Xb and Element

http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/12/web/420000-420999/420070_24_full.jpg

Me, my friend's Xb, and my Element~


Xb...do not laugh~ it is a great car~

It very well may be a great car...and I know that coming from an Element owner this sounds like the pot calling the kettle black...but I didn't think there was anything on the road less aerodynamic looking than the Element! :P

Nice pic gticl!! Just wondering, what color E did you get?

Love that photo shot :-)

Funny story - I pulled onto a Toyota lot this week, parked right next to a Scion which was parked on the outer side of the showroom window. I got out of my car, walked around it for a few minutes, looked in it's windows. Got back in my E, told my daughter my assessmentf. Then as I started to drive away, the Scion's lights flashed and it's horn blew at me. :-) Nice ot know Toyota salesmen have a sense of humor :-)

Thanks for the replies~

My E is Silver w/ blue interior~ It was one of the first few Element sold in California in 03.

Compared with Element, the driving impression of a Xb is light in weight.
Easy to corner and brake~
Also, 1.5 L VVTi engine makes adequate 105hp to keep Xb cruising around 80mph on freeway.

However, the resonant road noise is annoying.


Over all, my Element is approx. 4k more expensive than a fully equipped Xb (as I test drive).
But Element comes with 4WD, more torque(passing power).....and a sun roof..........
Still worth the money~

[quote:b78516a38f=" "]Thanks for the replies~

Over all, my Element is approx. 4k more expensive than a fully equipped Xb (as I test drive).
But Element comes with 4WD, more torque(passing power).....and a sun roof..........
Still worth the money~[/quote:b78516a38f]

Here here!! I totally agree. My coworker also bought an xB and after checking it out, it was totally way too small for all of my art supplies. After owning a 1997 Accord for a while, I also wanted a vehicle with a little more kick. :wink: Totally love my E!! :D

My folks were in Bullhead City and came across this.

http://www3.telus.net/boneheadz/images%20for%20post/element%20with%20toyotas%20scion.jpg

:lol: Hmm, I wonder how the xB will be getting out? LOL

I finally got to see one this weekend. Ran into a family at a soccer game who had gone to California from Michigan to buy one. It was a much smaller vehicle than I was expecting to see. The family said that they were enjoying the vehicle, although they mentioned that they wish there was a bit more power. It would take me a bit to get used to the in-dash displays being located on the center-top of the dash...but I can certainly see the attraction the vehicle offers.

Here are my family vehicles:

http://www.jessekelber.com/bbs%20pics/boxy%20family-small.jpg

http://www.jessekelber.com/bbs%20pics/E%20and%20xB-small.jpg

The funny part is that driving the cruiser feels like driving a tank and the xB feels like driving a really zippy sardine can...but the sizes really just step down in small incriments from L to R...

jesse

Over all, my Element is approx. 4k more expensive than a fully equipped Xb (as I test drive).

Autoweek tested the Scion xB and their "as tested" price was $18,200, exactly $1300 less than my EX-S 5speed. The problem with the xB (if you can call it a problem) is the HUGE dealer installed option list. It's very easy to push the xB above $20K if you go for the cool stuff.

Imagine all 7 of the Elements cup holders with the muti-color light up cup holder option from the Scions.
It'd be like a freakin' disco in there. :shock:
Would be kinda neat if wired in sync with the stereo.

[quote:eaf643652b=" "]Imagine all 7 of the Elements cup holders with the muti-color light up cup holder option from the Scions.
It'd be like a freakin' disco in there. :shock:
Would be kinda neat if wired in sync with the stereo.[/quote:eaf643652b]

Heh. In my recent long night drives, I got tired of not being able to find the cup holder in the dark. So I dropped one of my extra one of these into the front cupholder:

http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=6&showAllImages=0

The purple ones might just fit the theme of the tech terror...

-brendan

The purple ones might just fit the theme of the tech terror...

Very very cool!
10 years worth of glow......that's like wireless accent lighting!
Purple may be cool, wonder if they'll come out with red, could make the interior look like a carbon freezing chamber :shock:
It's shame they're only available for UK resident ordering though.
Hmmm, or are they? :wink:

[quote:3d0e25b853=" "]Very very cool! 10 years worth of glow......that's like wireless accent lighting![/quote:3d0e25b853]

Yes, but not near as bright. Still, useful for marking spots in the vehicle... (that's what they're used for in the field as well).

[quote:3d0e25b853=" "]Purple may be cool, wonder if they'll come out with red, could make the interior look like a carbon freezing chamber :shock: [/quote:3d0e25b853]

So far, haven't seen red. Green are the brightest. Purple and blue look the coolest.

[quote:3d0e25b853=" "]It's shame they're only available for UK resident ordering though. Hmmm, or are they? :wink:[/quote:3d0e25b853]

<cough>ebay<cough>

the important keyword is "traser", second only to "tritium".

There are also the metal ended ones (X2?), which will be less likely to separate and expose the glass to shattering, but take up more room and weight.

-brendan

PS - in case anyone has no idea what we're going on about, these glow for ~10 years or so:

http://www.firebox.com/pic/p6b.jpg

Ah. Ebay.
Where else can you participate in an auction to purchase glowing sticks of radiation. :shock:

[quote:5728830df3=" "]Ah. Ebay.
Where else can you participate in an auction to purchase glowing sticks of radiation. :shock:[/quote:5728830df3]

They do radiate, but only low-energy photons*: the super-heavy-hydrogen decay releases beta particles...which happen to be electrons, in this case, low kinetic energy compared to most beta particles. They strike the phosphorus, bounce and return (or the equivelent) to the light helium atoms left over from the decay.

