I received my console via postal service today, straight from Japan.  Originally I was going to hold off on the install, but after pulling everything out, I decided I may as well!

Parts Included :

Console Body

Bottom Cover

Console Deck

Mounting Racks

various screws for installation

Tools Required :

Screw Driver…

Installation :

As you can see from the large Tool list, this is a fairly simple installation.  There are two mounting racks that slide and hug onto both front seat tracks, from the bottom.  Pull them all the way towards you and they’ll sit in place, slightly sagging but that will be fixed once everything is screwed into place.  Position the legs of the console deck onto the mounting racks, and line up two holes to screw it into place on each side.  You’re halfway done, MAN I love simple installations like this!  Pop the bottom cover onto the console body, and set it over the deck.  The bottom cover allows a flush appearance when the console is put into place.  Set the console body on top of the deck, and open up the main section to screw it into place.  There are four holes, and four small screws to keep the console in place.  Throw in the nice fuzzy bottom piece (much like what’s in our door handle areas) to cover up the screws, close up the section, and enjoy what 5 minutes of hard work has given you; a nice storage console/arm rest!!

As a young man who is 6′ tall in stature, I find the console to be relatively low; certainly comfortable for me, but definitely nothing that would be overbearing to an xD owner of any build!  Seeing as how it IS an OEM piece, it flows well with the interior; an extreme wonder why Toyota never decided to bring it over to the states!

That’s about it for now…Hope you all enjoyed the write up, and should you purchase the console, enjoy it as well!

Next up for me?  HID installation!  I’ll actually need my own pictures for that install guide, so we’ll see how that goes

-Corey

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 .

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

Keep your filters clean- with every piece of dirt that your intake filter grabs it loses efficiency and in turn robs horsepower. In additional to keeping your filters clean make sure to stay on top of your cars maintenance schedule.

Air Filter

Remove excess weight- The first thing you need to do is put your vehicle on a diet by removing any extra or unnecessary weight. Every 100 pounds is worth approximately 1/10 (.10) of a second on your E/T. Quick candidates for weight removal include your spare tire, the jack, your sub box, tools, coolers, the junk in your console and glove box and other assorted items laying in the front and back seat. Any extra weight you can remove will make your car go faster and reduce fuel consumed. Headed to a track event? Take out your seats, interior, trim panels, and carpeting to scrub every last second from your lap times.

Keep an eye on tire pressure- make sure that your tires are filled to the manufactures suggested pressure. Your tire pressure is constantly changing. Variables like ambient air temperature and tire temperature will affect your tires’ pressure.

“Running a tire 20 percent underinflated – only 5 to 7 pounds per square inch (psi) – can increase fuel consumption by 10 percent. That can easily cost motorists two or three miles per gallon. Not only that, but running underinflated also reduces the tire’s tread life” says Bob Toth, Goodyear’s general manager.

Driving habits-

Try to avoid Jack rabbit starts or rapid acceleration. Starting out slowly and smoothly will save you time and money. Chances are you will catch up to the traffic at the next light anyway. The alternative to acceleration and braking is coasting. Coasting is an efficient means of slowing down, because kinetic energy is dissipated as aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance, which always must be overcome by the vehicle during travel. When coasting with the engine running and manual transmission in neutral, or clutch depressed, there will still be some fuel consumption due to the engine needing to maintain idle speed. While coasting with the engine running and the transmission in gear, most cars’ ECU with fuel injection will cut off fuel supply, and the engine will continue running, being driven by the wheels.

What can I expect to see?

Realistically, if you follow the above points , you should expect to see an mpg improvement of about 15%. Let ‘s say that the average driver spends roughly 2,500 dollars on fuel. A 15% improvement in gas mileage correlates to a 15% decrease in cost to fill your car. In that case you will save about $375 a year.

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.

For today’s spotlight I will be reviewing Tanabe’s DF210 series springs, providing the lowest drop without taking the plunge into coils or bags.  The drop rate is, according to Tanabe, 1.9 Front and 2.2 Rear, respectively.  Where as most springs will follow the height ratio of the manufacturer, the DF’s will bring the body completely level, rather than slightly (ever so slightly) raked up in the rear as the OEM set up is.  For this reason, there is a noticeable gap in the front fenders between the wheels (as seen with OEM steelies+dunlops), where the rear is actually flush with the quarter panel line.   Overall, this would be my overall gripe with the product.  Everything else is flawless.

Handling/Daily Driving

The biggest concern people have with a lowered car is not necessarily handling, but how will it FEEL when driving through town?  Before I address how it feels, I’d like to give you my insight on what “harsher” ride quality means.  In my opinion, a harsher ride can vary from strong jolts whenever riding over a pothole (eek!), and can include the extra body movement you feel as you go over a small hump in the road.  In my 1100 mile experience, the only thing you’ll notice is that extra body travel as you ride over a small hump.  The ride isn’t uncomfortable or disheveling in any way, and to be quite honest, is still just as soft and cushy as the OEM springs.  (Let me say now, that I’m riding on the OEM Shock/Strut set up, so ride quality and handling improvements are solely based off the springs alone).

Handling, as with any worthwhile suspension upgrade, brought an immediately noticeable improvement in cornering.  Hard cornering, when paired with some sticky tires, should be no problem for this set up.  Seeing as how I’m riding on all seasons, my handling through hard corners isn’t quite up to par, but I can assure that the crispness is there, and VERY enjoyable.  Pair it with a nice, thick, rear sway, and I think all xD owners will have a thrilling little ride on their hands!

Kit Includes
-Tanabe DF210 Springs
-Tanabe Stickers (YEA!!)

Tools/Install

Tools required are as follows:

-Torque Wrench (yes it’s first. Anyone planning on doing DIY work for their cars should have a good Torque Wrench!)
-Sockets: 10, 14, 17, 22 mm
-A 17mm offset wrench (had to run out to the store to buy this one)
-6mm allen wrench
-Last but not least, a Spring Compressor for the front springs

Overall Install

The install wasn’t horrible, and it definitely wasn’t my first time working on suspension.  However, having said that, I did struggle with the front struts because of Toyota’s genius Wiper Guard design.  Instead of following logic, I opted to not remove this piece, and struggled for a good hour, harshly stripping the top nut for my front driver side strut.  So let this be a warning to you: DO NOT SKIP THIS PROCESS.  Remove the Wiper Guard, and all will be happy.

Final Review

I truly enjoy my xD with the DF’s installed, and would recommend them to anyone looking to drop their car.  Dont be scared by the 2″  drop, it’s really not bad at all.  Theres still a 7″ clearance.  If you live in a pothole ridden area of town, or commute to a pothole ridden area, fear not!  My locale has by far some of the worst roads I’ve ever driven on, and my little xD survives just fine, drop and all.  So don’t be afraid!  Get as low as y ou can, and enjoy every inch of it!

-Corey