Originally Posted By: tomcat27
I have owned or driven most of those except the Versa. of course, people frequently get passionate about a brand or about styling. I also dont know what criteria is most important (gas mileage, reliability)
here are my opinions - listed in order of favorites:
Honda Fit:
very cool styling, handling, reliability, MPG. great resale.
Toyota Yaris:
styling not as cool, but it has the best MPG you can get without going hybrid. (I've put 30k miles on mine in one year) stellar reliability. handling not as good as Fit. great resale.
Versa
I am intrigued by this car but have not driven it. it is substantially larger than the previous choices, but the MPG is not as good. styling is nothing special. I am concerned about its MFR in Mexico - other Nisans made in mex have more probs than competitors (sentra, altima)
Focus
decent MPG, more substantial of a car than toyota or honda; not as reliable as toy or honda.
Cobalt
decent enough car, worse MPG, worse reliability
if you really like the cobalt, get a Pontiac G5, as their are a ton leftover and the price should be lower.
Caliber
I love the styling, worse MPG, much worse reliability. I have owned 10+ Mopars over the years, and they just keep getting worse on reliability
Suzuki
I dont recall the model name without searching - decent value -
Caliber- if you can get past the cheapo inside, they seem to be fine. My brother has an 07, a co worker an 08. Both beat them good (my brother's has 46k, co worker 56k), and neither has had an issue so far.
Cobalt- My beater Balt has been pretty sound, with just a few annoying issues. If they do quite a bit of freeway driving, they get pretty good MPGs. Heck, my Balt does 80% city, and still pulls off 27.4 MPGs. Not too bad....