2005 Scion xB Test Drives

2005 Scion xB

Toyota's new marque is aimed at young buyers, but the people who seem to like this unique vehicle best are parents.

"It doesn't make any sense. When you can get a pretty killer car for $14,000, why would you buy a new one?"

This isn't us talking. It's a 24-year-old, college-educated male who, like a lot of his peers, lives with his dad and has minimal expenses. He drives a used car -- his third used car -- this one purchased from his father when Dad bought a new vehicle. The car his father bought? A Honda Element, a vehicle that was brought out to appeal not to Dad but to his son. With the Element, Honda did succeed in lowering its median buyer age, but so far the average Element owner is 42, not 22.

The 24-year-old said the Element, "is pretty cool," but he hasn't seen anyone his age driving one. "They're all like my dad." Not that Honda cares that much about the age of an Element buyer. With 67,000 units sold last year, the crossover is a runaway sales success. And Honda enjoys a unique niche: While the brand's new vehicles appeal to people in their 40s, used Hondas enjoy a strong and loyal following among the twentysomething "tuner" crowd who like to add performance parts to Civics and Accords.

Meanwhile Toyota has a tougher fight to get younger buyers.

Despite Toyota's growing slice of the new car market, Camrys and Corollas do not resell to "tuners" nearly as well as used Hondas do. In fact, new Toyota cars are increasingly appealing to a graying buyer. This is good for now -- middle aged buyers have money -- but Toyota looks at the year 2020 and fears that eventually it will become Oldsmobile. For that reason, Toyota has started a whole new division called Scion.

So far, 75% of all Scion buyers opt for the $13,680 Scion xB, the subject of this review. The xA, which we covered a few weeks back, is selling fairly weakly, but Scion has strong hopes for the sporty tC, a two-door coupe that goes on sale this summer when the Scion brand rolls out nationally (currently only 20 states have Scion dealers). Still, the average buyer is expected to be about 35, not 22.

How come? For one thing, 22-year-olds usually aren't swimming in dough. They just can't afford a new car, even if they might want one. Also, like our random 24-year-old male, they're a fairly savvy bunch. They know there's a glut of used and quite reliable iron on the market.

All that said, the xB is selling, despite being based on a fairly ordinary Toyota Echo platform and looking for all the world like the black-sheep love child of a tryst between a Mini Cooper and that Honda Element. What's the appeal? Stay tuned.