I am in the market for a car and can spend about $12,000. Is it better to go for a new Yaris or Fit or should I go for a slightly used Corolla or Civic?
It all depends how much room inside yupu need. If that is not an issue, go for a new Yaris or Fit. Both have better gas mileage, and because of the high resale value of Corollas, they are a poor buy used; $12000 will likely only buy one with high mileage and perhaps poor maintenance.
As usual, I agree with Doc. With the new car you’ll get the warranty as well as the knowledge of knowing it’s history…you’ll get to create it itself.
Well, considering that a used Corolla or Civic is going to be basically 3-4 years old with enough miles to be out of warranty if you expect to get in that price range, I think this is a no brainer… get the Yaris or Fit if you can fit in them and don’t mind the fact that they won’t be as refined.
But DO NOT expect better significantly better gas mileage. 07-08 Yaris owners are reporting averages of 34.25 mpg for auto, 36.9 mpg for manual. 06-08 Corolla owners are reporting 32.4 / 36.6 mpg. 07-08 Fit owners are reporting 30.6 for auto, 35.0 for manual.
Heck, though the sample size is WAY too small to make conclusions (just 4 owners total), 08 Focus owners are reporting better mileage than 08 Fit owners.
That’s a dirty little secret for these subcompacts - they simply are not getting better mileage than their compact brethren. They’re just cheaper.
If you like the FIT/Yaris then maybe. Take an extended test drive. The smaller the car the less pleasant the ride and they ALL seem to rattle and creak themselves apart with age. For that price a 4 cylinder base Camry or Accord would be a significantly nicer car (different world) with a slight penalty on fuel.
Owning the Yaris makes me want to try the Fit. The Yaris is good but the interior is kind of user unfriendly. I don’t like the wiper control lever always getting turned on by accident. The shifter gate is just plain odd. The seat belt latches are too low and tight for tall drivers. The horn is always honking because it extends too far down the spokes of the steering wheel. There are other gripes but they are less important except for the speedometer which takes some getting used to because there are no marks for the fives, like 45, 55, 65. How fast am I going? 5MPH too fast. Wake up, Toyota; the Echo had a better interior. The last tankfull got 29.9 MPG in the sedan with AT, PS, AC. Not bad with 100 highway miles out of 263 miles. The Corolla is tight inside too and has the stupid map light switches on the rear view mirror and the light gets switched on without anybody knowing it.
“But DO NOT expect better significantly better gas mileage. 07-08 Yaris owners are reporting averages of 34.25 mpg for auto, 36.9 mpg for manual. 06-08 Corolla owners are reporting 32.4 / 36.6 mpg. 07-08 Fit owners are reporting 30.6 for auto, 35.0 for manual.”
What do these people do to get that kind of gas mileage, drive with the parking brake on? My worst Yaris gas mileage ever was during a 65-70 mph long highway trip against a brutal 15 gusting to 25 mph wind and I still got 36.11 mpg. My 36 mile commute to work and back consistantly returns low to mid 40 mpg figures, my record tank was 45.9 mpg.
Who knows, but the sample size is 39 for manuals, 62 for automatics… which makes it more significant than a sample size of 1. Ranges go from 23-44 for automatics and 25-44 for manual…
There are always some people who drag down averages. There are 1999 Taurus owners reporting 16 mpg with the same engine I routinely get 21-31 mpg (21 being completely city traffic) out of. The WORST I ever hit was 17 mpg, and that was with a 3 hour commute in a blinding snowstorm where traffic was moving so slowly it took me almost 2 hours to move 1.5 miles.
Personally, I never buy brand new cars because the initial depreciation makes them a horrible deal. Whatever savings you will see from the warrantee is likely to be offset by that ridiculous depreciation (especially on low end cars). Let someone else pay a premium for the “privilege” of owning a new car and look for a good late model vehicle. If late model corollas and civics are overpriced, just buy another brand of car that is more realistically priced. You can usually get a better deal by avoiding the “flavor of the month,” just find another equivalent used car. There is nothing unique about a corolla/civic, shop around. Find something nice for $8-10K and put the rest of your $12K aside for any possible repairs.