Video: Econobox Comparison

They've actually been around since Toyota's youth brand Scion, unleashed the first xB on our shores earlier this decade. Now, in its second generation, the xB faces some competitors in the Nissan Cube and the Kia Soul, both new to the market. These cars are certainly hip and they pack plenty of value. But you give something up compared to what you could get for a more traditional car in this price range. We'll explain why. We'll start with cabin quality. It's pretty clear, as soon as you get into these cars, that style kinda came before substance. The xB has sort of a dark industrial feel to it. Some of these controls in the center, pretty crude feeling. The Kia Soul is better, especially with a lot of its controls, but a lot of these panels don't wear so well. Our tester has 9,000 miles on it and you can see there's scratches everywhere. Cube actually has the group's best cabin quality. Nice controls, good finishes on some of the plastics here. Still not entirely consistent. You can see those exposed screw heads in the doors, these steering wheel controls kinda creak a lot as you press them. One option here is this sort of carpeted area. You can put atop of the dashboard, it sticks here. One of our editors called it, "A dashboard toupee." It kinda encourages you to put stuff on it. But then there's a warning label on the back that says you're not supposed to. I'm going to go ahead and call the toupee, "Stupee" And none of these cars are actually all that fun to drive. The cube is kinda the least fun. It's quiet and has a comfortable ride but it's slow. And the handling is sort of, not really that secure. The low shifter has kind of long throws and it doesn't really encourage spirited driving. The Kia Soul is better. Ours is a sport-tuned Kia Soul Sport. It's got heavier steering, but that doesn't really deliver any better precision, unfortunately. There's more power in the Cube but shifters kinda sloppy. And we thought the clutch take-up was a little bit too short. That leaves us with the xB, which actually is probably the closest to, you know, a reasonable car to drive here. Good power. There's a secure feeling, stick shift. The steering is nice and lively. Ride quality is actually closer to the Cubes. Unfortunately, the brakes are kinda mushy, still as a road tripping car, this is probably the best. The Cube doesn't actually do so well. And the Soul might be in between. You certainly give a few things up with this class. What do you get? Well, like I said before, you get a lot of value. You get a lot of space. A lot of safety features, a lot of convenience features for the money. You'll have to kind of weigh that against some of these cars, lesser attributes. See if you like their styling side of the balance is worth it. <v Narrator>For more car related news, go to Cars.com or our blog, KickingTires.net.