Hey guys. I come here needing advice and you guys seem to know what your talking about.

So here the story. With gas skyrocketing, my dad is suffering with 13 mpg in his 1998 Izuzu Trooper . He needs a new smaller car pronto, but is debating on what car he wants. He doesn't like the Versa or the Fit because they are too small. He is looking for a hatchback like the Matrix/xB/Mazda3. He needs some space in the back for computers and other stuff (hence why he doesnt like the fit) and space for 5. He has no clue and i was wondering if you guys could help. Thanks.

 

I personally think the Fit is the best hatch option especially when you start looking at economy.

Here is a great little non-bias comparo between 5 average joes. Very informative and the conclusion is dead on.

Driving Television :: Car Review Videos

 

While fuel economy is up their, it is not priority #1. Trust me, i have been like a salesman trying to get him into a Fit but i can tell he is into other cars. Here is a list of what my dad doesn't like about the fit.

1. He NEEDS an armrest. (even though they are available aftermarket)

2. He needs lots of space because he is a computer technician and often lugs around both people and computer stuff, not to mention other things like golf clubs for both me and him (and yes i do play golf)

3. My mom personally doesn't like small cars and is highly paranoid of them.

4. Yet again fuel efficiency is not priority number 1 and feels as if though he needs a car with a little more power.

5. He is looking for a used car that should be reliable and costs not too much.

If you guys can give me some good info on the fit or other cars we can really narrow things down. Thanks again for your contribution.

 

yeah man the fit can hold a lot more than you think.

 

That exactly what i said!!! One day i went to a honda dealer with him and he personally said it was "too small" and not to his liking. About the space issue though, while the fit can swallow alot of cargo, we thought about what he usually carries for work he would need to fold the seats down and we would have a problem carrying 3 kids and 2 adults with a bunch of stuff in the rear.

 

The Fit has quite a bit of space in the back, but from what your dad is describing, he might be better off with a Mazda 3 or a Prius. The Fit doesn't really have room for 5 adults, although 4 can be seated pretty darn comfortably. The Mazda is sportier, the Prius gets better milage and rides better.
One other thing. I came from a WRX. The first Fit I drove was an automatic and it was just a bit too sluggish feeling on the feeway. The manual trans Fit is just enough zippier that I didn't feel like I was driving a slug.

 

Kia Sportage

 

Prius= $$$$
Mazda3=
For example would be some of the pros/cons of cars like the Mazda 3 (and if you want you can suggest other cars) Thanks for all the imput, this will really help my dad in choosing a car.

 

The sportage is good for space, but its fuel economy isn't to good. Depends how gas prices rise. If they rise anymore, than the sportage is out of the picture.

 

Do your research on the Mazda 3 is all I can say. The newer models might be ok but the early model Mazda 3's were crap imo. My GF had one and it had tons of electrical gremlins and the wear and tear seemed more prominent. She was able to get the dealership to buy it back after a year of legal back and forth under the lemon law, it was like pulling teeth with a toothpick to talk to the dealer and manufacturer. Might have been an isolated case but it seemed like there were other Mazda 3 folks that were questioning the cars long term reliability because of problems coming up early during ownership.

Also I am talking about the basic Mazda 3, not the hatchback or the Mazdaspeed model.

 

But the MSRP of the 2WD 4 cyl. Sportage is $2500 cheaper than the Mazda 3 five door which more than makes up for the small difference in gas mileage. If you want functionality over performance I'd go with the Kia. If you want the zoom zoom sobeit.

 

i think your dad is going to pick what sacrifice he's willing to make and go that route.

no armrest? or not enough cargo room?

i personally think the fit holds a MASSIVE amount of stuff (i've fit a lot of music equipment in the back including instruments and amps and not even had to fold the back seats down to accomodate it).

it really sounds like you still need all the space of an SUV, so i would make the suggestion of a hybrid SUV. BUUUUT then the drawback is the price.

i think the fit has the majority of the factors he's looking for out of all the cars you've mentioned.

 

Thanks for all of the advice. I just gotta talk with my pops and set up a day where we try all the cars and just see which ones work and which ones dont. and as pip_rocks says ^^, a small suv would be the one, but, he don't know what he wants, so we just gotta try everything out and see what he decides. After all it will be his car. Thanks for all of the advice and with maybe a few more choices we can finally chose one.

 

There is another option, too. Buy the Fit and keep the Trooper. Most days, the Fit will probably have plenty of room for what he needs. When he really needs the extra space provided by the Trooper will be worth the bad mileage.

There isn't any car that can hold 5 adults plus lots of cargo; that clearly puts you into the SUV or van category.

