I drove one... interior made me feel like I'd break it... had the hideous dash... wouldn't want one.
(JUST wanted to add this...
The interior made me fill like Will Smith in the first MEN in Black, when he was handed the "little cricket" gun, and said, "I feel like I'm going to BREAK this DAMN THING!"

 

to the OP: your username is awesome, plus rep to you my friend.;)

and i agree: the xd did NOT win because of the stereo. (solbrothers, why do you guys sell them without the stereos? that must be something that YOUR dealer is doing, not toyota. i guess there are a lot of kids wanting to rice it out asap?)

it won because some of the guys at edmunds found it more solidly built, (which being a newer car, it does have a beefier feeling than the fit) and has a smoother ride. It 'performed' better from an acceleration standpoint as well.


all of these things are addressed by the new fit. and the current fit still blows it away from a handling standpoint. styling is subjective though. remember that the fit they compared it to was their long termer that had already racked up a over 10k on the odometer.

the xd is not a bad choice, its just not the one with the most character.

 

well, 140 in the civic is only a 15hp jump with virtually no tq advantage. but i will admit the 1.8 in the civic is better. its just that the xd's enigne isn't weak per say.

 

I test drove the XD and it felt cramped and the front window seemed small. 4 hours later I test drove the Fit and it just seemed larger with a larger front windshield for better vision. I tried the MT first and the Fit won hands down, the clutch was much more responsive. The power really made no difference, its an econo 4 banger... How much could you really do? I ended up with a AT Fit and have no regrets.

 

There's a whole thread in which we've already debated the xD vs. Fit review. The points they said about the xD are rather weak when compared... they said the xD was better because it had a bigger engine but then noted that the Fit isn't far behind it in acceleration. They said the Fit was worse because it didn't have the stability control yet it out handled the xD in their same test. I'd take their review with a grain off salt and you're better of making your own conclusions by driving both.

Most compelling reason to get a Fit is to not have to be bothered by the stupid gauge position of the Scion.

 

i don't work at a dealer. i work at the pre-delivery facility. we get the cars directly from JDMland. the cars sit... dealers ask for certain cars.. we do the installs on those cars such as optional alarms/stereos/roofracks/bug deflectors/wheels and tires/ etc. a LOT of vehicles go out without a single install. we just sent out a large amount of YARIS' without radios. kinda sad LOL. how much does it cost to put a radio in a car? how much do you save? lol.

ive never been to a toyota dealer, so i don't know what buying one is like. i would guess you go through a catalog and pick the "options" you want. most of the toyota options are aftermarket parts. NOT trd. parts like "bazooka", "razo" and others.

 

I own an 04 xB, had it since new. My girlfriend has an 07 Fit sport. Honestly, we would both trade the fit for an xA any day of the week. As far as the xD goes, I cant sit in it, I am 6'5", and it doesnt work out too well. I know everyone is saying the Fit is sooo much more roomy, but it is not. The Fit is an adventure getting in and out itself.

My xB now has 32000 miles, and is 4 years old, and still has not been in the shop for warranty work. The Fit has been in 3 times now.

Tercels may not be praised by teenagers wanting a 4" universal muffler like the crx, but they are running around with 400,000 miles on them, with no mechanical problems. So lets not bad mouth a great vehichle because it doesnt appeal to the "modding" crowd.

The bigger engine does make a difference, maybe not so much if there arent any hills on the highway where you live, but when you have to climb up and down mountains just to get anywhere, it sure does help keep the rpm's down on the car; furthermore, the xB does way better power wise on the highway than the fit, even with a 4 speed auto, I can only imagine what the extra power would do for it.

Has anyone ever seen Honda tour around the country trying to get the word out for their cars? We were driving around Albuquerque New Mexico a couple of weeks ago, and saw a scion trailer, and some banners so we decided to stop in. They were giving out free, no pressure test drives in all 3 scion models, just so people could try them out. After you drove the car, you then got free merchandise, and a gift card, just for checking them out. They do this stuff all over the country, just for advertising.

Scion also sponsors car shows, where they send out project cars, trailers, displays, and even Chris Rado with his drag car, just for a good time. The all scion shows I have been to had free food and drinks for the participants, tons of free prizes, and more prize money for the winners than any other show I have ever seen, even in magazines.

And the biggest point of all, to me at least: If you get an xD, you can join websites like www.scionlife.com It is one of the most informative forums I have ever been on. When you ask a question, you get a detailed answer, not just a "No, It will rub." or "noone has done it, so it wont work." I dont know if it is the honda owner mentaliy, or if it is the Fit owners, but this website is so biased and unhelpful 9 times out of 10, it ruins the entire experience. Just as this post has shown, people will bad mouth something first, and then if they feel like it, they might back it up with a fact.

