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View Poll Results: Which econo box would you choose
Which would you choose? 70% of the time I'll be driving between 65 and 80mph. I'm leaning towards the Golf TDI since I had good luck with a Golf GTI. I may just say f'it and get a Mazdaspeed 3 but which one would you choose?
Probably the fit because I don't typically like diesels. However, if the TDI are as good as I've been hearing, you would probably get better mileage with that.
I've driven all three cars and the GTI is the most fun. Plus at those speeds, I wanna believe you'd get excellent mileage compared to the other two. Maybe wrong but I don't care...I'd still take the GTI.
There's no way I'd take anything from VW. Their reliability ranges from average to total crap. Honda and Toyota reliability are far better.
Although the OP doesn't seem to care about this, so-called "clean diesels" are dirty in comparison to even many non-hybrid gasoline powered cars. They typically get a 6 out of 10 (tier 2 bin 5) on the EPA air pollution score. There are plenty of gasoline powered cars that do better.
FWIW, in the owner satisfaction survey, the Fit got an 83%, which is the highest amongst small cars vs. 93% for the Prius, which the EPA classifies as a midsize and CR puts under family sedans.
I've driven all three cars and the GTI is the most fun.
Uhh... you've driven the 2010 Prius? It just started shipping a <3 weeks ago in the US. It's got a ton of changes and new features compared to the 2nd gen (04 to 09) besides better gas mileage and 24 more hp. The car feels more solid and they worked on improving the handling.
(I drove one 2x at an invite only Toyota event in early March 09 in San Francisco and was under embargo to not discuss or write up about my driving impressions until 3/25/09. FWIW, I posted them on http://priuschat.com/forums/2010-toy...tml#post819419.)
Since the OP has a hybrid on the list, I realized the OP ought to consider three more cars:
2009 Toyota Prius - you should be able to get a deal on leftovers since the 2010 is out now
2010 Honda Insight - However, it looks like a Prius, has the least power of all these cars and worse mileage than even the 09 Prius, let alone the 2010, but it has a lower MSRP than the 2010 Prius.
2009 Altima Hybrid - Ok, not an econobox but you should be able to get it for well below invoice due to the $2K incentive and there's a $2350 tax credit (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml). It's 198 hp to boot but gets mileage of much weaker econoboxes. (My mom's got an 07 NAH.) Unfortunately, it's only available in 9 states and you might not be in one of them.
TDI. It's the most luxurious, most "car like", gets comparable mpg on quick interstate driving as the Prius, and is much more stable at high speeds compared to the other cars listed. In the future, if you wanted to modify the car for speed, the TDI would be the easiest car to make "quick".
The GTI would not be as much fun as the MS3, the Fit is like a tin can, and the Prius projects an image that I don't like (unless you did something fun like suspension and different wheels).
I have to disagree about the GTI....while I love the MS3 and think it's a great choice, the GTI has better fit and finish and IMHO handles better...that's why I ended up choosing it over the MS3. It was close though because the power advantage of the MS3 is insane.....
I agree with you actually. I fat-fingered TDI into GTI -- I guess I got my rhyming TLAs mixed in my head!
Pick my econo box
