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Honda Civic vs Toyota Corolla vs Mazda3
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Comments
Well actually the past two tanks i've tracked i have gotten 22mpg - I am pretty meticulous about tracking my mpg...or neurotic - you decide - however i know its accurate. Anyway, I am letting it warm up a bit more, about three mins but only when the car has sat for a while (i.e., in the morning). I know that the car is going to get worse gas mileage in the winter but now ten miles different - seems a bit ludicrous. I know SUVs (my friend's CRV) that is getting better mpg than my corolla.
Driving harder - ya know i kind of drive like an old lady - hence my purchase of a corolla- so no i don't think so - the car only has 3,000 miles on it - i mean i guess i have to punch it sometimes in the city to avoid a crazy driver but all in all i think i am pretty standard over the past three months of owning the car.
I ask about the time of ownership, because I am quite disappointed in my purchase and have been thinking about a trade in and I am wondering just how insane that is.... the mpg is just really aggravating me - save the world girl at heart!
Last - do you think something is wrong with my car???
do you think i can call the dealer on false advertising?
My previous car was a '92 honda civic - loved it - wish i could have drove it into the ground - but someone else wanted it so they took it (you may remember this story from past posts).
ok grad - any advise - i'm here....nursing my wounds from a Chicago Bears loss in the SuperBowl....
-Warming up the car will use a decent amount of fuel, but 22 MPG is pretty low, I'll definitely agree.
-What kind of mileage did you get in the Civic in the same type of conditions? If it got in the low-mid 20s, then I'd say your vehicle is probably fine. Do you do a lot of stop and go city driving?
-I would be tempted to let the dealer take a look at the car, but since you are at 3k miles, maybe ask about it at the oil change, and mention your concern. 22MPG is NOT normal for regular driving, but with a lot of idling, warming up, and stop and go, its pretty easy to get to. Remember, for every minute your car idles, you are getting 0 MPG.
-You can't call the dealer on false advertising, because the dealer, and even Toyota corporation, are not the ones who come up with the mileage estimates. That's the EPA.
Let me know what your commute is like (how far, and how long it generally takes to go that many miles). I understand you don't drive aggressively (under 4k RPM most of the time, I'd guess?), but a lot of stopped time is what will kill mileage.
That's all I can tell you for now, with the facts I've got.
Yes, i do mostly stop and go driving in the city. I really only have to drive 2.8 miles to work (no public transport), but it is all lights and many people on the road.
commute = 2.8 miles to work, it takes me any where from 20-35 mins to get to work. Yikes that's scary....
Ok, there's all I need to hear. You are averaging about 5 miles an hour - which is really REALLY bad for mileage. Remember, the CITY EPA estimate is averaging 20 MPH, or making 4x the forward progress that you are. With that kind of commute, I'm amazed that you got 32 MPG if this is in fact the same commute you had in your old Civic. I wouldn't expect 20 MPG in a 5 MPH average drive, so I'd say your Corolla is performing pretty well, considering.
Have you taken your car out on the highway for a trip (over say, 250 miles highway at one time?) Do this, and see if your mileage hits mid-upper 30s or better. If it does, your car is likely just fine.
Honestly, my personal opinion is that nothing wrong with your car, instead everything is wrong with your commute.
I have taken the corolla on one long trip and i averaged 40 mpg - I was smiling!!!!
I'm glad to hear your expert, graduate opinion things nothing is wrong with the corolla. Now if only summer could come sooner....
Thanks!
Cheers!
I have taken the corolla on one long trip and i averaged 40 mpg - I was smiling!!!!
I'm glad to hear your expert, graduate opinion things nothing is wrong with the corolla. Now if only summer could come sooner....
I'm definitely no expert, but I do have some knowledge about what will help and hinder mileage. Call it a moderately educated opinion.
My ex-GF drives her Corolla pretty hard, and averaged 31 MPG with mix city/hwy driving. I drove her car two days worth while mine was in the body shop getting repaired, and I averaged 35 MPG in similar conditions to her 31 MPG (driving styles are important). Still, you'll get better mileage at 85 MPH than you will doing stop and go at 5 MPH.
