Anybody got a Scion xD?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

I’m getting a little sick of my '01 Corolla, for various reasons. It’ll probably need about $1500 to make it another year, thanks to a mystery oil leak and a bad catalytic converter. The interior plastic is starting to go. It’s smelly. Etc.

So rather than spend the money to fix it, I’m thinking about buying (and financing) a new car for the first time in my life, at 30 years old. I guess I’m a big boy now. I’ll probably wait until after Christmas, when dealers are looking to unload inventory and rates are hopefully a bit better.

Anyway, just from idle browsing, I’m liking the xD. Normally I’d consider something like another Corolla or a Civic, but the new ones don’t really jibe with my tendency to be a tightwad, and the market for used ones is pretty tight right now. And the xD looks a lot better in fit and finish than anything else in the price range.

So, does anybody have one? How do you like 'em? My commute is 10 miles with a couple of hair-raising freeway merges, which my 1.8L Corolla handles just fine. Should I expect the same from the xD?

Finally, is that no-haggle pricing thing a bunch of BS, or do they mean it? I suppose I can always haggle on the trade in, if they’re desperate enough.

Thanks.

#2

Is it bigger than the xA? Because someone in my complex had an xA and my Mazda 3 hatchback dwarfed it. It just looked like a tiny car.

Actually I just looked it up and the xD is 22 inches shorter. That’s rather significant.

#3

Scion xD? Isn’t that a kind of memory card? :smiley:

#4

I’ve got an xA and I love it. The xD has a similar appearance, but if I remember correctly, they goosed up the engine a bit. It doesn’t matter to me - I have a country road commute, but if it is zippier, it’ll probably make for a nicer freeway commute.

What I like about the xA is the seats sit pretty high for a little car (I hate sitting on the floor), when the back seats fold down, they lie flat, and the mileage has been tops (37-40 MPG). It is a little car and loading it with 4 adults is a cozy ride, but mostly it’s just 1 or 2 of us. I’ve been able to carry a surprising amount of stuff, and the hatch is nice and big, so loading and unloading is easy.

And at the dealership, it was truly no-haggle. We didn’t have a trade, so it was very straightforward. They had one on the lot that I liked. It did have a bit more than I needed (like the iPod jack) but even at that, I got out of there for around $15K for my 2006. The first 3 oil changes being free was nice also. I intend to drive this till it just dies of ancientitude…

#5

Ok, I’m not really going to answer your question either. :slight_smile:

But, I have an xB and I love it! Just a thought, but it didn’t cost too much more and it is obviously larger. I think it was $16480 out the door and the base version has lots and lots of features. It’s a great car.

#6

I happened to be driving past a dealership yesterday, so stopped in for a test drive.

SmackFu’s right - it’s itty bitty, but it only really looks that way when you put it next to a Matrix.

It has a surprising amount of grunt for it’s size - I was up to 85 without really thinking about it. The fit and finish is excellent, and the base model is absolutely loaded. 16-inch wheels are nice, too.

It has a decent amount of cargo space even with the seats up - I could easily fit a weeks worth of groceries in there. With the seats down, a trip to Ikea isn’t going to be a problem.

The only think I’m worried about is that if feels a little top-heavy. On freeway entrance/exit ramps marked 25 that most people take at 45 (whee!), it really did feel like I needed to keep it at 25 or below. Maybe that’s because my old Corolla’s relatively low-slung.

I almost bought one. The sales guy I was talking to normally deals in Toyotas, and he mistakenly thought that Scion was running the same 0% deal as Toyota. If I could have held them to that, I probably woulda driven off in one yesterday.

I dunno. Maybe I should check out the Matrixes (Matrices?) and Vibes first, though I bet the used market is pretty tight for those guys right now.

#7

Typo.