Best affordable commuter car

[heehaw]

just for the heck of it, double check your odometer on the freeway with the mile markers. the corolla we had was way off
heehaw

 

[LD1]

Already checked the odometer and it is dead on with the mile markers.

Also checked it against my 03 chevy 1500 and the chevy says 89.00 miles round trip to and from work and the saturn was 88.9, so I'd say it is right.

 

[archerm3]

Geo metro. 42 mpg best tank, average about 39-40 for me. Just traded it off for another something.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

...What I don't get is how these micro-cars, like the Daimler-Benz Smart, can be so small, cost as much as they do, and still not get the mileage of a Prius. Supposedly, the Smart has good crash test results, but those results are done against other vehicles of the same size.

I've owned one of those Smart cars. One of the roomiest cars for their size. Real world numbers, I averaged 78 mpg from a simple 3 cyl turbo charged diesel. I don't know how the Prius' calculates its numbers.

As for safety, mine had a panoramic roof, as in, all glass. I felt safer in it than any other car or truck I have owned. You have to review all of the crash tests. They ran the car against a number of different sized vehicles. Recently the car scored highest in its class (seen the report on tv).

The simplest way to explain the safety construction of the car I to think about the physics and technology that has gone into the roll cage in Formula 1 race cars. Same thing.

In keeping with this thread, I suppose the Smart would be out of your budget. Other comments about Saturn's and Camry's are right on the money.

 

[EarPlug]

As for safety, mine had a panoramic roof, as in, all glass. I felt safer in it than any other car or truck I have owned. You have to review all of the crash tests. They ran the car against a number of different sized vehicles. Recently the car scored highest in its class (seen the report on tv).

The simplest way to explain the safety construction of the car I to think about the physics and technology that has gone into the roll cage in Formula 1 race cars. Same thing.

I'm not so sure about the safety after seeing this!

 

[Bird]

That Smart car reminds me of the Isetta of 50 years ago. I once asked an owner if he wasn't afraid of getting run over and he said, "Nope, they won't run over it. They'll just knock it out of the way like hitting a ball with a bat."

 

[jdbower]

I'm not so sure about the safety after seeing this!


View attachment 138692

Actually, that was a Ford Escape and the driver managed to survive. Of course, with an impact like that pretty much any car would be crushed.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

They'll just knock it out of the way like hitting a ball with a bat."

Exactly. That's the part of its concept. No matter how you hit the car, there's never a direct hit so passengers don't suffer the g forces of a direct head on impact.

 

[aczlan]

I've owned one of those Smart cars. One of the roomiest cars for their size. Real world numbers, I averaged 78 mpg from a simple 3 cyl turbo charged diesel. I don't know how the Prius' calculates its numbers.

As for safety, mine had a panoramic roof, as in, all glass. I felt safer in it than any other car or truck I have owned. You have to review all of the crash tests. They ran the car against a number of different sized vehicles. Recently the car scored highest in its class (seen the report on tv).

The simplest way to explain the safety construction of the car I to think about the physics and technology that has gone into the roll cage in Formula 1 race cars. Same thing.

I wouldn't buy one because I dont feel that they are as safe as a larger car. One example is found in a recent (Apr 2009) study by the IIHS which found that "The death rate in 1-3-year-old minicars in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2007 was almost twice as high as the rate in very large cars" this was found to be in large part because while the frame was quite strong, the change of speed was greater in a minicar than in (for example) a midsize sedan.
For more info, go to: IIHS news release

Aaron Z

 

[archerm3]

I wouldn't buy one because I dont feel that they are as safe as a larger car. One example is found in a recent (Apr 2009) study by the IIHS which found that "The death rate in 1-3-year-old minicars in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2007 was almost twice as high as the rate in very large cars" this was found to be in large part because while the frame was quite strong, the change of speed was greater in a minicar than in (for example) a midsize sedan.
For more info, go to: IIHS news release

Aaron Z

Which is why the we should all be driving nothing smaller than an excursion, preferably school busses and semitrucks.