While used car prices on the whole might be receding from pandemic highs, there are still some vehicles sitting up in the stratosphere, and this is one of them. A 2004 Scion xB recently sold on Bring A Trailer for $17.250, or $2,685 more than what this thing cost new. Yeah, this might be the funniest possible vehicle to put an “OVR MSRP” vanity plate on. So, even with just 6,000 miles on the clock, why on Earth would this automatic economy car sell for above MSRP twenty years later? Well, I reckon it comes down to two things: The Scion xB was a great car, and Scion itself was an incredible time.
Cast your mind back to the turn of the millennium, and Toyota wanted to become cool again. Sure, being the go-to brand for every Consumer Reports subscriber in the land was great for mainline business, but models like the Tercel and Corolla just didn’t resonate with young, hip buyers. So, Toyota assembled a skunkworks team and launched Project Genesis, a three-pronged approach to youth appeal containing the Echo, MR2 Spyder, and seventh-generation Celica. Yeah, that didn’t work at all. So, what did Toyota do? It tried again, using Los Angeles-area creative agency Fresh Machine for branding to create Scion, a sub-brand known for usually having the lowest median customer age in the industry.
Scion was a brand for weird Toyotas from overseas from the very beginning. The Scion xA was a rebadged Ist, while the Scion xB was a rebadged bB. This brave little toaster was just a boxy Echo designed for Japan and never really intended for Toyota’s American lineup. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Scion stumbled upon greatness. See, it turns out that the most efficient shape for moving people and their stuff in a given footprint is just a box. That’s why you don’t see any egg-shaped moving vans. The result? A genuine subcompact car with a whopping 43.4 cu.-ft. of cargo space with the rear seats folded down. Oh, but because it was still a subcompact car, it still got great fuel economy, was cheap to insure, easy to park, and didn’t cost an arm and a leg to buy. As a result, college graduates and seniors alike loved the xB because it was great at doing everything they needed a car to do.
Oh, and it was incredibly reliable. Jason’s xB survived Tiff Needell, a Panera broccoli and cheese soup bread bowl, thousands of miles of driving with a persistent misfire, and even Jason himself. That’s the man who broke a Ford pickup truck with a supposedly indestructible straight-six. In fact, it’s still going! A reader rescued it, de-moldified the interior, and is now just straight-up driving it. What a rockstar of a car.
Just as important as the car was the brand itself. Scion was loved. Scion was so fucking loved. Loved with molly eyes and fluorescent hearts and dancefloor sweat and crisp evening air. Not just as a maker of decent cars, but as a weird sub-imprinted that seemed to stand for the culture, because although it might not have had the best vehicle development budget, it knew how to throw a party and make owning a car fun, even if the mechanicals of the car itself were fairly pedestrian.
Scion knew that memories make a car great, which might explain why Scion had its own record label, its own series of music festivals, its own racing programs, its own film imprint. While other automakers were handing out brochures and posters at auto shows, Scion was giving out yo-yos and CD samplers, stuff you could have a good time with. Oh, and when it came to music, Scion AV genuinely had a good business model. It covered production, licensing, and distribution, but artists held onto creative control, kept their ownership, and saw royalties because Scion wasn’t taking much off the top. It might’ve seemed like the sort of utopian marketing project created by a college grad just trying to make sure their art friends got paid, but for a while, it actually worked.
Then there was the fact that Scion would let you accessorize the crap out of your car if you liked. We aren’t just talking floor mats and rain visors, we’re talking superchargers, big brake kits, skirt package, everything you needed to terrorize your neighbors. All done through your dealership, all proven to fit, and you could even get warranties and financing on many of these accessories. In short, Scion wanted buyers to have fun, but also wanted to keep things relatively affordable, a combination that almost seems crazy today when everything has premium aspirations.
