Nothing says “you need to get a car very, very soon” like having to wake up your wife and toddler well before their normal rise-and-shine time to drive you to work in their car so they’re not stranded at home the whole day.

The last time I bought a car for myself, I was just out of college, living with my folks, gainfully “dot-com” employed and without a need for my car to have LATCH seat connectors.  The Celica was fun, a little different than the Integras and Eclipses that seemed to dominate the import scene, and offered a somewhat more reliable ride when compared to other speedy cars in 2001.

Things are quite different now.  Spending a third of my monthly income on your car no longer seems like such a spectacular idea, and four doors are a requirement.

Based on a few factors – price, a week long test drive of the previous generation Corolla four years ago, and the fact that Toyota was heavily discounting their cars last month – we picked up a dark gray 2010 model.  It’s the base, so no fancy GPS nav or lazer guns, but comes with lots of good things for a commuter like me.  Ride quality is smooth, and the motor is matched up well for the size of the car. Steering is fine, but noticeably less direct than the Celica.

Unlike the Celica which came with a revolutionary war-era cassette player (and CD player), the Corolla came with an mp3 player and iPod plugin port, which fills me with happiness.  It also has lots of storage spots inside and two glove boxes! Really…who carries 2 sets of driving gloves these days when they drive?  The steering wheel is telescopic, which is new for me, and makes for a pretty comfy driving position.

It also comes with good gas mileage.  Right now I’m getting 34mpg in my mixed highway/traffic-light commute each day, and that’s without trying.   And its a 5-speed!  I’d much rather choose my own adventure gears when driving, so getting one in manual was great.

The car has lots of thoughtfully designed components that make it feel much more substantial – like the afore mentioned second glove box, a gas mileage indicator and a charge port hidden under the center arm rest with a tiny groove in the plastic that lets the recharger cord stick out.   And a back seat that normal humans can sit in!   This feature lets Ted ride comfortably with Kate and I, and that’s pretty cool.

And the speedometer and tachometer, check this out:

I didn’t notice it until after driving it for a few days.  It’s like the car is waking up its gauges with a big yawn-stretch.

We sat in a Toyota Corolla, but it had expanded to “mid-size” since we last drove one. Kind of a shame, wider and longer is not always an improvement.

While at the dealeship, we looked at a 2009 Toyota Yaris, in sedan form. It’s shape resembled a shrunken Camry, and was sized smaller then the Corolla. Optioned correctly (airbags, mp3 connection), it would have come with everything we needed.

The dealer had just unloaded a black 4door Yaris from a delivery truck, so we took it for a ride.

It was the base model, so it had roll up windows and manual locks and mirrors, but the engine was the same so it seemed like we could make a judgement based on that.

The engine was 106hp, so it’s not quote ready for the track, bit was able to move the car around safely due to it’s light weight.

The interior was comfortable enough, but both Kate and I questioned a few of the design decisions. The speedometer was in the center of the dash (vertically in line with the stereo) instead of being directly in front of the driver. I’ve seen this before in Scions.

It was a strange sensation, driving without a speedometer in it’s normal spot… like the speedometer was broken and all your driving feedback came from what you could see/hear/feel. I imagine you’d get use to of but I’m not sure long term if I’d like it.

Also, cupholders were mounted directly in front of air vents, and were quite small (soda can sized). Not a huge deal, but I could see it growing to annoy me.

The temperature controls were cool though, 3 dials control everything. Features are great, but it’s nice just to adjust the temperature without looking away from the road.

Ultimately this would be an ok car to own, especially for the short money invovled, but it all depends on how you feel about the driving experience.

The dealership was ultimately unable to find one with the options we wanted, and really it was for the best, as we’re both much happier with the Versa. It was a little more money, but a lot more car.

The automatic is so automatic that it doesn’t even have gears in the transmission!  It uses a Continously Variable Transmission to get power from the engine to the wheels.   From what I’ve read, it gives a little better fuel economy then a traditional automatic transmission, and even bests the 6-speed manual MPG version of the Versa.

Once thing you notice with this CVT is that there are no lurches (since there are no gears being changed) as the car accelerates.  It was a weird feeling, and I kept wanting to reach for a shifter of some kind to move into a different gear, but before I knew it the engine sound and RPMs told me that everything was going to be ok.  Maybe this is the future?

Other then the non-shiftyness of the car, it drove well enough.  The seat-of-my-pants accelartion test told me the car got up to speed quickly enough, and I was unable to roll it over when taking a corner.

