I think if we ALL traded in our 4x4s and SUVs for a small car that gets 38 mpg, half our problems would be solved.

But who would then buy them?

I suggest once you have your list of possibilities down, that you make the final choice after test driving the ones of interest.

We liked out Corollas. Check out Consumer Reports tests in the past few months. If I remember, they did an article on rating and re-rating small cars. Mazda 3 might have come out first, if my memory is correct.

The Honda Fit is the best of the small fuel efficient cars. The Toyota Yaris is just not in the same league as the Fit, unfortunately. The Scion is essentially the same vehicle as the Yaris, albeit with a different body style. My second choice in that category would be the Nissan Versa, but since Nissan does not have a reliability rating in the same league as Honda or Toyota, the Versa may contain some long-term compromises. Another possibility in this category is the Hyundai Accent. It is not as good as the Fit, but it is actually superior to the Yaris, and it costs less than the Yaris, as well as coming with a better warranty.

The "Smart" car only makes sense for someone who will use the car exclusively in urban areas as the gas mileage is not good enough to justify the extremely small carrying capacity, the punishing ride, and the lurching of its transmission. The Smart's only advantage over other small cars is its ability to park in extremely small spaces. VW has had long-term reliability problems on many of their models, and I would not recommend one at this point. The Mini is a love it or hate it proposition. If you are a very "sporting" driver, you will love it. If you are simply looking for an economical car with a good ride, it is probably not for you.

My vote is for the Honda Fit, but I would suggest that you do your research by visiting dealerships for all of your possible candidates, take extended test drives in each, and also do as much reading as possible of publications such as Consumer Reports New Car Buyers' Guide.

I have an 08 mazda 3 and it's the I new Value 2.0and it's loaded.
However, it's built to be light. There is no carpeting just felt with mats velcroed on top of felt. The front end is all plastic (scary). Also all the Mazda's come with a cigarette lighter and ash tray.
The car is a head turner though,Galaxcy Grey ,rear lip spoiler, a BMW shark finn antenna on it instead of unscewing the antenna that came with it going through a car wash.It has styrofoam in between bumper and radiator? Stiff ride,but has sport car feeling,corners nice and has plenty of Zoom Zoom for me . mpg 28 city 33 highway. Drive Safe.

Honda Fit

True, the Yaris sedan lacks the flexibility of the Fit and the does not handle as sharply, but it has much less road noise, a smooth engine and transmission, and an interior of similar quality. Cargo flexibility excluded, I think it is on par with the Fit. That will probably change with the new 09 Fit, though. Be careful with the Accent; it received a "poor" rating in the IIHS side impact tests, even with the side airbags. In contrast, the Yaris, Fit, and Versa all received "good" ratings. The Accent also trails the Yaris in acceleration, fuel economy, and reliability.

Agree with other posters that the Honda Fit is head and shoulders above the others. Also, the standard Toyota Corolla is as good on gas as he Fit. Nissan Versa comes highly recommended, but does not have the sterling repair record of a Toyota or Honda. The Yaris is bullet-proof but lacks in creature comforts. The Suzuki SX-4 is a neat car, and with 2 wheel drive has good gas mileage, but not as good as the Corolla or Fit.

Avoid the Smart Car; it's gas mileage is no great shakes and it is basically an urban commuter car.

Stay away from nice but fragile cars such as the Chevy Aveo, small Kia models,

My favorite small cars are the Mazda 3, Honda Fit, Mini Cooper and Rabbit, but each for different reasons.

The Mazda 3 handles very well and has a sporty driving experience to it, but a smooth ride at the same time. It's been reliable and the gas mileage is pretty good.

The Mini Cooper is a wonderful car that gets superb gas mileage and seats 4 but it's quite sporty and not geared for older folks. It has a quality about it that puts it above other small cars from the moment you sit in it. This is reflected in the price.

