Why did it fail?

why did it fail?

I personally like the idea of Pic related, imagine putting godly subs in that, just having a car for being a sound demon is the dream IMO, of course have other cars, but I dream of decking pic related with subs that don't fuck with aesthetics, and have a(n) aesthetically pleasing music car

The high H-Point (seating plane) and boxy shape making it super roomy inside made it an unexpected hit with senior citizens and boomers which turned that whole "cool car for young people" concept on its ear. The xB never struck me like a high performance car but I still liked it for its looks and then-innovative interior. But it being a surprise geezer ride probably jinxed all that exotic/JDM cred it had for itself.

The same reason most youth-oriented automotive endeavors fail.
Young people can't afford new cars.

>The high H-Point (seating plane) and boxy shape making it super roomy inside made it an unexpected hit with senior citizens and boomers which turned that whole "cool car for young people" concept on its ear.
That's what happened with the second gen model.
First gen model was adored by young people and still has a cult following to this day.

Scion's had a relatively low cost though, toyota thought the income would come from teens reselling a tuned, modified Scion, but from what I can tell you can't do fuck all to the xB's?

They seemed to shill the shit out of the special edition xB's but they weren't tuned AFAIK, just special bodykits, different wheels and special paintjobs, and more trick stuff in the interior

Toyota did have a cool pricing program where the MSRP wasn't smoke and mirrors, just MSRP+options+dealer addons you felt like getting=price of your car.

But then again they were catering to the brokest age group of society so I think Scion was likely fucked before they ever started.

The 1NZ-FE engine (the 1.5L used in 04-06 xB's) has decent aftermarket support including forged internals, turbo kits, and supercharger kits. There's aftermarket for them. Just gotta know where to look.
There used to be a company that sold an ITB intake manifold setup for it, but they went under from what I can find.

"Relatively low cost" doesn't mean shit when your target market is flipping burgers or drowning in student loan debt.
People under 25, by and large, cannot afford new cars. They might be able to afford a CPO car at best but most of them are going the $3k Civic route.

How much HP and NM can you expect to wring out of a 1.5L anything though? I'm guessing no more than 200 HP without grenading the motor

The xB was designed mostly as a rolling A/V platform, not a hektik racer. It was for the guy who wanted to cram as much aftermarket entertainment as he could into his car. However those guys can't afford both a new car AND a bunch of equipment so they bought the new equipment and found cheaper used cars to put it in.
Toyota trying to make out-of-the-box tuner cars just showed that they really didn't understand the economics of the tuner scene.

Saturn had early success with the same "the price is the price" scheme, but Saturn was riding out the Dot Com boom when new car sales were skyrocketing. Saturn also marketed to a wider audience, the whole "Saturn Family" spiel where everybody, Mom, Dad, Junior and Grandma all drive the same badge.

most forced induction kits are rated for around ~150 HP since they're designed for stock internals. Stil an impressive output for such a small motor. On a similar note, there's this n/a high revving screamer gem which made around 190-200 HP N/A and went into a retired one-make-race Toyota Echo racecar (hatchback model in Canada)

That's impressive but what's the engine life on tricked up small motors like that? I am guessing not very long.

Yes I seen that in the vendor plaza at a Formula D event at my local speedway, bunch of xBs that packed full of subs and amps with flipdown HDTVs that took up the whole hatch area with built in Xbox/PS3 systems and neato neon/LED mood lighting everywhere else.

well, those one make race cars had to last an entire season. Beyond that, no one cared. This is the car that engine went into btw.

That's pretty cool user but you see what I am getting at. Those motors have a whole team of pit crew mechanics that can tear it down and rebuild it in their sleep, how do you think that motor would hold up being DD'ed?

oh. After that Yaris was retired, the guy who bought it from the race team (and painted it a pretty OEM metallic blue) and went a few months DDing it (after converting it back into a road car) before having issues. He got curious and had it dynoed, but IIRC something happened while on the dyno, he abandoned the engine and swapped in a stock version. Thing was revving to like 9-10 grand IIRC.

