way to determine if you’re watching a TV show filmed in Vancouver or Toronto (but with a US setting) is to look for 4-door hatchbacks sold in Canada but not in the USA. It’s quite a tell.

On “Psych”, I believe there’s a 5-door Yaris. Every week. Since the show debuted.

Cheezeweggie- GM has better quality than Toyota

People should be forced at gunpoint to buy manual transmissions. Then you wouldn't get all this criticism about underpowered cars.

Sorry, should have said “5-door” as opposed to “hatchback.”

I’m not sure you should write about economy cars at all.

Did you not see the 4 stars I gave it for performance? My main gripe is the fact that the tranny only has 4 gears, when it really could use five (and many of its competitors have 5 gears now). Plus the general lack of grunt in the higher gears, which is understandable to some degree but may be frustrating to people who spend a lot of time on the interstate. But compared to other economy cars, I thought it was quite fun to drive and rated it accordingly.

The tC is a 2-door hatchback; if it weren’t for that two-panel sunroof locked to the decent trim levels, it would have been on my “short list”.

Now they have zero.

(The tC is a nice car, but my last one was a coupe and I want to move into a 4 door or hatchback.)