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Crooky Testdrives Six Compact Cars in Three Days - Part 3
By crooky | May 20, 2008
At the end of this long weekend - two finalists have emerged. The Honda Fit and the Volkswagen City Golf. Click here to check out my reviews of the Nissan Versa, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent and the Toyota Yaris. Before diving into the showdown between these two, let’s recap the testdrives on the last two cars - the Suzuki SX4 and the Volkswagen City Golf:
1. The 2008 Suzuki SX4
There was no Suzuki dealership near me so I drove to the next closest one - one located in a predominantly rural area of the Fraser Valley that I don’t like going to very often. I could say a lot about the dealership and the guy that helped me check out this car but I’ll sum it up in a word - “shabby”. At the dealership, prominent signage touted the fact that the Suzuki SX4 won a recent compact car review against the Fit, the Accent, the Yaris and others. I knew this already and that’s the main reason I drove all the way to this shabby little shithole in Bumblefuck, BC.
The highlight of the salespitch was the guy claiming that the Suzuki gets better mileage than the Yaris and that the “guys at Transport Canada are liars”. This pisses me off and starts to remind me of my experience with the Hyundai dealership. Rule #1 of selling cars in the Internet era should be: don’t fucking lie to customers. They can check your story in about 10 keystrokes. There are websites full of fuel efficiency junkies that actually track user fuel efficiency and builds up an average over time. These averages are at best 2-4 MPG better than what Transport Canada rates them. 2-4 MPG does not make up the huge difference this guy was claiming.
After dozing through the marketing pitch, we got to actually look at the car. It’s actually made in Japan. You can tell this two ways: the quality of the workmanship (excellent) and the VIN# on the dash (all VINs on Japanese cars start with a J). There is no auxiliary jack in the car and when I asked about that, the sales guy mumbled something about me needing XM Sattelite radio. After conferring with his colleague, I found out that there is an iPod wiring harness available as an option (like the Yaris) but at a price (which is not listed on their website but I can guestimate it will be in the $300-400 range, like other manufacturers).
The back seat was the same goofy setup they had in the Accent but somehow less well thought out - if that’s possible. To fold down the back seats, you grab a strap in the crack between the back rest and the seat and pull the seat cushion towards the front of the car. On the Hyundai, the seat cushion stayed where you put it once folded up. Not on the Suzuki - it was flopping all over the place. Suzuki’s solution? A nylon strap that you strap to your head-rest supports in the front to keep the thing from flying all over the place. “To prevent rattling” said the salesman. WTF? After that, you have to remove the headrests and fold down the seat to make a not very big cargo area. I was not impressed. I hated this about the Hyundai and I hated it even more in the Suzuki.
I hop into the driver’s seat so we can take it out. The seat is roomy but not crazy comfortable. The mirror wasn’t in my line of sight, for a change - which was nice. I had some trouble figuring out how to tilt the steering wheel but once I got it, it was fine. The Suzuki SX4 handles well. I’ll give it that. It felt solid and it had plenty of torque. The instrument panel was very dull and underwhelming. It looked out of place with the rest of the car. Overall, it was comparable to the Honda Fit.
When we got back to the dealership, my greasy little friend started bugging me to sign some paperwork. I did not. He also dodged questions about lease payments but that’s when we got to the ugly truth - to get the car that won the award for best compact car of 2007, it was going to cost me almost $21,000. To put it in perspective - that’s what I paid for my Magnum with 26,000 km on it at 18 months old. Not a fair comparison, I know but I’m looking at it from a value perspective. The guy claimed that he could swing payments for $245/month but he was really reluctant to tell me what kinds of lease terms that included and seemed keen to leverage a low-mileage lease to keep the price down.
The verdict: It’s a nice car (with the exception of the fold-down seats) but for something that has similar qualities as the Fit, was it worth $3000 more ($5000 if you count the ecoRebate I wouldn’t be getting with the SX4)? No way.
2. The Volkswagen City Golf
A funny thing - I went to my local VW dealership and the sales guy I got is actually friends with the guy that sold me my first car almost eight years ago. He reminded me a lot of the guy who sold me my last car - honest, up front, older guy, been in the business for 30+ years and knows cars. I instantl liked the guy. Very laid back - low pressure sales tactics. That’s the way you sell a car to someone.
Let’s talk about the more interesting aspects of the Golf first - in my first article in this series, I believe that I mentioned this car is made in Brazil and that it’s actually a last-generation Golf (the Mk4) that was replaced in 2006 by the Mk5 (known in Canada as the Rabbit but in the US as the Golf. Sounds confusing but keep in mind that you can’t get the City Golf in the US.) It’s got some interesting updates on the Mk4. The sound system was obvious - it not only has an auxilliary jack but it has a USB port.
