<p>Another happy Honda Fit owner here. It is amazing how much it can hold! Easy to drive, easy to park. Not sure how it would handle in snow, if that is a concern?</p>
<p>I have a Honda fit as well. I love it, and it’s always full of my stuff. We put a friend’s bike in the back seat without having to take the front wheel off. It handles pretty well in the snow unless the roads haven’t been cleared at all.</p>
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<p>I’d never say “totally evil,” especially since I own a Japanese-brand car myself (one of two). But if you care about such things, you should know that many of the non-Detroit Three models assembled in the US are made with 90% or so non-US parts that are shipped to the US in kits and basically snapped or bolted together in the US as the final and almost trivial stage of a lengthy and complex production process, so to say they’re “made in the US” is a bit of a whopper. On the other hand, it’s true that the Detroit Three are also major global players, and many of the cars they sell here are assembled in Canada or Mexico. So choose your poison, I guess. </p>
<p>I do think for good quality economy-sized used cars, you’ll probably find Toyota and Honda the best values, possibly Nissan as well though Nissan products tend to have lower customer satisfaction ratings and more quality control problems than Toyota and Honda. For new cars I’d urge you to give Ford products a fair shake. For a number of years now their product quality ratings have been matching Toyota and Honda, and they seem to be several steps ahead of GM and Chrysler in introducing stylish and reliable yet economical and “green” vehicles. Probably for that reason, their market share has been rising pretty dramatically of late while GM, Chrysler, Toyota, and Honda continue to struggle in the current market.</p>
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<p>32 MPG? Sure you didn’t transpose those digits, LongPrime? We’ve owned 3 Camrys ('95, '98 and '07) and none have come close to that kind of mileage – more like 22 MPG!</p>
<p>I’ll just plug an American car here for a second. We have two Chevy Malibu Maxx for our business. They are hatchback. Very reliable, easy to park, good gas mileage. Just good dependable cars.</p>
<p>Pontiac Vibe. Great mpg and a recomended car from Consumer Reports.</p>
<p>This car was and is used mostly for freeway driving. DS bikes to work, and lives in an area with a 10 workability score. Uses it once a week for grocery shopping and day trip to Mt. Rainier.</p>
<p>If there is more city driving, the mileage does come down. Camry is a stick tran.</p>
<p>Older 4-cylinder Camrys do get mpgs in the low 30s. 6-cylinder ones - not so great.</p>
<p>Kate: Vibe is a Toyota Matrix. I have heard rumors that Pontiac was one of the brands discontinued by GM. I will double-check if that’s a fact. Wikipedia says so:</p>
<p>“On April 27, 2009, amid ongoing financial problems and restructuring efforts, GM announced that it would phase out the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010 and focus on four core brands in the U.S”</p>
<p>Too bad if this is true.</p>
<p>I test drove both the Vibe and the Matrix. The differences are small but I found the Vibe to be the better car in terms of the back window and how much I could see in my rearview/with my head turned. </p>
<p>Since they are twins mechanically, we’ll have no problem getting parts for as long as we’ll own the car (approx 10 years.) Our warrenty will still be honored by GM, so I had no qualms buying the Vibe for 3K less than the same Matrix.</p>
<p>Mini Cooper, great handling and you can park it anywhere. Back seats fold down so you can fit a bike or get a bike rack.</p>
<p>Thanks again to all that offered input here. I test drove a Scion XB tonight and really enjoyed it. It seemed to handle well, although it was weird to get used to the speedometer location. Also, it was a little weird at first to have so much space; it really is extremely roomy (especially for short people like me!). </p>
<p>Tomorrow, I’ll bring my bike for the official test!</p>
<p>Two Camrys here; 97 and 00. The 97, standard does get in the low 30’s. The 2000 closer to mid-upper 20’s. 4-cylinder definite improvement over 6 in terms of mpg.</p>