Cult of the Small Car » General

America’s best selling small car ever

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:35:21 +0000

Finally, a spot in the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio for America’s best selling car of 2008, as well as America’s best selling car of all time. The kicker? It’s also the smallest and most efficient car on the planet.

The Cozy Coupe, from Little Tykes.

Check the link for more…
more info

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Holy flying Sidekick!

Will Thompson — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:09:33 +0000

Small SUVs like the Suzuki Sidekick apparently fly really well. Take note of the ballast removal prior to flight, and the high numbers of beers. Well duh.

Some NSFW (not safe for work) language, so turn down your speakers if the need warrants.

Who knew?

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The popularity of discontinued subcompacts

Will Thompson — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:45:08 +0000

Are high gas prices driving thrifty commuters to the subcompacts of yesteryear?

As automakers are now finding out, it’s hard for someone to justify spending (at least) $20K for a car to save gas. Makes about as much sense as fighting for peace, or fucking for virginity.

Not exactly revolutionary thought, is it? Somehow, I manage to find an article written every day that seems to be written as if the author is shocked (shocked, I tell you) at the revelation that consumers aren’t willing to spend a lot of money to save gas money.

Here’s the latest, from AutoRemarketing.com:

Since high prices and long waiting lists may be prohibitive for some to purchase the most popular fuel-efficient rides, many shoppers looking to conserve gas have gone retro, instead. Cars.com pointed to a surge in popularity on its site for economy cars built in the mid- to late-1990s, many of which have been discontinued. For instance, cars like the Metro and Prizm from the now-defunct Geo brand have experienced a more 200% rise in consumer searches in the last year. As such, this uncharacteristic jump in popularity has caused the prices of these discontinued to increase, as well.

Just like how there is new interest in Vespas and other things small yet stylish, I think you’re going to be seeing more Geo Metros. Plus, they make for funny loser commercials, as seen below:

F-R-E-E that spells free, credit report dot com, bay bee!

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Soccer game with Toyota Yaris players?

Will Thompson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:56:58 +0000

I was watching Top Gear last night on BBC America, which is a Monday night staple in my home. The hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May consistently make Top Gear one of the best automotive television shows worldwide. For any gearhead, I highly recommend checking it out. Episodes are scattered all over YouTube, so they’re not hard to come by even if you don’t have the chance to catch it when it’s broadcast.

Last night was a re-run, but it was an episode I’d never seen. In addition to testing a crazy Mercedes “saloon car” (sedan in American terms), they had a feature on the Toyota Aygo. Citizens of the United States know this car as the Toyota Yaris.

The Yaris is an especially subcompact car. It’s inexpensive (not cheap, but rather inexpensive) and well-made and right up the alley of this blog’s subject material. Needless to say, I was very interested. Richard Hammond was the host tasked with the review of the car. Just as the Yaris has won over many testers in this country, the Aygo was a hit with Top Gear.

As such a thing was expected of the Toyota, that wasn’t the interesting portion of the segment. The most interesting part of the show for me was when they decided to take a two teams of five Aygos and play a game of car soccer. The drivers were professionals in some sense of the word, so the action was fantastic. Without further pause, here’s video of the coolest soccer game I’ve ever seen:

A new mini car in the US for GM?

Volkswagen chooses Huntsville AL

Will Thompson — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:12:45 +0000

Has Volkswagen finally made a choice about where to put their new plant? Word was that VW was going to choose a plant location in Tennessee, Alabama, or Georgia. Has the site been chosen already?

From Automotive News:

Volkswagen’s management favors Huntsville in northern Alabama as the site for its new U.S. car plant, Automobilwoche, Automotive News’ sister publication, reported today. The magazine said Chattanooga, Tenn., which is 102 miles north of Huntsville, is the second choice.

Someone needs to take a look at Google Maps. Chattanooga is actually east of Huntsville. That’s all I have to say about that.

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