Forum the build thread was on is gone now though.

The tC was closest Scion got to accomplishing their goal, as it was their best selling models AND it had the lowest average owner age.
Average owner age was in the high 20s (whereas Scion's total average age was almost 40) but that's a really narrow market segment. People under 25 still couldn't afford it and people over 30 wanted something with four doors and more cargo space. Tuners didn't really like it because it was too heavy and soft riding.
That just left 27 year olds with OK paying jobs who wanted their last "fun" before settling down into their 30s and buying a Camry or Accord.

bought pic related last week, thoughts?

Do you like it?

The xB is just a rebadged bB which was designed for Japanese 20-somethings as a practical vehicle.
When it came over to America it did serve as a decent platform for the aftermarket trends of the time. It helped that Toyota was pushing it as a blank canvas ready to be customized. It was something quirky and different.

I enjoy owning mine. I was initially interested in it based on appearance but came to love it for its practicality and upright seating.

Trying to create a whole new badge just to attract younger buyers was a dumb move. They should have just offered the tC and the xB as entry level Toyotas and set up a good CPO scheme to flip the first few models years over from older to younger buyers.
Ford and Honda don't really have trouble attracting younger buyers because their small cars have a broad appeal like that. They dangle a carrot like the ST or RS to get attention then offer a good deal on a lower trim CPO Fiesta or Civic.

My dad bought 3 new Saturns over the years because of the "price is the price "scheme"", now he buys from carmax for the same reason. I can't blame him, I hate dealing with sales tactics too.

I think Saturn, and to a similar extent Scion, appealed to older people because it was a lot like how you used to buy cars before the Trim Package status wars of the 80s.
There was no ES, LES, STS, TVC15 stuff. You just went in to the dealer, told him which car you wanted and he handed you a list of options to tick off. The price was determined by how many options you picked.
It's the same reason they started gravitating towards Korean cars, fully loaded base models and a built in warranty. Easy shopping experience.

So how the hell did the Kia Soul kill off the XB when that thing was smaller, less reliable and uglier than the xb?

Better yet how the fuck did Kia shut out the boxy car market from Toyota, Honda and Nissan?

Cheaper sticker price and a comprehensive warranty.
>and lol funny hamster car!

>why did it fail?
Old people liked it and anything old people do is uncool.

The Kia was cheaper and was marketed to a broader consumer base.
The Cube was just a bit too weird and the Element was well loved but also the most expensive of all the box wagons.
Also they all had the AMC Pacer problem, after the first few years almost everybody that wanted one (and could afford one) already had one so new sales started to dip more each following year.

Meme magic marketing with that damn hamster. None of the other cars in that segment advertised as hard as KIA did.

>Going into debt for a car you can't afford
>Being this retarded
Do you really think people will fall for this marketing spiel?

I've also heard that these can go on forever with proper maintenance, every time I see one on craigslist it's between 200-400k

was considering maybe getting one if my civic dies

Millenials are the first generation in American history to be poorer than their their previous ones. They tend to live in cities. As they cannot afford houses in the burbs. Internet connectivity furter reduces urge to drive.

>Millenials are the first generation in American history to be poorer than their their previous ones.
This is because wages have been stagnant for 30+ years. The minimum wage is worth less now than it was in 1968. Meanwhile prices for other things like education required for better paying jobs, and heathcare costs have been going through the roof due to the privatization of student loans and the profit motive of US healthcare.
Raising the minimum wage, tying it to inflation, offering free college tuition to public colleges and universities, and expanding medicare into a single payer system for everyone like every other industrialized country.
The private market has tried and failed to solve these issues because they have no incentive to.

>Raising the minimum wage, tying it to inflation, offering free college tuition to public colleges and universities, and expanding medicare into a single payer system for everyone like every other industrialized country.
would go a long way toward solving the issues. Typing faster than I can think.

Why would you want something with that much interior space for a stereo, ignoring the question of why you would want something that looks like that.

brainlet spotted

>implying that design is not Aesthetically appealing to people
>implying there is a thing as "Too much space" for a soundsystem