Best new small car at reasonable cost

[karliebug]

My Chevy equinox is on it's last legs. I want to get something smaller with better gas mileage that is reliable with low monthly payments that will fit into my budget. I want to buy,not lease. I am thinking about a Nissan versa or Chevy sonic or cruze. What do you have that you love or what would you all recommend ?

 

[midwestdee]

I can't emphasize enough - check out Consumer Reports. Go to the library if you don't subscribe. Then go and sit in the 3 or 4 models you are considering. Check out leg room, storage compartments, cup holders, radio dials, etc... - everything that can drive you nuts on a daily basis. Good luck - I'm sure you will get plenty of interesting posts from people happy (or not) with their small cars.

 

[starwart]

Just so you know. Nissan Versa is 1 of the top 6 cars to avoid. If it were me, I would get the Honda Fit. It's a hatchback and it gets excellent mpg.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I have had my Chevy Sonic (sedan, not a hatchback) for just over a year and I love it. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one, or recommend to a friend.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My Chevy equinox is on it's last legs. I want to get something smaller with better gas mileage that is reliable with low monthly payments that will fit into my budget. I want to buy,not lease. I am thinking about a Nissan versa or Chevy sonic or cruze. What do you have that you love or what would you all recommend ?

I didn't see "safe". Having just gone through this with my kids, it's something I think you should have as one of your highest priorities. JMO. Good luck!

 

[texasroni75]

Every new Honda we've owned has been a dream. Over the years we have owned a Civic, Accord and a Pilot. And definitely look up the year and model in Consumer Reports before you buy - they are spot on.

 

[Alesia]

One thing to look into is repair costs. I have a 2009 Chevy Aveo and it is ridiculously expensive to repair. Every time it's been in the shop, someone there has remarked on how expensive the parts are - even the oil filter is $10 more than most. I am so glad that I bought the extended warranty!

Sometimes the cheap comes out expensive.

 

[Poohbug]

I have a 2009 Honda Fit Sport. I bought it new, my first new car, and I love it. I will list the bad and good in my experience.

The bad:
No antilock brakes. You won't notice it until you slide through that stop you are trying to make on winter roads. I don't notice it so much on wet roads but once winter rolls around I have to remind myself to pump the brakes.

It is a small car, you are going to feel the bumps. I really notice this in winter when the roads are extra lumpy. I was sure it would be horrible for long drives, but I have driven it to Florida and it was fine. No touring car but it is fine.

I have three kids. I thought it would be fine, especially as they all grew out of having car seats. I did not think about how fast they grow, my 14 year old is as big as an adult and the other two will not be far behind. They still all fit in the back seat when necessary but it is tight and a long trip would be out of the question. I also have been told it is a chick car(color?) and my oldest does not want to drive it. This should probably to under the good column because I will never have to share it with my boys.

The good:
Great gas mileage. Now that gas has gone down people are not looking for savings at the gas station as much. But when I bought it, and gas was $4+ per gallon, people were always asking about the gas mileage. It gets around 40 mph on the highway and closer to 30 mph city.

It is ridiculous how many ways you can adjust the interior seats for hauling cargo. I can haul most anything in it.

It is fun to drive. I am just not a big car person. I love that I can zip around in this and not worry about parking, etc.

I had to replace the battery a month ago. Other than that the only thing I have had to fix is the wiper blade on the rear window. Oil change and the occasional tire rotation and you are good to go. It has also kept its' value better than other compact cars.

-------

If you are looking at new cars, I am sure you can get some options that I do not have. I know they now have rear view cameras, antilock brakes and some other handy options. I even thought about trading mine in to get a new one but that would get me a car payment and I really like not having one.
Good luck on you car search.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Please check the safety ratings. Several of the very small cars like the Versa and Fit were found to be unsafe in certain crash tests. If I were you I wouldn't go smaller than a Cruze or a Dart, especially if you do a lot of highway driving or drive in snow.

 

[Pigeon]

I'd look at the Subaru Impreza, Toyota Corolla, Hyuandai Elantra, Mazda3.

The Cruze has lousy reliability ratings.

