Cars! Cars! Cars!

Softer, Rounder, Prettier

AutoWeek reports: 2008 Scion xB. Whoa, the ol' square dealie just got a helpin' of refinement.

As far as the physical thing goes, this sure seems to be a better one than the previous version, but we have to wonder if this is what everyone wanted. In essence, did Toyota just engineer out the coolness of the xB?

We'll tell you one thing they added: $1,600 to the sticker. Can we uncheck that option?

Self Control

Kicking Tires reports: Scion Holds Back Production, Sales to Stay Hip. Hard not to admire the contrarian attitude at Toyota subsidiary Scion, "Whoa, chill on the sales increase."

We wonder, was it the price that attracted folks to Scion or the fact that it was a subsidiary of Toyota that got asses in the seats? We also wonder where those 150k sales came from. Detroit? Toyota? Honda? Y'all have any guesses?

If You Buy A Scion, You'll Probably Buy A Toyota

AutoWeek reports: All in the Family. Yeah, yeah, this does make perfect sense. But, you see, whenever we see the words "All in the Family" in a row like that, we think of the TV show. And then we think of Archie Bunker. And we think of Archie arguing with his son-in-law, Mike Stivic. And then we think of our favorite ending to one of their arguments:

Archie Bunker: Do you know how to swim?
Mike Stivic: Yeah.
Archie Bunker: Then why don't you go take a flying leap into the middle of Lake Polack?

See? Regardless of whether you drive a Scion, a Toyota or a Ford, that's funny!