The Search Continues

Chuck and I went out car shopping together. We drove three cars yesterday (well, I drove them). The Yaris, the Hyundai Accent and the Scion xD. I was really impressed with the Yaris and the xD. Though I wanted to like the Accent because of the price and warranty...it drove like a go-cart. No pick up, no real power, and it whined like it was about to explode when you hit the gas. Granted, I expected that from a small, cheap car...but neither the Yaris nor the Scion felt that way at all. Both were full of power, had a lot of "get-up-and-go" and were fun to drive. Alas, they were also several thousand dollars more expensive. Still...my favorite out of the three was the xD.

The Scion xD. Drove great...had LOTS of room. And, comes with a lot of standard features that are big extras on other cars. Still - the price was a bit high and Scion (for some unknown reason) does not have ANY rebates or incentives...it's just THE sticker price. Still, I LOVED driving this car. Ironically, as we started to walk out the door (rather unimpressed with the fact that we couldn't get "a deal" on the Scion) they offered us $1000 for Esther. Hmmm....$1000 for a 95 Escort Wagon...pretty nice incentive. One that we certainly didn't expect. We told them we would think about it. We're so tough. ;)

So, coming home and doing a bit more research online today, I have added two cars to the list for test drives this week.

#1 the Chevy Aveo. Again - a cute little hatchback that falls into our price range. It's not ranked too high on the Consumer review list of small cars...supposedly not spunky to drive, but we'll see.

#2 - the Nissan Versa. When I was reading about the Aveo, the reviewer suggested the Versa as a better alternative in the same price and size range. It has better reviews and MOST IMPORTANTLY, better safety features. The Aveo does not come with side airbags, the Versa does...for a lower price.

So...that said...I will try to head out tomorrow to drive these two and see how they fit.