Tiny Cars

Tiny cars have been out of favor in the US for a while now, but it looks like the auto companies think they're ready for a comeback:

Last week, Toyota unveiled the Yaris, which has been sold in other countries, including Japan, for some time. The Yaris is smaller and less expensive than the popular Toyota Corolla. In addition, Honda will soon be introducing the Fit and Nissan plans to roll out the Versa. Like the Toyota Yaris, these are also versions of cars those companies currently sell in other countries.

The current standard-bearer in the "cheap-and-efficient" market segment, though, is none other than General Motors. The Chevrolet Aveo is made in Korea by GM Daewoo, an affiliate of GM. Next year, Chevrolet will be releasing a redesigned Aveo in the United States. Already the best-selling car in its segment, not to mention the cheapest, the Aveo is also a surprisingly good little car, said Ed Hellwig, auto test editor for Edmunds.com, an automotive Web site that provides data and tools for CNN.com.

"A lot of people will probably be surprised at the level of refinement in some of these cars," said Hellwig.

It's true, at least asthetically. The article comes with a slide show of lower-end car models, and some of them look reasonably cool -- the Nissan Versa in particular looks like a Transformer, which I shamefully admit I have a bit of a weakness for. And all these cars start at about $12,000 or less, which seems awfully inexpensive. Considering that I can recall a time when the bottom of the car market was the Yugo (ieeeee! I knew someone who had one. It was an appalling car), we're definitely in a better age now.

Do any of these smaller, cheaper cars appeal to you? Would you consider one for your next car purchase?

Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry

This entry has 6 comments: (Add your own)

#6 Comment from bedazzzled1
11/9/05 6:30 PM | Permalink

ACK! I dislike tiny cars. They scream "instant fatality" in an accident. What are the safety ratings on those things? Or is it too soon to know (or do they not want us to know)? I would not consider buying one.
#5 Comment from teeisme57
11/9/05 5:15 PM | Permalink

Oh, I just hate the fact that cars these days lack a distintive look. They all pretty much look the same to me. If I had to choose one of the tiny cars, I'd go for the Honda Fit. The mini Cooper is a stand out looks wise. And I don't necessarily mean good looks, just different.
You had a link to a Citroen commercial about a week ago and I was disappointed at the look that vehicle has taken on too. My friends parents owned two Citroens when I was in high school and people looked at them as though they were driving around in a spacehip. I guess the fact that the Citroen actually raised up when you started it up helped, and you indeed felt like you just may be lifting off.
Before you run out and buy one of these tiny cars you might want to see if your state shows up on the list of top 10 states for car-deer accidents. The link to that is on the AOL Welcome page.
#4 Comment from andreakingme
11/9/05 4:24 PM | Permalink

Like you, I like the looks of the Nissan Versa the best. But I've REALLY got my heart set on a MINI Cooper. Blue. White stripes. It's me!
#3 Comment from sistercdr
11/9/05 4:06 PM | Permalink

It's about dang time small cars made a comeback. I see a lot of gas hogs are getting a reminder now that bigger is not better.
#2 Comment from hillareeday
11/9/05 1:55 PM | Permalink

I have a thing for SUV's myself, which I certainly picked a fine time to fall in love with them,eh? However, my husband (of only 5 days now! yay!) loves little cars, especially ones that get an obscene amount of miles per gallon. His favorites are the Scion XB ( I call it the refrigerator box on wheels), and the mini cooper. The Versa does look sporty. I bet he will like that one too!
Angie

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Tiny Cars