40 mpg Ford Fiesta, Other Small Cars Flounder

Automakers quickly turned to small cars when gas hit $4 a gallon in 2008. Folks everywhere downsized, trading in giant SUVs for traditional compacts and the latest subcompacts, like the Toyota Yaris. The trend prompted Ford to bring its best global small car to the U.S., the Ford Fiesta, while it looked to beef up its compact, the Focus, to be a more premium offering. This trend of subcompact and larger compact is being seen across the industry.

The Fiesta has been on sale for a few months with a full inventory on most lots. (There are more than 9,000 in Cars.com’s national inventory.) However, the Fiesta isn’t setting the sales world on fire, and the rest of the segment isn’t, either.

Cars.com Podcast: How We Picked Our College-Car Winner

Last week, we published our latest Cars.comparison that pitted three small cars against each other in a battle for the best pick for those heading to college. In this week’s podcast, editors Joe Wiesenfelder, Kelsey Mays and Mike Hanley discuss the reasons why the Honda Fit outdid the all-new Ford Fiesta and the Scion xD in the three-car faceoff.

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Cars.comparison: Off-to-College Cars

With the start of a new school year, kids across America are packing their things to head back to their far-flung homes of learning. For students who are tired of relying on mom and dad to tow their possessions back and forth from college, we just reviewed three great subcompacts – the 2011 Ford Fiesta, 2010 Honda Fit and 2010 Scion xD – that they can use to drive themselves. Continuing reading our latest Cars.comparison to see which vehicle is best for you.

Cars.comparison: Off-to-College Cars

2011|Ford|Fiesta

2010|Scion|xD

2010|Honda|Fit

What Affordable Car Works Best With iPod?

The iPod — on its own or as part of the iPhone — is the go-to music accessory for most car owners. Automakers have paid attention and integrated iPod connectivity via digital means, namely USB ports. But not every model does as good a job as others.

That’s what we tested when three affordable, USB-equipped models came into our fleet for a mileage challenge: the 2011 Ford Fiesta, 2010 Honda Fit and 2010 Scion xD. And after the long drive, not everyone was impressed with these cars’ aptitude for rocking a playlist. Editor Joe Bruzek and I took them out back to the digital shed to get down and dirty.  

We didn’t go about this lightly. We brought an iPod Classic, an iPhone 3G, a generic MP3 player from iRiver and a USB flash drive loaded with songs to see how well each vehicle handled music playback. We even used complicated scoring sheets that we dutifully filled out but the scores were so close and so lackluster they only illustrated that none of the contenders won us over.

Mileage Challenge 6.3: Final Thoughts

Tooling around in four subcompacts all day to rack up miles for our latest Mileage Challenge left us with many comparisons between the 2011 Ford Fiesta SES, 2010 Honda Fit Sport, 2010 Nissan Cube Krom and 2010 Scion xD. Some impressed us and some did not. Below, we share which cars stood out and our picks if we have to spend another day behind the wheel of one of these subcompacts.

2010 Scion xD Video

Once a sparsely populated segment, small hatchbacks have invaded the market, and it’s the details that make the difference. Cars.com senior editor David Thomas looks at the 2010 Scion xD and finds a lot to like: creative styling, more horsepower than the competition and a high-quality interior. However, Thomas warns that the xD might suffer from “pricing problems.” To find out what he means and get a look at the xD, check out this video.

Mileage Challenge 6.2: The Results

For our most recent mileage challenge we tested four subcompacts to see how they stacked up when the wheels hit the real world. This challenge’s players include the all-new 2011 Ford Fiesta SES with an impressive 38 mpg rating to back up, 2010 Honda Fit Sport, 2010 Nissan Cube Krom and 2010 Scion xD — all equipped with automatic transmissions.

As rated by the EPA, the Ford Fiesta gets the best fuel economy of the bunch at 29/38 mpg city/highway. But could it get those numbers in the real world?

Mileage Challenge 6.1: Subcompacts

For those who want to downsize into a smaller car, there are now significantly more options to do so and not be left in a bean-sized and shaped econo-box. Enter our most recent mileage challenge where we picked four examples of such cars, including the 2011 Ford Fiesta SES hatchback, 2010 Honda Fit Sport, 2010 Nissan Cube Krom and 2010 Scion xD.

This group of subcompact cars demonstrates that you don’t have to sacrifice many features when downsizing or looking for a budget buy; our Mileage Challenge contenders come with power windows and locks, air conditioning, antilock brakes, side curtain airbags and more. As we discovered while driving these cars in the city and on the highway during disaster-movie-like weather, some don’t drive like a small car, either.

All eyes were on the Fiesta because it’s a new contender in the segment and has a lot to prove, including backing up its highest-of-the-group 38 mpg highway rating. A 40-mpg version is available but not tested here. Of our Mileage Challenger contenders, the Scion xD and Honda Fit Sport have the second-best highway rating of 33 mpg; the base Fit is rated at 35 mpg on the highway. The Cube rounds out our group with an EPA-estimated 31 mpg highway. You can see a breakdown of each car we had in the fleet and how they measure up below.

As we’ve reported in previous mileage drives, the disclaimer with every mileage rating is, “Your mileage may vary,” and it’s no joke. We’ve tested some cars that easily surpass their rating, and others that don’t come close. You’ll just have to stay tuned until tomorrow to find out if these subcompacts delivered on their promise.

A Look At Scion's New Lineup

There are few car brands that can turnover their lineup with new models at just one auto show. But that’s what Scion did at the New York International Auto Show earlier this month, exactly eight years after it debuted its first concepts under Big Apple spotlights. For the 2011 model year, the Toyota spin-off brand debuted an all-new mini-car called the iQ, a fully redesigned version of its best-seller the tC coupe and a slightly refreshed version of the boxy xB. Its fourth model, the xD remained untouched, but three out of four is still an impressive feat.  

2011 Scion iQ

Jack Hollis, vice president of Scion, joked at his New York auto-show press conference that the Scion iQ is a "Minier and Smarter vehicle," which makes it pretty clear what the iQ will compete with. It's about as wide as the Mini Cooper, but taller — roughly as tall as a Smart ForTwo. From bumper to bumper, it's between the two at 120.1 inches. The ForTwo is 106.1 inches and the Cooper 145.6. In person, if you look at it from certain angles, the iQ looks sizable. Must be the height and width.

Recall Alert: 105,824 Pontiac, Toyota and Scion Vehicles

Toyota has issued a recall for 105,824 cars from the 2008-2010 model years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall includes the 2009 Pontiac Vibe, 2009-2010 Toyota Corolla and Corolla Matrix, and the 2008-2009 Scion xD.

It includes only the vehicles equipped with the 1.8-liter engine and originally sold in or currently registered in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The recall is due to specific driving conditions with extremely low ambient temperatures, which can cause the intake manifold suction port for the brake vacuum to become locked due to freezing condensation from positive crankcase ventilation. This can increase vehicle stopping distance and possibly lead to a crash.

Dealers will install a new intake air connector, which will relocate the brake system vacuum port, for free. Owners may contact Toyota at 800-331-4331 or the NHTSA vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236.

2010|Toyota|Corolla

2010|Toyota|Corolla Matrix