The Rabbit has the best interior quality of any of the small affordable cars. It drives smoothly with a controlled ride and is enjoyable to spend time in. Gas mileage however is severely lacking and is far behind its competitors. It was however the highest rated small car Consumer Reports has tested. The two door is not available with a sunroof.

The Fit gets excellent gas mileage and offers a solid driving experience, but the styling and power may not be for everyone. It is the best of the small Japanese cars by a good margin and offers superior braking, driving dynamics and interior quality. If you have a small budget and need great mileage and resale this is the one to consider.

The Corolla is painfully boring and offers little driver interaction. Also, the electric steering can be a nuisance (yes, that's right-electric steering). It offers greta mileage and reliability, but little else.

The Yaris is simply not a good car. Poor braking and a lousy interior. Geared for people with little money who just need basic transportation-no justifiable reason to choose this over the Fit.

The Smart is a great little car and I've spent time in it-but it's for Urban folks plain and simple. If you live in the city, or spend most of your time commuting in the city it should be considered, but otherwise you should probably look elsewhere. The best mileage of the small cars, and comfy for two people, but it's like owning a Corvette-not practical.

Here's the tested mileage for all the cars from Consumer Reports:

Honda Fit: 22 City 43 Highway (Auto)
Mazda 3: 18 City 38 Highway (Auto)
Mini Cooper S: 22 City 38 Highway (Manual)
VW Rabbit: 16 City 32 Highway (Auto)
Honda Civic: 22 City 40 Highway (Manual)

Hope this helps.

Dave,
You make a reference to EPS (Electric Power Steering) in the Corolla in your post as (can be a nuisance).
Could you expand on this for me?

I can see a couple of pros and cons to it such as being a fuel saving device but also can fail (and put the steering into a standard steering mode). Although I have never heard of this ever being an issue.

I can only find one reference to a 2005 (and up) Yaris Hybrid as having this installed.

From what I can see (read) Honda first used this concept, but I can't seem to locate any other Toyota vehicle related info on EPS.

A research on Corollas here doesn't turn up any mention of EPS in Corollas 2005 to 2008. No mention of EPS in Corolla until the 2009 model.

Looking at miles per gallon is deceptive. You should really look at gallons per mile for an honest comparison. Improving a vehicle's fuel economy from 10 MPG to 11 MPG saves more fuel (91 gallons per 10,000 miles) than an improvement of 30 MPG to 40 MPG (83 gallons per 10,000 miles).

I would hold out another year or two. These new small cars (the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris and Scion xA, Nissan Versa) all get worse fuel economy than I would expect from cars that small. They should be averaging 40 MPG without being hybrids. I would wait for them to get the fuel economy we all deserve. Perhaps you could buy a used car for now. My 98 Civic gets fuel economy almost as good as a new Fit, and you can buy a one for about $4,000. Until new cars actually get better fuel economy than those made a decade ago, I won't be buying a new one.

Jeremy the current crop of small cars get GREAT gas mileage considering the hoops they have to jump through. There isn't a technology issue that's preventing higher gas mileage-it's a weight issue. All of these "small" cars while physically small weigh a lot. Modern cars have safety equipment like reinforcements, multiple airbags, etc etc that weigh quite a bit. Now add new and massive sounds sytems, air conditioning, sunroofs, sound deadening, etc etc and the cars wind up weighing a thousand pounds more than they would have otherwise.

It's easy to brag that your 1998 Civic gets great mileage, but watch what happens when I load it with modern ammenities and safety equipment-your mileage will drop like a rock. It's not a fair comparison.

I agree about the weight issue. Looked up the Rabbit on edmunds. the 2 door hatch weighs just over 4000 pounds, with the sedan weighing just over 100 pounds heavier than the coupe. 4124 pounds is that of a small pickup truck. Just to compare, a Ranger FX4 offroad 4x4 supercab weighs 5000 pounds, and the ho-hum regular cab 4cyl weighs just 200 pounds more than the Rabbit(4380 pounds). Curb weight of the Ranger is actually LESS than the Rabbit sedan's curb weight(3030 ranger, 3138 Rabbit)

Looked up the Rabbit on edmunds. the 2 door hatch weighs just over 4000 pounds, with the sedan weighing just over 100 pounds heavier than the coupe.

