2005 Scion xA New Car Buyer's Guide

What's New for the 2005 Scion xA?
A limited edition Scion xA Release Series 1.0 includes a special Absolutely Red paint color, a sports grille, and a color-keyed spoiler combined with a power sunroof and standard stability control. Inside of the Release Series 1.0, Scion adds black and red cloth upholstery, red storage compartment lighting, and a special badge displaying the production number of the car. Just 1,550 Release Series 1.0 models will be produced. All Scion xAs are now equipped with a new 160-watt, six-speaker Pioneer sound system prepped for XM satellite radio. The new stereo includes Scion Sound Processing with three pre-set equalizer settings, a customizable screen, and Sound Retouch digital equalization for clearer MP3-CD sound quality.

Advantages of the 2005 Scion xA:

• Full load of standard equipment
• Low entry price
• Myriad ways to customize to the buyer's tastes
• Reliability is expected to mirror products by parent company Toyota

Objections to the 2005 Scion xA:

• Small cars like this typically don't fare well in crashes with big cars
• Adding dealer-installed accessories causes the price to rise dramatically
• Not available for sale in some regions of the country

Editor's Advice:
Generation Y Californians were the guinea pigs for an entire auto producing and marketing industry that wanted to see if Toyota's new Scion brand would successfully convince younger consumers to visit Scion showrooms and buy Scion automobiles. Scion dealer environment? Enticing. Music played at Scion events? Thumping. Sneaky, underground subculture marketing campaign? Fascinating. But it is and always will be about the product. Scion cars? Pretty good to drive. Appropriately funky design. Impressive predicted reliability. And it's not just the kids that like ‘em.