I’m seriously thinking about getting a new car soon. I like cars that are somewhat tall (taller than an average compact sedan) and compact, so I test-rode a Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit today. And neither is a clear winner. I did feel both vehicles had good interior room and seat height. They’re both more than powerful enough for my needs, and handle well enough.
I liked almost everything about the Yaris, except one thing: it felt like the visibility is poor, because the front windshield is rather small and far away, and the rearview mirror is rather low. The upward visibility seems especially bad. However I suppose it’s not really necessary to look at the sky while driving. Still, I’m curious to know - do Yaris owners ever notice this?
I know the Fit has a better reliability rating, and it has a lot more luggage room. And its front windshield is noticeably larger. But I’m not convinced these are worth the price difference. Aesthetically I’m not too thrilled with it - the exterior has strange jagged visual accents, and the dashboard looks a little toy-like to me. The gauges are harder to see than the Yaris’ center-mounted gauges. The instant MPG display is cool, but I expect that would be very distracting for me. And it’s not available in my top choice of color (yellow, to match my bike), while the Yaris is. Are there other factors in favor of the Fit?
Also, are there other cars I should look at? I’d say my criteria are:
[ul]
[li]Hatchback or wagon[/li][li]Affordable (<$20,000)[/li][li]Fuel-efficient (ideally >32 mpg hwy)[/li][li]Tall seat with good headroom[/li][li]Compact size[/li][li]Seats 4[/li][/ul]
Although 5 out of 6 may be good enough…
I have had my Yaris for about 3 years now. I don’t have any problems with the visibility out the front (or upwards - never occurred to me that I needed to look up!). I have long had the habit of looking around corners and using the view out my side windows, so it’s not an issue for me. That said, I did initially find the reduced visibility through the rear irritating. The key thing for me is that the blindspots on both sides seem larger because the rear windshield is small and the rear side posts (between the hatchback door and the back passenger doors) are quite wide. I have adjusted to this by more thoroughly checking my blindspots, while driving but especially while parking and reversing. It doesn’t bother me anymore, but, as always, YMMV!
It depends somewhat on what, exactly you want the car to do for you. I fell straight in love with the Fit because the endless seat permutations were perfect for what I wanted. It’s simple to fit an entire craft booth in, or haul a couple dozen bags of mulch for the yard. And the flip up seats in the back were perfect for the dogs. One of them has had hip surgery and neither of them is getting any younger, so having the wide, flat area with the low step in for them is ideal. Also, we went to a drive-in last summer and put it into long mode. Best seat I’ve had for a movie in years.
The Yaris wouldn’t have worked out nearly so well for what I wanted the car to do, so it was well worth the marginal increase in price for the Fit. And for us, it really was a marginal difference by the time I put on the options I wanted, maybe a grand or so.
A friend of ours has a Versa and really likes it. It doesn’t have as much carrying capacity as the Fit, but it’s about perfect for what she needs.
Check out the comparison things on Edmunds.com, it’s a great starting point just to kind of see what’s out there from the various companies.
What about a MINI? I’ve looked at the website and they seem to start at $18.550. I think it gets 36 mpg (probably a bit less, if I go from my experience). I own one, and it is a pleasure to drive, really zippy, and it feels really secure. It’s very roomy inside, if I take passengers they are usually surprised about the rear seat (because it looks really small from the outside). If you’re looking for something a bit bigger, they also have the MINI Clubman, which has 8 inches more legroom. “They” being BMW, because MINI is made by them - MINIs are usually distributed by their own dealers, though.
As to the negative things about the MINI:
Its interior is also a bit toy-like, since you didn’t seem to like that in the Fit, it might also be too much. I had to get used to it myself. Especially the fact that the speedometer is not where it’s on every other car. There is the possibility of making the gauge right behind the steering wheel show your speed, though. Also, you can configure the interior to make it a bit less toy-like (don’t take the silver plastic but the black option frex)
Its trunk with the rear seat backs up is seriously small. It’s enough for me, because I rarely have much luggage. If you don’t have passengers and flip over the rear seats, though, it fits quite a lot, because of its square layout - I once fit A0 size (46.81 x 33.11 in., I think) cardboard posters in there.
You won’t want to sell it, because you will like it so much. Everybody I know who owns a MINI has given it a name
A year ago we were in the market for a new car; this was when gas was still around $4 a gallon and the demand for fuel-efficient cars was high. We wanted to look at the Fit, but the Honda dealer near our home had none in stock at the time. We tested a Civic instead, which was a little more than we wanted to spend.
We also went to Toyota, and settled on a Yaris sedan.
So far, we’ve been very happy with it. Routinely, we get 40 mpg, but we do a lot of highway driving. No mechanical problems. The interior is very comfortable for driver and all passengers. My one complaint is that road noise is noticeable and the engine can sound a little harsh at times. Oh, and the MP3 jack is in kind of an odd spot. Otherwise it’s been an excellent car for the price we paid. And we expect to get many miles out of it.
I’d still check out a Fit, but the Yaris has been a breeze so far.
Coincidentally, I’ve been shopping for a car in roughly the same class.
I dunno what US prices are liek (I’m in Canada) but here the equivalent Hyundai Elantra models are still coming out first with me. I’m a tall guy (6’2") with a 3.5-year-old to get in and out of the back, and its internal room is a real plus. The warranty is fantastic, it drives nicely, and the price-to-feature ratio is not to be beat.
I haven’t driven the Saturn yet. I didn’t like the value proposition on the Yaris, for what that’s worth to you, and the Mazda 3 is too small. The Honda Fit is intriguing, but pricier, but I want to drive one.
I just got a Fit a few months ago and I’m in love. Gas mileage is insane, my little display is telling me I’m getting 40mpg highway. Not sure how accurate it is, but I’m getting to work and back for a whole week, plus some grocery runs, on one tank of gas, and it’s a 30-mile trip to work each way. Why I went for the Fit above the Yaris hatchback (which I also test-drove)? The center-dash display of the Yaris was extremely annoying, and the visibility out the back window is far better in the Fit. Not sure if it’s because the rear headrests go all the way down, or the angle of the rear window is different, but I always felt like stuff was in the way when I was looking back in the Yaris. I flat-out hated the visibility in the Yaris.
The instant MPG-display in the Fit can be turned off, btw. Other Fit pluses - the luggage room and the versatility of the 60/40 split rear seats which can be folded flat down OR folded UP. And the seats are surprisingly comfy.
Fit minuses - it’s a little loud because it’s a pretty small engine, and you can feel that it struggles a little when you’re going up a hill or trying to accelerate quickly. The Yaris felt like that too, though. They’re just little cars. And despite having more cupholders than you can fit people in the car, they’re all just awkwardly-enough placed to make it difficult to be sipping a coffee while driving.
I’m sort of interested in the Honda Fit, to replace my 1994 Honda Accord. (Nothing wrong with it, except that it’s boring.) However, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently released the results of front-end crash tests they ran. They crashed a Honda Fit into a Honda Accord at 40MPH, and the Fit did poorly, as did a Yaris crashed into a Camry and a Smart Fortwo crashed into a Mercedes C-class sedan. An article about the test results is here.
So now, I’m trying to decide if I should get something bigger (like another Accord) with better crash test results. (Although I think that front-end collisions are much less frequent than other types.)
I bought a Fit two years ago and I love it. My main reason, however, was that it felt just like my 1990 Civic wagon (last year they sold that model in North America). I insist on a 4 door car. We have gotten 5 people in for short trips, at least. And with the rear seats down it holds a lot of stuff too. But I never test drove anything else, so I can’t compare. In the end, you have to decide which one meets your particular needs best.
I absolutely love my Fit, though I have a 2007 (before they redesigned them a bit) so I can’t comment on the new models. Good mileage, great versatility in rear storage, handles good, even in NE winters.
Shadow can you elaborate on the Fit in winter? I need a new(er) car, and I’m moving to Michigan. The fit is very appealing but I’m worried about the small tires, low clearance etc.
I’ll expand on the Saturn Astra a little bit, since my last post was super brief:
They are only offered with a I-4 engine in the US, but you can get either a 4 speed auto or a 5-speed manual transmission. We opted for the stick, and get about 33 MPG, with about a 60/40 highway/city split.
I’m 6 feet tall with a 34 inch inseam, and I have no problem with headroom or anything like that. Even the back seat was comfortable with my 5’3" wife driving and me right behind her.
We got out the door at around $16k. The dealership experience was amazing, with no pressure and clear explanations of all of the terms. The salesman even called us the next day and had us come back because he found us a better rate for the financing.
