Small car sales on the way up

[ColonelPanic]

Quote »In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car during April, based on monthly sales data released Thursday. Almost a decade ago, when sport utility vehicles were at their peak of popularity, only one in every eight vehicles sold was a small car.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05...loginw00t! Down with the SUV! lol! I'm glad to see more people are downsizing, especially when they were previously driving something way too large for anything they would ever need.The big 3 need to get to work though, too many years focusing on trucks and SUV's and not even bothering with a small car. Sadly, they have some catching up to do.

[Whelan]

I can say I've notice more and more of the following on the roads lately, aside from Matrix's and Vibes-Mazda 3-Nissan Versa-Honda Fit-Chevy Aveo-Suzuki SX4There have been others, but I see more of the Versa than anything else, very appealing little car I must say, but those are too small for me. I love the size of the Matrix and I really fell like I can push to get 300 out of this tank which would yield me at 30mpg for an AWD. Let's see what happens. I'm above 3/4 still and just passed 100 miles on the odo.

[redlava]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05...loginw00t! Down with the SUV! lol! I'm glad to see more people are downsizing, especially when they were previously driving something way too large for anything they would ever need.The big 3 need to get to work though, too many years focusing on trucks and SUV's and not even bothering with a small car. Sadly, they have some catching up to do. No kidding. That is why Chrysler, GM, and Ford are hemorrhaging billions of dollars every quarter. The big three's average fuel economy for their fleet is around 20 MPG. Honda, Toyota and the rest are around the 30 MPG area. It would be awful to see them go out of business because of the economic impact it would have on the nation, but they totally deserve it for the way they have handled their affairs the last ten years.

[micbarric]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »[The big 3 need to get to work though, too many years focusing on trucks and SUV's and not even bothering with a small car.I think we will see more vehicles like this from the big 3 in the future:http://www.gm.com/explore/fuel...8.jsp "...the new Chevy Cobalt XFE. It delivers a segment-best 36 mpg in highway driving, outdistancing competitors like the Honda Civic, Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla."

[ColonelPanic]

I will say that new Cobalt sounds promising, 36 MPG under the new EPA ratings is pretty significant. They should take whatever they did there and apply it to more vehicles.

[northvibe]

hmm still want to see real life mileage out of that xfe, but my friends SC SS balt was getting 35 on the hwy. Getting a 4 banger you almost cant go wrong if its mated to fwd. My managers old 96 ford escort mtx gets 42 mpg...but he drives crazy old ppl style. Super awesome that small cars are selling better. theres no need to over buy on a car.

[Whelan]

Quote, originally posted by northvibe »Super awesome that small cars are selling better. theres no need to over buy on a car.Tell that to my fiance and she would park her Liberty Renegade on top of your MS3. LOL! She loves her Jeep too much and would never trade to downsize.

[ToolGuy]

Just in my family or friends over the past 6 months I have seen these people change... (not all small cars but better MPG vehicles)Had a Chevy Equinox now has a Cobalt manual trans.Had a Saturn Vue now a Saturn SkyHad a Buick Rendezvous now a VibeHad a full sized Chevy pick up now a CobaltHad a full sized Chevy pick up now a Saturn AuraI am sure you will see more Diesel cars too!

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Tell that to my fiance and she would park her Liberty Renegade on top of your MS3. LOL! She loves her Jeep too much and would never trade to downsize.If gas gets expensive enough perhaps someday she'll decide that better FE is more important than the ability to crush those of us who drive the little fuel sipping tin cans.

[Whelan]

She makes up for her environmental flaw with that car by being a very environmentally friendly person, always check to make sure we recycle anything and everything we can, not letting anything go to waste, and other little quirky things the average person would not think of. We also utilize knit bags instead of paper or plastic.

[ramenboy...]

heard on the radio that some dealers are refusing to take suvs as a tradein, because no one's really buying them right now. crossovers like the ford edge are selling well

[ColonelPanic]

(removed)!, that's awesome that the dealers aren't taking those FSP's in on trade. That could be a double edged sword though, once Suzie Soccermom finally gets the point that she doesn't need the monstrosity that is her Tahoe/Suburban/Hummer/Expedition/whatever, she won't be able to get rid of that piece of crap and downsize into a vehicle that actually makes sense. Although I'm probably giving Suzie Soccermom too much credit, she'll continue to drive those things no matter what... I mean, fer sure nothing else can get her and her kids to the mall, totally!

[Whelan]

It's always a pleasure to see Martha Stewart (the real MS), down in Westport driving her Black Suburban, by herself, taking up two spaces. Dirty wench.

[joatmon]

GM in their acute insight into the market, took the Vibe, which had been the best MPG vehicle in their entire extended line up, and redesigned it to have more power and lower MPGs

[KNINE]

Funny how the free market takes care of itself, without federal government regulations.

[northvibe]

haha, heres another issue though. A lot of foreign suv's are getting fairly decent mileage...now the domestics need to catch up again. The hyundi sante fe a guy i knows said he got 31 on the hwy with a v6.

[michaelgt]

Quote, originally posted by northvibe »haha, heres another issue though. A lot of foreign suv's are getting fairly decent mileage...now the domestics need to catch up again. The hyundi sante fe a guy i knows said he got 31 on the hwy with a v6. I can get over 30 in a Suburban with a V8. The AFM will make it a V4 and it delivers great fuel economy! I can also hitch it to the trailer and not worry about the ability to tow. I can put my four daughters in it, and go to a Soccer/Softball game.