BTW, does anyone know if there’s any plan afloat to change the body for 2009??? I’ve decided to buy a new Yaris, but hope to put off the purchase till next year. Where would I determine if it’s being “restyled”?
There is a chain-smoking copuple who live down the street, and thewife had an accicent in a small car (Civic). She now drives an SUV, but still chain smokes!
Car insurance compnies konw the most frequent fatal car accidents occur in the SUMMER, when roads are clear. In winter people drive more carefully due to road conditions and shorter daylight hours. Again, WHAT you drive is far less importtant than HOW you drive!
Life insurance companies do a lot of risk analyis, and rate causes of death at certain age brackets. Up to age 30 or so the most common cause is crashes, whatever the vehicle driven. At later age it is falls, believe it or not. The non-accidental causes in later life are cancer and heart desease. Both are caused by over-indulgence and largely self-inflicted.
The chain -smoking lady does complain about the high price of gas for her SUV.
I agree; most SUV drivers I encounter (and I do a lot of highway commuting) drive like bats outta heck with an attitude… Apparently they’re buying the marketing and feel invincible… I drive defensively in the smallest car I can find for the best value and fuel economy… I refuse to get into a “mine is bigger than yours” competition with these ridiculous 4x4 trucks and sport utility vehicles made to climb mountains… We’ll all have to drive HUMMERs to “feel safe” if size and intimidation are the measures.
I’m looking for safety, good gas mileage,etc in small cars, but I’m also looking for one good in winter, ice and snow. Any suggestions?
But if we all drive hummers, then someone will invariably feel unsafe since they have something everyone else has and want something bigger
Hey Debbie, you did read the last pages right? Any of the cars suggested are just fine.
As for the snow and ice question-that’s easy: any of them. All these small cars are front-wheel drive. So ultimately how they perform in the snow depends on what kind of tires you put on them. Rest assured that they usually come equipped with the correct tire depending on your region. You can however option certain types of tires on certain models, but that info will be on the manufacturers website.
Dave,
You make a reference to EPS (Electric Power Steering) in the Corolla in your post as (can be a nuisance).
Could you expand on this for me?
I can see a couple of pros and cons to it such as being a fuel saving device but also can fail (and put the steering into a standard steering mode). Although I have never heard of this ever being an issue.
I can only find one reference to a 2005 (and up) Yaris Hybrid as having this installed.
From what I can see (read) Honda first used this concept, but I can’t seem to locate any other Toyota vehicle related info on EPS.
A research on Corollas here doesn’t turn up any mention of EPS in Corollas 2005 to 2008. No mention of EPS in Corolla until the 2009 model.
Although the 4WD manufacturers would have you believe that it is absolutely indispensable for snow and ice, they forget to mention that all cars have 4 wheel brakes.
I would consider something with anti-lock braking, available on most of these cars as an extra cost option.
The HUMMER XXXL
It seems GM has finally found a buyer for the Hummer Brand. I don’t know who, but a Middle East Sheik would be a likely buyer, since these guys also buy into super sports cars. You need an environment with cheap gas and lots of money.
“Rest assured that they usually come equipped with the correct tire depending on your region”
I wish that this statement was accurate, but unfortunately, it is not.
Subaru and some other manufacturers persist in selling cars in snowy regions of the country with Bridgestone Potenza RE-92 tires, which are essentially useless on snow and ice–even with AWD! In addition to Subaru Outbacks, I have noticed this tire on new Lexus models (the Camry clone, to be specific) and on some other makes that I do not recall presently.
That tire might be fine in Southern California or in Florida, but it is most definitely not appropriate in New England, the Midwest, the Mountain States, and the Mid-Atlantic States, all of which receive new cars with these crappy tires.
I thought the inclusion of the word “usually” would be understood as to not mean always. Besides, she’s looking at small compacts with wafer thin tires, not Camry’s, Subaru’s and Lexus’.
The Honda Fit gets good mileage, is peppy, steers and turns tightly and has a relatively smooth ride. I like its inside roominess -is bigger than it looks-holds our two teenaged sons comfortably in the back seats as well as front
The Ftt definitely gets my vote for best.
