New Car: Honda Fit vs Toyota Yaris?

[walkeraviator]

Agreed. Diesel > Hybrid. Here is some facinating information. In Britain, the new Jeep Patriot can be bought in a diesel platform...

(You guys can badmouth Chrysler all you want, but we have a new Patriot 2.4 World engine with CVT...it has been amazing, and gets 22city and 27 hwy which is impressive for an AWD SUV)

...anyways, they road tested the diesel patriot against the toyota Prius. All in car fuel mileage computers are liars, and these two were no different. But the measure of how far off they were may surprise you. The Prius computer claimed it was getting something over 50mpg (forgot exact number) but in reality only got 42mpg. The Jeep Patriot's lying computer claimed 43mpg, but got 39mpg. Impressive that an SUV diesel can get almost as good as those hippie cars...I will try to find the article for you guys so you can see that it was a very good experiment.

Who knows, maybe by the time credit lenders allow you to get a car, they will have the Ford small cars in the US finally. Also, have you considered the Saturn Astra?? I know in europe the vauxhall version is a direct competitor with the clio. It appears to be competitive with the versa at least on everything except cost.

 

[Uncletruck]

Jeep is the only thing Chrysler has left going for them, as they have been busy dropping all their RWD models which are thier only cars I would even remotely consider owning, that only if someone gave one to me for free. But I would not be going out and buying a vehicle made by Cyphillus or whatever their holding company is named now, with the "lifetime" powertrain warranty which means for the likely short remaining lifetime of the company because they just can't find another Iacocoa when they need one. (But they probably could stick their hands out for another government "loan" right now!) It is this Bob Nardelli douche who almost ran Home Depot in to the ground in charge of them now. What the %$#@ does that guy know about building cars? I wish them luck.

There are multiple Mercedes models in CR's least reliable list. I think the only thing Daimler/Mercedes learned from the Chrysler end was how to cheese a car out in to a pile and still charge an outrageous price for it. No wonder Daimler pulled out.

That said, my wife's 2000 Cherokee has been very reliable, save the $800 to replace air conditioner evaporator because you have to pull the steering column to get the damn thing out. It is doing the typical American car thing, that being all the little things are starting to die off one by one. But it has been a decent overall vehicle, but is not at the top of the list of my forementioned vehicles.

-UT-

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Mercedes Benz had their downfall right after they had a CEO who said they made cars that were "Too High Quality". This was right after they had been making the legendary W126, W123 and W124 models which most consider to be the best that Benz, or any other manufacturer has ever made. So, starting in around 1989 or so, they got rid of their great diesels with removable liners and went to one piece blocks which were lucky to last 50k miles. (GM wasn't the only company to make a bad diesel!) They also cheaped out on electrical systems, etc. Supposedly, they are once again working on quality, but it was not Chrysler that ruined Mercedes. Mercedes did that on their own. I would still buy a W123 1985 300D or 300SD, but very few models built after that (save for some of the early W124 300D turbos with manual transmissions) were any good. After all, the W123 diesel holds the record for the most cars to reach the one million mile mark. Well maintained, they can still do that even today.

Which brings me to my best cars for reliability list.

Mercedes indirect injection Diesel cars
Nissan 4 cylinder pickups built before the new D40 Frontier
Toyota 4 cylinder pickups
Nissan Sentras built before 2000
Honda Civic (provided it has it's timing belt changed)
Honda Accord
Volvo Diesels with RWD
Toyota Tercel

Preference for manual transmission on all of the above.

As for maintenance and repair costs, my Frontier has probably cost me $1500 in total repairs over 301,750miles, excluding tires, brakes, etc. The truck has a built in fuel cut at 35 mph. I shift when it hits 34. In no way is it babied, but it is maintained and repaired before anything gets too bad. I expect it to die by chucking a rod out the block one day...

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Agreed. Diesel > Hybrid. Here is some facinating information. In Britain, the new Jeep Patriot can be bought in a diesel platform...

(You guys can badmouth Chrysler all you want, but we have a new Patriot 2.4 World engine with CVT...it has been amazing, and gets 22city and 27 hwy which is impressive for an AWD SUV)

...anyways, they road tested the diesel patriot against the toyota Prius. All in car fuel mileage computers are liars, and these two were no different. But the measure of how far off they were may surprise you. The Prius computer claimed it was getting something over 50mpg (forgot exact number) but in reality only got 42mpg. The Jeep Patriot's lying computer claimed 43mpg, but got 39mpg. Impressive that an SUV diesel can get almost as good as those hippie cars...I will try to find the article for you guys so you can see that it was a very good experiment.

Who knows, maybe by the time credit lenders allow you to get a car, they will have the Ford small cars in the US finally. Also, have you considered the Saturn Astra?? I know in europe the vauxhall version is a direct competitor with the clio. It appears to be competitive with the versa at least on everything except cost.

I think they are bringing in the Ford Fiesta next year, but I don't know enough to make a judgment. As for the Astra, it's too big for my needs and the fuel economy is awful at only 22mpg or so in the city. Plus, it's too pricey. If it were available in a diesel I might change my mind. That and Vauxhalls aren't really all that cool...

 

[dan2286]

I just read an article in motor trend about the Fiesta. It actually got really good reviews from the editors. They were saying that it actually felt really well built and it was getting almost 40mpg with a 1.6 liter. The base price also isnt to bad at 14,800.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Yeah, but at $14,800, it is $300 more than the Fit which is a far more innovative and practical car. If you doubt that, just take a look at one and pay attention to the interior. Plus, it's a Honda and will have better residuals because of that.

 

[longhorncutlass]

How 'bout the Chevy Cobalt? It's a well made, reliable car.

 

[midwestls]

I would say that most of these cars would be better off being turned back into the beer can's they originated from :lol: :lol: :lol: Just my personal opinion. 8)

 

[2000.malibu.ls]

before you buy either look at my "wrecked" post

 

[midwestls]

before you buy either look at my "wrecked" post

x2, and just think a civic is a big car compared to these :shock: