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Economy car

Comparison of economical cars

An economy car is an automobile that is designed for low-cost operation. They are designed for those who drive their car from point A to point B without using too much gas. Typical economy cars are small, light weight, and inexpensive to buy. The Oil crisis of the 1970s caused a great deal of emphasis on economy, leading to a shift to smaller cars such as the Volkswagen Beetle and front wheel drive cars like the Honda Civic. Some economy cars can go relatively fast because of their light weight while simultaneously saving a lot of gas. Today, economy cars are becoming more expensive. For example, the Scion xB starts with a base MSRP of around $14,000.

Economy cars from the early days tended to focus more on fuel economy than performance. Some from the 80's and early 90's take more than 11 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph.

Fortunately, most of the automakers today have addressed that issue and are now producing economy cars that can perform and save gas at the same time by installing fuel saving devices such as variable valve timing in the vehicles that they produce.

Small compact cars tend to do worse than midsize or fullsize cars in crash tests. For example, the Toyota Echo received a below average rating in side impact crash testing.

A car that does as well as midsize and fullsize cars in crash tests is the 2006 Honda Civic. Unlike many cars in its class, it offers side curtain airbags as a standard feature.

Among the most popular economy cars (at least in the U.S.) are:

Toyota Corolla
Honda Civic
Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen Beetle
Toyota Tercel
Scion xA
Scion xB
Ford Focus
Dodge Neon
MINI Cooper (base)
Chevrolet Cavalier
Chevrolet Cobalt
Mazda 3
Mazda Protege
Toyota Prius
Toyota Echo
Kia Rio

The Civic Si is technically a "Sport Compact".

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This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.