The Scion xB looks like nothing else on the road. Even the boxy 2003 Honda Element seems almost curvaceous next to this exercise in extreme angularity.
Side body panels composed of sheets of virtually flat metal and glass join at right angles with a flat roof, a flat hood and a flat liftgate. Only the barest hint of a curve softens the front end and windshield.
Tall doors open wide. Top-hinged outside door handles fit smoothly into the xB's slab-sided styling, but they're less ergonomic and less friendly to fingernails than open, full-round handles like those found, ironically, on the xB's more traditionally styled sibling, the Scion xA. A bonus in a smallish vehicle like this one is that six-footers can walk beneath the open liftgate without fear of gouging an eye or cracking a skull.
Not to be left out, the interior of the Scion xB offers something significant to get used to, too. Instead of their traditional location directly in front of the driver, the instruments huddle in a slight depression centered on the top of the dash. By way of explanation, the car maker says this placement makes the instruments easier to see because they're closer to both the driver's line of sight through the windshield and the driver's eyes' focal plane. It no doubt helps that this also saves cost in a car built in both right-hand and left-hand drive versions. As for driving the car, initially, at least, encountering a blank landscape of nicely textured plastic between the spokes of the steering wheel where gauges "ought" to be takes some acclimation. Once acclimated, the driver finds a large, black-on-white speedometer, a smallish tachometer and an even smaller fuel gauge.
The seats are more like chairs than car seats, raised somewhat above the mostly flat floor. Side bolsters on the seat back and seat bottom cushions are minimal, so entry and exit are relatively unhindered. The design of the seats indicates the Scion xB is not intended to be a sports car. The floor-mounted shift lever falls readily to hand, as does the hand-operated emergency brake. Pedals are ergonomically placed.
The broad expanses of glass make outward visibility stellar, easing some of the stress often triggered by urban traffic and tight parking spaces.
Interior quality is better than decent, especially given the xB's price point. Fit and finish are up to Toyota's standards. The stereo is mounted above the air conditioning controls, where logic says it should be. the A/C settings are adjusted with basic knobs, buttons and lever. But the stereo plays to people to whom directional buttons and PDA cursor pads are intuitive. The Scion's interior stylists missed the boat on the dash-mounted vents. Eyeball shaped, these could have been allowed to rotate in all planes, like those on the Toyota Tercel. Instead, the xB's pivot only vertically.
As severe as the xB's outside is, it delivers on its promise of a roomy inside. Next to the two cars Toyota expects the Scion to go head to head with, the Honda Civic and the VW Golf, the xB leads in virtually every passenger compartment measurement, and generally not by small amounts. Remarkably, the Scion xB offers more passenger room than the larger and taller Honda Element.
Scion xB delivers about 6 inches more front and rear headroom and 3 to 5 inches more legroom than Civic and Golf offer. Amazingly, the xB boasts nearly 3 inches more front-seat headroom and 7 inches more rear-seat headroom than the Element, despite the Element being 6 inches taller. The Element does offer a lot more front-seat hip room, however, and slightly more rear-seat legroom.
For hauling booty away from the local flea market and garage sales, the Scion xB offers a smidgen more space than the Civic and the Golf. The Element tops the xB, however, offering 74.6 cubic feet of cargo space versus the xB's 43.4 cubic feet. And be forewarned, ordering the subwoofer speaker requires forfeiting about 2 square feet of the cargo area's floor space.
Cubby space is about normal for the class. There are the usual map pockets in the doors, cupholders front and rear and so on. There's a nook in the lower half of the dash to the left of the steering column, a cranny to the right of the column and a visually symmetrical, but taller and wider, shelf-like opening above the glove box.
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