New 2008 Scion XB - To Buy or Not to Buy

There are so many reviews from different people about the new Scion XB 2008. Some that already own the 2006 XB seem to have a strong opinion against it because the new body style has taken away a lot of the uniqueness. Some bought the XB because of the oddity of it. I have to say, I never really liked them myself.

I had an old beat up car. So beat up in fact that it broke down. I had to get another car so I thought I needed to get a new one. I was tired of paying for repairs. My husband pointed out the XB to me one day and I instantly refused. I said "I'm not driving that boxy thing!". He told me they had a new one out with a better body style so I surfed the internet for pictures. Next I read as many reviews as I could. Again, the reviews were mixed. The comparison is the car has more horse power therefore it has less gas mileage than the earlier model. It is also a little more rounded instead of the box look. I fell in love with the car even before I went to see one in person. After about a week of surfing the net, I thought it was time to test drive this beautiful yet unique car. I test drove the automatic and standard. I wanted a standard but knew I should test them both out to be sure. The car had great pickup. No slow starting. The engine is 2.4l which gives it the power to move on a dime. The automatic has a way to shift manually but it's really for people who just want something to play with. It's not very peppy using this method. The automatic has a manual 4 speed transmission. The manual transmission is 5-speed. I highly recommend you NEVER purchase a 4 speed manual transmission. You'll always feel the car telling you to go into 5^th gear when there is none! How frustrating is that? I get about 26 to 27 miles to the gallon and drive mostly 65mph speeds with very few lights. There is a lot of head room so this is really good for the tall or short people in this world. The seats rise and lower. You can put it on the highest setting and feel like you're in a very tall SUV or the lowest setting to feel like a low rider! The one complaint I have about the car is the position of the side mirrors seem to be in my line of site for turning corners. I have to make sure I look well before & during my turn more than I would with any other car I've owned. Also, a word to the wise if you buy one, the bumpers are pretty low so they don't fit well with the parking blocks. Make sure you park away from them to avoid scraping your bumper. The front bumper is considerably lower than the rear bumper.

After deciding to purchase the 2008 Scion XB Manual Transmission I struggled with the color. I wanted Silver because I don't was my cars often and I didn't want a car that showed the dirt it was going to wear! When I went to the lot to see the car for the first time, I drove a dark blue one. That color is nice but definitely not a good idea for trying to hide the dirt. Then I saw the white one. Now that looks awesome with the windows tinted. I really wanted the white but then I saw the silver. Although the silver does not make the same statement as the white, I knew it was the one that would meet my needs. My husband saw the Teal one (we named this one the gooey color because of the indescribability of the color). He fell in love with it and wanted me to buy it. I hated the color so he lost the battle but the more he looked at it, the more he wanted that color in the family. He clearly liked the car as well because he is the one who pointed me in the direction of this car anyway.

We decided after much debate to get two (2) 2008 Scion XB's with Manual Transmissions. His is Teal & mine is Silver. I know Dave Ramsey would not approve of this but we had the fever and there was no stopping us!

I get a lot of interesting looks from people when driving this thing and no matter what, there's always a connection with strangers on the road who also own an XB old or new model. They stop & talk to you about your car or they wave or honk. It's like a little connection that brings people together because we are "different" from everyone else.