It’s a hatchback, which I’m a big fan of, and has the usual fold-down seats in the back.  Not quite as cool as the Honda Fit fold-down-and-up-and-up-further seats we saw in Jay and Erin’s hatchback, but functional and utilitarian none the less.  The rest of the inside of the car was cleanly laid out, offering features that most people would want (ac, power windows, ample cupholderage) but nothing too fancy.   I read there’s an optional overpriced GPS system that’s available, but it wasn’t in the version we drove.

The radio was pretty fancy for stock, it had a 6-disc changer that played MP3 files burnt onto discs, as well as having an auxillary port for plugging in one’s ipod.  This should be standard on all cars!  It also has the power button as a large circular dial in the center of the radio, sort of like sister-in-law Chris’ Honda Accord.

The car had lots airbags (6), a feature that I see as more appealing now that I’m a dad.  I sort of regret not checking off the side airbags option box when I bought the Celica in 2001.  Everything I’ve read since then has said that its the safety feature that is the most effective.  Apparently just driving a nice looking car is not enough to thwart portential redlight runners.  Who knew?

Both Kate and I liked the it.  It seemed to offer lots of car goodness and usefullness in a tiny little hatchback, so we bought it. Its sitting in our driveway now.

On our last visit up north, Kate and I were afforded a night out for our anniversery by way of some free baby sitting from Grammie Cass.  Kate, wanting to make the night something a little different (and knowing her husband very well), arranged us some transport, a Mazda Miata (also courtesy of Grammie Cass).

So the top was down and the transmisssion was manual and we were off!

The first thing you notice as a driver, besides the very cool gauges, is the short throw in the shifter. It’s the smallest shifter I’ve ever used outside a video arcade, and it makes for very quick gear changes.

Driving top down in a car even shorter than my own provides a great sense of speed without actually needing to speed. It reminds me of sitting on a skateboard and rolling down a huge hill. Your velocity is the same as if you weren’t so low, but you feel like you’re moving through hyperspace.

Handing is go-kart like (although the turning radius was not as small as the Honda Fit we just drove). Manuvering in parking lots was easy.

The convertable top is manually opperated, but very easy to put up and down. Kate and I had it up and locked into place in seconds. I believe the newer Miatas have a power-operated hard top option, but the manual is easy enough to operate, so I doubt the hard top could be worth the added weight.

Speaking of weight, this car had none. There’s very much a feeling that all unnecessary weight has been removed. It also has no trunk space, which would make it hard to transport things like groceries. Groceries add weight, which would slow you down on track day, so I understand what Mazda’s engineers were thinking.

I hereby confess: I use to think that the Miata was exclusively a car for the ladies and for the mid-life crisis set. I just didn’t know! I’m so sorry!  In fact it’s a very fun to drive and well engineered vehicle. 

The thing that makes it not right for us is the lack of back seat. Our new family member makes us three, and the number of available seats in the Miata is two. The trunk and storage space options are also small, making trips to Home Depot difficult.

But that’s not the kind of car this is – it’s a great car for a night on the town, a day at the track, or a commute to work.

ps. the photo above is not how I drove my mother-in-law’s car…..but it was the coolest photo that came up when you searched for ‘Blue Miata’ on flickr.

pps. Thanks Cheech :)

We also got to visit Erin and Jay who we hadn’t seen a while. They fed us, hooked Ted up with some cute welcome-to-existence prizes and then watched Ted for us while we go to drive their sweet new ride, a 2008 Honda FIt Sport.

So nice of them to let us take it for a quick spin. We each drove it around the neighborhood a bit.

The thing that stood out to me the most was the redunkulously tight turning radius. I was pretty sure that the back wheels were turning too. But this was no 1987 Honda Prelude with four-wheel steering. It was, in fact, the little hatchback that begged to do donuts. Around a single donut. (Note to Erin and Jay: We did not perform donuts in your nice new car. Just turned around in a cul-de-sac. Then we took it off a sweet jump. Twice.).

Besides driving in circles, I also used the paddle shifters located just behind the steering wheel. It’s an automatic, but the gears can be shifted manually and without a clutch. I thought it worked well (and better then the Mazda 3 paddle shifter I tried before), but its still a little confusing for me because I’m shifting gears and there is no clutch pedal on the floor. I think if I had a Fit, I would use the paddles.