I hope this helps in your decision, it is not conventional advice, but advice none the less. Good Luck, and hopefully your choice works out great!

Dustin

 

werd. i would have bought an xb because i think they look great dumped and low offset wheels. i have spent a lot of time driving xa's and xb's. and from what ive heard, xb owners often sell their vehicle for an xa.

 

So, Matt, you work for the guys who pissed me off when we bought the '06 xB for my wife. I tried to order it with the add-on rear anti-sway bar and was told that the port where the Scions arrive from Japan would not install any undercarriage parts. The dealer would be very happy to add the TRD bar for an atrocious extra cost, so I said "no thanks", then bought a Progress rear bar and installed it myself in 10 minutes.

 

probably LOL. the 06 is the first gen correct? actually, i don't think we ever installed swaybars on the first gen xb. we DO install those things now. we didn't have the correct lift back then. we do now.

 

Thanks, and good post.

 

Another good unbiased post. The Honda bias is very common for some reason as seen in some earlier posts. Check out most Honda forums and all they do is bash other makes. We shouldn't be blind to the qualities of other brands - they all have their strengths.

It's funny, I've read that many xD owners also test drove the Fit and said the xD won hands down for them. It's all preference.

As for me, I'm a Toyota AND Honda fan hence this comparo. So I look at them each with no pre-judgment and will buy the one that is best for me.

 

That's what Scion is all about. Customers get tons to choose from for the custom job. An xD is always sold with a sound system. The customer simply get's to choose from 3 grades including a Nav based one. Just like they can choose from an array of wheels to choose from right before delivery.

 

I searched for any disussion on the xD and nothing came up. :confused:

The xD's gauges are right behind the wheel like the Fit. Are you thinking of the xB or xA?

 

i've been to scion life and guess what? if you visit an xd vs. the fit thread, they'll badmouth the fit too. Scion owners are no better off than a lot of honda guys. I"m sorry your fit has been in 3 times, but i can't fathom why you would turn it in for a cramped xa.

Realize to that there are plenty of scion owners who have had to take their cars in for issues as well, its not a honda thing.


and those crx's? yeah, they are running around with 10000000 miles on em too...And they are FUN to drive.:cool:


as far as preferences go, fithpp, wait for the new fit. it addresses the current fits short comings, and builds upon its stregnths. some people may like the xd better, but numbers don't lie: from a performance standpoint, the fit is better.

not to shabby for a seven year old car. i wonder how well the xd will hold up against the competion in seven years....:)

 

Well if you cannot fit in the xD, but you can fit in the Fit, albeit it being tight, I believe that would make the Fit more roomy than the xD...

What'd the Fit go in for? That's the first time I've heard of a Fit needing that many repairs. Mine has had 0 problems with 16,000 miles on it.

What does a Tercel have to do with current Toyotas? Ford used to make good cars too at one point.

This would be the only thing I'd give to the xD, and even so 20 HP isn't all that much. Also as stated it's not exactly fair to compair the current Fit's engine to the new xD's. The L15 is 7 years old, compare that to the previous xA which had 100-110hp. The 2nd gen Fit also has ~125hp as well which is on par with the xD.

I'm confused as to what this pertains to... perhaps Scion has to go around advertising because they don't sell as well as Honda? Whatever the reason it's irrevelant.

I think I'm gonna go trade my Fit in right now for the Scion just so I can go to a car show; that's a great reason to buy one car over another.

That's a rather over-generalized statement... many new members state how informative this site is and how much it helped them in decisions. You will find crappy posts in any forum you go to; I bet even scionlife has it's fair share.

 

This is no different than the age old debate "EVO vs. STI." The STI looks a bit better on paper but the EVO will beat it in most real world situations stock for stock.

I say get whatever fits your needs, your budget, and puts a smile on your face when you drive... GL on your decision...

 

idk dude, we send out a bunch of scion xb's, xd's, and tc's with a gaping hole in the dash. if the dealership or customer installs a radio, i wouldn't have a clue.

 

well, i think there was this thing called the Honda Civic Tour at one point in time....i even attended one many moons ago where incubus was the headliner, back when incubus was popular (and good, but that's besides the point).

anyways, every car is going to have it's good and bad points, and every car is going to have people that love it and people that hate it. personally, i didn't even test drive a scion because i had no interest in one, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, it just doesn't fit my taste. i think that fitfreak is one of the most helpful, informative car communities out there, and if there is any bias towards the fit, that's because it's a FIT website. of course most of us that own fits now love them, or we wouldn't be on here in the first place!

rant/over

 

Hmm I forget what the title was but it was discussed the same week the video came out. Yeah I was thinking of the xA and subsiquently the Yaris too with the center gauges; my bad.