Best Used Luxury Car 2013: The Car Connection's Picks
Luxury cars offer a little more—of what matters to nearly everyone but the most dedicated... Read More
- #3LEADERBOARD RANK
- 2653ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
- 108COMMENTS POSTED
Around The Web
The interior is mock industrial, with metallic-like milled surfaces and lots of handy places to tuck things away.
bigger, rounder, and, well, more anonymous
Bento box meets lead sled
excellent little car that just happens to look cool
Unfortunately, the new model grew fatter in every dimension and lost the sharp boxiness of the original.
STYLING | 8 out of 10
Expert Quotes:
The interior is mock industrial, with metallic-like milled surfaces and lots of handy places to tuck things away.
AutoWeek
bigger, rounder, and, well, more anonymous
CNET
Bento box meets lead sled
The Auto Channel
excellent little car that just happens to look cool
Edmunds
Unfortunately, the new model grew fatter in every dimension and lost the sharp boxiness of the original.
Winding Road
The slab-sided shape looks thicker through the waist, and it's surprisingly close in function to the two domestic retro-wagons, the Chevrolet HHR and now-discontinued Chrysler PT Cruiser. A wide rear pillar visually supports the flat roof, while the front appearance of the xB remains van-like and boxy.
For 2011, the xB gets a few minor appearance changes: The headlamp design is slightly different, there's a new honeycomb grille pattern, backup lamps have now been integrated into the taillamps, and perhaps most noticeably, the front bumper fascia now includes larger lower air intakes.
Inside, the xB also gets a light spruce-up, including a new fabric pattern with black bolsters; the gauge cluster gets a black background for better visibility, plus a separate clock and outside temp gauge. Overall, the xB's interior layout is either functional or a fashion victim, and you're best to make that decision by looking at pictures and the layout in person. While the design itself is straightforward—building on Toyota and Scion small-car design, but with chunky details galore—the instrument panel itself retains the illogical center placement for its gauges, which could be a deal-breaker for some.
Conclusion
Whether you see it as a boxy wagon or a new kind of microvan, the high-shouldered 2011 Scion xB is funky, in a good way.
