I wonder if installing a strut bar would help with the noise some xB's are experiencing from the "A" pillar?   Scion's fix is just to dimple a couple of welds to stop the noise.

Just remember, if you have any transmissions issues you might have a hard time proving to Scion that the damage wasn't caused by towing.   

If you wash your car once a week and keep it waxed I think that you should go with BSP as your first choice.  Vanilla is vanilla if that's what you want.    As stated before, white is a good choice if you want to put stickers all over it.

I believe that if you are using the hitch for towing bikes you won't have any problems. However, I would install a transmission cooler for any other kind of trailer towing just to be on the safe side.

Wangster.  The dealership gets money from the automaker which is based on customer satisfaction.  My dealer puts a big yellow sticker on the bottom of my receipt asking for an "excellence" when filling out the Scion customer survey, if you can't give an excellence please call the Service Mgr. to correct the problem you are having.   You should have seen the Service Mgr. face when I told him that Scion would be hearing from me as to why I can't give you high marks for service.

I'll get something out of Scion when their rep calls.  You just have to ask them, what are they going to do for me to gain my business back!     

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Take my advice for what you paid for it, nothing!   This is beginning to sound like the ol' "good cop, bad cop" routine to me.  You need to call Scion ,NOW!!!  If the paint person is on vacation then there should be someone filling in for him, what, not body/paint work for the next week and a half? 

If they have to repaint the fender to fix it then that's what needs to be done.  If they can't handle a simple respray of a fender find a dealer that can.   

I just talked to Scion today about my dealer oil change last week where they overfilled the engine oil and spilled oil all over the engine.   They informed me that my dealer has a Scion rep.at this dealer  and that person will be calling me next week.   Scion wants to hear from it's customers, so they got an ear full from me today!

Again, good luck!

The white car looks like  a Chrysler minivan.  I like the original woodies and believe that some things should be left to a certain era.  Sort of like  adding 20 inch wheels to a  60's muscle car, just doesn't look right.

When dealing with the dealer, take a deep breath and count to 1000.  I would not have taken the car if it had scratches, I learned the hard way once before with that issue.  You have the right to have all of the paint issues fixed!  Period!  The dealer might make a bigger mess with the paint than you started with, but if feels that they can't paint the front fender to color match or stand the test of time, they should direct you to a place that can and Scion will have to pay the bill.

My parking brake lever does not rattle!  I have read on-line that some people are having the same problem, the dealer just needs to adjust the cable some.  It sounds like you need to speak with Scion about this dealer and the way they are just trying to delay fixing your new car.

Don't settle for anything that you aren't 100 percent happy with, remember, you are the one that will have to live with this car.

Good luck!

It's all good!  Those wheels are tops!   Nice job with under the hood also.

These look kool, but wouldn't you want some slots for brake cooling?   Just asking!

My Scion had "floor mats" and the dealer took them out and off the sticker.  Now, I don't know if they would do the same thing for the optional wheels or stereo stuff, but it is worth a try to ask.  My dealer has 3 teal 08' on the lot and they love to load them up.  They all had the $499.00 wax job!   I believe on something like that they will deal if they want to sell the car now.

FYI.  Today while getting my oil changed I talked to my salesman to pass the time.  He said that in June they sold there allotment of Corolla's - 1000 of them!!  They sold 400 Corolla's in the last 10 days!!!!

I don't think that we will ever find out what oil Toyota of Japan put in the cars sent to us, but it should be ok to use the maintenance monitor built into the xB since they should know more than I do about this.  My dealer used Mobile semi-synthetic oil in their service department. 

I have an appointment tomorrow morning to have the oil changed for the second time in 10 months of owning the xB.  The maintenance light starts to flash when starting the car at about 4600 miles or so.   I believe that the sludging problem was addressed by larger oil passages somewhere in the engine.   I will be taking my xB to the dealer for oil changes when the xB maintenance system says so and if there is a problem with sludging, it will  be Toyota's problem.

With a upright windshield like the xB it is a good idea to have zero deductible comprehensive on your insurance.  I have had to replace the windshield on most of the cars that I've owned and not having to pay for the replacement has been great.   Even if I have a small chip the insurance company will replace the windshield.

I don't believe that the dealer will replace a windshield if it has a direct hit/chip mark.  If it has a stress crack without any signs of a foreign object hitting the windshield you might have a chance at a dealer replacing it.

Good luck.

Very interesting!   I didn't have any idea that so many different types of small cars like those were made.  Some of them looked a lot like the bumper cars at the amusement parks when I was a child.

Thanks for sharing!