The rest of the dash layout was clean and intuative. The speedometer and tach had a cool blue light around it which I thought was cool in a blue-lights-are-cool kind of way.

Acceleration was right about where I thought it would be – fairly quick but not quite neck-snapping. It’s 109 horsepower engine isn’t quite what you’d want in a top-fuel drag race, but the car is light and the driver will probably be rewarded with respectable fuel economy.

As far as exterior looks go, I like the Fit from most angles. Every once in a while it looks like a 2002 Civic SI. The tall windows make it look a little van-esque sometimes, but for the most part it feels very much like a hatchback.

The inside is giant and it’s seats fold in useful ways, just like every hatchback should. Jay gave us a full dealer salesman like-demo of all the seat modes.

Kate and I both agreed that we would buy a car from Jay. In fact, if he still had his giant Chevy Caprice battle cruiser, we would totally buy that from him.

So on our last trip up north, we found ourselves in a situation of sudden awesomeness in terms of stuff for Ted. We also found ourselves with more stuff then would safely fit in the overhead bin, so we decided to drive it on home. Knowing that all the stuff would not fit in our last rental car, we rented a mini van. It was a 2007 Kia Sedona (or as they call it in other countries, the Kia Carnival.)

I wish I had reviewed the minivan we rented (Dodge Grand Caravan) when we started moving things to NC more then a year ago, but I was a little distracted then.

As far as ride quality goes, it was ok. More comfortable then the Focus and way more comfortable then the Malibu Classic. At first the ride was comfortable, but after 14 hours the seats started to feel a little stiff.

The radio situation was disappointing. No MP3 CD compatibility, and no axillary input to plug in iPods. You can just never tell with rentals as to what you’ll get. The interior had the requisite dozen or cup holders that every minivan has, and lots of “blank” buttons on the dash and steering wheel that implied that there are many options available for the Sedona that you don’t have. This van cries for steering wheel volume controls.

The cruise control was borderline useless. As we were driving through Pennsylvania, every time we’d go up a hill (while the cruise was on) the van would lose speed and then not adjust back up to speed once we got over the top of the hill. Lame.

The van part of the minivan was good… the back seats fold totally flat into the floor making plenty of room for the boxes of stuff we had packed in. The center row seats folded forward, but not completely flat. I think you can take them out of the van, but we couldn’t do that because our trip was one-way.

If for some odd reason you’re reading this review and thinking I’m some authority about minivans, then I’d say I’m not sure if I could recommend the Sedona. It wasn’t as nice as the Grand Caravan, and I didn’t get the vibe of of wellputtogetherness. I suppose if you had four kids and money was tight and you really needed a new van, then the Sedona might be the way to go. But really if money is tight, wouldn’t you want a used minivan? Or maybe a sweet wooden-sided Buick Roadmaster.

We were, instead, given a 2004 Ford Focus. That seemed kind of old to me for a rental car, but it survived the trip so it served its purpose. We got the sedan version of Ford’s smallest car. Back in the day (2001ish) Kate and I test drove a Focus Hatchback, but we did not purchase it because I had just driven a new Mustang and my mind would not permit it. I suspect if I had test-driven the Focus and then not the Mustang, maybe I’d be driving the Focus now? Who knows. Just glad I got the car I did.

I won’t judge the car too harshly, it was almost four years old with 30k miles on it. The car charger didn’t work, but the stereo did and that was good. The stereo worked well and supported MP3 discs. In between picking up the car and setting off, I quickly burned an MP3 cd of about 100 or so songs, hoping that would get us through the trip. The songs I burned were lame, but the player worked well enough. I wish it would show both the name of the artist and song, instead of just the name of the mp3 file.

Trunk space was pretty darn good considering it was a sedan. The back seats could fold down if needed (and really, this should be standard on all cars with back seats at this point), and all of our presents fit. The seats were comfortable enough for the 15 hours we sat in them, but were no where as good as the Celica’s or the Honda Accord’s. My seat also squeaked whenever I moved, but I suspect it has more to do with being a rental car then being a Focus.

The handling and acceleration were fine, I never felt it was underpowered or anything like that. It also passed the swerve test when we were driving up and I almost took the exit into the heart of the Bronx. It was just too late in the day for high-intensity city driving. Gas Mileage was also good, I think we only had to fill the tank 2 1/2 times.

I do wish they had given us the SVT version of the car, but that probably would have lead to speeding tickets, and that would definitely not been part of the day’s plan or budget.