Now to be fair fuel economy ranks 2nd on the list. But come on the environmental impact should be higher then 2% consideration. For example I like Honda's mainly not only are they cool looking in my opinion but they are low emission and ultra low emission vehicles. Besides the hybrids Toyotas are not.
Plus now Honda is coming out with a 4cyc and a 6cyc diesel engine that is cleaner then a regular gas engine. Amazing, well thats honda. I got inside info that the super clean diesel is going into the CRV and I believe the Civic and Accord eventually and the Ridgeline.
What do you look in a vehicle?
Mine is that its small, maxiumizes its space, fuel economy, and environmental impact.
Perfect example of this criteria would be the Honda Fit for me. All the seats fold flat into the floor creating one giant cargo space to haul things. Its got very good fuel economy and its an low emissions car. bingo!
[a href="vny!://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070131.wauto31/BNStory/Business/home"]vny!://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070131.wauto31/BNStory/Business/home[/a]
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It seems to be the consensus amongst my friends and others that I know, that if you see a Redheaded chick in a green saturn.. run like the dickens, jump off bridges if you have to. They are nutball crazy.
Is that an attempt at satire Russ?
...sports should worry about his own country first!?!! just a thought?
Thie conclusion of this survey makes no sense. Fuel economy is second on the list. Is that not considered as environmentally friendly?
well you can have an high economy car and it not be environmental in turn of emissions. I think people get confused about hybrids. Its not really about gas mileage its about carbon emissions. The lesser the better hence why hybrids are 'green' cars.
Hybrids = less emissions aka CO2 into the atmosphere reducing green house gases.
There are a ton of people out there who are environmentally conscious.....a HUGE percentage of those people buy what they can afford. I SO would have gone for the Honda Insight......it was plain and simply out of my snack bracket.
More people need more green to go green.
yeah I can't believe you said the insight was 35k ish here they were 18-22k tops.
That was the base price. The Matrix wasn't a whole lot less, but enough less to stay within my budget and throw in a few bells and whistles.
Yup matrix here starts at 16ish goes up to 22ish. I like that Honda Fit though, its totally me.
Well, that's less than $10,000 than they are here. BIG difference.
US Price for Toyota Matrix:
[span class="text_bold"]Base Price
$15,880-$18,190 USD
Canadian Price for the same car:
$17,200-$24,958 CAD
17,200 CAD = [/span][font size="+1"]14,581 USD
24,958 CAD = [/font]21,158 USD
So if you got the completely fully loaded one you paid a little more then the American customer. BUT when I went to the toyota canada website to get numbers Canada still gets this model we don't get anymore so maybe thats why the price is different.
But if you got the bare bones Matrix you'd have gotten it cheaper in Canada then the US.
[font size="+1"]
[/font][span class="text_bold"]
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The cars are produced more and priced for various demographic regions.. thats why a truck in lower bc might be 5 k more than in upper bc. same with the states to canada, the demographics are totally different, look at minivans.. hugely popular in canada, not as much percentage wise of the population in the states.
That wasnt a satire attempt SD. That was what a few of us have decided after a few occurances amongst us. Seriously two different nutball redheads that drive green saturns both having nutball issues. Stay away, thats my serious advice.
Hey, did you hear about a tax exemption for hybrid cars for like $2,000? It was just on the news.
lol I'm not a fan of saturns even if they bring the cool looking Opel's over here and rebadge them with the ugly saturn logo.
I don't remember the ACTUAL price. I'm thinking of the amount on the receipt. Of course that would have included taxes etc. Mr. P.C. and I remember it differently....lol. He says just a hair under 30,000.....and I thought it was 32,000. Yipes. I'll have to dig up the receipt tomorrow.
reciepts? cars come with reciepts? I don't remember a reciept for my car? hmmm
Speaking of cars I'm going to check out the Mazda 5 then the Honda Fit tomorrow. Family needs a new car so I'm bringing my friend along we should have a good time.
Mazda 5
(//vny!://www.edmunds.com/media/seo/500/2006.mazda.5.jpg)
Honda Fit
(//vny!://www.motorawards.com/ve/deagencia/fotos/2007/honda/fit-t4.jpg)
If this was MY car I'd get the Fit but most likely if we get a new car it will be the Mazda5
They come with a receipt if you pay cash.
....well, cheque.
you paid in full?
Yup.
edit: We don't normally make purchases of this size in this manner. We had just sold a rental property and one of the absolutes from the profit was to get P.C. a car.
woah no way
I'm having a heck of a time with the lengthy white screen between posts. Have been all day, but I've run out of patience with it.
I'm off to bed.
okay p.c. i'm off to bed as well.
You can add this to what were they thinking and bad move department:
(//vny!://jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2007/02/cx9_mpv.jpg)
Mazda makes a cool looking 'mini-van' and then decides to scrap it here, (at least in the US, you guys in Canada might get it). Instead for a boring SUV. ho hum.
Mini vans are still big in canada.. in the states the demographics are more for hybrid SUVs and station wagon.
I know I'm a mini van person over an SUV easily. And thats one sharp looking van. Yeah the North American van market is pretty much clogged. You've got Chrysler and its van, Toyota and Honda and then everyone else. In order to make waves if your in the 'everyone else' catagory you've got to go with styling. You get noticed through styling. You out style othe other vans and you look cool more disirable.
Looks like the steering wheel is on the right side. The white one looks exactly like my Matrix.
yeah thats the car of the japanese model. But Mazda nixed it coming over here instead for the SUV
Just bought a car a couple days ago.
A Mazda 3 hatchback. It gets 18 MPG in city, 38 on highway. Could be better, but the whole package was a great balance between size, power and economy. I'm pretty happy with it so far.