My wife and I have an Acura 3.2TL which doesn’t get sterling mileage, but it beats the hell out of my 15 year old Dodge Van. We’re waiting for delivery of a Smart for 2. Reasons besides 3.5 to 4 times the mileage of the van? Lots of room for two. Easy to get in and out of. More than enough space for groceries or exercise gear to take to the gym. Really high quality workmanship. Inexpensive for the features. Reasonably safe for a small car. AND SOMEBODY’S GOT TO START DRIVING SMALL, LIGHT CARS; whatever the “fuel”, they’ll use less of it than big, heavy cars, and less is better, far as I can tell. Then I’ve always been a trend setter. First new car I ever owned was a VW Van in 1962 with which I terrified people (Honest!) because it was so big.
We’d ride bikes and do with just one car, but or balance just isn’t good enough any more.
We’ll have to see how long a ride we can take in it. Can we sustain two hours to visit friends? Who knows? But it really is a BIG CAR for the driver and passenger despite it tiny exterior dimensions.
One of the BEST small cars is the Chevrolet HHR.
It has the old reliable cavalier engine, relevantly affordable, room for the largest drivers addicted to ?BIG MACS?, a mini SUV and great gas mileage.
The new HHR comes in a small panel truck version too. This ?CAVALIER ON STEROIDS? seems to have been ignored during this gasoline squeeze.
How does the size of the car dictate whether or not a manufacturer equips a car with appropriate tires? A “small compact with wafer thin tires” is no more likely to come with tires appropriate for the region than any other size or type of car. The vast majority of car manufacturers choose tires based on the following criteria (in no particular order):
Low rolling resistance (in order to boost mpg slightly)
Ride quality
Cost
Noise level
If a tire that meets these criteria happens to coincidentally have good handling and traction, that is great, but since the vast majority of manufacturers are choosing tires only on the basis of cost, ride quality, low rolling resistance, and noise level, getting a new car tire with good handling and traction qualities is more the “luck of the draw”, rather than a certainty.
I’m sure that manufacturers like Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and other performance cars in the very expensive category do put a very high priority on handling and traction, but manufacturers of less expensive cars are much more interested in boosting mpg, being able to impress potential buyers with a good ride and low noise level, and of course, the cost of the tire.
Cavalier and reliable do NOT belong in the same sentence.
The “Best” small car is no longer made. That car was the King Midget originally manufactured in Athens, Ohio. The original models were powered by an 8 horsepower Wisconsin single cylinder air cooled engine. It could be equipped with electric starting for the wimps, but standard equipment was a rope pull recoil starter. You didn’t have to worry about power window motors or regulators–the King Midget had side curtains. We wouldn’t have posts about failed electric wiper motors as the wiper was hand operated. There was no heater core to leak–in the winter you used a lap robe. I can see the posts now if we all drove King Midgets:
- What is the proper replacement procedure for the rope on my recoil starter?
- Can I swap in an 18 horsepower twin cylinder Briggs and Stratton for my 8 hp Wisconsin?
- My dog chewed my lap robe. Where is the least costly place to get a replacement?
A step up from the King Midget was the Crosley manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio. Unfortunately, when we left the simplicity of the air cooled King Midget, the brazed steel engine had all kinds of cooling problems. There was a heater for those wimpy people who think heat is a necessity in the winter months.
For the hybrid fans, you don’t need to be toting around a gasoline engine. In the 1970’s, we had the Citicar. You could go 60 miles on a battery charge. For those who felt that they had to have heat in the car, an optional propane heater was available. I understand, however, that it fogged up the windows pretty badly when it was operated because it wasn’t vented.
I won’t comment on today’s small cars–they can’t hold a candle to those that I just cited.
Sure the HHR is wonderful-I mean if you like a poorly finished car with a substandard interior, lousy visibility, thrashy and noisy engine, wide turning circle, and less than great gas mileage. I mean other than it’s wonderful…
Having driving a front wheel drive car for 12 years in Anchorage (never got stuck), I’m sure that all modern front wheel drive cars will be fine. What you will want to consider, regardless of car, is getting a set of winter tires on rims, if you have the storage space available. There’s nothing like a set of snow tires when you need them. Tire Rack and Discount Tire web sites are good ones for these, they’ll ship them to you mounted, balanced, and ready to go.