When you think Scion, you think cool, right? (Okay, maybe you think something along the lines of brain-dead teenagers driving ridiculous-looking cars, but just play along.)
Cool easily explains the funky-chic, breadbox-shaped xBs sales success, as thousands and thousands of people rampaged through Scion dealership kiosks to put one of the trendy cubes in their driveway some 60,000 last year, in fact.
Cool also explains why the xB outsold the smaller Scion xA by a margin of nearly two to one last year. The xA was seriously dorky, drove every bit like the cheap econocar it was, and, lets face it, wasnt much for the eyes it looked like a melted stack of pancakes. It was so not cool. For 2008, though, Scions sent the xA off to the great big rave in the sky and replaced it with the all-new xD.
With the new car comes a new personality: the xD is way more fun and, yes, far more cool than the xA. Whereas the older car needed a bunch of bolt-ons to look decent, the xD, which shares more than a passing resemblance to the equally new, second-generation xB, wears sheetmetal thats handsome from the get-go.
Based on Toyotas smallest model, the Yaris, the xD is dynamically similar to, you guessed it, the Yaris. That means slightly numb steering, squishy brakes, a mushy clutch, and a couple helpings of body roll. Under the hood, though, the xDs 128-hp, 1.8-liter four is bigger than the 106-hp, 1.5-liter unit in the Yaris, so acceleration is far more tolerable. The xDs mill provides an adequate amount of off-the-line oomph when paired with the standard five-speed manual, and the four-speed automatic isnt half-bad in that regard, either. In fact, we found the autobox provided a lot more refinement theres less time spent in the thrash-happy upper rev rangeif also a lot less involvement. (The five-speed stick is remarkably positive in feel and engagement.)
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