Actually there was a huge snafu of a supply issue with the batteries. The plan was to have lots more to sell, but it never came to fruition. We got exactly three '08 Aura Hybrids for the entire model year to sell. They didn’t even get any lot dirt on them before they were gone.
And in my market area there have be no “available to everybody” ASTRA incentives, only to people who were currently in leases and those people who are GM Employees or Suppliers. GM loses money on every one they sell.
None in the States, and in skimming the Chrysler France website, it looks like they’re going with all USA based models. They might have quit selling the Peugeots in Europe with Chrysler nameplates (I’m not digging around all night to find this out). None of that changes the fact that the European operations aren’t a part of the “mothership” to the degree that Ford’s and GM’s are.
Help me out people! I want to buy the first new car I have ever owned. I am an old fart, and this will probably be the last new car I ever buy. Unfortunately, the car I want is unavailable in America, so I’m asking you to email Honda to bring this car to our shores.
I present you the Honda Airwave.
It’s a Honda Fit in a station wagon configuration. I want the tiny engine with great mileage. I’m used to driving a 1984 Toyota 4Runner that is hazardous to drive on the freeway due to it’s 0 to 60mph stat measured on the order of minutes. I don’t normally carry a lot of passengers, so slow acceleration does not bother me (even though I grew up in LA!). Hell, when I drove over the continental divide on the way to Denver, my car would only do 45mph. It’s pretty much the same ordeal heading up to Park City. But, having owned only air cooled VWs and this terrific but mind bendingly slow Toyota, I can deal with the slow car.
So, help me with my dream and get this damn car over to America!
No. Ees oogly.
What makes this better than the regular Fit that’s already available here? You already said you don’t carry passengers often so why do you need the extra length of the wagon?
That is the std engine, available now. True, the USA FIT does not have a moonroof, but that’s more or less it. Great car, huge inside, slow accelleration.
In 10 months of driving one, I haven’t found that to be true. It’s a smooth comfortable ride, it’s got decent pickup, and it gets me where I’m going. I don’t need Formula One performance to get to the grocery store. People have stopped us in parking lots several times to ask us about it.
And on tonight’s mileage check we got 38 MPG.
Yeah, I thought the Airwave in Japan had the smaller 1.3L engine, which would probably make it intolerably slow, even for me.
The Airwave (length = 151.4 in) is however, a different car than the Fit (length = 171.3 in). It’s almost 20 inches longer which means that you can actually fit an 8.9 foot long piece of lumber inside the car.
My freind owns one, and yes it is “no frills” but it’s fairly decent basic transportation. Sure, in that class I’d pick the FIT over it, but with a limited budget you can do worse thatn the Aveo.
Nissan Versa is also a good choice, not quite as expensive as the Fit.