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2004 Scion xA Specifications
Base price $12,480
Price as tested $12,480
Vehicle layout Front engine, fwd, 5-pass
Engine I-4, DOHC, 4 valves/cyl, LEV
Displacement, ci/cc 91.4 / 1497
Max horsepower @ rpm 108 @ 6000
Max torque @ rpm 105 @ 4200
Transmission 5-speed manual
Curb weight, lb 2340
0-60 mph, sec 9.4
1/4 mile, sec @ mph 16.9 @ 83.2
Braking, 60-0 mph, ft 138
Skidpad, g 0.74
Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/wagons/112_0307_2004_scion_xa/specs.html#ixz- z1SKPgzZgh
Man, how I waste my time of thinking of this stuff.But at least I'm smiling. I'd better go to bed...
You know, it's a bell curve--it's about temperature altitude and driver.
I'd like to delude myself into thinking that the "motorcycle break in" really does work. My two-wheel buddies build a lot of bikes and they swear by it. (basically, you do full throttle mashes but short-shift, for the first 600 miles or so).
FWIW, I actually like the new xB compared to the old ... although I would have preferred they kept the weight down while adding the larger engine.
I also think the xD is a little nicer looking than the xA. If they only offered an xD with the 2.4 and manual trans, it might be a worthwhile car.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Curb weight: 2625 lbs.
These days that's considered pretty light! But think back to 1975 when you could get a 4 door hatchback Rabbit/Golf that weighed I think (where's Andre?) 1800 lbs.
With current safety regs could a 4 door hatch be designed with the dimensions of a Golf 1 that weighed that much? I wonder. If so, you could probably put in an advanced 1.2 liter engine and get 50 mpg hwy. What do yo think? I wish someone would do that.
The current Mazda mx-5 Miata weighs about 2500 pounds. But I read an article that said for the next gen they are trying to get it down to 2000. That would be something.....
One of my hopes for the new CAFE requirements is that the average weight of cars will finally start going down significantly. Cars have bloated up so much over the last 25 years that it's not funny. A lot of it involves the safety regs, but some of it is just pure bloat.
But then you have to think of this: back in 1975 an "average" sized American could fit into a Rabbit/Golf with a bit of squeezing. As we know the average has gone up in not such a good way. What was the lower end of acceptable back in 1975 just won't cut it today what with super sized people parts...
It's not a big deal, but it's usually something like 30-50 pounds, I think...
So, Shifty, what are you going to get when your Mini is put out to pasture--or is it way too soon to even think about that? Can't you rebuild the clutch yourself, or is that something you've given up?
I also test drove a used 2005 Scion tC RS 1.0 in Absolutely Red and 5-speed manual transmission, with no intention to buy at all. Great clutch linkage, stick shift action was fun, throaty exhaust, a ball to accelerate in. I loved it but we only buy 4-doors so the car didn't have a chance with me.
But Scion is by no means, dead, benjamin. Take a look at the all-new Toyota-Subaru joint measure project called the Scion FR-S. This car will change everything for Scion. It is supposed to come in at under $25,000. At that price you will really be getting a steal for all that Toy/Buu are putting in to this car. A flat 4 Subie motor pulling about 176 horses, mid-ship engine mounting, set low for better handling. 6-speed standard transmission and limited slip (rear) differential will be standard equipment. I'll be taking a long look at one of these and I will be test-driving one. Buying one of these will be really hard for me to resist, especially if Toyota decides to build one as a 4-door sedan. It's gotta be 4 doors. I personally think Scion/Toyota/Lexus will build an FR-S (or FT-86) as a 4-door, it may be as a Lexus, though. We have yet to hear on that direction. Here it is:
2012 Scion FR-S Coupe
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
My wife would have laughed if I'd tried to buy an xA of that year too.
When I met her I had a 1986 Mazda B2000 LX longbed (with the 5 speed manual, of course). She said it was not a "real" truck. She grew up in the country, and so you know what that meant. Now we have kids, and we still gently tease her at times about whether something is "real." She plays around with it, but she still has the some of the same thoughts deep down.
She did admit, however, that our 2008 Honda Accord-o-yacht was "real"--even though it only has a 4 cylinder engine.
Anyway, back on topic--you're completely right: Scion is not dead. But I really liked the purity of the gen1 xA and xB, and I felt they messed that up awfully soon. They took some pure and really Japanese cars in the best sense (exp. the xB), and just imho kind of dumbed them down and pimped them out.
I'd like to see them bring back the real Japanese xB again. I wonder what it looks like now??
