9 Car Test Drive Review: The small car market in Canada is packed with a good selection of inexpensive, read under $20k, cars from a wide variety of manufacturers. North Americans as a whole are not generally prepared to pay a premium for a small car, as a result our cars are not as luxurious as the euro equivalents but they for the most part share their other traits, such as fuel economy and small size. For this test I drove 9 cars and will rate them based on the following attributes.
The following cars were tested and will be rated on a scale of 0-5.
Chevy HHR
Chevy Cobalt
Ford Focus
Honda Civic
Mazda Mazda3
Nissan Sentra
Saturn Ion
Suzuki Aerio
Toyota Corolla
Note: The ratings 0 – 5, 0 being the lowest 5 being the highest, used for this review cannot be swapped with any other review. A 5 for a category is the best that can be had for this GROUP of cars, it does not imply it is the best that can be had in another comparison.
Fit & Finish – How well is the interior put together? Is the dash and instrument panels made of quality materials. Does the car feel substantial when driving or do parts feel like they will fly off if you are not gentle?
Ride / Handling – How does the car ride, is it rough, too cushy, does the steering give
you good input for turning or does it feel disconnected? Does the
suspension soak up the bumps and allow you to have control of the vehicle at all times?
Comfort - How do the seats feel after an hour of driving, are the ergonomics comfortable? Is the shifter easy to operate and is a place to rest your arm?
Value for Money - Do you get a lot of bang for your buck? Do you get a lot of car for under $20k cdn or is it as basic as you can get?
Fuel Economy - Simple enough, how is it on fuel.
On with the reviews………
Ninth Place Saturn Ion At first glance the Saturn seems like an excellent bargain vehicle, with good quality materials, fit and finish and good value for money. Unfortunately after a longer period of time with the car the leather seats, moon roof, and fancy radio that lured you into the car at first no longer do it for you.
The fit and finish is sub-par on the Saturn, the dash feels like cardboard, pieces are very flimsy and feel as though they are about to break off. The leather seats are full leather except for one piece, odd they missed that. The vents in the dash cannot be closed, and the center mounted console does not relay enough information to the driver, one glaring omission is a cruise light. You have no way of knowing if the cruise is engaged as the vehicle does not pull the pedal away since it is drive-by-wire.
Driving the vehicle unfortunately does not make you forget about the feel of the materials and craftsmanship. The gas pedal and brakes have a dead feeling to them. Particularly the accelerator, there is this odd sensation of no control. The pedal is too touchy but yet requires a long push before becoming activated giving you an uneasy feeling. Driving the car does not give you confidence; the suspension is very soft and compliant, but almost too soft. The steering does not provide any type of feedback, resulting in a numb drive that bores you to sleep.
But sleep you won’t, as the seats are so firm you will be squirming around in them trying to find a better position, no telescopic wheel makes for a long reach to the steering wheel while I was seated properly for my legs.
And to top it all off, the Saturn was one of the worst in this test in real world fuel economy.
Total Points: 16 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
Eighth place Nissan Sentra Next on the list is the Nissan Sentra, not a particularly bad vehicle by any means, but a little long in the tooth and in dire need of a refresher. Everything in this vehicle screams 1990’s unfortunately, from the interior and exterior styling to the seating position.
There isn’t much to say about the Sentra, it’s a pretty forgettable car. There is nothing outstanding about its dynamics or styling and nothing really horrible either. For a A to B car the Senta will perform its duties day in and day out. The car feels solid and handling and ride are good. There is a little more road noise compared to newer more refined cars such as the Mazda and Toyota in this group as well.
There is diamond in the rough about the Nissan Sentra that must be noted, the vehicle certainly has had all of its bugs ironed out, meaning a Sentra purchase should mean long term reliability for many years to come.
Fuel consumption for the Sentra is again a little behind the class leaders but well in the ballpark, rated at 6.8L/100km highway.
With a new model surely on it’s way, this vehicle could be had for a steal, as they are not currently flying off the showroom floor, resulting in an excellent value for money proposition.
Total Points: 19.5 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
Seventh place Suzuki Aerio The Aerio has funky looks an interesting shape and the model I drove was fully decked out even including AWD and climate control! I was very surprised by the Suzuki’s fit and finish on the interior components. The dash is made of a soft audi feeling material, the trim pieces decked out in a chrome type colour were soft as well. Everything seemed very well laid out and easy to reach.
The ride and handling was surprising, it was smooth and quiet but provided good steering feedback and it seemed nimble in the corners.
The engine on the Aerio is a little lacking, and the main reason for its low rating.
Fuel economy on this particular model wasn’t stellar due to it’s weight and AWD, I believe it’s a pretty good vehicle, especially when you consider it is not from a major automotive player.
Total Points: 20,5 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
Sixth place Chevrolet Cobalt The Chevy cobalt is the replacement for the tired cavalier and what a replacement it is! GM finally replaces the tired cavalier/sunfire twins and has made a vast improvement.