Seriously. You can load up a USB drive with MP3s and plug it directly into your dash. How cool is that?
There is only one trim package for the 2008 City Golf but there are a couple of options that you can add that resemble trim packages in other manufacturers’ lingo. The “comfort package” blew me away. For roughly $1000 more, you can upgrade to alloy wheels, a factory alarm system, power everything, cruise control and remote keyless entry. You have to pay another $1200 for air conditioning but I’m one of those old-fashioned guys who likes to roll down the windows when it is hot. $1000 for all of those options is a steal! I couldn’t believe it.
My first dissappointment with this car came when I checked out the back seat setup. It was almost as bad at the Hyundai. The worst part - with the back seats folded down, it pushed the driver’s seat too far forward for me. I could technically drive like that but not for too long. That sucked. The upside was some of the features on this car that are standard. Telescoping and tilt steering. This is the only car in this category that you will find with that kind of adjustability. The driver’s seat was very adjustable and comfortable. The instrument cluster was easy to read (not unlike my 1991 Volvo 740 - old fashioned but super legible).
We got it out on the road and I realized what a big difference a 2L engine makes over a 1.5L. This thing had torque and power. I testdrove the automatic which has a “sport” mode below Drive on the shifter which is still automatic but… sportier. Someone watching you drive it in sport mode would assume that you were driving stick and aggressively. I know from first-hand experience that you can push that little 2L engine quite hard in manual. Let just say that this is a cool little car. The side-view mirrors are tiny. Less than half the size of the ones on the Fit and my Magnum.
I got back to the dealership and was made a very good offer. If I put down $1600 at signing, I could drive away in this baby for less than $200/month. This makes it nearly as cheap on a lease as the Nissan Versa. The other nice feature - all of the local Volkswagen dealerships can pull stock from each others’ lots. When I talked to the guys at Honda, they said “we’ve got a white one on the lot that you can have” and the guys from Volkswagen said “what colour do you like and at what trim package?” I told them and they found one for me right away at a dealership across town.
The Verdict: I loved driving this car. If the backseat had been a better design and the mileage was slightly better, this contest would already be over. Alas, there are pros and cons to be weighed when comparing it to a car like the Fit. By the end of the week, a victor will emerge.
The Ultimate Showdown
I’m now at the stage where I can sit down and do an honest comparison between the Fit and the City Golf (the Fit is on the left):
I’m taking my Dad with me to go take a second look at both of these cars on Wednesday. Even though I’m in my 30s, this is only the third car I’ve ever bought and my Dad is a master negotiator at the dealership. Although in this case, it’s a lease so he may be out of his element a little. He does love car shopping though and asks lots of good questions. It’s also a special activity that him and my grandfather used to do together before my grandfather passed away last year.
What I’m really hoping is that he’ll have some good insight that will help me sort out the pros and cons between the Fit and the VW City Golf (see chart above). He’s going to love the guy at the VW dealership on account of the fact that this guy is friends with the guy that my dad bought his last three cars off.
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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology for ten years.
Topics: Technology |
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May 20th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Any particular reason why you didn’t try the Mazda 3? Just wondering.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Hi Keri,
That’s a great question. Someone else offline asked me why I didn’t test the Kia as well. The Kia - I’m not convinced that they’re a quality automobile. They’re part of the Hyundai group and are considered to be lower-end vehicles than the Hyundais. Given my experience with the Hyundai Accent, I can’t imagine how bad a lower-end car would be.
There’s three reasons why I didn’t go for the Mazda 3:
1. Lower-end fuel economy for the size of the car (due to the bigger engine, no doubt)
2. To get into one of these with any options (power windows, an adjustable driver’s seat, etc…), you’re looking at $20,000 +. That puts it out of the range I was looking at.
3. My family has owned Fords in the past and many of my friends have owned Mazdas. The build quality of the cars coming out of both of these companies is pretty poor. The Mazda 3 is half Mazda, half Ford. It shares the same platform with the Ford Focus and the Volvo C70. I’m heavily biased against Ford/Mazda based on personal experience.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:05 am
To be fair, I think the Mazda 3 is a very attractive car.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Even if you weren’t seriously considering a Smart or a Mazda 3, it would be cool to see how these two cars stacked up against your other choice.
…any chance you’d testdrive these vehicles and update your blog, just for the fun of it?
July 17th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Calab,
That’s not a bad idea. I love messing with car dealers. :) If I do it, it will have to wait until later this summer. Too swamped with work to go around test-driving cars I’m not going to buy at the moment.