O/T New car cost with today's gas prices

Someone ran my daughter off the road this past weekend and then left. (hit and run) She is fine even though she run the car in the ditch and rolled it on the left side.

So now I guess I am in the market for a new car.
Was sure looking forward to no car payment in 5 months but here we go again. Looking for something about the same as this Toyota Echo. While I know I can get a hybrid; the pay back on saved gas takes a while to pay the extra car cost note.

Going to test drive a 4 door Toyota Yaris this weekend and see how it rides.

With total or true cost per mile in mind can anyone give me some ideas of others to look at????? ???

Looking for a small 4 door.
With the Yaris selling at 13,000 and getting 30 mpg I consider it a top pick or very close to the top right now. Plus I have had good luck with Toyota's in the past.

Any ideas????? ???
Thanks

I also looked a the Yaris, but just did not like it. Drove it and was not impressed. I will never again buy any GM product, but I drove the Chevy Aveo ??? I think that is what it was called. Worse than the Yaris. I really only drove it to compare it to others.

The 2008 Ford Focus is a new design. It drives rides and handles better that previos models. It also has more interior room and is a lot quieter than before.

Main thing to look at is who will service the car, and parts costs down the road. If you have a good relationship with a dealer, then buy from them reguardless of brand. Parts and Service mean more to me than brand.

I have had a Yaris 4-door sedan for 2-weeks now, and I am very happy with it. It is not the most comfortable car, but about as comfortable as can be expected for a vehicle that will nearly fit in the bed of my F-350.

I still have my F-350 for "truck stuff" including pulling a big a$$ camper, but, as is often the case, it needs to be fixed. It is a 2001 diesel, 90K miles so far the engine has been out 3 times, essentially to fix a leaky and corroded oil pan, it was delivered when new with a bad starter motor and I have had to replace it again since, the master cylinder for the clutch didn't last 30K miles, on my third cam posistion sensor (first one didn't last 5K miles), I had to replace the ball joints (that was a ton of fun), now the axle seal on the rear needs replacing - probably forgetting a bunch of other stuff.

I grew up in a Ford family, my wife and I, except for my F-350 have been Subaru and Toyota people. Those cars go with regular maintenance until the bodies start falling apart - typically about 150k miles or more. I'll never by another American brand - plus as others have said, they ain't any more American than the Japanese brands these days. The only thing more American about them is the top executive who rake in millions of un-earned income.

• American vs. Foreign

That would explain why some people in the south won't buy cars from Michigan. They aint forgot The War of Northern Aggression yet either.

It makes you remember REAL GOOD who your enemy is.

Ford does the same - especially the Mexican content.

I also notice that "site" freely switches back and fourth between numbers and precentages - and lump all "foreign" cars into one group including those that have no manufacturing plants in the US.

For a more impartial view check here:

Link

I was surprised to learn this though:

"Few sports cars have captured the nation's imagination like the sleek Ford Mustang, a 21st-century reincarnation of an American classic. The Toyota Sienna minivan, by contrast, speaks to the utilitarian aesthetics of Japan: refined interiors, arm rests and lots and lots of cup holders.

Yet, by a crucial measure, the Sienna is far more American than the Mustang. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that were publicized in "Auto Industry Update: 2006," a presentation by Farmington Hills, Mich., research company CSM Worldwide, show only 65% of the content of a Ford Mustang comes from the U.S. or Canada. Ford Motor Co. buys the rest of the Mustang's parts abroad. By contrast, the Sienna, sold by Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., is assembled in Indiana with 90% local components."

Sell your Ford and buy a Toyota if you want to keep Americans working.

"Measuring local content is extremely difficult because a part made in America can be assembled from smaller parts, some of which might come from abroad. All of which underscores how the line between what is and isn't American, at least in the auto industry, is "going to be increasingly difficult to pinpoint" as car makers become increasingly international and produce more in local markets, says Michael Robinet, a vice president at CSM Worldwide."

Think of your fellow AMERICAN when you spend your AMERICAN dollars.

I won't walk away from my "job" with a $3,000 dollar a month pension - why the *&^% would I pay for someone elses?

Personally, I don't care either way. But, if your decision is based on supporting Americans, or the USA - it's a stretch to to say buying one of the big three US brands makes any kind of difference.

If you are unable to reason, seems any replies made by me would be a waste of time (including this one).

Just don't buy an old police car. 140,000 miles seems to be about the life of them. And they have been run really hard.

• consumer auto

I still feel safer driving a larger vehicle, and will still put my girl in something thats not a small car.

Have you considered a Scion?

• Disappointing Yaris