The fit and finish looks of good quality, further inspection shows some typical hard plastics, but gaps and visual appeal is quite nice. The seating position was a little off for my frame and again the omission of telescopic steering rears it’s ugly head, although I’m a firm believer if seating and dash position are proper to being with, telescopic is not required.
GM has attempted to provide this car with a feel of quality and they have succeeded, the steering feel and response is substantial with good feedback in the corners. Brakes and throttle are progressive and predictable. Gauge layout is clean and uncluttered and provides everything within a quick glance, the trip computer with fuel mileage and such is a nice touch on a car in this class, as well as the speed sensitive radio volume adjustment.
A few minor issues with comfort and ergonomics unfortunately show that GM still has a bit to go in order to become a class leader. The buckets seats are a little too firm for my liking causing numbness after an hours ride, although they did hold well in the corners. My main beef was the lever to recline the bucket seats, they require you to contort yourself to adjust your position, also the unfortunate placement of the handbrake which requires you to lift the armrest to operate.
GM has attempted to go bold and new with the exterior styling of the cobalt and it has paid off, they did a great job of making the car functional and appealing especially to the target audience of young buyers.
With all the current GM incentives the car is excellent value for money, and fuel economy is on par with the cars competition.
Total Points: 21 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
Fifth place Chevrolet HHR Well Chevy has decided it will take its whack at the retro theme trend that Chrysler started with the PT cruiser and have developed the HHR which stands for Heritage High Roof.
The fit and finish is similar to the cobalt and it is of no surprise considering it is built off the same platform. The interior bits are funky and chromed to be more “retro” they did a fairly good job of making it look classy on the interior and I have no complaints about the looks aside from the speedometer which really does not work, they attempted to cram too much into a small area.
I drove the 2.2L which only pushes 143 horsepower, as a result I felt the HHR laboured around town, on the highway and wheezed up hills. It is severely underpowered with this engine. The ride was smooth and compliant but handling just didn’t feel right with it’s high center of gravity, it feels like a truck even though it’s built off of a car frame.
The sightlines on the HHR are HORRIBLE, all of the mirrors are massive, particularly the side mirrors, and the gangster type small window areas make it very difficult to see to the sides of the vehicle at 4 way stops.
Ergonomics on the 5 speed transmission were outrages; I couldn’t shift into second gear without distorting my body. The seats are horribly firm like the cobalt as well.
Gas mileage is not particularly horrible for the size of the vehicle. The HHR is a bad copy of the PT cruiser and a little too late to the game.
Total Points: 21.5 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
Fourth / Third place Tie (Honda Civic & Ford Focus) Honda Civic The current generation civic is on its way out with the 2006 model to be coming out soon (I hope). But it’s hard to believe Honda will be able to move leaps and bounds ahead of the current car as it is very well put together.
The particular model I drove was as basic as you can get, with a bonus of a very nice 6 disc CD-changer that can handle mp3’s and an Ipod input. The materials and ergonomics are well laid out.
The ride and handling of the civic are a little firmer than the other cars I tested, and the engine is a little wheezy around the city requiring you to rev it to get it’s power.
The civic holds its value incredibly and the fuel economy achievable is incredible, as a lease deal the civic is great value.
Ford Focus The Focus is on its way out as well and it does have a bad reputation for faults, although most of the bugs have been worked out since the MY 2000 models.
The focus has a quiet ride with a nice responsive and firm steering feel. The seats were comfortable and supportive. Reliability concerns aside the Focus would be a great commuter car, fuel economy was on par with its competition.
Total Points each: 23 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
Second Place Toyota Corolla All this time I had never even been on the inside of a Toyota Corolla. I see the car as an appliance, it goes forever, it's dull it's boring but it will get you from A to B with no drama.
I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got to drive one. The interior is plush for a car in this category with soft seats and arm rests. The little engine seems torquey and will get you around town with no drama. The highway cruise was very quiet indeed.
I was surprised by one thing on the corolla and that was handling, it seemed to be very capable, a lot more so than I would have thought by looking at the car.
The Corolla is excellent value for money, it will go forever and it will do so while sipping the fuel and providing the driver with a worry free experience.
Total Points each: 23.5 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
First Place Mazda Mazda3 Car of the year in 2004 the Mazda3 still stands out as a class leader. Just sitting in the vehicle gives you the impression of a higher class of vehicle than its direct competition. The fit and finish with textures and dash layout is excellent. Mazda did an excellent job of using the design concepts from their flagship RX8 in their entry level car.
The Mazda shines when it comes to handling, the ride is somewhat firm, but Mazda has perfected transferring road feel to the driver without creating a ride that is too harsh to live with. The engine also is ideal for city driving, with good low end torque traffic jams even in the manual are not tiresome.
The car is not hard on the eyes either, the hatch or the sedan have their own design cues that make it instantly recognizable as a Mazda on the road. Fuel economy is on par with its competition.
The Mazda is great value for money, driving the car just gives you the feeling that you are driving a vehicle that cost much more than $20,000 Canadian.
The question now is, what will the competition do next to eclipse this vehicle in this price range?
Total Points each: 25 out of 30 (See chart at end for full breakdown).
(Message edited by admin on August 08, 2005)
