Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler New Car Hunting

Well, each of them has some really, profoundly ugly plastic attached. I should think that, aesthetically, you'll probably have an opinion one way or the other when you check them out close up. I believe they are mechanical twins. Budgetarily, the Toyota is probably going to hold value better; you might be able to find a used Vibe for less simply because Toyotas tend to cost more than Pontiacs.

The Matrix is a nice looking car and Toyotas generally have a reputation for reliability, but I think the days of quality issues are over for American cars. We had a Honda Civic that left us stranded on the side of the road THREE times - each time with a different problem. Of course, that Civic was made in Canada and not Japan...
And down here (I believe soCal is the new-car-selling capitol of the world, is it not?) all you have to do is scour the ads of various newspapers (paying much attention to the fine print) and you can find awesome deals where out of the area dealers attempt to undercut the local dealers market share. Might be worth a look.

i vote for the toyota based on reliability,i know quite a few people with toyotas and never heard of any problems,just last week i bought my first american vehicle in 10 years,i hope it lasts like my old nissan....good luck...ron

Like Axioms, the Mazda Protege 5 is a great value and gives huge bang for the buck. I've got one and luv it! It's a stiff suspension drivers car, though. Very responsive & begs for corners, but the ride is "European". Good mpg, too. Super fun to drive. Could use more HP, but you get what you pay for. However, the hatch is not huge for large garage sale items. If you need more cargo space with kids in the car, the Focus has more, but with much different styling. I think the Protege 5 looks sweet and has plenty of room for most applications. And Proteges 5's are getting cheap now that the Mazda 3 replacement is here. You could find a good deal. Only drawback is resale value( Focus is no better), but I plan to keep mine for awhile. I plan to get a rooftop cargo box for our young family and I'm set. Test drive the cars you like and go from there.

Get the WRX...I have one. It is well worth it!

You could do the regular Impreza and not pay extra for the better engine. I haven't had any extra costs associated with it because it is AWD, as someone mentioned.

I agree with another poster though, as far as value goes the Mazda is probably a pretty good bet.

You can also add the Sentra SE/SE-R (?) and the Mazda 3 to your list.

Do not buy a VW, they are rolling pieces of crap (Yes I have one)

Pretty much narrowing the field to 4 door hatchbacks. Love those pocket rockets though.

I drive a 2003 Subaru Impreza Outback. I would say if most of your driving is city, you should steer away from the WRX unless you really want the turbo. Because of the turbo, it requires premium gas, and the turbo doesn't really get going until about 3.5k rpm. I've found that I do most of my driving around 3k rpm. Without the turbo up to speed, the stardard impreza engine outperforms the WRX engine (being larger...), although once that turbo gets going it kicks in an extra 70 HP or so. I have found that the AWD is great, I drove around quite a bit in the snow we had in Boston a few months back and had no problem driving through some pretty messy conditions. One thing about the Impreza though, the back seat doesn't have the best leg room. But man can you put a lot of stuff in that thing if you really try.

My wife drives an '02 Focus wagon. We've been very happy with it.

this site best illustrates Ford's problems with this car;

http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?did=80&scid=51