Sadly, Scion didn’t last. It couldn’t. The plan of frequent model cycles combined with low margins took a hit during the 2008 recession, and as overseas Toyotas gained bloat, so did Scion’s lineup. Eventually, Scion needed to be killed to revitalize Toyota’s image, because how cool could Toyota be if it had a supposedly cooler sub-brand? It was an experiment without a clear end from the start, but man, was it ever a good time.
All that history brings us to this car here. With just 6,297 miles on the clock, this Black Cherry Pearl 2004 Scion xB looks like an absolute time capsule from an era when jeans were getting skinnier and song titles by alternative bands were growing increasingly ridiculous. Its bumpers have escaped the wrath of street parking, its wheel trims haven’t flown off on the 405, or the BQE, or the New Jersey Turnpike, it just looks fresh in a way few examples do.
On the inside of this Scion xB, the upholstery still looks mint, the carpets still look new, the urethane steering wheel still looks surprisingly chewable, unmarred by hundreds of thousands of miles of sweaty hands. There appear to be a few slight depressions in the rear seat, but considering what else went on in the rear seats of many Scions, I wouldn’t worry about it one bit.
The 1.5-liter 1NZ-FE four-cylinder engine should run like a peach until the heat death of the universe, provided you change the oil, keep gas in the tank, and don’t let it overheat. Even the four-speed automatic ought to still shift smoothly. You’ll get to where you’re going eventually, just believe in it. This thing’s a good memory machine, one that the new owner will remember for a long, long time.
So yeah, $17,250 for a pure slice of nostalgia for some of the better bits of the 2000s? The bloghaus/MySpace/tuner scene/flash photography/unadulterated weirdness part of it rather than the war/political division/terror/recession part of it? That’s not the worst price in the world for that sort of hit. Scion as a brand may be dead, but long may the memories of it and the cars it made run.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer, Scion, Scion A/V)
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My first new car was a 2006.5 xB in Blue Onyx. Was a great car, about 1500 miles in, had a O2 sensor die and turn on the check engine light, after that was fixed, never saw the light again. Drove it to 115,000 and all it needed was tires, brakes, and routine oil charges.
Traded it in on a Scion FRS, and loved that car for years too.
My first wife wanted one, when we needed to put the Caravan out to pasture. There were none on the lots in Austin, so we took an older used one for a test drive. I was suspicious so I kecked everyone out and did a “skid pad” circle in a parking lot, convinced it would at least get on 2 wheels if not fall over. Nope. So she ordered a Black Cheery 5 speed. Not long after I took a month off work and we drove from Austin to Louisiana, up the east coast to Massachusetts, and back, best road trip ever. Drove it from Austin to St. Paul when I got relocated it was great in the snow even. Endless items could fit in it, as well as 5 grown adults, and up until our divorce in 2012 the only thing that broke was the HVAC blower ($25 from a recycler).
Thing is, we were in our 40s, my neighbor in Austin bought one after use (50s) our neighbor in St. Paul had one (50s) most people we met we well over the 20 something demographic Scion was targeting.
on the other side of the coin, I knew a ton of people in the demographic they wanted that all had Scions, we had car clubs and all, with members both younger and older.
I still low key want to build a RS2.0 (Bright Yellow) XB someday, with all of the factory add-ons that I can find (Scion stuff is CHEAP now). I’m talking supercharger, strut bars, exhaust, and the TRD 19″ (those were HUGE in 2005) wheels. Perfect for future Lit-Wood shows.
I mentioned this on the Autopian Discord. There’s a first gen xB owner in my neighborhood and I think there’s a story there. When I first saw the car, I just assumed it was for one of the HS age kids. No, it’s dad’s car. It was in a wreck, then a junk yard Scion showed up and donated parts to get the the other one back on the road. I’ve seen it hauled off on a flat bed and returned. Everyone else at the household has newer vehicles. I have not been able to speak to the owner, but he drives it pretty much daily and looks ridiculously happy while doing so. I’m fairly confident he could afford a newer car, but chooses this one and will drive it until it literally cannot be used anymore.
