I'm Seeing More and More Little Cars!

[Mary in KC]

Sure seems like it to me. And lots of them are really little.

Hopefully the SUV's and big trucks have seen their day.

Our gas in KC is now at $2.049 - down from $2.099 a few days ago.

[radwriter0555]

1. Yep, we bought ours 2+ years ago... a miata and a scion &

we use about $60 a month in gas.

[Deep13]

4. Used to have a Miata.

It was certainly better on gas than any big car, but not as good as one would expect from a 2-seater that one must put-on rather than gat-in.

Gas is $2.25 here in Ohio.

[radwriter0555]

7. Gas is $2.69 in some places here in Los Angeles. The Miata isn't GREAT

on gas, but way better than the explorer I used to drive. It is a sports car, after all, and in order to appreciate it, you have to Drive it, with a capital "D".

The Scion is excellent on gas however, even with my lead foot.

[LiberalEsto]

2. The car lots seem to be full of SUVs

and other guzzlers these days.

The ads are offering all kinds of special deals on them -- just to get them moved off the lots.

[LizW]

3. I've been seeing lots of Mini Coopers

They are soooo cute! I would love one if I didn't have to carpool and haul around so many kids and their stuff.

[LibertyLover]

14. Mini Coopers

My husband and I are going to get one of those in a few months. We went to the showroom a week or so ago. What we drive now are too bad on gas (him a jeep Liberty and me a Honda Element), especially since he stays home with our daughter and doesn't drive much and my driving in pretty limited to highways, but we want to be able to go places on the weekends without worrying too much about gas consumption. What we plan on doing is making the Jeep the occassional car, used to pull a small utility trailer with mulch, for example, or when we go to re-enacting events and need the pavillion, the hound coursing equipment and stuff. He'll use the Honda during the week for his occassional trips and I'll use the Mini. We are hoping that this arrangement will surfice until alternative fueled cars are more generally available and supported.

[megatherium]

23. I think you can get rather better mileage in a larger car.

The Mini Cooper gets high 20s, low 30s mpg if I'm not mistaken. And Consumer Reports says their reliability is sub par.

[leveymg]

5. Are there really, really little people in them?

:+

[Deep13]

6. Not necessarily.

In my case, it is a really fat guy in it.

[KansDem]

11. Wilt Chamberlain drove a "small car..."

This 1996 Searcher One Wilt Chamberlain Special drew a high bid of $60,000, but did not sell. Designed and built by the late basketball great Wilt Chamberlain, the Searcher embodied his automotive ideal - a LeMans race car for the street.

[leveymg]

12. Looks like a modified second gen Consulier.

You'd think it would have Zagato-style bubble top, like Gurney had on his GT-40s.

I meant REALLY little people (like 6 inches tall, green, who speak with a distinct accent that no one else can see or hear)

;-)

[catmandu57]

18. During the gas crunch in the early seventies

When hondas were being introduced to Americans I saw a man get out of a tiny tiny honda, this guy was six+ 300lb+. It looked just like the clowns piling out of their little circus car.

[KlatooBNikto]

8. If you are right, and I think you are, say goodbye to GM and Ford.

[Deep13]

9. They make crap anyway.

[unhappycamper]

10. last year I was seriously thinking about a 350Z or a new Mustang GT

Now I'm trying to make up my mind if the Civic hybrid at 48 MPG is good enough. The Honda Insight is butt-ugly and the Toyota Prius is over-priced.

[Deep13]

16. What's a 350Z?

Is that a Datsun (or whatever they are called now?) Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Rustang or Ford generally. My dental hygenist bought a Focus the first year they were out and had to take Ford to arbitration under the Lemon Law. The arbitrators gave her a complete refund because the car was such a piece of junk.

[unhappycamper]

20. drool

[Spike from MN]

21. According to this website the Prius

is $75 more than the Honda Civic hybrid.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_news.shtml

Or by "overpriced" do you mean a comparably-equipped model would be a lot more than the Civic or just that the Prius is a crappier car in general? Just curious as I haven't had to shop for a car for years so if you have been looking into this stuff and would care to pass on what you have gleaned so far, please feel free.

[unhappycamper]

24. Toyotas are a la carte

The Honda Insight w/ air conditioning costs around $20.5K. A comparably equipped Prius is about $24 K.

This is not an exact apples to apples comparison, but it's close enough. You get some extra features (with the extra $$$) in the Prius.

www.edmunds.com is a good reference when car shopping.

[Spike from MN]

27. Thanks for the info. Yeah, that's a big price difference.

I always buy used cars so I have never had to deal with choosing how to equip a car. I just take what I get. The last time I bought a car was in '92 and that was an '89 Probe. It has 193,000 miles on it, gets 30-33 MPG, and is still going strong so I hope to not to have to car shop for awhile. Then again, at the rate gas prices are going up my next car just might be a bike. ;)

[Beaverhausen]

22. Depending on where you live- Prius' price has gone down

at least here in CA where demand is very high they are now going for under the MSRP. At least that's what I hear. I plan to get one very soon.

[unhappycamper]

25. no price breaks here in Boston

I'm waffling between the Civic & the Prius. Too bad the Insight is SOOOOOO ugly.

[Left Is Write]

13. I see just as many SUVs, trucks, and Hummers as ever.

And of course, the minivan brigade, of which I am a part.

Fortunately, we live within walking distance of my daughter's preschool, the elementary school she is to attend next year, a few parks, the grocery store, and the library. Weather permitting, we plan to do a lot of walking this spring and summer.

[Deep13]

15. Game with Hummers

Side note: Isn't "hummer" a euphemism for fellatio?:wtf:

Anyway, my wife drives a Civic Hybrid that gets 43 m.p.g. in the city. It has a sticker that say, "Live larger, drive smaller. (Not everyone needs an SUV.)" Whenever we go anywhere, we try to park next to the biggest passanger truck in the lot. Of course, if there is a Hummer, we park next to it. When we go in the store or restaurant or whatever, we try to figure out whose it is by seeing who looks like he is having a mid-life crisis. We try to pick out a middle-aged white guy with a leather jacket, jewelry, electronic do-dads and receding hair. He's usually loud too. On the few occasions we were able to check our guesses we were right.

[LifeDuringWartime]

17. ive been in france for about a week

and let me tell you, the french make very small cars! the smallest being, of course the "smart" car. it is almost opposite of the US here....very very few large SUVs, and everyone drives a small little thing. i was *shocked* to see a cadillac escalade when in paris!

id love to own a french car, but for my needs, i need at least a station wagon.


edit: the fuel pricing here is very confusing, but "gazole" (sp?) is 0.96 euros/liter. "super" is around 1.23 euros/liter. there are 3.8 liters in a gallon, so a gallon of gas in france costs 4.674 euros, which is actually....6 dollars US? something like that.

[Deep13]

19. It was the same in Yorkshire...

...when I was there six years ago. Still, what you describe might be smaller. My wife's relatives drove us around in a car that fit exactly four people well, but nothing else. There was no wasted interior space.

[meganmonkey]

26. I love my little Hyundai!!! It's a 'designer imposter' version of Honda!

It's an Accent, and I get well over 30 mpg even when my tires are bad and I need an oil change!