Oh, a question. Thirty years ago how long did it take a 1982 Porsche 911 to go from 0-60?
And I wonder how that compares with a 2012 Mazda5 at 8.3. My guess is that they are not that far apart. But it's only a guess.
Labor is something like 11.6 hours in the book (UGH!) but farming it out has gotta cost me $2,000 bucks. I just got new tires for it, and I've done the supercharger mod to it, so it's pretty fun to drive right now.
Let's see, what would I buy next? Hmmmm......maybe a Boxster S, since I've just moved to a somewhat warmer (inland) California climate. My friends run a Porsche shop so I'm okay with that. But I'd still get the manual transmission. Boxster S is a pretty quick car...about a 5.0 car...so that's got to be 2 seconds faster than my MINI. :surprise: I think right now I'm about 6.9 to 7.1, something like that.
The new turbo MINIs are faster than the supercharged ones.
You probably knew this, but a friend who owned one told me that a 1965 Porsche took about 12 seconds to get to 60...
Hey, let's list the cars we've driven without power steering. I've driven a VW bug, bus (HUGE steering wheel), Datsun 210, 80 Civic Wagon, B2000 truck...I guess that's it except for the cars I borrowed.
My '84 Porsche 911 had a manufacturer claimed 0-60 of 6.3 seconds.. That was with 200 HP...
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Even Alfa Romeo of all things, finally broke down and put power steering on their little 2-seaters. Steering just got too hard with those fatties on the rims.
You'd find few takers for non PS cars today I think.
Maybe is was a 914, not a 911.
The 914 was a dog.
But good point about the larger tires. They've certainly become supersized since the 80s. A small car in the 80s might have 12 or 13 inch tires. Today that would be 15 or 16. Plus wider, as you say....
I agree, but given the difficulty we're having getting manual transmissions, getting a car w/o power steering is really asking for the moon.
When I bought my first Miata in '91 I had to look around a little, but it was possible to get them without PS, and I did. My '94 Miata had the "R" package, one piece of which was the lack of power steering.
Those days are long gone, I think. For one thing, RWD cars do much better with armstrong steering than FWD, so that eliminates the vast majority of the pool.
Pure rack and pinion cars I have driven regularly:
74 Volvo 145, 77 Mustang ghia, 88 Tercel (wife's car - hated it), 89 Civic.
The Mustang is an interesting personal story and relevant on this board. I learned early on the potential positive fall-out of learning to drive stick. We bought it for my Mum who fell in love with it emotionally just after she got her licence. But it was a manual and she became quickly frustrated with learning to drive stick and just quit trying. I didn't. It basically became my own car while I was still in high school so long as I would drive her as needed. It might not be fair given the time difference, but the Mustang with the anemic 2.3 and so-so handling was a brick compared to the Civic.
Still, the point remains. It'll never be commercially viable again, but it is possible to steer your own on a car that weighs a lot more than an 80s Civic.
Actually, I think it was 46 or 47 years since Lincoln sold a manual when the LS was introduced -- from '52 or '53 to '99.
Between the '94 Miata R and the LS was the '96 Eagle Vision, my one and only try at a car with an automatic transmission. Front wheel drive & an auto was not a great combination for all-out road trip driving through western N.A., but was fine for commuting. The LS came after the Eagle. Both of those big cars were when I was still taking the corporate upwardly-mobile management thing seriously. That ended a decade or so ago.
My girlfriend (no, honey, not the current one) had my car for the weekend, and said, "I love this car, but it really needs power steering".
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If you want to try a gearshift that will drive you absolutely crazy with frustration, try a 914 someday.
OK, back in 1959, how different was a Porsche from a Karmann Ghia? And both based on the VW bug?
Grassroots did an article a few years back where they had a Honda Oddity vs. a 356 vs. XKE and the Honda could pretty much spank them in most contests. How fast is a '07 Accord V6 sedan stick compared to a 308?
THe domestics, easy steering, just a lot of turns! The Opel was perfect. Great feel, not too stiff from what I recall. Never noticed it being a problem.
The Volvo had pretty stiff steering, but a huge wheel and lots of turns too. My sister hated that one. quite the workout moving in a parking lot!
The Colt was interesting. Still only about 2200#s, but with wide grippy tires, and a pretty quick ratio. Great on the move, but took some muscle at low speeds.
still, the colt and Opel easily had the most accurate steering, and best feel, of anything I owned. Also tracked well on the open road.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I loved driving in those 356s when I was a kid. My mom had 3 friends with them (they were very popular in Newport Beach in the late 60s and early 70s. Man, they sure felt a lot faster than they really were. Talk about elemental driving experience....