The fact that you got 40 MPG makes me pretty certain your Corolla is fine. Happy to have discussed this!
I fully expected a smooth nice handling car after reading press reviews and was shocked at how poorly it drove.
I have a feeling that many people don't test drive other cars. They feel that Toyota's are reliable so thats what I'm going to buy.
Luckily I test drove everything out there. The Mazda 3 was my first choice but I couldn't find any to buy (their ship sunk and lost a few thousand cars). I couldn't get over the new Civic's dash, so it came down to the Cobalt.
I gotta say, this little sucker drives like a bigger car. Very good acceleration, quiet, excellent highway ride, and good handling.
I assume anyone interested in the Mazda 3 and Civic would be interested in a compact car that is actually fun to drive. Having test drove a Corolla I wouldn't place that car anywhere near the Civic or 3. The Cobalt belongs in the comparison though. Its surprisingly fun to drive and acceleration is much better than the Corolla and rides better, much better.
Take a look at the Cobalt. In my opinion it ranks just below the 3 and Civic in fun to drive factor. The Corolla I would place dead last.
Mazda3's are in slim inventory, depending on where you live. You may want to check out the VW Rabbit, if you have not purchased already. They don't rate as well in reliability, but, I have heard they drive nice and have great fit and finish. Possibly the new Nissan Sentra as well.
I will keep you posted.
Toyota Corolla is much more of a car than Chevy Cobalt. I do not know how you came up with the idea that Chevy Cobalt is such a nice vehicle.... Of course the Cobalt will feel more powerful-it has 2.2l and 2.4l engine. If you want to compare it for its power go ahead and do it with Scion tC.... I bet you that nobody will prefer the Cobalt...
The Corolla is a pretty decent car. The design of the car is 5-6 years old; however, Toyota has made so many improvements on this car since 2005. For example, you can buy a Corolla with side air bags, ABS brakes, Stability Control, auto-dimming mirror, leather seats, moon roof. These options are not standard; however, you can find them in Dealerships. I am pretty sure that 2008 Toyota Corolla (new design) will have many options as standard equipment.
I bought a 2007 Toyota Corolla 2 months ago, and I can say that I am completely satisfied. It depends what you want. If you want full luxury, then you can buy Toyota Camry or even Lexus...
I wanted a car that will give me good gas mileage and will have comfortable ride. It gives me 30MPG in 30/70 hwy/city-this is mileage in the winter. I believe it will go up to 34-35 MPG.
People buy Toyotas because they offer nice comfortable ride for daily commute.
I do not say that Honda Civic, Mazda 3, Chevy Cobalt....are bad choices. Go and drive all these models and see what you will like most.
However, Toyota and Honda will last longer in a long run.
Steve333, enjoy your Cobalt!
Now, what I'm saying is that folks need to test drive every car they are considering. Don't go by what CR says. The Corolla may be reliable but I would rather enjoy driving my car and have a couple more warranty related problems with it then dread driving every day.
The Corolla is indeed an old design and nowhere near the top of the class anymore. In my opinion the car does not deserve the sales numbers it gets. There are far better choices out there, and yes I think the Cobalt LT is one of them.
But you know what they say about opinions........everybodys got 'em!
That's why I'm quite excited to see the '08 restyle. It'll probaly be very Camryeske in its road manners and interior, which is a good thing. I think Toyota finally realized that with the new Civic and Elantra that much is riding on this redesign and they must get it right. The Mazda 3 is at the end of it's present life cycle and is due for it's redesign soon.
Great time to buy this class of car. I personally think that the '09 models will be the ones to buy.
The Sandman
I have driven several Mazda3s 2006 and 2007 models. There seems to be a slight difference between the two years with the 2007 seeming a bit smaller. Averaged 25-27 mpg which is pretty bad for a car that small. It looks cool but the performance to me is not that great.
The positive of the Corolla is the gas mileage - been getting between 31-35 mpg. The only drawback that I saw was that it took a while to figure out how to get my legs underneath the steering wheel.