The xB was also beloved by some musician friends of mine. Most other vehicles you could put that much gear into got WAY worse milage. This thing you could drive daily to your day job and use to get to the gig.
Yup, had a few DJ/musician friends with xB models because it could haul all their crap and (especially for the electronic DJs) could be optioned with the neon and aero kits to look the part.
I had a lot of fun with Scion when it was around, I got picked to go to that big owner party in Vegas they had that one year to use our cars in advertisements, I still have all of the swag they gave out.
I got a local dealership to sponsor our gas money, so we didn’t even need to pay for gas to drive to Vegas and then Scion payed for everything while we were there for a few days.
My tC is still my daily driver and still reliable as it ever was even with the supercharger on it.
I remember actually wanting an xB. The dealer/factory installed stuff was a major plus. I wanted the skirts and supercharger, of course. Instead, I bought a Kia Spectra (saving a good $3000 off sticker)…which to be fair did run for over 10 years without any issues whatsoever. In terms of usability, aesthetics, and desirability, though…
I bought a brand new 05 xB and loved that little thing. So many great road trips in it, until I hit a deer in Wyoming.
Also, that Scion Rock Fest line up is insane!!! I still see some of those bands today – in fact just saw The Well 2 nights ago.
Except for the lack of warranty, I think this is still a good price for this car. It’s not like the cheapest segment today is loaded with tech and convenience features. It has a standard double-din radio so you can update that however you like.
I had an ’05 this color with a 5 speed. I loved it. It was a fun car.
I am probably among the very few who bought 2 new Scions (xB, FR-S). I also got my brother to buy an xB (auto) and my mom bought an xD.
I caught the scion bug when I bought my 06 tC (it’s still my daily). then I got my mom an xD, then my dad got an xB for a while and my sister ended up getting an xB, then when that was totaled she got another xB. lol
not a scion anymore but spiritually, I want a GR86.
I have always liked and appreciated these xB’s. A neat little car. I don’t know if I would pay over original MSRP for one, but if money wasn’t an issue I can’t say I wouldn’t either.
Didn’t it turn out that instead of 20-somethings buying cars to customize, that Scions were primarily bought by older people who wanted a sensible, inexpensive car?
Yes… but possibly still younger than Camry buyers.
The original tC did end up popular with Millennials. I was in high school when it came out and a couple of them popped up in the parking lot very shortly thereafter, and in college a housemate had one. But those were probably bought and registered in a parent’s name and didn’t help the average buyer age much either.
Yeah the tC was probably it. It was a small coupe that your retiree couldn’t use to pick up hanging plants for the front porch, like they could in their xB.
Were you spying on me? Stop looking at my plants.
Scion was to Toyota, as Saturn was to GM.
Discuss.
Here, I’ll get us started. Both were an effort to attract new younger buyers with a fresh image, and were each hugely successful in developing a passionate following. However both had to be killed off when they actually started eating into the larger corporate, historical and financial, vested interest.
Similar sales models, Scion was a dedicated section of the showroom and no-dicker stickers too. However I don’t know that I would call Scion as a brand as having as passionate a following as Saturn buyers though. More individual models, like how the Element got a passionate following too and that was sold like any other Honda.
GM’s hope for Saturn was less specific about appealing to younger buyers, just keeping people from defecting to import brands or win them back over as many wouldn’t consider an American car (and still didn’t after), hence the separate dealers. Toyota dealers I don’t think cared as much as long as you left with something.
Another way they did match up though: the followup models lost the plot and weren’t received as favorably by the media or the public. GM started using Saturn in the 2000s like a test bed to work out the kinks of new platforms and tech. Scion almost had an early mover advantage in interesting small cars, because other models were following by the end of the decade like the Fit, Soul, and others, but the next generation came at a time when Toyota as a whole was struggling some and their mainstream products weren’t comparing as favorably to some other brands.
