I went car shopping this weekend. My current car is a '95 Subaru Impreza, and it's actually in pretty good condition. But, it is getting old and noisy, and interest rates are pretty good right now, so I thought I'd take a look at what's out there. I brought Gary along for moral support, and to help ask questions and fend off aggressive salesmen.
I decided to look at 4 cars this weekend: the Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Prius, VW Beetle, and a Mini Cooper. The BMW dealership near us didn't have any Mini Coopers, so that got knocked off the list pretty quickly. The Civic was a nice car to drive...nothing super special, but not too bad. Of the 3 cars I drove, the Civic is most like my current car. It gets terrific gas mileage, has super low emissions, and isn't so small as to be uncomfortable.
The Prius wasn't so impressive. It's another hybrid, but I thought the design wasn't as attractive or comfortable to drive. The gas pedal felt weird, almost springy. And the shift stick was in the way of all the temperature and music controls, not a great design when you're going 65 mph down the freeway! Gary noted that it's gas milage for the few miles we drove was much lower than that of the Civic (we took nearly the same route, too.)
The VW dealership was last on the list for the day. I considered testing a convertable Beetle, but they didn't have any ready to drive. And they don't sell Cabrios anymore, so I had to make do with a standard car. :) The Beetle was somewhat surprising inside. The front appears to have a lot of room, at least on the upper half. The dashboard is very deep, like a mini-van would be. The back, on the other hand, was microscopic. Gary sat in the back for the drive, and complained that his head touched the ceiling! The front seats were very convenient to fold forward, though, but you'd have to be pretty short to be comfy in back. And for the price, I'd rather get a roomier, smoother car.
I haven't made my final decision yet, but the Honda Civic Hybrid is looking like a strong contender. I'll probably test drive it again, along with a few other cars. I'm not in a big hurry to get anything, since my Subaru is doing just fine for now.
Posted by Jen at August 11, 2003 09:31 PM