The Corolla has a dated design but it appeals to people who want a boring car with a track record of reliability and fuel economy.
I considered and drove both the Nissan Versa and Sentra. They are a lot better styles and a lot "cooler" cars. However, a lot of people aren't getting 30 mpg on the Versa and it is hard to find a Sentra much under $17k with auto trans.
And for a car that gets 25-27mpg I think the performance is about right for the mazda3 isn't it? If the acceleration gets (mazdaspeed3) any better people will probably say the gas is VERY bad right? The mazda3 definitely runs better than the corolla so if the performance on the mazda3 was "not that great" then the corolla's performance should be somewhere near unbearable right? I'd count that as a drawback.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending any car or belittling any car (though I must admit that I dislike the corolla), I just wanted to point out a couple things that weren't addressed.
Also, my few contacts with some of the local dealerships have not been favorable.
I know that my experiences may NOT be typical.
Personally, based on two week-end long rentals of 300 miles each on both models, I liked the Corolla's ride better than the Mazda3's. I also found the Corolla to be more comfortable than the Mazda3. That is my opinion - and why I ALWAYS do extended test rides.
If I wanted a car that would get 25-27 mpg, I would have purchased a 2004 Chevy Impala off-lease and get a much more comfortable vehicle.
Everyone has their opinion on what I should buy. My brother thought I shoudl buy a Focus.
why not give the civic a chance then? You said yourself your experience is more than likely not typical. Maybe you owe it to yourself to try her out, despite what many people on this forum say, i averaged 28 in the city and 38 on the highway which is on par with both the new and old epa ratings.
Maybe try a different dealer? Don't let the dealer reflect on the product.
To make a long story short, when i still had my civc (when they had just come out) i drove up to the mazda dealer where i lived just to check out the 3 hatch since i was still within that period they give you where if you hate the car and have to return it, just to see if maybe my choice was too hasty. A few mazda guys pulled up to when they saw me get there and they literally scowled at me and ignored me.
If they were willing to work with me, i may have found myself in a 3. (well prob not but still.) It seemed they did it just because i was driving a honda. The honda dealer i got my civic from, got along just fine with the lady who traded in her 05 mazda 3s sedan for a new civic and didn't turn her away when she expressed interest in the civic.(i mention this because she was there the day i got mine.)
Having said that, would it be wrong for me to assume ALL mazda dealers and their employees are like the ones i mentioned? Of course not that would be totally unfair.
You as a dealer employee should be aware of that avi.
In my contacts with three or four Honda dealership, I get an impression that the prices are "take it or leave it."
Personally, I don't find the Civic to be comfortable (even the "newer" version which I checked out when I was at the North American Auto Show on industry day).
Since I would have had to pay a premium price to get into a Civic (versus other domestic and import models) and I don't really like the car, it was not a serious factor in my consideration. If there were Hondas in rental fleets that I could drive for an extended time, maybe I would have changed my mind.
In all fairness, I would not pay much more than $15k for ANY compact on the market - including the Corolla. If I had to pay the $15.6k on a Corolla that I planned to, I would have picked up a off-lease Chevy Impala for about $8k and been perfectly satisfied (and lost about 5-7 mpg) as I generally buy (and have been satisfied with) GM vehicles.
Personally, I couldn't believe what I paid for the Corolla (and it was a NO-HAGGLE price) and a couple of co-workers are looking at that deal for their kid's car.
I don't want to start a Toyota vs. Honda rant
I never said Mazda dealers were any better. They don't have a great reputation, either, and I am one.
Take that as you may...
No they are not, however, you get what you pay for. Nissan, Mazda, Honda and Toyota make vehicle far superior to anything we can produce here in America (i.e Ford, Chevy, Chrysler)
I will pay for quality over a cheap price tag any day...
