I’ve been well schooled in VW’s, as my fathers job when he was younger was as a VW mechanic. He was very good at his job, but has sworn he would never buy a VW. Largely for the reasons outlined above.
Agree!
My experience with a small car is a '03 Honda Civic 4dr. EX with manual transmission. Plenty of pep and no problems sharing the highway with big trucks. The car cruises along at 70 mph all day and get 40 mpg while doing it. I got side airbags (an optional extra in '03) and the Honda Civic got a good crash rating so I feel as safe driving the Civic as I do driving my other cars, an '04 T’bird, and a large SUV Toyota Sequoia.
Before buying, the Consumer Reports Buying Guide is at the bookstores somewhere. There are others there too and they all describe the way they ride on the freeway. The 07 Yaris seems like it has become easier to control the speed now after 10,000 miles, but before now, I really needed cruise control. Stuff like THAT isn’t in there but power and handling are. Looks like you will need more than one reference from what I found in the Buying Guide. Get the Focus or the Elantra. The Accent isn’t good enough.
My friend has a Civic and raves about it, for many of the reasons you’ve named above. He’s already made me promise to give his a test drive.
Cool. I have a subscription to Consumer Reports online, so I get all the info there as well. I also make it a habit of browsing other material in the bookstore and online, including motor trend, edmunds, cars.com etc.
And of course, the real authority, The Car Talk Community message board!