And if you were just looking for a cheap Toyota, a Corolla was close in sticker price, same or less OTD to most models, while being roomier/more comfortable/more economical.
Maybe as comparable to Geo and its Canadian equivalents in GM showrooms. Some unique products, but would have been served just as well by badging as the main brand to start. NIH syndrome wouldn’t have allowed that both for dealers and some buyers though.
Saturn wasn’t to attract young buyers, it was meant to steal sales from European imports.
Man, those hamsters sure knew how to party.
(nerd “ackshually” voice) mmm… you’re thinking of the Kia Soul ads run from 08-10.
(unless that was the joke?)
Whoops…. Yes, that was totally intended as a joke. Yup. For sure. On purpose.
I actually get this for these. The were and still are really unique as a vehicle (in the United States) when they were new, they had a tight cult following around then even when they were new, and Toyota infamously botched the next generation so badly to a level not seen since probably 80s GM. It’s a lot like the following Toyota Previas still have. In ten years this will probably have 200k miles on it.
Will be still driving my 09 xB till the end. My end that is. 95K and runs like a Swiss watch. Just a great vehicle, not a dime spent on it besides gas, tires, oil changes.
Just a ridiculously good value. My Dad drove an old first gen xB forever.
I test drove one of these back in the day, 5 speed. It was legit fun to hoon around, felt like I was driving the UPS van or something with the bolt upright seating position. Not a lot of power, I kept my foot buried in the floorboard the whole test drive. I kept thinking like Tim Allen though the whole test drive
What do we need??? MORE POWER!!!!!
It was RADICALLY different than the Ls1 Camaro Z28 I was driving at the time. And I liked that, also drove one of those crazy windshield rake Civic coupes. Felt way too much like my Camaro but with no power. And less practical vs the Camaro cause the trunk was a mail slot.
Decided that my down payment would get new tires and fix the ugly on the Camaro(effing stupid redneck backed into it with a drop hitch, destroyed the bumper and hood)
If there had been a moderately powerful engine available in these with a manual, I would have bought one. I love the packaging
I think the whole thing weighed ~2500 pounds. A stronger engine would have twisted it up like a wrung-out towel.
They offered a large sunroof for a year or so. Turned out the car couldn’t handle losing that much roof steel. I believe Toyota had to replace all the cars that had the sunroof installed.
My 92 Civic had 20 more HP with about the same weight. If they had an engine around 140-150HP it would have been a blast
Maybe it was an emissions thing? I know they sold this as an SUV, I assumed that was to reduce the average emissions. It was fun enough with the 1.5. It’s obviously not a sports car.
Scion rocked. I was there when they announced the bad news to everyone at the 2016 NYIAS. I was playing with a Scion-themed pinball machine at the time because, again, they rocked.
Shame no one bothers marketing cars to this demographic any more. All I see are ads featuring hot millionaires playing with upmarket trucks. They can all suck my xD!
That said, if this baby’s been sitting too long (old car + super low miles = red flag), you may end up putting in enough money to where a new base Corolla makes more sense.
Thats kinda a myth. It depends on HOW its been stored and used. In a garage, driven once or twice a month up to operating temp, ie a few hundred or couple thousand miles a year, its good to go.
Now if its stored outside, in a nasty old barn where rodents get to yeah that sucks. If if its left to sit for months/years at a time, yeah that sucks cause our ethanol fuel turns to varnish pretty quick now days. Not to mention rubber seals like the rear main seal, the valve cover gasket arent meant to sit for years at a time. The way those seals are engineered they assume you are going to drive the car.
But Toyota doesnt use shitty brittle plastic parts on the engine that “age out” like BMW or VW/Audi. So age related maladies are a good bit less risk.
I speak this from experience buying a couple super low mile 20-25 year old cream puffs. Daily drove them for the next 3 or 4 years with no issues
Now I kind of wish I had a shot at buying this thing. Although saying that winning bid out load makes me a little dizzy.
