Cars.com Picks the Top 10 Urban Cars

Believe it or not, all the editors and reviewers got to weigh in on this list — the Urban Dink was just one of many voices. In the end, the Cars.com staff determined the 10 best cars for city dwellers, and some usual suspects popped up. We also decided not to rank the top 10, but to just give out one top prize of “Ultimate Urban Car” and name nine other worthy contenders. See which car took the top prize.

Top 10 Urban Cars

Comments

too bad the new xB is a flop. Sales are down compared to the last xB by almost 10% for Sept and 33% for the year, and the last model was 4 years old. shame on Toyota for bloating it up.

I hope this is a lesson to small-car makers. Don't make them too big or your initial audience will shun them.

No Volkswagens on the list?

I think you should have included the VW Golf on the list. I'm also surprised that at least one small, cheap car (besides the Fit) did not make the list. Rio, Accent, Versa or Yaris would work. Three small SUVs? Well, it is the US afterall...but they will pay surcharges at NYC garages...while a Camry will not.

Hey Tor - is that because of height limits on those stackers?

LM-
Dealers did not receive the new xB until May. The 33% decrease is due to 4 months of limited to virtualy no inventory. Sept sales are down 9%. My local Scion dealer says that they are not producing them fast enough to meet demand and and he can only get one or two on the lot at a time. Selling 5,000 a month is not bad for a small car. It is selling as fast as the Honda Fit and toyota Yaris.

You know you left out a huge factor: THEFT.

Hondas are STILL highly prized for their parts. And a Miata? Assuming your "city car" is your ONLY car it seems damn impractical. I mean it's a nice fantasy and all, but more likely you're gonna get a sedan.

Personally I'd advocate the PT Cruiser for it's compact dimentions, utility, and (especially used) affordablity. Plus they have non-painted bumpers on early models which keeps them looking fresh after many paralell parking routines.

Negatives, ridiculous turning circle, realatively high fuel consumption and quality issues.

2nd oddball recomendation would be a Chevy Astro/GMC Safari (do they still make those?) In cities with poorly maintained streets you need a rugged people hauler that can park in a tight space. These little van-lets are STILL very prized in NYC. (And I'd argue that the xB is inspired by them)

But neither of them fit the cool factor.

Are you kidding us here now? (Cars.com)

A Land Rover made it to the list? I didn't know there are mountain off road trails in the city of Chicago.

the rabbit or the jetta would be good contestants, or even the A3...

The XB has 22mpg in the city, is this a joke? I mean, it is ugly, but design is subjective, but 22mpg in the city for such a small car, it is a joke.

22 mpg is under the new standards. The Cobalt is rated at 22 and the Mazda3 is rated at 22-24. Check out http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
There are very few vehicles (excluding hybrids)that get more than 24 mpg city.

There were a lot of factors that went into the selections. But in the end only ten could make it. Turning radius was a big factor and that may be why some others aren't here. If you live in the city of Chicago BTW it is like off-roading with the quality of the roads. I think the LR2 made it on price too over the X3.

But that's why we have the blog so you guys can tell us what we got wrong.
The A3 was debated for sure.

When I first moved to Boston (2001) I ditched a Protege I had which was bottoming out on potholes and picked up a RAV4. The RAV4 (old model) squeezes into the tightest parking spaces and makes u-turns easy, soaks up the potholes, gets 20mpg city, can fit my bike with all wheels attached inside with one rear seat removed (and stacked up on the other seat) or two bikes with both seats removed, is spunky to drive (manual) and does well in the snow (4wd). Very few cars can do all that.

Since then I tried driving an '07 Camry that lacked the space-efficiency and was too big. I quickly got rid of it and bought a used '04 RAV.

Take a look at the selections. They are in 10 distinct categories. That's why you won't see the Yaris and the VW Rabbit. That's why the Miata and Landrover are there, to fill the sports car and SUV categories.

Had they actually selected the top 10 small cars, you would be seeing the Civic and the Fit and the Yaris and the Rabbit in the list. You probably would have seen them if they did the top 10 without the categorization.

Ziggy,
My civic beats that number even with the new standard. But who cares? I got 34mpg in city constantly anyway.

Dave,
Well, Chicago's road isn't that much different from Detroit's, therefore it still doesn't justify its nomination.

Getting 34 city mpg is pretty good for a car that is rated at 26 mpg city. Still ...my point is that there are very few vehicles that are rated at higher than 24 city mpg (civic, yaris, corolla, versa and fit). With that said 22 mpg is not bad for a vehicle listed at 17k that comes with a lot of standard features and a class leading interior volume and cargo space.

Therefore why am I getting a xB?
A Civic LX with lighter weight than mine and similar price will beat that number bad.