If you had to buy a car,

[Muddled]

a practical everyday car that is economical yet cute, what would you get?

[cuddlyevil]

Mazda 3 w/ skyactiv.
Beyond that, maybe a prius.

I have to fit 3 kids in a car, I don't have the luxury of buying for "cuteness". :-(

[partiallysunny]

Honda Fit, Prius, or Toyota Matrix.

[fussbucket]

Basic: Fit or Civic
Nicer: Mini Cooper (mine is 10 years old!) or Prius
Nicest: Nissan Leaf or Audi A3

[Muddled]

I will never ever ever have your problem, CE!

My last car was a civic. I had it for 11+ years.

[starrieskies]

I love my Toyota. I bought a Corolla about 9 years ago. That car has taken me everywhere and I've had very few problems with it. Just normal maintenance, tires and stuff, and she just keeps on going. I just turned 242,000 miles.

[Deleted]

Subaru Outback or Impreza. I have a 2008 Impreza WRX right now that I love with all of my heart, but premium gas only sucks. My Outback in college was awesome.

I will never willingly buy anything but a Subaru again.

[makemeunderstand]

Nissan Maxima or Altima

Toyota Camry or Avalon

[Muddled]

Premium only gas? Loolololololololol.

[motzie]

I'm with fein. DH has an Imprezza hatchback which is small and zippy and the hatch is handy for transporting things.

[imoan]

I'd buy my Yaris again! I love my little girl!

[neonpink]

I own a mini cooper and love it.
If I was buying a economical car. I would probably by a Toyota Camry, or Corolla. My husband had a corolla while he was driving 200+ miles a day and that thing ran like a champ. He had one issue with it and it wasn't even the cars fault the a rock hit the AC condenser. I also had an Altima in college and that thing was put through miles of bull crap and always ran fine.

If you are looking for economical I would stick with a Japanese brand. They run forever and and have fewer maintenance issues then most American and German cars. I do feel that American cars are getting better in the last few years. The Fusion and the Chevy Spark are looking good but the interior on American cars is still cheap looking to me.

[Deleted]

Nov 13, 2012 13:15:14 GMT -5 Muddled said:

Premium only gas? Loolololololololol.

I know. When I bought it premium was about the price of regular now and I was like, "I'm not a huge fan of this, but it's liveable." Now I'm all, "Why you fool!?" I've considered trading it in and using the money towards an Outback many many times. Fortunately, my office and barn are super close to my apartment so I only need gas every other week or so.

[Chirp]

I'm another Subaru lover and they don't have much by way of "cute". They're more what I'd call "sturdy".

That being said, I love my (2012) Legacy. I get 25/35 mpg (killer considering that it's full-time AWD) and it prefers the cheap stuff. The Impreza is similar in mpg and look, and there's a nice hatchback version that I was looking at (I was deciding between the Impreza hatchback and the Legacy).

H had a Mazda 3 sp23 and the maintenance was crazy expensive.

[bowies]

I'd get a Fit or one of the Ford small sedans. The Focus or Fusion, I can't keep up anymore.

[luckyval]

I'm a lifelong Honda fan, so I'd go with the Civic
Or, if I wanted to get an around-town super gas friendly car, I'd get a Smart car

[cuddlyevil]

Nov 13, 2012 13:19:59 GMT -5 neonpink said:

If you are looking for economical I would stick with a Japanese brand. They run forever and and have fewer maintenance issues then most American and German cars. I do feel that American cars are getting better in the last few years. The Fusion and the Chevy Spark are looking good but the interior on American cars is still cheap looking to me.

But then there is a size issue. The spark is tiny versus the fusion (esp. the new one) which is considerably larger and nicer.

We might look into the fusion or the ford Cmaxx for me, both are roomy enough for the kids as they grow up and are good on gas. With the biggest plus being they aren't minivans! We may also look at a forrester but a new one may be out of our price range.

[fussbucket]

Nov 13, 2012 13:46:26 GMT -5 bowies said:

I'd get a Fit or one of the Ford small sedans. The Focus or Fusion, I can't keep up anymore.

We also have a Focus, a 2005 we bought used with about 130K miles, and it's holding up OK, if a little soul-stealing for my taste. It's pretty much just a beater for us/our kids to ruin while they're little. H likes it because he "can take it apart with a Leatherman."

I always laugh at H when he's driving it because according to our research Ford was targeting this model to -- I'm not kidding -- "women and minorities." So I like to remind him he has no business driving it.

[Muddled]

A Smartcar would be so fun! Or a Fiat. I am thinking a 4 door might end up being more practical. Bleah.

[neonpink]

To add to the talk about cars. I heard on the news last night that there are now more women drivers on the road then men. They were saying that it means that they market will focus more on what women want in cars. Smaller, Economical, and safe being the qualities that woman look for. I thought it was pretty interesting.

[fussbucket]

Nov 13, 2012 14:21:42 GMT -5 neonpink said:

To add to the talk about cars. I heard on the news last night that there are now more women drivers on the road then men. They were saying that it means that they market will focus more on what women want in cars. Smaller, Economical, and safe being the qualities that woman look for. I thought it was pretty interesting.

I saw something like that that said more women had driver's licenses now than men.

I'm guessing it's largely down to the huge gender differential in our growing old-fart population. Because women live so much longer than men, and hence drive more/longer.

[sillygoosegirl]

I bought a Think City just a few weeks ago... So that, I guess. Though I guess practicality depends on your driving habits. It's a 2-seat electric vehicle, that supposedly has a 100 mile range. (In real life, it seems to be more like 60... Not sure if that's the car, or something I'm doing wrong.)

A Think City looks like a Smart Car, only less shiny.

[partiallysunny]

Nov 13, 2012 14:21:42 GMT -5 neonpink said:

To add to the talk about cars. I heard on the news last night that there are now more women drivers on the road then men. They were saying that it means that they market will focus more on what women want in cars. Smaller, Economical, and safe being the qualities that woman look for. I thought it was pretty interesting.

Ooh, that is interesting.

[Chirp]

Nov 13, 2012 14:21:42 GMT -5 neonpink said:

I heard on the news last night that there are now more women drivers on the road then men.

That's because the crazy women drivers ran all the men off the road.

At least that's what my grandpa would say.

[Deleted]

I love the mazda 3, subaru, chevy malibu, civic, or the small volvo.

[smock]

I love my Corolla! Get a Corolla so we can be car buddies!

[Muddled]

My baby bro has a Corolla. I drive it when I visit Mom and Dad. It's got to be 10 years old by now.

[imoan]

Nov 13, 2012 15:15:17 GMT -5 smock said:

I love my Corolla! Get a Corolla so we can be car buddies!

Don't get a stinky face Corolla. If you're going to go Toyota... GET A YARIS!

[Muddled]

I'm not actually getting a car at all, imoan. I just like to think about these things sometimes.

[bowies]

I will cut you if you buy a Fiat. You may as well set a small pile of money on fire.