pet connection

I have been dying to drive a Scion xB since I started writing about DogCars. See, I know the people who own them love them to pieces, and consider themselves members of a dedicated group of correct-thinking people. If you don’t love The Toaster (the old xB), well, you Just Don’t Get It.

I never did get to drive The Toaster, so I never will know whether I Get It or not. (But I have three friends with the old xBs, and they think I might have been old xB material.)

That was then, this is now. And the Scion xB is remodeled and all-new — bigger, rounder and (it remains to be seen) envisioned no doubt as a true competitor for the best dog car of all time, the Honda Element. (OK, so people who don’t have dogs may be allowed to buy them, too.)

The old Scionites may not be happy. I base this on the fact that one yelled across an intersection at me not 10 minutes after the new xB was delivered. “The new xB!” she yelled from the window of her classic xB, in submarine yellow. ”I HATE IT!”

Well, I guess there’s one person Scion cannot be counting on to trade in her old xB for a new one.

But I don’t hate it, not at all. First impressions: Great price ($20K, with lots of features), feels solid, fun to drive with an easy manual tranny. I haven’t yet had time to get deep into the innards of the teal-blue beastie (color just as pictured) to check out how the seats fold, cargo and crate room, etc. That’ll come this weekend.

Right now, I’m just enjoying the ride.

Update: The old Scion is dead. Long live the new Scion! Is there a cult of New Scionites in the making? Two days after an woman with a Classic Scion upbraided me for daring to insult her with the presence of the New Scion, a man with a new Scion yelled at me across a different intersection.  

“New Scion!” he screamed, giving me the thumbs up from the window of his own. “COOL!”