New Car: Honda Fit vs Toyota Yaris?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well...that was my point about national servitude. I think too much of what is being proposed on both sides of the aisle is coming close to the Fascism that swept Europe and the US during the 30's ( Remember the Progressives? Compare them to Mussolini's Italy, or Hitler's Germany-minus the Holocaust). I also don't like this supposed synergy of government and the financial sector to bail out all the bad mortgage paper. ( Fascist economics is basically a synergy of the government and business) I'd rather let them fail, but then again, that too would have bad consequences that may be worse than helping them. We are setting up for the most intrusive federal government we have ever seen. If we are not careful, we won't be able to recognize our own country in 4 years and we will have only ourselves to blame.

 

[2000.malibu.ls]

on abortion, i have to ask...what about cases of incest or rape? what if the birth control fails? i'm not asking to argue, just curious.

My veiws of this are, if its life, it should live, whether it is in a orphanage or in your home, or in a family members home. I feel that if it truely wasnt your fault, you should NOT have to live with the consequences, but there are adoptions agencies out there and different ways to ensure the child can live even if you cannot personally take care of it.

what i dont like was a quote by obama who stated that "if my daughters made a mistake, I would not want them to have to live with the 'consequences'" that just makes me sick. its not a "consequence", its a child.

 

[dan2286]

I think a new topic is in order. :lol:

 

[megaladon6]

what about when not aborting the fetus means it and the mother die?

 

[Uncletruck]

Just how did this one start jumping from economy cars to politics and abortion?

-UT-

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Don't blame me... I only responded to criticism rather than let it go unchecked. I wasn't even on anywhere near this topic, but one poster felt it necessary to interject politics into an otherwise non-political thread about...err...what was the original question again?

 

[srercrcr]

My daughter got a Fit Sport a few weeks ago and is getting 35 mpg combined city/hwy with the automatic, which I believe is rated 1 mpg higher than the manual. It might do better after broken in. The Sport has the complete Ipod synchronization.... song title, etc. I would want the artwork too though.

 

[walkeraviator]

I figure I will throw my $.02 in here as well. I drove an EK9 for a few years and absolutely loved it. And based on appearance I think the FIT is the best looking in its class. So my vote is for the Honda.

However, if you argument against american cars is based on your wish to not support unions, that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. But claiming your decision is based on reliability, then you have been dooped by the liberal media (specifically consumer reports who is obviously paid off by foreign car companies). If you do research you will find that from a reliability standpoint, doestic car companies are actually out performing Japan for at least the last 3 years.

My personal beef with new american cars is based on design and appearance...but i know that American cars are just as reliable if not more so than anyone else.

But again, for your choice, if things work out for you to get a new one, have your dealer search for you an 08, they will still be around somewhere...and get the FIT.

 

[Uncletruck]

I would never use Consumer Reports as a know-all-tell-all. But to say they are paid off by Japanese car companies is about as true as saying the American car companies have been out performing the Japanese companies for three years. Actually, three Ford/Lincoln/Mercury models made CR's most reliable list- four Nissan/Infiniti models were on CR's least reliable list, with only two Nissans as most reliable. I think people see so many Hondas and Toytas on the top they just assume the foreign companies pay off CR. If that were the case, then I guess Nissan and Volkswagen must be bankrupt and not able to pay their bribe to CR.

I think most who have been doing any American car bashing here have been doing so based on their own personal experiences, not having to bother with doing any research at all.

My opinion is the Japanese companies excel in fit and finish and overall quality. I think their 4 cylinder engines are superb, but their V6 engines are really nothing special compared to the domestics.

I think Ford and GM (not Chrysler) excel in body integrity over the Japanese brands, yet have all around average engines (Buick 3.8 V6 being an above average exception) and still below par build quality, fit and finish. (The UAW stuff.)

These are my experinces based on these past/present family owned cars:


1997 Toyota Tacoma I4
2007 Toyota Tacoma I4
2002 Ford Ranger V6
2001 Mitsubishi Montero V6
2000 Jeep Cherokee I6
1998 Buick Regal V6
2008 Nissan Pathfinder V6

-UT-

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I'm going primarily off personal experience as I have had several good Nissans, including my current Frontier that has 301,500 miles on it and is driven 3,000 miles a month. Why not a new Nissan then? Well, Renault took over Nissan in 2000 and they took steps to cut per vehicle cost which also cut quality. The Versa is a French design which is sold in Europe as the Renault Clio and Modus. I did my research on the different models I considered and found the Fit to be the best in it's class, with it having an exceptional reliability rating in Europe where it has been sold since 2001. We only got it here in 2007, so to me the US experience is not as important. It also has the best fuel economy rating of any car in it's class save the Yaris, but the Yaris is not well loved by many reviewers and current owners judging by the different consumer comment sites I have read. I agree about the radio, and would buy one with no radio if it were offered that way, but sadly it isn't. I also don't really care for the way it looks, but that is not a deal breaker. As for American made cars, no American company makes a car in this engine size class. Chevy sells the Aveo, but they do not make it. It is made in South Korea by Daewoo, which is now owned by GM. The Cobalt, Focus, and Caliber are all too big for my taste. They also are not available with a 1.6 liter engine, which is a requirement for my needs. Fuel economy, reliability, and residual value are my top concerns.

Now, having said all of that, the death of the credit market has made all of this a moot point. I can't get the financing to work out for me, so I won't be buying a new car until that improves. I may settle on a used mid 90's Sentra if I can find a cheap good one with a 5 speed and 1.6 liter 4. I hate to buy an old car again, but at least I am well-versed in Sentra mechanicals and can fix them easily. I still have left over parts from my last Sentra, so I guess it's the best choice. I still have to juggle a few more issues to have even that make sense though as I need to figure out how to have 3-4 cars and not get in trouble for only having tags on one. (I am definitely keeping my Frontier and Cutlass, and may be stuck with my AMC Spirit). Code enforcement is a b*tch when they get their panties all up in a wad.

Who knows? Maybe when the whole credit thing works itself out there will be a better choice on the market. I am kind of interested in the $18,500 new Honda Insight Hybrid as the fuel economy offsets the additional price when you take into account my 3,000 miles a month of driving. Then again, if VW would get it's act together and sell the Fox diesel here I'd really rather have that. To me, Diesel>Hybrid.