TheMercuryNews.com's view

Young drivers didn’t much notice the 2004 Scion xB in San Francisco on March 20. It’s not that the xB, a small, square, low-to-the-ground sedan isn’t good looking.

Well, it isn’t. But it’s certainly distinct (odd? strange? bizarre?) enough to draw stares and prompt questions on most days.

Just not on the day when war protests disrupted much of San Francisco and 1,400 people were arrested. Toyota spokesman John Hanson, in trying to get auto writers on the road, called it “mobile mayhem.”

Still, once over the Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin and over the Bay Bridge and into Berkeley, there were ample bits of unpopulated roads to register some first impressions of the new Scions. (I’ll do complete test drives of the xA and xB later this summer.)

Here’s what I think: The underground marketing is well-researched and off-putting to us middle-agers, which ought to make it appealing to the younger buyers. The showrooms look different and inviting. If Saturn created warm-and-fuzzy car shopping in the early ’90s, then Scion takes it and adds a techno look and feel for the 21st century.

And the prices, which start at $12,480 for the xA and $13,680 for the xB, are quite appealing, considering the level of standard equipment.

But, not surprisingly, the cars drive just like Toyotas — which they are.

Power is adequate or, perhaps, a little under. The xB is a small (155.3 inches long), light (2,425 pounds) car, but it has a very small (1.5 liter) four-cylinder engine. Toyota engineering, including variable-valve timing with intelligence, makes it all pretty efficient.

The xB I tested had the five-speed manual. With it, I was able to keep the revs high and get decent performance. (I also drove an xA hatchback with an automatic shifter and it felt very sluggish.) The cars have lots of style, but they won’t seduce the young drivers who want to go fast.

The xB I drove had a window sticker of $15,946. Nearly $2,500 in options included some useful items (floor mats and fog lights), some that many buyers consider necessities these days (alloy wheels and a Pioneer six-disc CD player) and a wide variety of fashion accessories (appliques on the B pillar and bumper, another graphic on the side of the car and clear tail-lamp lenses.)

The Echo has been the low-price Toyota model in the United States for several years now. It’s where folks who can’t or don’t want to spend much on their new cars, but still want that Toyota badge of quality, have been shopping.

The Echo and the Scion xB couldn’t be further apart in looks and image with the Echo a bland econobox and the xB a hip-hop stereo speaker of a car.

Both cars share an engine, but the xB is nearly $3,000 more expensive as its standard equipment puts the Echo to shame. Fifteen-inch tires, rear wipers, split folding rear seat, remote entry, power windows and mirrors, power steering, air conditioning, anti-lock brakes, a Pioneer stereo with a single-disc CD player are all standard on the xB, and either optional or not available on the Echo.

Toyota needed to make a statement with Scion, and it decided to do it with appearance and guerrilla marketing. If they had asked me, I would have suggested a stronger engine or an optional turbo-charger to make it both fashionable and fashionably fast.