It's not the xB I know. It's too different. The new xB isn't the same xB I grew to love when it first came out, but I still like it. I just wouldn't call it an xB.
It doesn't feel like a crossover; it doesn't feel like a wagon, or a sedan. It feels like it's on its own playing field. Not that it's a bad thing; I just can't put my finger on it.
I took Motor Trend's Long-term Scion xB home for the weekend. I made plans to baby-sit my 18-month-old nephew for the weekend and need a little more than my Mini Cooper to handle him and his things. The xB has lots of room for a baby car seat and diaper bags, and we managed to fit a 36-in. TV in the rear cargo space all at once.
For the economy vehicle that it is, I like how it felt on the highway. It wasn't rough. It reached a good driving speed without my having to put my foot to the floor. I didn't have any "I need more speed, captain" issues when getting around slower vehicles. It pulled nicely up a 4000-ft elevation change without a struggle, something that proved a problem in the pervious generation. The cabin noise wasn't obtrusive. The nav screen was really hard to see due to light glare, however. The audio configurations, like the basic bass-treble-fade setups, were too much for me. I guess all the configurations are appealing to the average young buyers who are eating these xBs up at the dealers (am I getting old?). I can see why they like them. Cheap, easy to customize (and, trust me, if they would let me, I'd do some of my own custom things to our xB), and it's an easy-to-like vehicle.