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Which small four door car would you get?

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Which small fuel efficient car would you pick?

  • 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco

  • 2012 Ford Focus SFE

  • 2012 Honda Civic HF

  • Something else

Results are only viewable after voting.
SandEagle said:
wait for the 2013 civic. the new 2012 is so fugly, that they are redesigning it after 1 year on market
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I think the '13 will be great too.
Aside from looks, I did not find the '12 Civic bad at all, I looked them over pretty good at the dealership when I bought my EOL '11 Civic.
 
Jumpem said:
Holding a speed going downhill is a huge positive to me. Much better than riding the brakes down a hill.
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I kept an eye on it today - it's slowing down the car, rather than maintaining a speed. However, the hills around here, at least the ones I need to drive on, aren't particularly long or steep.
The next time I head over to the other side of the state I'll get to test it good - I've got to drive over a section of the Appalachians to do that, and there are some nice long reduced-gear zones there. That probably won't be for a few months though.
Maybe setting the cruise control on a long downhill slope would do the trick. The Elantra wasn't too smart about figuring out that sort of thing. It could easily handle flat-and-straight.🙂



Edit: I'll also say that I'm going to see what I can do to get the auto-dimming rear-view mirror swapped out for the standard manual-flip type. The specific configuration I'd wanted would have been a few weeks out; in the interest of having me buy a car sooner, they offered the same price on one that was already on order, which had a few extras that I didn't really need. The auto-dim mirror was one of them.
- It doesn't dim when the car behind has those blue HID lights.
- Its dimming response is generally fairly slow, and its threshold for dimming at all isn't quite what my fairly-sensitive eyes would prefer.
- When the Sun is low in the sky behind the car, brutally assaulting my optic nerve, the mirror doesn't see this as a problem.

There's no adjustments to be made, and there's no manual override.


I wonder what kind of sensor those things use.
 
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Whats great about this market segment is choice.

Would getting a 2010 low miles Civic be all that different? It would save you a few bones.
 
Hard to really lose considering the options, but I think if you drive all three, you'll find the Focus is the clear winner. The only downside is that they're actually fairly pricey with a few options, so that might bear consideration.

As always with multiple good choices, don't buy ANYTHING until you've personally been behind the wheel in all of them.
 
Mazda 3. Its still my favorite to drive of all the small four-door cars I've driven (Corolla, Civic, Focus, Cruze).
 
I said Cruze
Just cause its the biggest , nicest on the HW from what I've read, cheaper than the Focus and I've already owned a Civic once, was fine I just like to try diff vehicles
I've never sat in any of them 🙂
 
I finally finished my test drives, and I liked the Chevy Cruze the best. The Focus felt too cramped, the Civic's cockpit just felt weird to me, and the Subaru Impreza had a rough and noisy ride.
 
Cruze will probably age better, then the focus, esspically on the interior given its more 'conservative' look.

note: I have driven the curze. ~600 miles. liked it. Haven't driven the others. But sat in all.

The cruze and focus are very close IMHO. Toyota is bottom of the barrel in this market currently. The civic, is hate it or love it... I lean more towards hate.

The subaru imperza is a notch down on the interior and mpgs from the curze/focus, but it does have awd, and the inside looks alot nicer in the limited trim.

All others IMHO sit in between the cruze/focus and the corrolla
 
Mazda 3 Skyactiv? 40 MPG highway and if it's anything like my '08, fun to drive.

EDIT: Take a look at how much more you're spending for the SFE\XFE packages on these cars. $1000+ is a lot of gas.
 
A friend just bought a Sonic w/ 1.4L turbo and 6 speed manual. While I only rode in it for a few miles it was pretty nice. If it proves to be reliable, I'd rank it above the Fit.
 
Just put in an order for a 2012 Ford Focus Titanium hatchback. I'm a bit picky in what I want, and the biggest issue is the machined painted wheels. Only 2 of them in a 5 state radius with all of the options I want. One is yellow and one is black. I want the black one but won't know until Monday if it is available.
If not, I have to order from the factory and that will take about 6 weeks for delivery. Traded in my 2007 BMW 328xi.
 
ultimatebob said:
The Subaru Impreza is an interesting idea... AWD could be useful in winter here in Connecticut.
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yeah im seriously consider replacing my 4x4 ranger with an impreza wagon.

thing is, a 2003 or so goes for about $9k it looks like. my other option would just be a cheap $4k ford focus, but i would lose snow driving ability and i want to keep that.

the focus would be GREAT though because anything that breaks on it is dirt cheap to fix

so, decisions decisions. all i know is my current 17mpg is just unacceptable these days
 
wirednuts said:
yeah im seriously consider replacing my 4x4 ranger with an impreza wagon.

thing is, a 2003 or so goes for about $9k it looks like. my other option would just be a cheap $4k ford focus, but i would lose snow driving ability and i want to keep that.

the focus would be GREAT though because anything that breaks on it is dirt cheap to fix

so, decisions decisions. all i know is my current 17mpg is just unacceptable these days
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You can stick some good snow tires on the focus and do pretty darn well. FWD with good snow tires > AWD with bad tires.
 
heh, unstoppable 😀

i dunno... i guess fwd would be a lot better then my ranger is now in 2wd. no weight in the back and its like trying to drive on marbles

i can easily find a nice 2000-2004 focus for 3-5k too... thats so cheap and its still 30+ mpg. i dont care much for how they look, but who gives a shit when its creepin on $5 a gallon
 
ok, ill take your word for it. now i just have to find a black one (its bad enough im a full grown 6'4" man.. i dont need to look any more gay then i already will 😀 )
 
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