My 10 year old econobox is on its last prayers. My plan was to drive until the wheels fall off, which probably won’t be long now. It’s also due to be smogged in 2 months, and I have my doubts about it passing.
So, I need a new car. I drive about 7,000 miles a year. I don’t have kids or large pets or oversized sporting goods to haul around. I want something small, fun to drive, that gets decent gas mileage, and lastly, it must come in red. Left to my own devices, I’ll buy something “cute,” which isn’t the best criteria for purchasing a car.
Since I haven’t been car shopping in 10 years, I have no idea about what’s out there, and obviously didn’t do a very good job then, either. Help me out here, please, so I don’t suffer another 10 years from my own bad judgment.
Toyota Yaris or Corolla are my recommendations. They are very popular and highly rated. Consumer Reports puts them at the top every year.
They range in price from 11,000 to 15,000 new.
The new Mazda Miata(is it called the MX-5 in the US?) with power retractable hard top fits all your criteria, is not particularly expensive, pretty much defines “fun to drive”, and the well executed folding hardtop never fails to wow the ladies.
The only disadvantage is that the maximum weight that the car is rated for is only something like 400lbs, so if you have a particularly heavy-set lady/gentleman friend, you might break the poor thing in two.
When I was looking for a new car recently, I seriously considered the Honda Fit. It fits all your criteria, and was very sporty to drive. I ended up going wiht a larger Toyota Matrix, but the Fit was my second choice. Hondas are known for their longevity as well.
I love my Mazda 3 (I got mine in 2004). The color you want is called True Red. It’s metallic and sparkly in the sunshine. And it’s fast and fun to drive. And inexpensive!
We did about a year’s worth of comparison shopping and research before buying a 2005 Toyota Corolla. I’ve been driving it for two years now (we bought a very lightly used car), and I love it. The manual transmission version that we have is a very fuel efficient car (it beats some hybrids). We drive it on very long highway trips two, three times a year, and it is great on the highway, too.
The only problem with the Corolla is that I had to decorate it so I could pick it out in a parking lot (it’s a small, silver car - there are a few of those out there).
ETA: The Corolla is roomy enough to have passengers in the back on long trips, too. It really is a basic workhorse of a fuel-efficient, economical car.
Adding to what Shera said about the Honda Fit; I occasionally drive one in Toronto nowadays. Previously, I was used to driving Accords and Maximas around the city. The Fit is terrific for city traffic driving. Small and quick, it is a pretty good city car. Only problem is that it’s really small for everything but the front seats.
One drawback of the Fit, no power on the highway. It is too small and gets blown around in the wind and from trucks. If you regularly drive on a busy highway, I’d stay far away from the Fit. Get something bigger. Otherwise, the Fit is worth a test drive.
Another vote for Mazda here. Proud owner of a Mazda3, and I can testify that there’s a reason the car has won award after award since its debut three years ago and is still going strong despite improvements in the competition from Honda and Toyota. Google the terms “Mazda3 vs. Honda Civic” or “Toyota Corolla” and read for yourself.I was the original owner of a 6th generation 1999 Honda Civic that began falling apart at 30,000 miles and I absolutely hated the thing. The quality of the Mazda3 (which is built only in Japan) is leaps and bounds over that of the Honda (which is built in Ohio) and mine is coming up on the same age as the Honda was when it went to shit. The Mazda, by comparison, is holding up much better than the Honda ever did. The only car that really compares to it on a size/quality level is Toyota’s Scion tC, which is a little heavier and has less of a driver-oriented feel to it (as is the case with any Toyota). I’ve driven both and they’re very comparable, though I prefer the interior and exterior design of the Mazda. The Scion has an awful interior, I think. Very plasticky, drab, and cheap inside, but an otherwise solid car. I’ve read more than one review that’s claimed the Mazda3 looks and drives like a car that costs twice as much … when people ask me about my car, that’s usually how I sum it up for them: “it’s $30,000 quality at a $20,000 price”. Keep in mind that they start at about $14,000 though … mine is the higher end model that stickers in the high teens/low $20’s.
As well, the Mazda3 has beat out the Corolla and Civic in virtually any test that involves moving. It’s interesting to me that despite the low suspension geometry of the Mazda3, it seems to sit higher than most cars its size, giving you a lower shoulder line in relation to where you sit for much better outward visibility. I also find the Honda Civic’s seats to be painfully uncomfortable, unsupportive, and tiresome after more than 15 minutes of driving. I’m 5’10" and 155 lbs, so that’s really saying something. The Mazda’s seats are firm, compliant, well-bolstered, supportive and comfortable. The 2.3L engine in the higher end models has ample torque in the 2,000-5,000 rpm range to scoot around with ease; the smaller engines from Honda and Toyota need to be revved up like banshees past 5,000rpm to extract any useful power. Everything about the Mazda is ergonomically thought out and balanced, and I really love that.
Simply put, the Mazda3 is a driver’s car and the Civic and Corolla are four-wheeled appliances, and Mazda’s praise for being a cut above is well-deserved. More than anything, I think Mazda’s “brand essence” website video really sums up what I’ve been trying to say here. Their cars simply capture the great intangible of driving, the X factor that makes them unique, and something which isn’t found in their competitors. If you’re looking for something bigger than a subcompact, you owe it to yourself to test the Mazda3.
The Toyota dealer will rip the OP off unmericifully. Anyway, the Yaris gets poor ratings from CR, it’s nearly at the bottom of “Budget cars”. Far better is the Honda Fit which is Tops in CR ratings, next is Ford Focus.