It reminded me of another car I drove with manual steering--my wife's 1961 Dodge Lancer! Loved that car with the straight 6. The steering was good. Heavy, but good.
And, funny enough, the MR2 is a pain with manual steering. It really shouldn't be so difficult, but it is. I don't even have very wide tires on it (195s).
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
The last car I had w/o PS was an '83 VW VRabbit GTI which had marvelous steering feel but the combination of FWD and wide (for the times) tires (185/60x14!) made it a real bear to park.
I once looked at Miaia specs to see if they could be ordered w manual steering, unfortunately they couldn't.
Driving around on skinny tires w manual steering is way more fun that on fat sticky ones with boosted steering. :shades:
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
If one were to disassemble a '59 Porsche engine and a '59 VW engine, the differences would be quite obvious. For one thing, you'd notice, aside from different cases and heads, that the Porsche parts are beautiful castings, and the VW uses a lot of cheap stampings or heavier, cruder castings.
Having said that, you can build up a VW engine today, and hotrod it, and it would smack a stock 356 silly; however, it would also blow up a lot. Porsche engines are very durable.
'76 Volare station wagon. Manual steering and 3 on the tree, vinyl seats and no a/c. What a beast to drive. The bonus was that it could spank most similar cars because of the MT and no power lost to steering. It was actually fine while underway especially compared to the way overboosted steering of the time, but parking was quite a chore.
Went from that to a Scirocco with a 5 speed stick (also manual steering) - what a difference.
Nice site, imho. And it confirmed that a VW was very slow to 60 back in 1970...Heck and tarnation.
Yeah, not much. But that was my point. Sharing a few parts does not necessarily make for similar cars.
I'd say in the not so good category would be the Nissan Cube. Looks cool to me (although I'm one of the few), but reviews say the handling is so so as is the manual.
2011 Mazda 2
After reading so many good reports early on the new 2011 Mazda 2 and it's manual tranny mode, I thought this car was going to be one to seek shriftily. Maybe not so much now, but maybe still so. Check out this read on the car.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/reviewing-the-mazda-2/
In a nutshell the writer, who drove both the new Fiesta and 2, found the 200-lb. lighter Mazda 2 to be more composed when pushed in to turns and also possessing a tad more "punch" to it's step. Which really makes the car appeal more to me.
Now, if I were ready to trade in and buy, I would really wait a while for the 2012 Kia Rio hatchback. I am talking manual transmission when I discuss all three of these subcompacts, mind you. Stay tuned as I continue to read and learn about the new dinky stick-shift offerings.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I just wish they would go ahead and put their new SkyActiv engine in the Mazda2! With one of those it'll probably get around 44 mpg hwy. And 32 city. But I think it'll be at least a year till that happens.
I wonder if BMW would ever consider buying Mazda? Seems like Mazda has a lot of good technologies coming up that they could potentially use. They say they have more than 100 patents out on their various SkyActiv technologies.
One thing that hasn't gotten any attention yet, but could prove to be significant, is the upcoming new method for constructing car bodies which is said to save more than 10% on the weight of existing models while maintaining the same size, strength, and safety.
My Mazda5 is small for a minivan (I guess the official term is microvan) but in weight terms still a little porky--3400 pounds. That's a thousand pounds less than an Odyssey, but still pretty heavy.
If the next gen Mazda5 weighed 3000 flat, plus had a SkyActiv engine, it might be something special in both the acceleration and mpg departments...
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Truecar has a base model selling for $14,500. At the end of the year, you can get one for closer to 13K. That's Yaris territory, and it's a lot better alternative to most of these tin cans, simply because it can haul around more stuff and is safer in a crash.
As far as new models, the smart money is on paying 4K more ($20K) and getting the new Mustang. 30mpg highway and 300hp. A proper car as opposed to most of these little things. Case in point: The interior on a Mazda 2 is really quite nice until you start touching things. Then it feels like a nasty piece of Tupperware and has seat cushions that feel like they were lifted from an airline. Compared, to, say, even a base Accord or Camry. The Ford Fiesta is also a far cry from what you'd hope for in a vehicle. I mean, it has all the bits and pieces in the right places, but the difference that 4K or so in price gets you in, well, everything, is shocking. About the only small cars that have good interiors are the VWs. The worst of the bunch is the Honda Insight.
The Mustang is a blast at 20K. My only gripe is that they don't make a hatchback version.