P.C. I think you asked about the tax rebate in the U.S. for hybrids? I heard recently that they are ending the rebate. Nice. And at the same time the biggest push here in the states for alternative fuels seems to be for corn ethanol vehicles. Corn ethanol happens to be one of the least efficient alternative fuels available. But don't tell that to the corn lobby...
P.S. Sportsdude, Mazda doesn't make "boring" cars ;)
Interesting tenkani. I heard about a few states that are offering free parking for 'green' cars. It's a small step, but it's a step.
Zoom Zoom?
yup they're dropping the hybrid tax because well Bush doesn't like it. And well they're adding more ethanol vehicles the biggest joke on the planet will because that helps Bush's conservative base of farmers.
The only people actually seeming on wanting to change the landscape is Tesla but they're years a way from making an affordable electric car.
Word, Russ. f*ckin' Zoom Zoom!!
My 3 drives like a cream dream *swoon*
I used to hate driving and now I know why.
I used to drive a 15 year old van. Fun?
I agree Tenk.. I have driven mostly older vehicles and I recently had a 2002 corolla loaner.. I want something small and newer now.. so starfish scientist is going to buy one, lol.
Nice! Have fun with that!!
Shopping for a car is such sweet sorrow, hay?
I'm glad it's over.
Next time maybe there will be more clean diesel or affordable hybrids on the market.
I'm still likin' the Fit.
Yeah, I considered the fit.
Consumer reports seemed to like it but it's pretty small and the automatic transmission flavor is underpowered apparently. But it's all about balance. If you're willing to give up horsepower for economy/ecology then it's a great car! The thing is very reasonably priced, and is that the car that comes standard with ABS and side airbags??
what year model did you get Tenkani?
yeah the fit is standard on side air bags and ABS
Oh jeebus......I'm looking all over the board to see where you posted that you had already bought a car....couldn't figure out how I had missed it. And there it is....right above me.
Well congrats tenkani! I'll have to look up what one of these looks like. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/verschiedene/e040.gif" border=0]
I got a 2004. It only had 24,000 miles on it so I lucked out.
I noticed today that the front grill on the bottom is smashed though and that the radio antenna is gone. Otherwise it's in good shape. When I hit the gas and get pressed back into the seat I feel a strange tingling in my loins *blush*
Yeah I'm going to eventually be in the market for a new car. Once I finish my schooling in the next week or two (deadline is feb. 20th) I'll be working full time again. I'm either looking at the Fit or I'm curious to see what the new xB from Scion is going to look like. The box still rocks imo.
Looks good tenkani.....and a pretty impressive review. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/c014.gif" border=0]
[A href="vny!://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=101737"]vny!://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=101737[/A]
Looks quite similar to the Ford Focus.
To each their own I guess.
I think the XB looks like an ugly little delivery van.
But yeah, consumer reports says it has one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings EVAR.
I sort of wanted the XA but it didn't do well and they are coming out with a completely redesigned version that supposedly doesn't suck quite as bad.
Its the European Focus which is 50 billion times better then the piece of junk Focus they have over here. Its on different platforms. Tenkani's car for example is the same car as the Volvo S40. So Tenk, you're driving a volvo.
I am going to leave this thread before I say something you regret, SD ;)
The S40 platform is one of the best platforms in the world. You are lucky to be driving such a car.
Hehe, see my response in the lunch thread.
I thought you were making fun of me, bud.
Sorry!!! :)
no problem. I guess I know cars really well when I know the platforms they are on.
The C1 platform was the most brilliant thing ever created. Ford wanted to make a small car universal platform that had very good handling, and was also safe. So mazda was in charge of the handling, engine part and Volvo did the safety and in some models the all wheel drive part. What came out of this get together was brilliant.
Here's what it produced:
Mazda 3
(//vny!://www.theautochannel.com/cybercast/2006nyautoshow/images/mazda/mazda_3.jpg)
Volvo S40
(//vny!://www.trite.si/images/volvo%20s40.jpg)
The top selling car in the WORLD The European Ford Focus (we don't get this one)
(//vny!://www.dragoncars.com/images/ford-focus-big.jpg)
Mazda 5
(//vny!://www.edmunds.com/media/seo/500/2006.mazda.5.jpg)
And the up and coming Volvo hot hatch that will make a dent in GTI sales the C30
(//vny!://www.channel4.com/4car/media/motorshows/2006/detroit/production/03-large/volvo-c30-s.jpg)
Woah!
That Volvo looks pretty sexy!
Almost like a Mazda!! ;)
which one the C30? They gosh darn better bring that car over here! They said they are thinking about it. lol please volvo sales would go up 5,000% if they decided to introduce the car here. The thing is uber cool.
Here's the Fifth Gear review of the Volvo C30 they loved it.
[a href="vny!://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnrOFlNfzc0"]vny!://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnrOFlNfzc0[/a]
They were shocked that it was a volvo because its un-volvo-ish.
Yup. That's the one.
If they were to start designing more cars like that Volvo would cease to be a dirty word.
Combine the safety of Volvo with the styling of a Mazda and customers would be gnawing their own legs off to get them!
Ford Focus is the top selling car in the world ??? Are you sure ?
exactly. Volvo makes awesome engines then add there awesome all wheel drive find a design and bam! They ain't your parents volvo anymore. Funny thing about Ford. They let their 2 car companies that are actually doing very well (volvo, mazda) pretty much alone look who is having better profits. Volvo has never been higher in terms of production and Mazda is becoming a force. lol
P.C. wrote:
Ford Focus is the top selling car in the world ??? Are you sure ?
It pretty much is. The focus we see isn't the same focus the rest of the world sees.
Its the number one selling car in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and all of western and eastern europe.
And its growing in China and India.
Here's what we don't get:
[a href="vny!://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL-qUUFLB3I"]vny!://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL-qUUFLB3I[/a]