Prior to Install:

The exhaust comes constructed of mandrel bent T-304 Stainless Steel tubing, a nice size canister and 4″ straight cut tip.  Also in the box are complete install instructions and rubber hanger mount.

The install:

I will admit, we tried to do the install for this awesome exhaust.  However, we found that the jack points did not provide enough room for us to get a decent jack stand under the car.  Enter the folks at Toyota 101 and the ability for them to do this swap really fast.  The great part about this exhaust is that it utilizes the stock clamp/gasket for a factory-like fit and easy installation.

Our review:

Prior to our install we were sporting the stock Toyota exhaust with the TRD tip, not really a set up that will make the car growl from the outside.  Now we already had the Weapon-R Short Ram Intake on our project car, so we were already growling at the engine.  With that said, I waited at the dealership for them to drive our xD to the customer pick up area and all you could hear was growl. So we at MicroCar Magazine thought it would only be right to put the exhaust to the paces, so we set out on a 1k adventure to San Diego and Extreme Autofest show.  On the road you can really tell how well Scion was able to block out the outside noise.  During normal around town driving our exhaust provided a nice rumble and low tone sound, when we got it to the freeway that was a different story.  As we moved thru the gears the exhaust really came to life and the xD powered ahead.  The best part to this exhaust is that we notice no power loss, and we got the nice growl that Toyota engines are known to have.

Overall this exhaust performed awesome.  Can not wait to see what other products come out for the xD.

Suggested MSRP: All our research found that the exhaust goes for just under $600.00 – However we did manage to find out friends at FastScions.com selling this exhaust for under $400.00 – DC-Sports Exhaust at FastScions.com .

It is an affordable upgrade that rids of your current stock antenna that is most likely ginormous.  Luckily, you don’t lose any radio reception by replacing your stock antenna with this piece from Agency Power.  It comes in two flavors, as pictured: finned and solid.  With such a flush finish, it looks OEM!  The MSRP on these antennas comes in at $40 and can be found at sites like Bean Garage.

A well-tuned car is really reflected through the fine details that the owner puts in, in my opinion.  A detail such as this 3” long antenna improves the sophisticated manner of your car.

Install
Installation could not be easier.  You simply screw off your old antenna and replace with this.  No tools needed.  These antennas fit on most 08+ models, including Scion xB, xD, tC and others.

Final Review
After equipping this antenna on our project xD, we have found no disadvantages in the radio reception.  The roofline looks much sleeker and clean.  Compared to the stock antenna provided by Scion, this one is more attractive and contributes to the overall image of the car.  Below is an image of the antenna equipped with the stock one held up:

New Audio -

The xD’s new standard AM/FM/CD/USB 160-watt maximum output Pioneer audio system receives additional functionality for 2010. New features include an organic electroluminescent (OEL) screen, iPod®/USB connectivity, Advanced Sound Retriever (ASR), and a subwoofer RCA output. The standard Pioneer system has a USB port and universal auxiliary (AUX) port located on the center console that allows users to listen to their portable music collection through the xD’s six Pioneer speakers.

Other than the upgraded audio and added VSC the 2010 model year gets the same Dual VVT-i 128hp engine, and the usual Scion xD comforts.

Click here for the whole press release from Scion

The xD features a touch screen Pioneer Audio Visual Navigation (AVN) head unit with flash memory, voice recognition, and Bluetooth^®. For media player flexibility, the AVN unit comes with USB, SD card, and iPod^® connectivity. The Pioneer AVN head unit is also satellite radio, rear view camera and HD Radio^® ready and will play iPod videos when the parking brake is engaged. In addition, users can select from over 32,000 colors to customize the 5.8-inch high-resolution WVGA LCD touch-panel display. The driver can plan the perfect roadtrip at home by downloading the freeware application AVIC Feeds to a computer, making a personalized destination directory and then transferring the data to the headunit using SD card or USB memory device.

Electric Wasabi accents the xD’s interior with four-in-one interior lights, and “Release Series 2.0” door sills illuminated with white back lighting. Silver accented seat fabric and individually numbered badging add to the vehicle’s uniqueness.

Scion will only build 1,600 units of the xD RS 2.0. The xD RS 2.0 model will carry a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $1,270 over the base price of the xD. The base MSRP for the standard xD with a manual transmission is $14,650, while the standard xD with an automatic transmission model carries a MSRP of $15,450. The available Electric Wasabi spoiler has a MSRP of $285, not including installation.

What are those partnerships?

Let’s start with Chrysler–they recently filed for Chapter 11 and partnered with successful European car company Fiat.  Now, with this filing of Chapter 11, the chief at Fiat has stated he is ready to pull Chrysler, once one of the Big 3, out of the bottom and back up to the top.

Meanwhile in Detroit, GM has partnered with another one of the European auto heavyweights Alfa Romeo. This marks the return of Alfa Romeo to the United States and yet some more possibilities for more microcars to drive!

What will they bring?

Before they left the United States market in 1995, Alfa Romeo had a reputation for having well-designed automobiles; however, the quality was lacking.  Fourteen years later, Alfa is ready to make its mark back in the US market and we at MicroCar Magazine are most excited about how the quality of an Alfa has improved over the years. The Mi To has been a well-received microcar in Europe and judging by the design, it will fit in very well here in the States.  What we are not sure about is how much power will be equipped in the Mi To and what the price point will be.

photo take by Fiat

Also making a return since it left in 1917 is Fiat, which comes to the United States to bring more micro goodness.  The 500 was first introduced in 2008 with a grand 500th hour reveal at the London Eye and it may not be the only possible microcar to be brought into the States.  Enter the FORD Ka, built through a partnership with Fiat and Ford in Europe.  This car could propose a challenge for SMART.  The Ka has about the same wheelbase as the SMART, but unlike the SMART, don’t look for the Ka to be easy to modify.

How powerful and how much?

No real information is available at this time, but as we receive news from around the world, we will update you. What can be said or at least questioned is whether these two European titans can unseat other microcar companies like Toyota or Honda.

Short Ram kit pictured

The big thing for us at MicroCar Magazine is how much power can we squeeze out of our cars.  In comes Weapon-R, around for a long time providing the aftermarket auto parts industry with performance enhancement parts.  We were lucky to have experienced the products produced by Weapon-R in one of our other project cars, 2004 Scion RS 1.0 xB.

The Install

The kit comes with 2 possible configuration, cold air or short ram, the difference is one extra tube and where the filter sits. The install was actually a breeze with the easy to ready instructions provided by Weapon-R.  After we remove the stock airbox, making sure to keep the MAF sensor in its mount (Weapon-R found that this helped due to the baffels required for the MAF to work correctly).  Once you actually unbolt the bottom portion of the airbox you will notice how much room it opens up.

Tools used:

10 mm socket

Phillips screw driver

The actual install only took us about 10 – 15 minutes to do the full install.

First Thoughts
After turning the car on you could hear a distinct growl that comes from all Toyota engines that have had an intake put on it. Throttle response is really great, could not tell you if I noticed a change in the horse power however I could tell an improvement in torq.

In Closing
So far I have put all of about 50 miles on this intake but as I put more on I will update you with my thoughts.

Scion xD kits
Secret Weapon Short Ram suggested msrp $215.00
Secret Weapon Cold Air suggested msrp $285.00