Now is truly a great time to be in the market for a small car. You no longer need to give up the fun of driving just to have a small, fuel efficient car. Gone are the days of the soulless econobox.

(you’ll note the shameless segue…)

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?

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.

continue reading "The popularity of discontinued subcompacts"

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: