Battle of the minicars: Yaris vs. Fit vs. Versa New sub-subcompacts from Japan's Big Three offer high quality and big utility in a tiny package. By Sam Grobart, MONEY magazine June 23, 2006: 1:51 PM EDT NEW YORK (MONEY magazine) - Used to be, buying a small car meant getting the runt of a good automaker's litter or dealing with a manufacturer that had little regard for quality, reliability or even solvency. Either way, you were likely to drive off the lot in a rickety ride that would only hold itself together until, naturally, the warranty ran out. (read more) "Plus, with an average sticker price of $13,000 (this when a loaded Honda Civic can run you $27,000 - and that's not even the Hybrid), they're priced right." Don't you love that disproven anti-hybrid stab? Otherwise interesting albeit short article. Their gallery still doesn't work in Firefox, but their loss.
what's wrong with this article? I don't remember the US price of the HCH. Well, these cars are cool. Cheap, economical and fun to drive.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Jun 23 2006, 11:44 AM) [snapback]275924[/snapback]</div> From their favorite Edmunds, a navi-equipped HCH is ~$24K while a fully loaded navi 4-door Civic EX is $21K. Makes even the HCH look like a great buy versus their $27K USD.
hmm.... didn't occur to me. Sorry. Maybe they added tax to skew the numbers... and added all the possible accessories too.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Jun 23 2006, 12:12 PM) [snapback]275939[/snapback]</div> Maybe with the list of possible accessories such as (@ dealer full retail price): wheel locks, car cover, half-nose mask, moonroof visor, 16" alloy wheels, front spoiler, rear spoiler, side spoiler, deck lid spoiler, chrome exhaust, fog lights, cargo net, all-season floor mats, trunk tray, auto-dim mirror w compass, leather steering wheel, gauge trim kit, XM radio set, 8-cd & 4cd changers, bass system, and iPod connectivity it would be $27K. But then to subtly imply a HCH always cost much more than this, is this being genuine?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike @ Jun 23 2006, 03:30 PM) [snapback]275951[/snapback]</div> I looked at the HCH before I bought my Prius at, without Nav, it was pretty close to the price of the base Prius ($22K). I know someone who is buying a Fit (the Sport version, and probably loaded) for $17K, so based on that comparison they aren't so far apart in price (still $5K, but for a bigger car.) Still, I think its great that they are building these smaller cars, considering that many people mainly use a car just for driving themselves. They don't need to artificially inflate the price of hybrids to justify them.
I heard there were some problems switching the assembly line from the Echo to the new Yaris, and some parts got mixed up. The unintended result is known as the 'Yecho'.
I'm delighted that small cars (reasonably sized cars in my view) are coming back to the US market. While we were cruising in a carpool lane the other day, my 8 year old daughter asked me cars were so big if most were only carrying one person. I never thought of my first car, a 1982 Accord, as too small. I compared the mass and dimensions and verified that the Honda Fit is as heavy and large outside my old Accord and larger inside. I miss driving quality small cars. I'm thrilled with the Honda Fit and look forward to the hybrid version. Historically small cars have depreciated rapidly in the US market. If gas prices don't reverse this pattern, I'll be looking forward to these hitting the used market. At least Money magazine edited out their bogus price comparison to a hypothetical $27.000 Civic. (The most expensive Civic (net of tax credits), a 197 hp Civic Si with Navigation, has an MSRP of $22,240.) These small cars do seem to be priced too high to attract the demand they deserve. A Honda Fit Sport costs more than a Civic DX. If you choose _some_ of the features that are optional on the Yaris but standard on the similar Scion xA, the optioned Yaris costs more than the similar but better equipped Scion. Even if these new small cars don't sell at a discount soon, they should be better priced on the used market. Car and Driver has a better comparison road test of the new small cars. http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/10...ta-yaris-s.html They also include the Suzuki Reno, Dodge Caliber, Hyundai Accent, and Kia Rio. Only the Fit and Yaris (perhaps the Hyundai-Kia twins if you're generous) offer good fuel efficiency for the size. As usual, caranddriver only gives the juicy specs in the print version.
And GM and Ford have WHAT domestically-designed-and-produced cars to put up against these three? Another market segment forfeited...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ghostofjk @ Jul 1 2006, 04:50 AM) [snapback]279599[/snapback]</div> only the Daewoo made Chevy Aveo and the similarly priced but larger and laudable Focus and Cobalt. Even the Festiva, Aspire, and Metro were rebadged imports, though smaller than and inferior to these new small cars. I don't know that the US has produced a very small car (for its time) since the Chevette.
What domestic small car wasn't a rebadged Japanese car? Dodge Colt - Mitsubishi Lancer Eagle Talon - Mitsubishi Eclipse Chevrolet/Geo Metro/Pontiac Firefly - Suzuki Swift Chevy Aveo - Daewoo Lanos Chevy Optra - Daewoo Nubria Compact is about as small as they can make 'em - Caliber, Focus, Cavalier. I think the Focus has the most potential out of the 3 I've listed. (yes, even taking the new Cobalt/Pursuit into account)
