Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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I rented the Fit, my second choice, for a weekend and just couldn't find a comfortable driving position.
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/headrestraints.aspx?cadillac
and Chevy Cavalier for getting Poor front crash ratings for the past 10 years
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ratingsbyseries.aspx?id=294
and for Chevy Impala, Silverado, Trailblazer and Uplander for getting Poor ratings on rear crash tests
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/headrestraints.aspx?chevrolet
And every Buick for getting Poor rear scores:
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/headrestraints.aspx?buick
And Lexus ES 330, GX 470, and RX for getting Poor rear impact scores.
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/headrestraints.aspx?lexus
When the seat was forward, my right foot was folded back, which killed my ankle and back. However, my left foot was flat on the floor and was very comfortable.
When the seat was further back, the steering wheel was too far away, and it felt decidedly strange to rest my left foot on the fabric where a dead pedal normally goes. There isn’t a dead pedal there, so I assume that you are not supposed to put your foot there! I guess I would need both a dead pedal and a telescopic steering wheel to be completely comfortable in this position.
I can't say my seating is IDEAL but it's.....okay....I went from kinda unhappy to pretty satisfied after driving it a while.
Just to clarify, the 2003 Matrix that I bought doesn't have power seats.
And its seating position also leaves something to be desired. At night, I get glare in the upper, left corner of the windshield, a reflection of the bottom inch or so of the gauges. I definitely know when the cruise control is on!
After buying a Matrix yesterday, I feel justified in saying that the seating position just isn't good enough in small cars like the Honda Fit, etc. Otherwise, I would have bought the Fit.
I was talking about the Fit, not the Matrix. It's funny, since I look at the Matrix as a station wagon and not a small car at all.
With my uncle's Corolla, it doesn't have enough legroom for me, and the steering wheel is too low, even in the most upright position. It forces me to sit bowlegged.
The Matrix driving position is a bit weird. I have a manual and the shifter is half way up the dash. It’s lucky that I do have the armrest to rest my elbow on; otherwise it would be a bit of a chore to use. I find that I use my fingertips a lot with it, too. I like a shifter on the floor, but maybe it’s just something to get used to.
It is an interesting seating position – very different from both my Mazda 323 and the Fit.
The worse thing about the Matrix is the styling. Black interior and small windows. Yuck! I much prefer the styling of a Fit or a Versa.
Believe it or not, the matrix is classified as a subcompact in the fleet magazines that I subscribe to.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061219/AUTO01/612190407/1148- - /AUTO01
"Like I said before size does matter most of the time and surprisingly many of y'all disagreed with me."
Rocky
More Data
Even more data.
(true or false)
1. A subcompact "wagon" cannot be used by a family of four in normal local activities....FALSE
2. A subcompact isn't fun to drive....FALSE
3. Subcompacts tend to be buzzy at high speeds and susceptible to gusty winds, passing trucks, etc. TRUE
4. Subcompacts are dangerous...NO DATA
5. Subcompacts are small and agile enough to avoid accidents....TRUE
6. Subcompacts feel "cheap".....body/interior/engine/fit & finish....FALSE....tires, suspension, brakes....TRUE
7. For a few thousand dollars more, you can buy a dramatically improved car.....FALSE.
SUMMARY:
Did I get value for the money? Definitely
Would I buy a "better" car next time? Probably would upgrade somewhat for a little more room and power.
If I had to keep this car forever, would I be bummed out? No.
I have no data, but it seems like there are more 20-somethings driving small cars than big ones, and 20-somethings have more accidents in general, so the types of drivers may affect these statistics as much as the car? Hard to say.
But on the side impact tests where the class of cars can be compared, many small cars do better than large ones according to the IIHS tests.
Cars and trucks have gotten less dangerous over the years but trucks are still more dangerous then cars.
How is your Christmas going?? Got all of your shopping done?
I have a Supercharged range Rover to drive tonight as I am delivering it to the customer tomrorow morning and he only lives about 30 minutes to the west of my house.
Easier to take the Range home for the night then drive it to his house tomorrow morning.
funny thing, last weekend it was my wife's and my oldest daughter's birthday. one of my daughter's friends got her a wool cap that is reserved for the hockey team players through a friend(the goalie).
they had to get it out of the coaches vehicle, and he gave the keys to the goalie to get it. the vehicle is a range rover. all they could talk about was getting the keys to 'the range' and being able to sit in it.
i had to ask to see the hat.
I usually do all my Christmas shopping at the 7-11 Christmas morning. :P
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Glad to see your 1-year summary. As new owners of an xA (our 3rd family car, intended for teen driver; joined dad's Avalon and mom's 8-seat Pilot) we all enjoy driving the xA and it's now everyone's first choice for short trips with up to 3-4 riders, or 1-2 riders and a lot of stuff in back.
I generally agree with your observations, except I wonder why you say that "tires, suspension, brakes" feel cheap. True, the suspension is quite stiff (call it "sporty"). But so far I have been completely satisfied with how the xA brakes. And it handles really well in rain, snow and ice with its (new) Bridgestone all-season tires. Has your experience been different?
Best wishes,
havalong
What I find annoying is say on Hwy 17 out of Santa Cruz (El Camino del Morte I call it)...we have these high speed sweepers that come up, sometimes with an slight uphill, and the xA gets very squishy. The sway bar and shock braces helped a LOT but it still doesn't feel right. It's not the firmness, it's the "compliance" of the suspension that is lacking. The car doesn't "set" very well when you are at speed and you point it somewhere. The chassis won't stay in one place.
And I've faded the brakes.
But then, I've been able to stress the brakes and suspension on much more expensive cars, too.