It's the phosphorus strike which creates photons and hence, the released radiation!

-brendan

* ok, technically they do radiate something else on each decay event. Bonus points if you can tell me what they are and why it is that, even though they are not stopped by the walls of the device, they don't harm you?

I read every word of what you just wrote.............I am now crosseyed.
Thanks alot Brendan. :(

I'll just stick to my make-believe, useless in the real world science of Wookies, photon torpedoes and Dianoga trash compactor monsters. :shock:

Don't those things have tritium in them? Doesn't tritium decay to helium?

[quote:6f4c1710a2=" "]I read every word of what you just wrote.............I am now crosseyed. Thanks alot Brendan. :( [/quote:6f4c1710a2]

Heh, ok, well, I guess I'll close it off with this: every second or so, my keychain generates 2-6 billion* antineutrinos and sends them out into the universe...many of them through me!

:shock:

-brendan

* it might be trillions, I lost the notes I made on the calculations a year and a half ago.

[quote:c37bbd1da5=" "]Don't those things have tritium in them? Doesn't tritium decay to helium?[/quote:c37bbd1da5]

Yes.

-brendan

[quote:cd3aac01c9=" "][quote:cd3aac01c9=" "]Don't those things have tritium in them? Doesn't tritium decay to helium?[/quote:cd3aac01c9]

Yes.

-brendan[/quote:cd3aac01c9]

then that decay includes an uncharged antineutrino particle

then that decay includes an uncharged antineutrino particle

Ah, I saw that episode.
It was the one where that mute Klingon girl thought Worf was her father but he was in a coma with Vulcan yellow fever from an infected wound from fighting a Denebian Slime Devil on Argos 3 so he couldn't............uh, :oops: nevermind.

So are the glow sticks going to give me mutant powers or not?
I want he ability to turn myself into different flavors of jelly!


Not this kind.

http://www.pix8.net/files/pm8919.jpg

So are the glow sticks going to give me mutant powers or not?


Let's put it this way, SOMETHING is going to glow, but you might want to warn her!

:twisted: ARGH :!:

Them there lights... it's worth absorbing some background info, courtesy of the US Environmental Protection Agency:

Tritium was discovered by physicists Ernest Rutherford, M.L. Oliphant, and Paul Harteck, in 1934, when they bombarded deuterium (a hydrogen isotope with mass number 2) with high-energy deuterons (nuclei of deuterium atoms).
Where does tritium come from?
Tritium is produced naturally in the upper atmosphere when cosmic rays strike air molecules. Tritium is also produced during nuclear weapons explosions, as a byproduct in reactors producing electricity, and in special production reactors, where the isotope lithium-6 is bombarded to produce tritium.

What are the properties of tritium?
Tritium is a hydrogen atom that has 2 neutrons in the nucleus, in addition to its single proton, giving it an atomic weight near 3. Although tritium can be a gas, its most common form is in water, because, like non-radioactive hydrogen, radioactive tritium reacts with oxygen to form water. Tritium replaces one of the stable hydrogens in the water molecule, H2O, and is called tritiated water. Like H2O, tritiated water is colorless and odorless. Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years and emits a very weak beta particle.


The key words here are "very weak" - the beta particles are unable to penetrate even thin layers of solid material and are easily stopped by human skin. A report by the Public Health Division of the Department of Human Services in Victoria, Australia on the effects of wearing a plastic watch containing tritium concluded that the health implications were negligible. Rather more prejudicial to physical well-being is the other common use of tritium, as outlined by the Federation of American Scientists:


Tritium is essential to the construction of boosted-fission nuclear weapons. A boosted weapon contains a mixture of deuterium and tritium, the gases being heated and compressed by the detonation of a plutonium or uranium device. The D-T mixture is heated to a temperature and pressure such that thermonuclear fusion occurs. This process releases a flood of 14 MeV neutrons which cause additional fissions in the device, greatly increasing its efficiency.

Nice one - it's good to see science getting the most bangs for the taxpayers' bucks. There is, however, one drawback to the use of tritium in nukes - that 12.3 year half-life. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission explains: Tritium must be replenished in nuclear weapons routinely. The United States has not produced tritium since 1988, when the Department of Energy's (DOE's) production facility at the Savannah River site in South Carolina closed. Immediate tritium needs are being met by recycling tritium from dismantled U.S. nuclear weapons. According to DOE, resumption of tritium production is essential for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

:shock: Slug

U is so egimacated.

Seriously, that was actualy interesting thanx for the research. Who would have though belonging to a car club would give some usable knowledge about nuclear physics.

Bone

[quote:fb831ba6d8=" "]The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission explains: [/color]Tritium must be replenished in nuclear weapons routinely. The United States has not produced tritium since 1988, when the Department of Energy's (DOE's) production facility at the Savannah River site in South Carolina closed. Immediate tritium needs are being met by recycling tritium from dismantled U.S. nuclear weapons. According to DOE, resumption of tritium production is essential for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

:shock: Slug[/quote:fb831ba6d8]

Heh, they seem to have excised one interesting bit of information, which I'm sure was up there two years ago: the Brits still produce tritium.

I love all the web site edits in the past few years (not).

-brendan

I love all the web site edits in the past few years (not).

-brendan


Wait! You mean that all that's on the web may not be, well, as complete as it once was? Wonder why? Who would do such a thing?




8)

:( These tritium-filled tubes are illegal to sell in the US, unfortunately. I'm not sure about possession.
Let us say a friend told me this one, yeah a friend.

Now do you remember 19 years ago on April 25?

Chernobyl

www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed

This may take some time to read and pictures within are very interesting.


:shock: Slug