The Corolla will run one around $20K, and it is seventh on CR’s list of “Small Cars” (Civic, Focus, Jetta, Mazda 3 are all higher). Source: Consumer Reports, Cars, Ratings & Pricing Guide Spring 2007.
The Mazda does not look to be a bad choice. It’s sportier than the Fit, but it is also $3k more and the milage is 27 vs 34 for the Fit. :eek:
Both Honda and Toyota get top scores in reliability.
The new Saturn Astra looks cool. Not rated yet, AFAIK. And I guarantee the OP that he will have a pleasant, rip-off free, buying experience.
Mini Cooper. I absolutely love mine and I’ve had it for 2 years. They are very safe and hold their value well (when I looked at buying one used, the used prices were only about $1-2k less than a new one would cost, so I bought a new one). I’ve had no problems with mine save one burned out headlight that the dealer replaced free. The fun of driving it can’t be beat. It definitely comes in red.
I also have a Mazda3. I love it. Fun to drive (get a stick!). Had a few minor problems which were quickly fixed by the dealer for free with no questions asked. The ignition was faulty and wouldn’t register that the key had been removed, so I couldn’t auto lock the doors. Replaced the ignition and all was well in a few hours. Had a leaky windshield seal (which was replaced by insurance, not the dealer, after a rock on the highway incident) that the dealer also replaced, along with all the carpet, for free. It’s got a good warranty, and every dealer I’ve been to has been awesome.
It doesn’t like REALLY long trips. Recently drove from Oregon to Kansas and it gave me an emissions error after 20 straight hours of driving. It may have also been bad gas, as the problem resolved itself on its own.
Test drive and move the seat. It’s got limited movement options and my husband finds it difficult to get into a comfortable position.
Thanks for starting this thread, Jahdra! I’m in the market this weekend. People I’ve talked to like the Mazda3 as well.
I just made an appointment with a Mazda dealer via the AAA website. You just plug in what kind of car you’re looking for, and they’re supposed to email a response within a couple of hours. We’ll see how that works out.
I absolutely hate the whole car buying process. Hey, that gives me an idea for a thread. See you over in MPSIMS…
Aren’t there any American cars people would recommend? I’m not in the market now, but I might be in a few years, and I like to buy American (if only because my dad would have another stroke if I didn’t, and he’s not in the greatest of health as it is. You only think I’m kidding.) I saw the Saturn mentioned upstream a bit.
DrDeth mentioned the new Astra, and I would also. It is in essence a rebadged Opel from Germany, so I guess it isn’t really American, but alas, America really cannot seem to pull off the compact car thing as well as the Europeans and Japanese. They’ve both been building quality small cars a lot longer. The only decent modern compact from America I’d even consider is a Chevy Cobalt, but it’s fairly meh.
I haven’t experienced the Astra yet, as it debuts in 2008, but I fully anticipate it to be of a completely different nature than the outgoing Ion it is replacing. Saturn is indeed looking to move more upscale, and if rebadged German-engineered Opels are their first step towards that, I’m all for it. Check out the Astra here.
And I mentioned the Ford Focus too. CR rates it quite highly. But yes, anamnesis is right. Although Buick has now moved up there with Toyota and Honda, reliability wise, American manufacturors don’t even make a lot of small cars.
You have the Focus, the Astra & the Chevy Aveo. The Aveo has one thing going for it- you can likely haggle a bare-bone model of it down to under $10K.
The Astra is made in America at the Saturn plant, AFAIK.
Although on these boards I sometime appear to be a shill for Saturn, the Ion is/was a peice of crap. It replaced the SC, which was very nice and I owned one. The Astra looks to get back to a nice small Saturn.
We test drove and compared all the small cars on the market (except the Jetta - we didn’t read a single review that liked Jettas), including American ones. The Cobalt sounds good on paper, but in reality, it is a shitty car put together shittily. After reading the reviews for Saturn’s small cars, we didn’t even bother with them. We tried a Dodge SX 2.0 (new version of the Neon), and it was crap. The American small cars just don’t compete with the imports; there’s a reason all the American car companies are going toes up.
The Honda Civic is a nice enough car, but all the car experts I read say that Honda has been resting on their laurels for a few years now, and not building the same bullet-proof cars that they used to (and they’re very expensive here). I test drove a Mazda3, and was not impressed (it was peppy, sure, but no more than others I was trying for less money). It was down to the Corolla and the Elantra for us, and we actually tried to buy an Elantra a couple of times, but the salesmen wouldn’t let us. But yeah, if Mazdas aren’t too spendy in your neighbourhood, I’d put them on the shortlist.
I’ve had nothing but good interactions with the Toyota dealership so far (we bought our car used from a Honda dealership, but our warranty is with Toyota still).
I am very happy with my Focus ZX3 (I have the 2.3L, 5 speed manual). 90k miles on it so far, all the major problems we’ve had with it have been end-user issues. It has had one dead ignition switch, for which it cost me $50 to replace under warranty. I’m assuming that the current issue with the lowbeams stems from them playing around in the steering column when they fixed the ignition.
Other than that, it’s a joy to drive, lots of power, insanely small turning radius, and gets about 32mpg highway. I bought it to beat the crap out of it commuting to school and it is holding up its end of the bargain quite remarkably. If it lives through school I’m turning it into a rally car.
And it’s fast and fun to drive. And inexpensive!
the Ion is/was a peice of crap. It replaced the SC, which was very nice and I owned one. The Astra looks to get back to a nice small Saturn.