 

[mrodgers]

After owning Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Honda, many many Toyotas, and VW, I will no longer waste my money on anything other than a Toyota or Honda. My off-time is important to me and though I'd love to spend my time under an old play car restoring it, I don't like how much time I have spent on the garage floor under Chevy's and Fords just for my wife or I to get to work the next day. I've never had to "repair" a Toyota or Honda and the maintenance intervals were 4-5 times longer than my Fords and Chevy's (Nissan was decent, just don't like any of their cars and the VW is current and fantastic to drive, but an electrical mess that I won't buy another.)

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

I've had a Nissan Versa S since 2008 and I love it. It's got good pickup and gets great gas mileage, and the interior is roomy enough for my husband and grown kids. In earlier models like mine, there was an issue with the hubcaps flying off (I can't tell you how many hubcaps I've gone through; I finally gave up!) but they fixed that issue with newer models. I have over 100,000 miles on it and all I've had to have done is basic maintenance.

 

[HM]

Chevy Cruze is a great car. My son had one before he wrecked it. It was very safe for him in the wreck and before that had great mileage and was very comfortable for him and passengers.

 

[scard192]

I love my Hyundai Elantra. great warranty too.

 

[OKW Lover]

Some good suggestions above. Just wanted to say that you shouldn't go just on purchase price. Its the total cost of the car over its life that's important. Saving a few bucks on the purchase price isn't worth it if you have to have it serviced/repaired more frequently.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We looked at Cruze & Sonic before going with a Focus SE back in July. The dual clutch "automatic" is a little odd & they did have leaky seal issues with the 2012's. But ultimately, it came down to paying $15,000 for a car that stickered at $21,135. The deals on the Cruze, Corolla, and Dart just couldn't compete as we really didn't like the Cruze or Corolla as much anyway (our local Dodge dealership has a crummy maintenance dept, so we really didn't look hard at Dart). Mazda 3 was fun, but nobody dealing on those AT ALL & no nearby dealer, so that was probably a no-go anyway.

Got 38 MPG round trip on our FL vacation with a best tank of 42 (DW driving). 33-34 "around town". We're at 8,000 miles & the computer shows an overall average of 36.4 which sounds about right based on the tanks I hand calculated.

 

[kymom99]

Just a thought, if you go with a certified used car, they usually give a 100,000 mile waranty. I bought a car that was less than a year old with 7000 miles on it. I got the remainder of the factory waranty plus the extended. Lots of peace of mind right there.

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

I really enjoyed my 2009 Ford Focus. It was great on gas and it felt like a nice solid car. I just traded it in this past March because my boys were way to cramped in the back seat. I have a really short commute now and live in Maine so I have a KIA Sorrento for the space and snow.

Have fun shopping!!

 

[lakelandgal70]

My Chevy equinox is on it's last legs. I want to get something smaller with better gas mileage that is reliable with low monthly payments that will fit into my budget. I want to buy,not lease. I am thinking about a Nissan versa or Chevy sonic or cruze. What do you have that you love or what would you all recommend ?

I just traded in my Nissan Frontier for a Nissan Versa and I love it!! The gas mileage is awesome and it is a nice little ride. I mainly use it to drive around town but we have driven it over to Orlando and Tampa area. Maybe next year will take it up in TN mountains. I researched for months before deciding on this model.

 

[PlutoPony]

We went through this last December, we were looking at gas mileage, safety, and cost. It came down to Chevy Cruze and Ford Focus. In the end we ended up with the Ford Focus hatchback and have been very happy with it. The styling of the Cruze was just meh for us and we liked the flexibility the Focus gives with the hatch. Ride is nice and gas mileage has been very good so far - mid 30's on the road (in hills, dodging trucks) and in town in the upper 20's +. This vehicle doesn't see a lot of miles (~5000 so far) so mileage may still improve a bit. Earlier this year the Cruz has a big recall and dealers actually weren't selling this model for a bit but it was worked out pretty quickly as I recall.

The deals at the end of the year were very good last year, we didn't sign papers until Dec. 31 although we were looking seriously from Thanksgiving on.