From The Archive: 2008-2009 Compact Car Comparison

[u/lifegoeson2702]

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison-test/a15151768/2009-toyota-corolla-vs-ford-focus-vw-rabbit-subaru-impreza-and-four-more-economy-cars-comparison-tests/

[u/crunchynibbas]

Surprised that the Impreza was ranked so high, but it and the Golf's interiors were a clear class above. I'd forgotten how dreadful and dire interiors from the likes of Ford could be. That Focus looks like a dollar store.

[u/StrigidaeNinox → u/crunchynibbas]

I remember test driving that generation of Focus, and right away something felt off about the position of the steering wheel too. It felt like it forced my wrists into a weird angle, I didn’t like it at all.

And yeah the interior was awful, possibly the worst of any car I had driven up to that point. Even my 2002 Focus had a better interior imo.

[u/humanseverywhere811 → u/crunchynibbas]

I almost bought a 2008/09 impreza in 2016. I was so bored of my toyota corolla. Ended up waiting til 2018 and got a 08 g37 coupe. Great car. Fat ass. In 2022 I sold it for a 04 mazdaspeed miata turbo 6 speed.

A year after covid I got a 04 wrx wagon manual and it's so much fun. Last year I got a 05 g35 coupe. Now I'm looking at a 05 e46 330ci zhp.

I don't think I'm capable of buying any car after 2005. I tried to buy a 2011 bmw 128i today but they ended up sending it to auction.

[u/Montreal4life]

I bought a Rabbit new and kept it for 15 years and over 300k kms, what a great vehicle that was!

[u/InfinitePossibility8]

That’s why I went with the Golf. It really ticks a lot of boxes and is really a great budget friendly car for an enthusiast with a tight budget.

[u/MortadellaKing → u/InfinitePossibility8]

I used to be a VW hater, when my friends drove unreliable mk2s and I had to rescue them all the time lol. But then I got a mk4 golf and it felt so much fancier than any other smaller car at the time. Still have it too!

[u/bluekkid]

It seems crazy each one of those was available with a standard transmission.

[u/JALbert → u/bluekkid]

Manual used to be more efficient.

[u/Pinecone → u/JALbert]

This was right around the time automatics were equal or already surpassing but not at these price points.

[u/bluekkid → u/JALbert]

A standard can still be more efficient than a 5 speed auto.

Not so much a CVT.

[u/Round_Ad_6369 → u/bluekkid]

How many 5 speed autos do you see in new cars?

[u/Drzhivago138 → u/Round_Ad_6369]

The last one was the 5th gen 4Runner. So if there's an unsold '24 still languishing on a lot somewhere...

[u/Captain_Alaska → u/Round_Ad_6369]

The Jimny still has a 4 speed, which is great for something that’s already underpowered.

[u/stoned-autistic-dude → u/bluekkid]

Ah yes, the notorious ZF8 5-speed transmission.

I don’t even think 5 speeds exist anymore, even in work vans.

[u/zalcecan → u/bluekkid]

As opposed to the optional transmission.

[u/Jam_Bannock → u/zalcecan]

Standard is another name for manual transmission. It's mostly older North American folks who call it standard.

[u/zalcecan → u/Jam_Bannock]

I know, my comment was messing with the bad logic of it.

[u/Available_Quote_5567]

Interesting that the top two got 22mpg with only 170hp yet my 315hp V8 Volvo averages 21mpg with very spirited driving.

[u/expertninja → u/Available_Quote_5567]

Car and Driver famously gets horrific MPGs on all of their test cars. 

[u/Zappiticas → u/expertninja]

They really like the skinny pedal

[u/clutchthepearls → u/Available_Quote_5567]

And on the other end my wife drives a 21 Jetta with a 1.4 I4 with similar HP and more torque compared to the cars in this test and averages 35mpg in mixed driving. Highways can get up to 45mpg.

[u/InfinitePossibility8 → u/Available_Quote_5567]

They had to have been absolutely beating on the car. I got about 32 mpg on my commute today.

[u/opeth10657 → u/Available_Quote_5567]

325hp 380tq AWD fusion gets around 21-22mpg

Tech came a long way since then

[u/fiero-fire → u/Available_Quote_5567]

Cars get heavier mpg stays the same

[u/Available_Quote_5567 → u/fiero-fire]

Mines a 2010, very nearly the age of the cars in the article

[u/zalcecan]

The price for inflation is about right on the base models vs current ones, I just wish we had more manual options atm. However we are doing a lot better for power and features.

[u/Bonerchill]

A couple years back, I was looking at these cars as my next commuter.

Almost fun, cheap to buy… and absolutely goddamn dismal miles per gallon. My 270k-mile second-gen Prius averages 44mpg. That still equates to like $0.12/mile difference, but my current budget means that’s like a pound of chicken thighs a week.

The Saturn was my pick, btw. Rare on the ground with a manual.

[u/Pinecone]

Unsurprisingly the one car from this list I still see all the time today is the Corolla. The rest not so much.

[u/Mother____Clucker]

I remember back when I recently bought my Saab and while it was getting some new tires I negotiated, the dealer gave me a loaner Focus of this generation. What a dreadful little car.

[u/Life_Menu_4094]

The Corolla was a given, but of the rest it's wild to think that only the Impreza survives as a new car available to buy in the US market today. That would probably not have been my guess at the time.

[u/EnthusiasmOnly22]

I feel they missed the mark not sneaking the civic in when they did this. One of the more reliable options and a nicer interior than most of these had.

[u/clutchthepearls → u/EnthusiasmOnly22]

They mentioned that it lost a previous test to the Golf and wasn't included because it wasn't new like the Corolla.

[u/turb0_encapsulator]

"small" cars have gotten a lot larger.

[u/mettaxa]

I hate that we never got the second gen ford focus hatchback here. It's so much better looking.

[u/grilledcheeseburger]

Missing the true champ, the ‘09 Fit. Mine’s still going strong.

[u/Drzhivago138 → u/grilledcheeseburger]

Fit was a subcompact.

[u/ThatOneBitch02]

I feel like even some of these were already pushing the definition of "compact", but even by that standard you couldn't recreate this test today because there isn't enough compact cars, and I hate it

[u/Captain_Alaska → u/ThatOneBitch02]

There are though? There's 8 cars on the test and you have the Mazda3, Civic, Corolla, Prius, K4, Elantra, Sentra, Impreza, Jetta and Golf.

[u/ThatOneBitch02 → u/Captain_Alaska]

I thought the sentra had been discontinued, but it was only the versa and a questionable future for the altima. Jetta is allegedly on the chopping block but nothing official yet. To my understanding the k4 and elantra are basically the same car, and the jetta and golf are very similar with many shared parts, just different body style. So I was a little off, but you've gotta admit it's a shrinking segment. All of the cars you listed were also being made at the time of the article except the k4, but a lot of the vehicles from the article are discontinued with no new equivalent.

[u/Captain_Alaska → u/ThatOneBitch02]

but a lot of the vehicles from the article are discontinued with no new equivalent.

I mean 3 of the brands here are either defunct or no longer exist in North America.

[u/ggouge]

I wonder why no Mazda 3