You're off by half a ton (typo?). The curb weights listed on the MSN auto site are 2975 to 3138 pounds.

Agree that cars are quite heavy considering their size. Way back in college I had an old beater 4 door 1948 Chevy. It was a very roomy car and had no accessories whatsoever. I do remember putting ot on the scales and it weighed only 2950 lbs with half a tank of gas! My 2007 Corolla, a much smaller car, weighs almost as much. All the mandated equipment and comfort accessories drive up the weight. This will not change until more aluminum, light weight alloys, plastic and carbon fiber are used. Most of these are expensive, but will eventually be used as the CAFE mileage standards take a bite.

Dave, I have loaded the car to the roof. I have driven around with a small spare, a full size spare, and a small floor jack in the trunk. The fuel economy was not measurabley affected. It was just my humbe opinion anyway. We shall see who is right in two years. I predict fuel will be more than $6 a gallon and the average small Japanese car will get an honest 40 MPG without hybrid technology.

I stand by my opinion. If you are going to trade in a car to achieve better fuel economy, you will get more for your money on a reliable used econobox than a brand new econobox.

Weight doesn't really affect highway mileage too much-the effect is mainly in the city where you must move the mass from a standing start. This is why highway mileage is so high on the small cars and city mileage is so low. You may think your mileage did not go down when the car was loaded-but I assure you it did-the laws of physics and science apply to everyone.

As far as getting 40mpg without hybrid technology-they have cars that do that now for sale in Europe and have for years. Most are sub-compact mico-diesels and many are quite fast. However, Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Seat, etc, etc do not sell cars here. They do exist though and they will make their way here eventually-but don't expect them to be big. You can have efficient, big, or affordable- pick any two.

There isn't a technology issue that's preventing higher gas mileage-it's a weight issue. 

I believe weight is a technology issue. Have you seen the carbon fiber being developed for use in car bodies? If this isn't a technological innovation, I don't know what is. If this innovation makes it to the automotive assembly lines, it will take some time. I believe we will find those new cars put the current crop of econoboxes to shame when it comes to fuel economy. Carbon fiber car bodies give you the best of both worlds. You will have all that safety equipment and the cars will be light weight.

"Have you seen the carbon fiber being developed for use in car bodies?"

Yeah, but the cost is outrageous. A quick on line search seems to show that they aren't for sale to the general public. You can buy them if you want to race, but not for the street. Note that F1 uses them and carbon-carbon composite bodies. These are two of the reasons that F1 cars cost so much. I don't expect to see them in cars that we might buy soon. Are you aware of any commercially available cars that use carbon fiber bodies?

Are you aware of any commercially available cars that use carbon fiber bodies? 

No, but there are people working on making carbon fiber car bodies affordable. Maybe carbon fiber wasn't a good example. A better example of emerging technology is clean diesel. It is already being used overseas. Within the next couple years, clean diesel cars will become more available in the US than they are currently. They will undoubtedly get better fuel economy than the Yaris and the Fit. I just think we are on the verge of several decent advances in fuel economy. For example, Honda has pledged to have EFI on all of their motorcycles soon.

The revised EPA ratings are substantially lower than the old ratings so these new cars are not nearly as bad as you think. I have a 2008 manual transmission Yaris and I almost never get less than 42 mpg, my best tank was 46 mpg. I have no idea how the EPA only gets 29/36 out of that car, do they drive it with the parking brake on?
The only time I ever got close to the EPA highway gas mileage figure was when I drove from Austin TX to Brady TX against a brutal headwind at 65-70 mph, this resulted in 36.1 mpg.