[canoeist]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a new, or at least newer, car in the next year. Any suggestions for highly efficient, yet inexpensive new cars that will be coming to market in the near future?

I came really close to buying a Mitsubishi Mirage this spring. I went to the dealer fully expecting to buy one for the full price listed on the web-site ($13k including taxes and fees), but the dealer had other ideas, and offered me a raft of extra fees that amounted to $2k more. The "lowest price" was only $900 more but included absurd charges I didn't agree with so I left. It is unfortunate, as I would have cheerfully paid $14k for the car had I known that was the price up-front. I'm still considering the Mirage, but don't really want to do business with the local dealer.

I like the new Honda Fit, and the Honda dealer. My issues with the Fit are that in manual transmission form they added a useless 6th gear. Rather than expanding the gear range, they just added an extra ratio between 3 and 4 I think, but the top, bottom, and final ratios all remain the same. As such, the manual doesn't get the best fuel mileage, and to get the model that does means going up to heated seats and CVT for a total difference of about $5k. That makes the base model $4k more than the Mirage, and the LX/CVT model almost $9k more.

A Prius C is an option, but I am not really fond of hybrids, and I don't actually put that many miles on a car, so it is a little more than I want to spend.

I'm really hoping the Elio gets made, but doubt it will be available here in Canada anytime soon.

The 2016 Mazda2 seems to have a lot of promise, but no numbers have been released on fuel use or cost.

Any other new contenders? Suggestions for good used ones (here in Winnipeg all the Festivas and Metros have pretty much rusted away)