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The new Scion brand is Toyota's attempt to go after the youth market with unusually "expressive" vehicles. That's the term in the design biz, and it follows the success other expressive vehicles, such as the New Beetle, the PT Cruiser and, most recently, Honda's Element. The Scion's expressiveness can be further tailored to each owner's taste with more than forty dealer installed accessories, including sport parts from Toyota Racing Development.

Three improbably named Scion models are available: xA, xB and tC. The xA and xB are sort of mini SUVs. The tC is a sport coupe. We tested the boxy xB and the sleek tC. The xA and xB were introduced to the U.S.-market in California first, beginning in June, 2003, with a staggered rollout to other parts of the country in early 2004.

The other keys to the success of the Element (along with its expressive shape) have been its low price and its terrific sound system. The importance of the latter should not be underestimated. Young buyers like their music and really care about quality sound in a way that most older buyers don't. Honda was extremely shrewd to cotton onto this and installed a sound system in the Element that you rarely find in cars costing less than thirty grand.

Toyota at least made an effort to do the same. All 2005 Scions are equipped with a new 160-watt, six-speaker AM/FM/CD Pioneer sound system that is XM satellite radio ready and features Scion Sound Processing (SSP) with three preset equalizer settings and MP3-media compatibility. This system now comes with a user-customizable welcome screen similar to the feature found on cell phones, and Sound Retouch digital equalization. More on this later.

The xB is powered by a 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine and equipped with variable valve timing with intelligence (VVT-i), producing 108 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 105 lb-ft. of torque at 4,200 rpm. Weighing in at just around 2,400 pounds, the xB has an excellent power-to-weight ratio, providing energetic performance.

The xB is equipped with standard anti-lock brakes (ABS) with Brake Assist (BA) and Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD). The xB also features Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) with traction control (TRAC) as standard equipment.

The tC two-door coupe features a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with Variable Valve Timing with intelligence (VVT-i) that produces 160 horsepower. Underneath, the tC is equipped with double-wishbone rear suspension, front MacPherson struts, four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock brakes and 17-inch alloy wheels with Z-rated tires.

As is the case with all Scions, the tC offers buyers the chance to personalize their vehicles with a choice of dozens of accessories for dealer installation. In the case of the tC, a rear spoiler, 18-inch wheels and tires, and various interior trim components may be added to suit personal taste. For drivers who want even more sport in their tC, accessories from Toyota Racing Development include 18- and 19-inch wheel and tire packages, suspension components, and a supercharger that boosts horsepower to approximately 200.

Styling is, of course, a very personal thing. I felt like a total idiot while driving the xB, as if I'd lost a political bet and was now forced to appear in public doing something humiliating. The tC, on the other hand, struck me as inoffensive, if bland. That said, I have to admit that both cars provoked strong reactions from people, nearly all of it highly favorable. So it would appear that Toyota designers knew what they were doing after all.

I wish the same could be said for the engineers responsible for the sound system. This is supposed to be a Scion strength, but the sound systems in both of our test cars were awful. And when I say "awful" I mean that they were the worst sounds systems in any vehicles we have tested in any price range within recent memory. The way the system in the xB was set up, it, literally, gave me a sick headache whenever I listened to it. I'm not kidding about this. The xB's sound system made me physically ill. Sound can do that. I recall a Pontiac Grand Prix test car in the late-1980s that induced the same physical reaction. My suspicion back then was that the villain was the mid-range response, which was set way out of whack at the factory. It may have been a similar problem here, as well, for the issue in the tC was clearly with the response, in this case the base response. As soon as I got into it, I checked the sound system, and discovered that the previous journalist had turned the base all the way down to a -5, which was as low as the system would allow you to depress it. I wondered why until I popped a CD into the changer. Even at a -5 setting, the base response was just overwhelming. I'm not able to say whether this is what you can expect with all Scions, but the fact that both our test cars had gross sound system problems is very troubling, indeed. Someone at Toyota should look into this.

In contrast, the drivability of both cars was quite good. The xB was also astonishingly roomy given its minimalist exterior dimensions. Both cars were relatively inexpensive, the xB carrying a sticker $16,138 (thanks to $2,500 worth of options), while the tC came in at $18,671 (including around $2,000 in options). The city/highway fuel economy ratings for the xB and the tC are 31/35 and 23/30, respectively.

A colleague on one of the metropolitan daily newspapers was long dismissed by other auto writers for testing sound systems rather than cars because that was all he seemed to know much about. I thought it was a bum rap, although he really did care about sound. The Scion family is one case, though, where you really need to test the sound system. If you are seriously interested in one of the Scion models, before you sign on the dotted line spend as much time road testing it as the salesmen will allow, paying particular attention to the quality of the sound. Once you've bought the car, you'll be stuck with it.

In sum, I came away from my Scion road tests with distinctly mixed feelings about these cars. The kindest thing I can say is that they are not for me. Still, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Toyota has a big success with the Scion range. They're expressive, affordable, decent performers and built like Toyotas. And that's saying a lot. R&D

Photos, top to bottom: xB, xB interior, tC and tC interior.