You know, design is a compromise with passenger cars--it's built to accomodate the most drivers in most situations.
So yeah, there is a LOT of room to improve an xA. New springs and shocks, definitely, and wider, lower profile tires. Not sure what to do about the brakes, that's tougher because the rears are drum, so you'd have to fit in an entire rear dead axle from a disk brake car.
It's not just a matter of stiffening. We've all seen really stiff modified Japanese compacts that will corner on rails on a smooth flat track but would pogo stick into a parking lot if you hit rough roads.
Looking at the table the question that springs to mind is:
Does involvement in a fatal accident mean that someone in either vehicle died in the crash?
It makes sense to me that more people would die if one of the parties were a large truck and the other a smaller car.
So in passenger cars the person died in the passenger car. Also keep in mind that most fatal accidents are single car accidents.
That government stat site seems to be down right now.
Check this study:
http://www.aceee.org/pubs/t021full.pdf
Unfortunately i dont know if it is possible to copy from adobe reader, or i would post some highlites.
chart on page 4 is interesting. The relative performance of toyota and honda is somewhat a surprise. tough to divide the type of driving/driver and the kill rates.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e25148&source=embedVideo
So it's a little unfair to judge it just on that video. Crash tests are all done at 35mph anyways - about 1/4 the energy.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Hate to tell you this going from 70 to 0 in two feet isn't much better than in one foot.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Another thing that probably helped that SMART is that it was so lightweight that it bounced and then shot sideways, which helped dissipate some of the force of the impact. If it had just hit the barrier and stuck to it like, say, running a '69 Camaro into a bulldozer (Vanishing Point), the damage would have been a lot worse. And a larger, heavier vehicle with a lower center of gravity might have been more likely to stick.
I wonder what kind of effect that bouncing would have on the vehicle's occupants, though? One one hand, the initial impact might be lessened (i.e., bouncing up and to the right as opposed to just hitting and sticking), but I'm sure the bouncing and shooting off to the right would have some pretty nasty forces all their own.
That was my point. I think the people would be intact on the outside but their insides might be creamed. Like I said, this isn't car specific, there is no good way to absorb that much energy that fast and not pass alot of it on to the passengers, even if the cabin is intact.
Also, that '69 Camaro weighs less than a new Accord.
And now gas is $3/gallon again, what a shock. Honda dealers still can't keep the Fit on the lots for more than a day.
And in the "curious sightings" category, I drove past the import lot in Benicia (west coast, Bay Area, CA) the other day. This is a yard usually filled with cars of various Korean makes, and it's enormous - there have to be 10K cars in there on any given day. It is a transit lot for cars fresh off the boat that are on their way to dealers.
Well anyway, the day I drove by, I was intrigued to see it was filled NOT with "various Korean makes", but rather with a single make and model - the Chevy Aveo. That's right, Aveos stretched all the way to the horizon, thousands and thousands and thousands of them. It was quite a sight. :-P
Guess the demand for Aveo hasn't let up either...
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Now, here comes the embarassing part. The same car was at the Philly auto show, and we checked it out again. I read the MSRP sticker, and noticed that it wasn't even real leather...they had it marketed as "leatherette", and it was something like a $295 option, IIRC. Interesting that they're getting to the point that they're learning how to make leather-looking vinyl even in bargain basement cars! It was good enough to fool me! Or maybe it's just my eyesight starting to go? :surprise:
And yeah, I've noticed gas creeping up again. Just yesterday, the local Citgo was $2.459 for 87 octane. Not too long ago it had been $2.259. Sometimes I don't fill up for up to two weeks, so I don't always notice the spikes and drops right away.
That Smart's structure did remarkably well, in fact it can take an impact that a human cannot take, so it's about as strong a structure as is practical, maybe even too strong.
-juice
It was a 1970 Hemi Challenger that they used in Vanishing Point. However, in the crash scene at the end, they substituted an engineless Camaro, which took a dive into the bulldozers and just kinda stuck there, rear-end up in the air. I had thought it was a 1969, but searching around on the web, looks like it was a '67.
There was a '68-70 Charger in the bad remake, though. There was a scene where a cop ditched his police cruiser for his own personal Charger. His reasoning? "You think we're going to catch him in that dog-pie Chevy?! It takes a MOPAR to catch a Mopar!" :shades:
Well, I'd imagine that anyone raised on MB-Tex or whatever BMW calls their leatherette, this Aveo's interior still might not make the grade, but I'd say it was still a pretty high quality. I guess the only advantage that cloth would have is that on a really hot day, it wouldn't burn you as badly. Unless they put metal buckles into the design, like they did with my '89 Gran Fury. :mad:
And I guess leather would still "breathe" a bit better than vinyl, no matter how nice said vinyl is. So leather might still be more comfortable on a hot day, too.
Myself I like a good plastic on the dash and doors that's not going to wear off the outer layer in 10 years if I keep the car that long and lose the outer surface sheen. I don't want the nice soft plastics that crack after two or three years in the hot sunshine. On seats I still like the good quality cloth in my 98 Limited leSabre. My 03 has leather because my wife made me and they don't sell anything else with cloth unless you buy the lower level car. I almost bought a used Park Avenue when I found all after that date had leather seats and my dealer had a used one on the lot.
Everytime someone complains about hard plastics in GMs as if noone else uses them (Honda does, I can vouch for that after Tuesday) I cringe. It's the durability of the plastic that I care about.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Leather gets those creases from use that is like patina on antiques. But I still like cloth. I may be the only one, though... Those creases in leather require a toothbrush to clean well. I did my Buick seats last September... Just washing with water and cloth didn't do it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,