Why so few 2-door econoboxes?

Factual Questions
1

I have a 30 mile (one way) commute, mostly on a tollway (against the flow so traffic moves quite fast). While my '94 Taurus gives surprisingly good mileage when I lock the cruise control at 55 (thus pissing off the people behind me but there ARE other lanes they could use) it’s not going to last forever and I need to begin the process of finding a replacement. All I need is a transportation module I fit into and because I’m not built like a typical Asian I’d prefer a two-door to ease entry. However, I’m finding that really limits my choices. Granted, the choices are pretty choice, especially if I move upscale into New Beetle territory (I fit fine! More headroom than my Ford! With a turbo faster than squat!), but even the base Toyota Yaris is a very good car. However, I’m locked out of the Nissan Versa and, ironically, the Honda Fit.

Why fit only tiny cars with lots of tiny doors? Some of them look no bigger than ping pong paddles! And don’t get me started on the abomination that is the SPORTY four-door.

2

What do you mean by econobox? Are you looking for only fuel economy, regardless of the price of the car? Or are you trying to economize over the entire useful life of your purchase? Do you worry about the environment in your consumption, or does the bottom line only have to do with money? Depending on your answers, your field opens up considerably. You can take a less expensive car with worse fuel economy and spend considerably less. Or you can get a cool car that’s good on gas and spend a lot of money for it.

3

I don’t know if it’s still true, but about 20 years ago, the conventional wisdom was that pretty much any 2-door car was by default, a “sports car” and insurance rates were set accordingly.

Aside from that, 2-door cars are just plain inconvenient if you have anyone in the back seat, and that’s probably a large part of why they’re scarce.

4

IANAAutomobile Research and Marketing Fellow, but my impression is that a 2 door anything is what you get while you’re young and reckless, and once you have a family, you get a three or more door. (Have you *seen *the size of infant and toddler car seats these days? No way you’re wrestling that into the backseat of a two-door. Mine barely fits in my four door hatchback Saturn!) The 2 door market is therefore mostly sporty things or roadsters like the Mini Cooper - things that appeal to young single men or divorcées, not to solid responsible family people who care about things like fuel economy because they’re putting Mary through college and Junior needs braces any day now.

5

[Hijack]
I just hope that you’re not in the far left lane doing this.

I have absolutely no problem with someone going as slow as the law allows, but it is dangerous to do this in the left lane, thereby forcing faster drivers to pass you on the right. In many states it is actually illegal to be in the far left lane unless you are in the process of passing other cars. IMHO, it should be illegal in all states, and the police should issue hefty fines for violators. Slow left lane drivers are nearly as bad as the maniac aggressive drivers, IMHO.

DRIVE RIGHT, PASS LEFT!
[/Hijack]

6

I rejected two-door cars a while ago, not because we often have people in the backseat (though we now have a baby who sits back there), but because a rear door is a very convenient option for stowing your coat, or your backpack, or the bag of groceries you just bought, or the bowling ball bag containing the head of the man you just offed for failing to pay the appropriate vig on your very generous loan.

Wait. Delete that last part.

If you’re set on two doors, in addition to the ones you’ve noted, you should also consider the Scion tC and the Honda Civic Coupe, both of which are extremely reliable and fuel-efficient. Perhaps the Hyundai Tiburon. More upscale (but priced right in a late model used) would be the Acura RSX. Or, if you want something a little bigger, the Honda Accord Coupe. (Again, a late model used Accord Coupe would put it in the range you have cited.) Nissan is now releasing an Altima Coupe, aimed at the Accord Coupe’s market.

7

If you know you are aggravating the people behind you, you really shouldn’t. It’s bad karma. If you keep falling back from the driver in front of you, you are effectively taking that much roadway instead of your share. In other words, your highway resource consumption is not just the product of your can’s footprint times your travel time. It is the foot print of your car and all the space in front of it for that time.

8

I agree. When I was looking for my first car many years ago I really wanted a Honda Civic CRX.

That was a two door, two-seater. No faux rear seat suitable only for people with no legs. It had a massive trunk with easy access (hatchback), got great gas mileage, was fun to drive (as a dumb college student I had my friend’s CRX Si up to 120mph and it had plenty more power), small so easy parking, held a ton of stuff thanks to that big trunk and would have been a fantastic commuter car.

Wish they hadn’t stopped making them.

9

Yeah, 2-door cars are just a major pain the in ass. The rear seat is basically a vestigial feature that serves no useful purpose. If you and two friends were being chased by a pack of rabid wolves, and you only had your 2-door car available for escape, then your second friend might (might, mind you) be willing to squeeze himself into the back seat, but otherwise that space does nothing.

My own car, a Saturn SC2, is a 2-door coupe, but it has a third door that allows access to the back seat. (The third door is behind the driver’s door, and open rearward.) That third door is great! It makes the rear seat so much more accessable.

10

I think one of the reasons is because large doors are a liability in cities (i.e. cramped parking spaces).

Also sub-compact cars are getting taller, which partly makes up for the narrower doors. The Scion xB is one of the more extreme examples.

11

The CRX HF was nifty too. It had a TINY little engine, and if you had one with a stick, it was slow but COULD keep up with traffic and gave PHENOMENAL mileage.

I’ll say that automakers don’t make the 2-doors they used to because they’re trying to cut down on choices within a given vehicle line.
It seems like you used to be able to order:
A Ford Escort…
with or without AC
with 4 or 5 speeds or an auto
with 2 or 4 doors or a wagon
with cloth or leather

Nowadays, the same company makes the Ford Escape.
You can get a stripped model with the 4-cylinder, a 5-speed and FWD only.
You can get a loaded model with leather, the V6, the automatic tranny and all-wheel drive.
If you look REAL HARD you can find the V6 without all the options, but it seems like many of those are former rentals.

I read an article a couple years back indicating that the automakers are focusing on making MORE targeted vehicles. This is why “best-selling models” don’t sell as many units as they did years back; all the different people buying the Ford Escort back in the 80s, were they still buying the same types of vehicles, would have multiple similar-sized Fords to choose from and several options each from some automakers.

12

I remember the ads for the HF model back in the early-mid 1980s claiming something like 60mpg highway.

13

(hurt look) Of course I am! Preferably with a semi to my right. I am the one who is driving legally. If they want to break the law they’re gonna have to pass on the shoulder.

No, really, I’m as far to the right as I can be and if another further-right lane opens up I quickly move into it. Well, “quickly” is relative at 55. And that’s only going home since I’m usually late for work.

BTW, this thread was inspired by a CRX I saw yesterday. Nice cars.

14

I drive a Honda Civic Coupe (2 dr.). No, they don’t charge me sports car rates just because it’s a “coupe” – the Civic a sports car?? :: Snort ::. Yes, clambering into the back seat is a bit of a PITA, but I’m a single person who drives alone 90% of the time and it’s not much of an issue for me.

I didn’t and don’t want a four-door Honda. I have no need for a back seat, no car seats to put back there, no passengers to haul around on a regular basis. My back seat is mostly used by my dogs, who ride back there and are perfectly fine. A 2-door Civic looks marginally less like your Grandma’s car than a 4-door Civic, and I’ll take any style and sophistication that you can add to such a standard (but great) car.

So I recommend the Civic. They last for freakin’ ever. Mine has 130K miles on it and I have never had to do any repairs on it other than routine maintenance and body work – the body work caused by hitting two deer in the space of 8 weeks, which was hardly the Honda Company’s fault.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to drive anything much smaller than that, like a subcompact, because I don’t have enough faith in other people’s driving skills. I see people zipping around in Mini-Coopers and I worry that they squash up like tin cans in a wreck – especially against the ubiquitous SUV.

15

I miss my Ford Festiva. 4 doors though. Great back area, and 40+MPG, even when driven by a spirited college-age driver.

only a 1.8L 4cyl, but the car weighed only 1600# with fuel. It had some pep.

16

Heck yeah, I came here to mention the Ford Festiva!

I bought it because I was dirt poor and had few options in a new car; didn’t want to buy used. It had no power to speak of, and required a good bit of revving up to merge into high-speed traffic.

But, over the years, it got fabulous mileage – 50 mpg in any sustained drive if I kept my speed 55-60 (back then 55 was the law anyway). It flirted with 52 mpg whenever I really babied it.

It was also nigh-indestructible from behind. I was rear-ended a few times (never when driving 55, wise guys!) including once being hit TWICE by the same woman in a SINGLE accident. (She hit me while accelerating, bounced off, peeled out, and hit me again!) The Festiva sustained not a scratch or dent from that rear-ending. Nor did it on the time the tow-truck driver forgot to set the handbrake, and after towing it for no parking sticker, let it roll down a hill into another car in his lot.

I went off the road into a ditch once to avoid a stalled car in the snow, and even though it was front-wheel-drive, I was able to back the Festiva up out of the ditch despite the front undercarriage resting on the ground. The undercarriage sustained several more powerful shocks without giving me any trouble.

It was a cheap, ugly, weak, slow car. It just happened to be tough as nails and get fabulous mileage…and it was kinda roomy in the hatchback for a microcar.

Unfortunately one day I had a collision on the other end, and the whole front was destroyed. The back was still intact, though, even at the end.

These days I wonder why people brag about 30 mpg cars – I had 50 mpg, 20 years ago.

I think of the car now and then, especially during Festivus. :slight_smile:

Sailboat

17

Up to a point, follow too close and you start to magnify variations in speed, you are in incenses taking up highway resource consumption you don’t have, borrowing it from other drivers, who may not have it either.

18

Hell, yeah! My 2-dr 84 Dodge (Mitsu) Colt did 48mpg on a long trip with me, Wife, and three kids (two in car seats–that’ll build up your back!). 1400cc and a 4-spd.

19

All of this would mean more if I were traveling in the other direction or if I were being a PITA when things tighten up but when I’m on cruise control there is little traffic to speak of.