Tell your dad to test drive a Fit before he decides it's too small. I don't feel like I'm driving in a small car, except when I can squeeze into small parking spaces. The Fit is 8' from the back hatch to the dashboard. For comparison, my previous cars are:
1968 Buick Skylark (same body style as the Chevelle)
1972 Chevy C-20 3/4 ton pickup
1963 Ford F100 1/2 ton pickup
1984 Chevy Cavalier (now THAT felt like a small car)
1967 Chevy C-20
2002 Saturn L300 V6 sedan (for sale)
2008 Honda Fit

I miss my trucks, but I can get an awful lot in the Fit, such as file servers, power tools, and enough wood to build an oak railing for my staircase.

--Barry

P.S. Oh, and tell your mom, "5 star crash rating, better than the Prius."

 

Ha, thats a great idea. The only problem with that is that he needs the money from the Trooper (which he loves so he might not sell it), but we can work around that i guess. I truly hope that he chooses the Fit so he can give it to me. As for the crash test rating, my mom will comeback saying that she would rather us be in the Trooper (or something a little bigger than the fit) if we were to crash head on into a hummer or expedition. Thanks for the advice and i will tell my dad that.

 

I think what he is looking for does not exist!
If he cuts down on all the crap he is carrying (golf clubs on top of all the computer hardware required for his work??) including 5 people(?) even that Trooper will bounce back to over 20 mpg with a sensible right foot! Is there a coffee maker in there along with a kitchen sink?
I am trying to be funny, not hurt anybodies feelings, but you catch my drift.
As pip_rocks stated, he will have to make some compromises.
If price was not a consideration I would say find a used Jetta Diesel Wagon - 50-60mpg(!).

You should confront your dad for his own good and make him unload everything he has in that car in front of the garage. Then YOU pick each item one by one and ask him when did he use it last time and for what.
Make few dedicated piles from "must have-use every day" to "not work related". Be tactful! By the time you guys are done Fit might be too big for his needs!
My wife does this to me when I am cleaning the garage every spring!
If she does not, hardly anything gets thrown away!

 

the xb's rear area is just as big as the fit's

 

Ciburri is absolutely right, along with bdrake. I talked to him and i told him about the advice you guys brought up. He said that he absolutely loves his trooper, stating that even after 100k miles, it only needs routine maintanece, and will not get rid of it. As for getting a smaller car, he says that he may look into a fit or versa for daily use, but that option of getting another car would be too costly and he is just thinking of sitting and waiting to see how bad gas prices go up. If gas prices go to high, i am going telling him to really look into other, smaller cars and just live with the compromises that they bring.

P.S. I found this website and it shows the fuel economy of the Trooper, and i highly doubt 20mpg is possible with a 10 year old engine and a 4 speed auto.
Gas Mileage of 1998 Isuzu Trooper

 

For comparison, the Fit (with 21.3 cu. ft.) has MORE luggage space than the larger Versa wagon (17.8), Mazda3 wagon (17.1), or Rio5 wagon (15.8).

"Luggage space" is defined as the space behind the back seats when they are upright.

The Fit's 21.3 cu. ft. is more than impressive. Nevermind the 42 cu. ft. when the seats are down. That's a LOT of computer equipment.

But if he wants 5 people and a bunch of cargo, go show him an Odyssey.

 

Uhhh, that was stupid of me to not notice that. So now that you guys have been showing me all the pros of the fit, i finally decided to go to the mazda website to compare the 4 most realistic choices for him to have as a everyday car. The four cars were the Mazda 3s, Scion xb, Toyota Matrix S, and the Honda Fit Sport. And i decided that power was not of importance, and all that would matter would be cargo room, passenger room, fuel efficiency and obviously, price. Looky here, we have a winner, none other than the FIT!!! Yay!! Whoo!!!
MazdaUSA - Wireless Home
Here is the actual comparison i used to see everything i needed.

I also did another one today and here it is. MazdaUSA - Wireless Home

While the passenger space isn't too big, it has just come to my attention that we rarely ever go in my dads Trooper all together (that's 5 of us), and if we ever did, we would just need to learn to squeeze. For the cargo room, we could just find some stuff he doesn't need and set it aside. I just showed him the print out and he seemed impressed with the Fit and with me for taking such a proactive role in the choosing of his next car. While he still has not choosen, i will try as much as possible to see if he can get the Fit (which i absolutely adore and maybe if he gets it he can pass it to yours truely ).
Thanks again everyone for showing me that the Fit is the right choice and if you want, bring up all the info you can that could make his decision easier, if get what im saying .