Scion XB

[FormulaTwo]

I am not actually new here (as a few of you will know) but I would just like to introduce my new car and kick off my return to the gas saver swimming pool.

I spent a very long time researching what type of car to get. You probably wouldn't assume that considering my last car got somewhere close to 60mpg and now I am driving something shaped like a brick.

My goal is to push this 32.5mpg(combined) little box past the 50 mpg mark.

The woman I bought it from had an AEM (TRD: according to Scion) Cold Air intake, rear spoiler and alloy wheels installed at the dealership.

All of these things need to go as soon as possible.
The wheels, although not very heavy are hideous.
The cold air intake will be replaced with a warm air.
And the spoiler? Not so sure what to do with that yet. I am not at all sure whether I am in the mood to ugly up the rear of the car with AirTabs just yet.

First fill up put me at exactly 30mpg; Which I can not deal with at all, so I am eager to begin the mods.
I have already fixed a few things....
- I found out that Toyota/Denso had installed wrongly gapped sparked plugs on some models. Turns out mine was one of them. Plugs were supposed to be gapped to .044, mine were at .29. (So all you XB guys on here might want to check that.)
- After checking my tire pressures I found out that they were all set to 20psi. Increased to 40.

Hopefully I can hit 35mpg+ on the next fill up.

[Erdrick]

Man.. I loved The Egg. Did it die on you? That was one of the nicest-looking modded cars on this site. Probably helps that I love white cars, but still, it was an effective and cool-looking little car.

The xB has potential, but the aerodynamics on that thing are... less than good. Seeing what you did with The Egg though, you might want to look into importing the 1.3 liter engine from the bB in Japan. Either way, I look forward to what you will be doing with this car.

[FormulaTwo]

Thanks man, I appreciate the comments on the Egg.

It did die on me so I sold it to a friend, who has been trying to get it running since. It is still sitting in my driveway, which is somewhat awkward considering I sold it to him in July. (I guess thats what friends are for: Giving you money for your old broken down cars, then letting you keep them)
He swapped in a D16y8 from a junk yard and is dealing with some serious issues. Whenever you give the car gas, it stalls.
Everything has been replaced and inspected. Well, I say everything, but the issues continue, so I guess not EVERYTHING. ( I just say that because there is a huge list of things that we have replaced)

Anyway....
I am hoping to get over 50 mpg without modifying Aerodynamics. (The only option I would consider is some sort of an under body covering)
I need to look into the bB a little more. The scion websites I have been to mention them often, but mostly because people want their "Emblems".

I initially wanted to build a MPG monster. I looked into getting a Honda Insight or a VW Jetta TDI(to run Biodiesel).

Insight - I would have had very little room in, and the $3000 cost of batteries would end up costing me more than the benefits of its impressive FE. (Although Honda will replace the batteries for up to 10 years under warranty, I didn't want to deal with this.)

TDI - I could not find a TDI with decent mileage. The average was 150,000 miles(on 2002 models). Also, The price for a TDI was insane compared to their gas equivalents(almost twice as much). Finally a Grease kit and all of the equipment for processing etc... would have run about $3500 or so. Even though Grease would have run about $1 a gallon to produce/obtain, I could have bought gas in the Scion for the next 3 years due to the price of the kit.

There were several other things that scared me away from those two cars. It seems like both cars suffer from pervasive wiring issues.

With these things considered (battery, TDI grease kit, and getting 40mpg with the XB) The XB will end up costing me LESS to drive over the course of 4 years.

I hope that all makes sense, I work 3rd shift and it is past my bed time...
Either way, Just as the Egg, I will do my best to make the Scion look decent and perform.

[DarbyWalters]

Seems like the spoiler on that would help with some AirTabs added at the appropriate locations. What size engine did the first gen come with?...I know the new ones have grown in Cubic Inches.

[GasSavers_BIBI]

THIS is what every one that needs space and buy instead a SUV or a VAN should buy god dami**. How a Yaris engine can do some ok performance in such a none aerodynamique cube, that is heavier, well maybe cause 106 is all a human being will ever need to displace himself (not to mention that he can do it with 0, YES PEOPLE WE CAN WALK).

Nice going on the Scion XB, but I don't know WHY is that a MARGINAL phenomenon. I wish Toyota themselve could sell the product and make it to a bigger level. THey should do a Scion XB with 7 places, THAT would leave no arguments for a VAN (of course they could add some torque for the extra weight, but still....).

[kamesama980]

Originally Posted by BIBI

THIS is what every one that needs space and buy instead a SUV or a VAN should buy god dami**. How a Yaris engine can do some ok performance in such a none aerodynamique cube, that is heavier, well maybe cause 106 is all a human being will ever need to displace himself (not to mention that he can do it with 0, YES PEOPLE WE CAN WALK).

Nice going on the Scion XB, but I don't know WHY is that a MARGINAL phenomenon. I wish Toyota themselve could sell the product and make it to a bigger level. THey should do a Scion XB with 7 places, THAT would leave no arguments for a VAN (of course they could add some torque for the extra weight, but still....).

Then it IS a minivan. The rest is kinda narrowminded babbling. I'd never own one nor would it be efficient for me to do so and I could think of as many people that wouldn't as would like them.

formulatwo: as long as you like it, more power to you. Most of the car is about as aerodynamic as it's going to get without massive structural reorganization so don't fret too much. I agree that you can get some decent FE out of it even shaped as it is. one of the things often overlooked here that I've noticed is exhaust: I don't know what's out there but take a look for aftermarket headers and exhaust systems that may free up a few horses...and MPG. on Cressidas headers and exhaust are usually good for 5-10% improvement over stock HP and FE, but then we're pretty low mpg to start with too.

[JanGeo]

I guess I am chopped liver of something guys because I have been driving an xB for 2 years now HELLO!!

Fomular Two WELCOME to the world of the xB! Keep the rear spoiler they claim it improves aero, the CD is .35 which is pretty good. The ideal shape is supposed to be a tear drop and guess what . . . the front is pretty round if viewed from the top, it is just the back end that needs some work and I think AirTabs could be the answer but haven't tried it yet. I hear from others that 4oz of Acetone in the gas it the best amount to use not 3oz. Tires at 40 psi and with any luck and some better lube in the engine and tranny you should average over 40mpg easy with some hypermiling. I hope you don't have an automatic! Oh yeah and it already comes with a header.

[Erdrick]

I am the owner of a 1998 Jetta TDI. I bought it for a few reasons. One, I wanted to drive a turbo diesel. They are huge in Europe, and I wanted in on the action. Two, I wanted the great fuel economy that they provide. Three, I am guessing that there will be a huge market for diesels in a few years. Not everyone can buy new cars, so a lot of people will be looking for used diesels when Honda and the others start bringing their oil burners over to the USA. I hope to sell my car at that time for close to what I paid for it.

My car has 130k on the odo, and has a salvage title. It was a pretty light hit though, and there was no structural damage. Go figure. Anyway, I practically stole it, so I am sure that I can pass it along to someone in a few years when I move on to my next car.

[Three6Eight]

Nice ride!

My friends girlfriend has one and I was shocked that it had more front and rear headroom then a Durango.

Neat little things. They look cool cause they look like mini astro vans

[Improbcat]

I just bought an xB this afternoon as well. I've got similar hopes for it.