Gadgetory

the current Scion xB is a little bit larger and a little bit rounder than when the car first arrived and split opinions right down the middle this second-generation model and the special release series trim does little for world peace let's drive it and check the tech the most interesting thing about this xB is that it's a release series 2,000 copies one color that's the tradition last year it was nura sake before that absolutely red you get the idea the most interesting thing about all ex B's is that they're considered a pretty cool blank slate from which to customize either with a wide array of TRD toys from the factory or the huge amount of tech you can do aftermarket if you buy one of these stock and just drive it I think you sort of missed the point all right so what distinguishes an XP from a release series 8xb well the most obvious have you spotted it the paint this is called voodoo blue because it'll make anybody believe in the devil although I got to tell you I got lots of thumbs up while driving it I don't get it bodykit all around from Ken's style that redoes the front the chin the lower buttress hanging off the back and these side fairings here below the door line and you've also got this carbon fiber stuff around here I think that's part of the kit the wheels by the way are not those are an ala carte option not part of a release series and there's more inside I gotta say I kind of like the xB it kind of reminds me of the old early fans like you know early in mid 60's econo lines and dodge vans and things like that it's really upright it's really utilitarian it's funky it's kind of fun now this hole right here is where you've got a real sketch pad to work with it's a double din vacancy in the dash they ship it with a standard Pioneer branded Scion system with eight speakers two of which are these door tweeters up here and from there you can go up to this guy which is an improved Alpine audio CD slot touchscreen but no nav no DVD playback it's got a nav button here for an outboard navigation module but you don't really want to do nav on that little screen they've also got a big 7-inch unit if you want to go fall on that from the factory what I would do is just stay with the base pioneer unit don't pay any more and then go aftermarket if you buy a car like this you want to kind of express your own system and probably do up the amps and subs and all that kind of thing in consultation with our own Antoine Goodwin almost assuredly when you do go stock you've got CD am/fm XM compatible but not included right off to get and you always have auxilary and USB which is iPod compatible down here in the console I kind of like how they do this you see that little floor right there it's actually a false floor lift that up and that's where you can hide your gear plugged into one of the port's put this back and you might not know I have anything in here now the Bluetooth ring on this car is crazy at least one of the upgraded head units has Bluetooth built in but on our we have the ala carte Bluetooth which is suck tooth it's this thing over here for 300 bucks they add this guy in and it's got these little buttons you've seen me demonstrate this before you hold the button down and it makes certain beeps and that's how you pair it or make calls there's no display there's no point and Scion has handily anticipated you may either be stupid or not live near Radio Shack and they have a Scion branded and bagged auxilary cable never seen that before from a car maker inside the car some of the release eight stuff is this unique upholstery black with the blue inserts you've got this little badge right here that tells you your serial number I'm not sure you can see this when the headlights are on yep lights up all blue you've also got a power glass roof up here kind of a spacious one I like that and you've got these nice blue logo xB release eight floor mats you can wipe your shoes all over what you paid for our shift er is up here on this interesting console that has what looks to be a commercial restaurant mandolin right there we have the automatic in this case which has a traditional gate a shiftable gate no paddles on it and by the way this automatics are rather antiquated for speed the base on this car is a 5-speed manual okay none of the hood of a Scion xB whether it's a release 8 or any xB you got the same ol motor but I'm not gonna smear at it because folks Toyota built an empire on engines like this a perfectly good garden-variety nice running forever running in line for 2.4 liter in this case variable valve timing 16 valves for 4 cylinder it's a modern engine but there's no gee-whiz tech going on here 158 horsepower 162 foot-pounds of torque I like the chunky torque number we'll see how that plays out on the road in a minute zero to sixty on this guy which weighs about 3000 pounds is perfectly fine eight and a half seconds depending on your gearbox and the mileage is also perfectly fine 20 to 28 Scion xB doesn't make any pretensions about being some kind of performance car more of a cool quirky paint your own thing car it is roomy inside you get a nice big broad shouldered feeling inside this guy it obviously mimics its external lines the ride is pretty tight lease from that plus the relatively teeny build and lack of much sound deadening makes for a bit of utilitarian ride but the powertrain is one that I like it's not going to blow anybody away but it's what we used to call zippy or perky this transmission is probably kind of a weak link I mean four speeds means that you're frequently not getting the most out of this motor not from what I can tell okay let's price this X beat starts off at sixteen seven delivered with a manual gearbox a five-speed if you want the four-speed automatic at 950 now the release series package it's a different car it's not something you can option in but it raises the price of an xB by twenty four hundred dollars or so other options include all those different head units I mentioned they range from like 450 to $2000 again look at the aftermarket first because that's all that Toyota's selling you here is an aftermarket head unit from the factory does really make a lot of sense to me and the one you don't want to buy is the $300 for that annoying screen list non interface Bluetooth rig you can do better you