Observation: It seems like A LOT of people are buying small/fuel efficient cars nowadays.

[KillCapitalism]

I've seen it from an experience I had car shopping yesterday. I'll give you my story.

Right now I drive a '93 Ford Thunderbird with the 5.0L V-8. It wasn't my first choice of a vehicle, but I didn't have much money at the time and I got it absolutely dirt cheap from a relative. It's getting up there in miles and fuel economy on it sucks, so now that I'm able to afford an inexpensive new car, I went shopping for one yesterday. I really want a 5-door/hatchback style vehicle, in the $16,000 range that gets around 35mpg on the highway, so the models I'm considering are the Honda Fit, Scion Xd (when it comes out), and maybe the Kia Rio5. Well, first I stopped by a Kia dealer and asked if they had any Rio5's I could look at, the salesman said no. I then asked if he knew when they would get any in & that I would come back when they do. He then tells me that they usually sell right off the truck & that they never have any just sitting around the lot. Anyway, I gave him my name and # and asked him to call me when they get their next shipment. I left Kia and the next stop was my local Honda dealership. I found a salesperson and asked them if they had a Honda Fit that I could look at and he said there weren't any in stock. He told me the same thing that the Kia dealer told me, that the Fits sell the same day they come right off the truck and that they're really in high demand because they are so fuel efficient. He had just a handful of Civics on the lot & he tried to persuade me to look at one of those, but there is no hatch body style in the Civic anymore, so I just told him to call me when they got a Fit that I could look at. Next stop was my local Scion dealer. I wanted to see if the new Scion Xd model was out yet, but the salesperson there told me that they were not going to receive shipment on those for about another 3-4 weeks. He said the ones they were getting were all pre-ordered anyway. He asked me if I would like to place an order for one right then. I had to decline because I don't want to purchase a vehicle without driving it first. He also took my number and said he would call me when they got one in that I could test drive, but he said it could be a while.

So, I was a bit frustrated while driving home. I have a friend who works as a porter at a Chevrolet dealer that was nearby, so I stopped in to say hello. He wasn't busy at all when I got there, he was out back taking a smoke break with some of the salesmen. I was telling my friend about my car shopping frustrations and the salesmen there were listening to our convo. They piped up and said "Yeah, the little gas savers are selling like hotcakes right now. We can hardly keep Cobalts, Aveos, and HHR's on the lot." Just out of curiosity I asked then how their large SUV's were selling. They said not good at all. One said that he's only sold one Suburban all year long. Another said the only people who are buying those types of vehicles are people with large families. Anyway, they tried to get me to look at some of their fuel efficient Chevrolet models, but I told them I was only interested in import models at the moment.

It looks like I'm stuck with my gas guzzler for a bit longer, but hopefully I'll find something better here soon, wish me luck. I just thought I'd share my experience/observations with all of you.

[Deja Q]

1. We should all be living in India, guess what they get in 2008?

http://autos.msn.com/advice/article.aspx?contentid=4024853

Cool.

Will it be seen in America, or any other country for that matter? Or will "carbon credit" be the big excuse as to why we'll never see them?

[KillCapitalism]

2. Those are cool.

I wonder what they would cost here? I really like the Prius Hybrid, but $20K+ is just out of my price range unfortunately.

[valerief]

3. Those are WAY cool! nt

[BearSquirrel2]

4. I've always said ...

I've always said that the petroleum companies intentionally go through phases of high vs low crude oil prices. They jack up the prices to make profits. But this makes investment in high efficiency vehicles and alternative energy feasible. So it is necessary to go through lean times at which point analysts will point out that their is no point in investing when fuel prices are so low.

Oil is a form of economic heroin. In order to keep us hooked, they have to make it cheaper to keep us all from staying at the Methadone clinic.

[Lance_Boyle]

5. go for a (reasonably) late model VW TDI

99-03 diesel VWs can be had for under $10K these days. 40+ MPG, option to run biodiesel (no conversion required). The New Beetle models are most prevalent, but Jettas and Passats and even the occasional Golf can be found. If you want to spend more, check out the Audi models featuring the same engines. ;-)

[B3Nut]

6. Our local Kia shop was stocking up on Rio5's

when I bought mine last March. They started picking up...now they can't keep 'em on the lot. I've put 43K on it the first year, and I'm averaging 30-32 in mixed driving (automatic). If I poke (55 or less) and leave off the AC I can hit 37. It's been a fantastic little car...it shares chassis/drivetrain with the Hyundai Accent, but has a stiffer/sportier suspension. The hatch is really useful, I'm a gigging musician and get lots of gear into it with the seats folded down.

I love the vintage of Thunderbird you have, I drove a '90 LX with the 3.8 V6 for a long time...the V6 was surprisingly fuel-efficient for a large rear-drive car. I could get 28-30 on the highway if I drove carefully. Drove the poor thing into the ground...it was all used up when I was done with it!

I wonder what the status of the Rio/Accent Hybrid is....Hyundai/Kia was planning the release of it at some point I heard....

Todd in Cheesecurdistan