Honestly I would have picked up the SL500 instead...

 

:p now THERE's an economy car! :D

 

great topic, lol

 

I did my research and narrowed down the choices for a small drivable car that was reliable and got decent performance and gas mileage.

Yaris
Corolla
Camry
CIVIC
Accord
FIT
Mazda3
MINI Cooper
Versa
Altima

So FIT was at the top of the list until I found in my area-
$3000 over MSRP and 3 to 6 month wait easily at all dealerships.
Sales people that say take it or leave it, we have plenty of buyers.

I did look seriously at Yaris, Corolla and Camry and didn't like the prices and lack of side curtain airbags.

In hybrids I did look at Prius, CIVIC hybrid and Camry Hybrid.
Both Prius and Civic Hybrid were in very high demand and I didn't qualify for any tax rebate for buying a hybrid (my tax bracket stinks). CIVIC hybrid was $4700 more than CIVIC LX.

I could get a base MINI cooper for about $20-21K. Not bad.

I settled on a CIVIC EX, little or no wait, decent color, Auto transmission and four seats with enough space, comfortable, decent extras and easy to live with. LX was better priced but lacked some of the extras that were handy. DX didn't exist.

A month later I was shopping for a car in Indiana for my daughter and found a FIT Sport AT for MSRP and one month wait. About $17.9 K out the door. Not bad, snapped it up in a hurry. End of story.