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

[JSH]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

The coupe Civic may be back. Maybe someday another Fit sized vehicle, too. The Fit was originally the same chassis dimensions as the old circa 1990 Civic wagons. Honda will reincarnate something, someday, when another fuel crisis hits that looks durable.

I doubt it - at least not unless CAFE regulations change. With the current footprint based rules a 2025 Fit would need to average 47 mpg EPA combined to not pay CAFE fines. That means it would have to be full hybrid and likely as expensive as a Civic.

The reality is that compact cars aren't really much more efficient than their larger counterparts today. The Fit is rated at 33 mpg combined, the Civic is also rated at 33 mpg combined, while the Accord is rated at 31 mpg combined.

Jump to hybrids at the Insight is 52 mpg, the Accord Hybrid is 48 mpg, and the Prius C is 46. In this case the compact car gets worse fuel economy than the large car. The Prius C is also only $500 less than the Insight so why pay the same price for less?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Where's that picture of Dave Cloud's stretch Metro van?

I'd need to install the privacy glass:

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

When have Americans ever saved money?

Not even amid the WWII war effort.

I gave a month of free rent to tenants that were laid off. One of them bought a brand new motorcycle...

Unless that motorcycle may serve to work, or to go to a jobsite which would otherwise be harder or more expensive to go by other means on the long run, it does seem quite pointless.

The reason they are tenants and not homeowners is because they have not made financial responsibility a priority.

I have always considered quite pointless to own a vehicle worth more than the house or apartment where its owner lives, but it happens quite often...

[Xist]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

I have always considered quite pointless to own a vehicle worth more than the house or apartment where its owner lives, but it happens quite often...

I believe that this is the cheapest arguably decent house for sale in my town, which is more affordable than many places:

They are asking $139,500 for 1,484 square feet.

I do not have any idea what kind of car you can buy for $140,000 and I doubt you would ever see one parked regularly in front of a house like this.

[Fat Charlie]

Swap the swan out for a flamingo and I'm in.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

I do not have any idea what kind of car you can buy for $140,000 and I doubt you would ever see one parked regularly in front of a house like this.

I saw $100K of combined truck and bass boat parked in front of $20,000 single wide trailers when I lived in TN and Alabama.

One my junior engineers bought a Ford F250 King Ranch with his first paycheck and then rented a dump.

[Xist]

I am sure that is negotiable: 861 E Huning, Show Low, AZ 85901

Let me know if you need help moving.

Mobile homes. I stand corrected.

[Fat Charlie]

I drove through southern Arkansas last year. Some "homes" were so far gone that the only sign they weren't actually abandoned was the brand new quad cab parked next to them.

Went through one town whose economy was an ice machine in an empty lot with an extension cord running to the nearest house. The town gubmint's only revenue source was a radar gun. Luckily I was a few minutes behind the kids in the VW that paid that day's toll.

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by Xist

Let me know if you need help moving.

Thanks for the pics, I'm staying here where it's painfully cold half the year.

That place looks like a cleaned up crime scene. Is that actually a living/laundry room?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by JSH

I doubt it ... so why pay the same price for less?

Yeah, I take your point. But to be fair ... I only said a "Fit sized" vehicle, not "the Fit" itself. A return of a small chassis does not have to be the same drive train. The 1990 Civic Wagon didn't have v-tec, but the Fit did. There was a brief experiment with a Fit EV. CAFE standards could bring the little car back, or a market shift. The Fit came to the USA in Fall 2007, I think, which was before the fuel price run up set in and before the ~2010 CAFE standard increases.