heres a nice comparison of al the cars ive driven and looked at and researched. but il only go buy driving emprissions. i went threw 6 cars and heres my results

1. my first drive was a hyundai elantra. it wasent a bad car but it felt like it was from 1996 the vvt was way behind in technolgy. it felt like honda Vtech it dident really have any power untill 5000 rpms then it got really loud and had some power then i would shift then it was like hide and seek wiht the power band because when you shifted the power dissapeared until u found it again. really really retarted.....materals were comperale to what i had in my 95 taurus.

2. accent im not going ot talk much about it. it sucked bad handeling bad accleration and a ____ty interior enough said...

3. toyota corolla. nice car the ce felt alittle cheep the LE was way nicer if it was cheeper i might have boughten it insted. gas millage for a small four cylencer sucked. body roll as modest but not sporty feling like i wanted. not a bad lil car for people who want a more conventional car insted of an xA.but that being said its not a bad car infact it was the car i almost got until i tryed my next car.

4. the honda fit. i really liked it it felt great. the suspention was alot like my xA's but rember i havent driven the xA at this point. anyways the fit wasent a bad car it drove well not fast or peppy but deffinaly eager to please. but not in an enthusestic way but in an almost lathargic way. it also looked like a ford explorer and a chevy astro got to gether and had a retarted child. and the price and low avilibality killed me.

5. i looked at an 04. civic. not a bad car deffinaly a lil reliable car drove alot like the fit. handeled alot like the corola. deffinaly like everyother 4 door 4 cylender out there. inchurance premium killed me so i dident get it

6. well at this point i figured i liked the tC's alot but i cant afford them but ill look at the xA's well i was alittle sceptiable of the xA's. i figured they woudl be enemic lil boxes that would make me feel like a girl... well i do feel a lil girlish untill my lowering spirng get here that is lol. anyways when i drove teh 5 speed M i cant describe it it had puppy dog enthuseasm. it cornered like a dream while i was test driving it i had a late model comaro behing me on some back roads near the dealership i was taking corners mabey 30 MPH over the posted cornering speeds example 30 MPH corner i took at 60. the comaro after a few corners gave up quite funny but what really got me was ofcourse the handeling but the interior and seating was amazing for such a small car there is quite alot of room. and in the small 4 cylender class the AC is pretty strong under normal driving conditions but as a trade off there is a pretty noticable diffreance in performance. i reccomend the 5 speed anyday over the 4 auto. its like night and day i drove both and belive me if u like to blast out of corners or even like just a little more feel for the car the manual is deffinatly the way to go.
i got the xA because of the price corering and fuel ratings. i would pay 16K for my car but i only paid 13,900 for it after it was alls aid and done.

looking back on it im glad i did it its been 2 weeks and 4 days and i love my car im always finding excuses to drive it.... went on a road trip to seattle and eugene my poor baby has 1327 milles on it and i still love it every time i get in it way to go toyota u got another buyer. ill never buy anything but toyota or mercedes again. *my first car was a E320 i had it past 200K milles and it still drove like a champ with out any major repairs. anyways i love my lil scion i call him yoda lol anyways i hope this helps those who are looking for a new ecno car.

cheers

 

Nice write-up! Go to hear some of your experiances, and I agree with the parts of the xA you pointed out.

 

thanks for saying after rereading i found quite a few mistakes in spelling my bad my keyboard is pretty crappy and beign dyslexic dsonent help much either. anyways hope it helps all you guy out

 

Thanks for the seat of the pants comparission! I never would have known about the Hyundai offerings....

 

I agree, and I'm sure most will here, about the xA.

I love mine. I had my hearts set on an xA last year when I was buying a car but I just couldn't manage it. I got a used Hyundai Accent and 2 months ago I traded it in for a new xA.

Too happy.

 

Hyundai is a poor man's Toyota; and it shows. They are horrible little buggers and require more work than they are worth.

 

ya i woudl rather buy a 1996 corolla before i would buy a new accent

 

We also drove an Accent on our way to getting the xA. Except for the extra seat adjustments, it was less of a car - and more expensive once loaded out to Scion's base features. As for the 10 year warranty, I felt better with half of that and driving Toyota engineering.

 

ya dude no kidding. To all hyundai dealers !

 

I was wondering, is it really hard to learn how to get used to the stick?

I know what you're suppose to do to change gears, but I've never practice it in a real car before. I've practiced it at arcades in simulated games, but that is as much experience as I got.

 

Learn beforehand on someone elses car, that way, you have something to build off of.

I had a few hours of practice, and about a year between when I learned and when I got my car. In that time, I drove my truck, which was an automatic. It took me all of a week for driving stick to become close to second nature.

I'd get into my truck, or move one of my parent's cars, and go to reach for the cluch pedal to start it.

Shifting it is the easiest part. Starting on hills can be frustrating, but I've never really had too much of a problem.

 

I found it was easier to learn how to adapt to a clutch in reverse......it is geared lower so it is harder to kill the motor. Might want to try that.

 

Although I still wouldn't buy a Hyundai, their quaility has gone way up. Take a look a the last J.D. Power quality scores. Hyundai was No. 3 and WAY above Scion, oddly enough.

However, I'd still buy an xA over an Accent or Elantra. The new 2007 Accent hatchback looks pretty cool, though.

 

last time i cheacked jd power was owned by gm and ive heard rumors on GM boards about a possible merger

 

A) Nice write-up

B) what do you mean the milage sucked on the corolla? The stick gets 41 on the Highway!

C) JD Powers does initial quality surveys....like 90 days. Who the heck can't build a car that is mostly problem free w/in the first 90 days?

Yeah, Hyundai is getting better, but they still have a long way to go. At this point, I'd buy one of those over most of the domestic, but it would be at the bottom of my list still. Too many good cars on the road today, and their resale still sucks like a Hoover.

 

it sucks as in my friesd has a 03 CE that gets high 20's on the streets and low 30's on the hwy. and he drives like anold lady.

 

there is probably something wrong then.

 

thats what he thouhg toyota said its running just fine

 

I just noticed you are in Oregon, are there mountains involved here? Or has done anything with the tires?