1993 Accord - ran 110k miles, SOLD
1996 Accord - a current daily driver with 172k miles (about one $300 repair a year for the last few years, never been stranded by it)
2000, 2001 Accords - both driven less than 40k miles and both got wrecked, SOLD
2002 Accord - My Grandmother's daily driver, 88k miles
2003 Accord - LCD Display Failure at 50-60k miles or so, wrecked, SOLD
2005 Accord - Suspension Rattle fixed for free despite being 30k miles past warranty expiration, SOLD
2006 Accord - a current daily driver with 17k miles, loose rear-view mirror fixed under warranty
All Automatics, 4-cylinder models. Not ONE ever left us stranded unless a battery was dead.
That's all the problems my family and I have had in the last 15 years or so with Accords. At 172k miles in my current one, I'm befuddled by a "blown" engine. What model/year was that car, if I may ask?
After I test drive the Corolla I couldnt imagine anyone ever getting comfortable in one thats how much I hated it. The power I thought was atrocious for a modern small car. However, everyone is shaped differently and want different things. The MPG in a Corolla is better than my Cobalts 25MPG but I enjoy driving my car which to me is more important.
I only took a short drive in the Mazda 3 and found it to be more comfortable than my Cobalt in the seat and handled better but for some reason the side of my leg kept rubbing against the center console.
Toyota vehicles may be more reliable but not by much and except for the Camry are amazingly unspectacular in every way. Many people buy a Toyota based on what they read in CR, which is a biased rag. But I digress............
Don't want to get too far off topic, but are you suggesting that CR makes up statistical data for its reliability ratings to support a bias for Toyota? Or do you simply disagree with the criteria CR uses in road tests?
I've always considered CR, and especially the reliability ratings, to be the least biased automobile ratings/evaluations available to US consumers. What am I missing? What exactly is the bias? Thanks-
I like GM mid-sized and full sized cars. I rented several Cobalts (as well as several of the Saturns and I just didn't like them,
The Cobalts, IMO. reminded me of the Cavalier. The Saturns were just plain uncomfortable.
Gas mileage was fairly unimpressive 27 miles (which is what the GM midsized V-6s were getting.
Let's be blunt. GM has never made it a priority to build a well made compact car.
Personally, several of my friends drive SMART Cars that they imported from Canada and retrofitted. However, after all the costs, you are laying out $25k+ (yes, I have seen the invoices and bills).
Many of the cars that I really like in the compact/ subcompact class are ineligible for importation - Peugeot 205, Nissan Micra, etc.
And I have had 30+ Taurus without a blown transmission. That is almost a record.
I believe that it was a 2000 Accord sedan. The blown engine didn't phase me. Stuff happens. The dealer's response was stunning.
For example. all the car mags (written by people who actually know cars) all heavily praised the Saturn Aura. The car even won COTY from the Automotive Press (over all including the Camry.) CR rated the Aura 31st! Thats right, not second, tenth, twentyeth, thirty first!
I have read CRs reviews then driven the cars myself and they just plain have it in for domestic cars. They will pick one here and there and say its OK but by and large their reviews are garbage.
CR does not know much about anything. I think you could probably get an idea about how a toaster or dishwasher will work, but cars? stereos? CR doesn't have a clue.
Its just sad that people buy things based on CRs recommendations.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I have to say that I agree with this statement.
CR tests cars with, people, you guessed it.
Every person is different, be it wants, needs, comfort, reliability, operating costs, etc..
If I was interested in 2 cars, and I thought one was gawd-awful looking, I wouldn't buy it cause CR says it's a much better car. I'd have to look at it everyday, so why would I get the ugly one?
I've had only Chrysler and GM cars till now, but I'm very interested in an Altima. My other choice is a Civic which gets good gas mileage and has good resale value. But you know what, I wouldn't be happy with a Civic. It's too small to be comfortable driving and it's gutless ( for me anyway).
Just remember, even a car review is only one person's opinion.
I see bias here, but it's not from CR.
it has nothing to do with being unfair.
He is basing the statement from real world factual survey results. When dealership sales satisfaction is surveyed, the domestics rank very high and Honda and Toyota have tradtionionally at or near the bottom of the list...the thinking has been people will buy the car anyway so why bother with the white glove treatment.