Also: no giant screen distracting the driver.
No nanny braking. You brake because you are the driver and you are responsible for your vehicle.
No nanny, “Hey, there’s someone in your blind spot.” It is easy to see the blind spot through the giant windows.
It carries a ton of shit, cuz wagon.
It’s low to the ground instead of having to take three steps up to the cabin, and then three steps down to get out.
The door are big so don’t have to bend over into an extremely acute angle just to get in. (I had this issue with a rented Chevy SUV, WAY bigger than my car, yet couldn’t figure out whether my ass goes in first, or my head, or my feet.)
Too bad it’s a manual. Because of that, yes, people are nuts!
My bestie has a Scion iA, which is a very different kettle of fish, but damn if that ersatz Mazda 2 isn’t a mini luxury car. I love driving it (minus points for the maw).
Additionally, check out prices for used Honda Fits. My 2015 EX with 80K miles might bring as much as $15K.
Jeez. In a quirk of COVID timing and probably the color of the car (orange), I picked up a 2018 Fit EX in 2020 for $15k out the door. It appears to have increased in value.
I hated that toaster on wheels when it came out and it still sucks today. I can’t imagen paying $17k for that turd. People are nuts.
https://i.imgflip.com/8zhcav.jpg
Context: for the same dough, you could *almost* buy a new Versa. Even at 20 years old, this is a better car than a new Versa.
You can always expect to pay more for a tight little cherry box.
I feel pretty fortunate that I lived in Denver while Speedwolf was still around. What a riot.
I test drove an xB prior to that time in Denver. Ended up with an Element. No regrets, and the AWD made it a great snowboarding car when I moved to Denver with it.
Wow, I found 1 good thing about these: The record label deal sounded cool…otherwise, as I said in yesterday’s Showdown: In my opinion, these are ugly boxes- I just don’t like the design and PUT THE DAMN SPEEDOMETER IN FRONT OF THE WHEEL! This is a ripoff, to me
Yes, Toyota engines are great and will be good to whoever buys it; just not for me
Centered screen bothers you that much?
I got accustomed to my Prius pretty quickly. The speedometer is still to the left of center within my field of view, and I feel like the centered design could be cool for passengers or younger people to learn about driving and ask questions. “That’s what that means.” “This warning light can mean a lot of things.”
Plus the steering wheel often obscures some things behind it depending how you’re positioned.
Yeah, I mean I didn’t have to scream in all caps, but it’s high on my list of disliked features
Also, since you’re the Van guy, when I read your comment from the other day about those cubbies and stuff in the high roof conversion vans, I happen to be looking ads for them…just thought it was a coincidence. I’ve been getting into them more recently and really like the Dodge or Chevy ones…they look so awesome inside! I may eventually get one (possibly even one that’s a camper)
I’ve been told to stay away from the Dodge ones due to rust issues, but only anecdotally. I do see fewer of those for sale in general, though.
I don’t like the idea of a camper van with a bathroom and no back seats; just a “regular” conversion van for taking a group of friends on day trips and vacations is the kind of thing I keep an eye out for.
Best of luck though. They’re full of ups and downs if mine was representative…
Thank you! Yeah, I think I like the Chevy ones better anyway, they’ve always looked awesome. Yeah, I don’t like that either so looking at small RV’s too…the vans are great enough on their own! (w/o being a camper setup)
I recently left a comment on another article about facelift designs, and this is a prime example of the pre-facelift design looking vastly better than the next version.
I never actually drove one of these, but as a passenger, I thought that it would make a great taxi cab. Small on the outside pretty darn big on the inside what could be better?
This just in: people are fucking stupid
Yup, it’s pretty obvious these days…and they’re MULTIPLYING!
Ha ha yeah, these are ugly boxes
It’s got what plants crave!
Yes they are, but most of them are driving Nissans with CVTs.
I wouldn’t pay this price for an xB, but there are certainly worse vehicles you can buy for that money.