The Detroit Newspapers's view

TOLEDO — The billboard along Interstate 75 has always been tempting. Tony Packo’s allegedly has the best Coney Island hot dogs west of Lake Erie.

A self-proclaimed Coney connoisseur, I took the all-new Scion xD down to the 75-year-old establishment to sample the chili dogs, stuffed cabbage and try to spot Jamie Farr — or at least see his name scrawled proudly across a bun mounted on the wall. Plus, I might get to expense the meal.

The food was top-notch; the beanless chili had just the right touch of spice, the cabbage was flavorful and even the dogs were on par with the finest eateries along Detroit’s Lafayette Boulevard.

The Scion, however, was the equivalent of over-boiled sausage on a stale bun. Cover it with mustard or cheese or even that neon-green relish and it still would leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Built on the same platform as the Toyota Yaris, the xD subcompact is the cheapest Scion in the brand’s three vehicle lineup.

From its unbearably loud ride to its aim-for-the-ditch torque steer, the xD won’t ever hang on anyone’s wall of fame. No bun signing for this car. Really, it shouldn’t even be on anyone’s menu.

Compared to the likes of the Honda Fit, Chevy Aveo and Nissan Versa, the xD costs more, offers less utility, and is one of the ugliest vehicles on the road.

Build a better car Scion calls the flat-edged exterior “aggressive styling,” but it comes across more Elephant Man than Man About Town. The headlamps bulging on each side of the xD make the car look like a mutant bug, not a frugal urban hipster’s ride.

The tall body planted on 16-inch wheels adds to the car’s gangly stance. While the narrow shape is typical of cars designed for Japanese customers, it resembles a refrigerator box on training wheels.

The xD doesn’t make sense. It’s as if different designers drew different pieces in separate rooms and then someone else pieced them all together.

Die-hard Scion fans can say the vehicle stands out in a crowd and that its polarizing design creates a beauty found only in the eye of the driver. But that doesn’t mean it’s not ugly or overpriced.

Starting at just over $15,000, the four-door xD tops competitors such as the Fit by $500 and a similar Aveo by nearly $5,000.

One reason for the xD’s slightly higher price is that it comes with loads of standard features. Cruise control, remote keyless entry, power locks, power windows and a 160-watt stereo are either not available or are optional on the competition.

One of the true wonders of any Scion is that you can customize to create almost any vehicle you want, and that is what has made the brand so successful. Scion approaches cars the same way Tony Packo approached Hungarian sausages: Fix ’em any way you want.

Customers can upgrade the stereo, pick the perfect wheels and add spoilers, rockers and even give the car more fins than a family of sharks. The choices are nearly limitless. While starting prices for all Scions begin in the teens, you can add options until you double its price.

With the xD, I’d recommend building it up so much that you actually have an xB or tC — both are excellent vehicles for the money and have personality.

Awkward and uncomfortable The same cannot be said about the xD. The new car smell in my $16,500 test vehicle was tin and plastic. The interior materials felt like rejects from Chinese toy manufacturers. There is nothing inspiring or even interesting inside the xD.

The instrument panel has huge open spaces filled by small lights, leaving you to wonder, what should go there? The tachometer and speedometer share the same space in the center gauge and both are difficult to read.

I understand the funkiness factor Scion wants to create with the “different” kind of display, but it still needs to function. You should be able to look and quickly know how many revolutions the engine is spinning per minute, not stare befuddled at the tach as the engine whines.

The xB, the boxy Scion car-van, uses a speedometer mounted in the center of the dash that melds funk and function. It’s different but useful. The xD’s instrument panel is awkward and uncomfortable.

And so are the seats. They are hard and I could never adjust them to a position I liked. The leg room — at 40.3 inches it’s the smallest out of its chief competitors — feels cramped even with the seat pushed back, and the second row, with 33.9 inches, feels twice as tight.

Even the cargo area feels small. After buying groceries one day, I folded the seats and crammed everything into the back. The 60/40 split seats did not fold flat and everything placed in that area rolled downhill into the back.

I did admire the center stack on the dash that included the various heating and cooling controls as well as the stereo. It’s pushed out and lifted up in order to create a floating effect. It also masks some of the poor quality workmanship in the vehicle. The entire interior looks like whoever assembled it was in a hurry to leave work.

Ride is coarse and loud Driving the xD didn’t make me feel any better about the vehicle. Despite having the most powerful engine out of the small car group — a 1.8-liter four cylinder with 128-horsepower — its ride is coarse and extremely loud.

The torque steer — that feeling a front-wheel-drive car wants to pull to one side during quick acceleration — is very noticeable.

The 125-pound-feet of torque provide the car with some zip, especially when mated with a five-speed manual transmission. The Scion xD can easily cruise at 80 mph down the highway, but it’s one of the smallest cars on the road.

The electric power steering is too sensitive, causing the xD to weave from side to side at the slightest movement, and it feels disconnected to the road.

When I was trying to adjust the stereo, I found myself swerving and swearing at the same time. The stereo is difficult to use, as the control knob, which worked like a joystick, never seemed to find the right song, and every time I reached to my right, the car turned slightly to the left — for a second, I thought it was an inadvertent weight shift that caused the quick movement.

The car’s gas mileage, one of the main reasons to buy it, is on par with the other small cars. It gets 27 miles per gallon in the city and 33 mpg on the highway. The automatic gets 26 city and 32 highway. But a manual Fit and Aveo still eke out slightly better mileage on the highway.

Park it The one area where the xD excels is parking. With its size, it’s easy to move into the smallest spots. Plus, when you’re parking, you know the driving experience is nearly over and you’ve arrived at your destination.

But parking should never be the key reason to buy a car.

Scion may offer a lot of options and carry some kitsch with the kids, but ultimately, no matter how many add-ons the car has, you still have to get past the main ingredients.

Tony Packo understood this, creating a Toledo landmark with his juicy Hungarian sausages. Scion, on the other hand, is starting with just a dog.

2008 Scion xD sedan

Type: Front-wheel drive, five-passenger subcompact

Price: $15,170

Engine: 1.8-liter four-cylinder

Power: 128-horsepower, 125-pound-feet torque

Transmission: 5-spd manual; 4-spd automatic

EPA mileage

manual: 27 mpg / 33 mpg

automatic: 26 mpg / 32 mpg

Dimensions: (length x width x height): 154.7×67.9×60

Notes: Small car doesn’t measure up to the competition.

Report card

Overall: * 1/2

Exterior: Poor. Compact flat-sided design looks more ugly than aggressive.

Interior: Poor. Cheap materials, bad fit and finish and confusing instrument panel.

Performance: Fair. Car has some zip but overly sensitive steering and torque steer diminish overall performance.

Safety: Good. Side curtain and front air bags. Stability control is optional.

Pros: Good fuel economy and lots of standard features.

Cons: Poor quality and high price make competition more buyer friendly.

Scott Burgess is the auto critic for The Detroit News. He can be reached at sburgess@detnews.com.