Small / economy car deathwatch: we've passed "peak econobox" again

[freebeard]

My personal record is 15 hours and I only got as far as Wendover, UT.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Another one bites the dust:

Source: https://autowise.com/the-toyota-yari...year-autowise/

Note: the Yaris sedan (shown) is actually a re-badged Mazda 2. The Yaris hatchback (at least the hatchback still sold in Canada) is a Toyota design.

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I didn't like the Yaris just sitting in it back when it was a newer model. Don't know if the late examples were like this, but the speedometer was in the center, between both the driver and passenger. I don't recall the other things I didn't like, but generally I didn't like being in the driver's seat for the 3 minutes I sat there.

I don't recall the price spread between the Corolla and Yaris, but at the time I was putting together a list of potential cars to purchase, the Corolla made it and the Yaris did not. The fuel economy of the early Yaris was pretty terrible for such a small car. A Camry would do just as good.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I didn't like the Yaris just sitting in it back when it was a newer model. Don't know if the late examples were like this, but the speedometer was in the center, between both the driver and passenger. I don't recall the other things I didn't like, but generally I didn't like being in the driver's seat for the 3 minutes I sat there.

I don't recall the price spread between the Corolla and Yaris, but at the time I was putting together a list of potential cars to purchase, the Corolla made it and the Yaris did not. The fuel economy of the early Yaris was pretty terrible for such a small car. A Camry would do just as good.

As 98% of people actually buy them (with an automatic transmission) the base Corolla sedan is about $2K more than the base Yaris sedan.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Don't know if the late examples were like this, but the speedometer was in the center, between both the driver and passenger.

What did surprise me is the Chinese and Thai versions of the Yaris, which are based on the Vios, don't have a middle-mounted dashboard.

[Xist]

As I mentioned elsewhere, the Yaris owner that I knew said that she liked where the speedometer was, but she tended to forget about it and speed.

[freebeard]

Driving alone, a center-mounted speedometer is out of your line of sight, but with a passenger it becomes a wellspring of 'conversation'.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Driving alone, a center-mounted speedometer is out of your line of sight, but with a passenger it becomes a wellspring of 'conversation'.

As long as the passenger doesn't fall asleep so easily as I do

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Walking the dog it gots me thinking about how new 2-door econoboxes vanished from the Brazilian markets, even though small cars are still selling here at a large amount. Maybe the usage of cars as small as a Renault Kwid even at Uber ultimately led to the demise of 2-door econoboxes here.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

[MetroMPG]

Out with the ICE, in with the EV at the Michigan plant where the Sonic was made...

General Motors confirmed that it plans to end production of its Chevrolet Sonic small gas car in October With the Sonic’s demise, gas cars will no longer be produced at GM’s Orion Township Assembly Plant near Detroit. Orion will become an all-EV plant, where the Bolt compact and Bolt EUV will be manufactured.

https://electrek.co/2020/07/07/gm-ki...-all-ev-plant/