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IntelliChoice Value Rating
The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.
One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.
What is a good car value?
A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.
But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?
For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.
This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)
Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.
Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.
So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.
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2007 Honda Fit Review
All-new subcompact is fun, inexpensive and practical.
Interior
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The Honda Fit is comfortable front and back and the interior can be quickly configured to carry big boxes or tall items. All in all, it's a great cabin. The front seats are supportive, even sporty, far better than what's usually found in subcompacts. The front seats have lots of seat travel, so short and tall people fit in the Fit. All models have the same fabric upholstery and it's nice. The seats are done up in an attractive two-tone design that cleverly matches up when the seats are fully reclined. The fabric itself appears nicer and more durable than that of the Nissan though not quite as nice as that of the Scion xA. The drivers gets lots of headroom, 40.6 inches, which is as good or better than the other cars in this class, lots of legroom, nearly 42 inches, and hip room, both comparable to the other cars in the class, though the Versa is a standout in hip room with its giant front seats. The back seats are impressively roomy, given the size of the car, and surprisingly comfortable. We put three adults back there for a short drive to lunch and all three were quite content. There's lots of headroom front and rear.
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Even more impressive are the cargo-carrying options. With the seats in place and ready to take on five people, the Fit offers 21.3 cubic feet of cargo space, more than the Versa (17.8) and Yaris (13.7 for the sedan, 9.5 for the liftback). Flip the seatbacks down and the Fit offers a low, perfectly flat cargo floor with nearly 42 cubic feet of cargo space. By comparison, the Toyota Yaris offers less than 26 cubic feet in the three-door Liftback, a huge difference, while the Yaris four-door sedan trunk holds less than 14 cubic feet. The Nissan Versa offers just over 50 cubic feet of space, but the back seats don't fold down nice and flat the way they do in the Fit. This makes the Fit better for a dog or anything else that benefits from a flat floor without pitfalls. The Kia Rio5 is also impressive with nearly 50 cubic feet. The Fit's rear seats can even be folded down without removing the headrests, but you'll likely have to scoot the front seats forward to make that happen; or you can easily pull the headrests off, which is what we did. Now, recline the front passenger seat and you can load long objects down the right side of the cabin, which is quite handy. But wait! There's more: Fold the rear seatbacks down, then lift the seatbottoms up again. Voila! The trunk area is back to the way it was with the seats up, but a big cargo area is now revealed behind the front seats. This is perfect for hauling tall objects, like that Renoir you just inherited from your great aunt or maybe a plant or a bicycle. This area measures 50 inches from floor to ceiling. The back seats are split 60/40, so you can also have one down, one in place. Leaving the seat behind the driver in this position might be quite useful for grabbing groceries and running errands. And that's not all! Starting with put the rear seats in their normal position, you can also recline the front seatbacks until they are flush with the rear seatbottoms. Essentially, this turns your Fit into a couch that's sheltered from the elements. Honda calls this the relaxation mode. You (and a friend) can slide back and lean against the rear seatback with your feet on the front seat bottoms, sort of like a chaise lounge. Relaxing, indeed. It would work well at a drive-in theater if they still existed. It would also be useful when stopping in a rest area for snooze on a long drive, much safer than trying to drive when sleepy. Visibility from the driver's seat is good, with good mirrors and a panoramic windshield, though there's a bit of a blindspot. The Fit has a comfortable steering wheel. All of the switchgear (headlights, wipers, power windows, etc.) works well. The center dash is logical. Audio controls are easy to operate. We liked the giant volume knob and the big buttons for the selecting AM/FM, CD and sound quality as well as the big buttons for pre-set stations. Unfortunately, the pre-sets cannot jump across bands like those in GM cars, more efficient when switching from an FM music station to an AM talk radio station. Also, satellite radio is not available. But we liked the 200-watt, six-speaker stereo that comes on the Sport. A mini auxiliary jack is provided for the Apple iPod and other MP3 players, and the Honda Apple iPod Music Link allows an iPod to be controlled through the main audio interface. The the accessory kit, toss your iPod in the glovebox and it will read out on the dash. Pritti kewel. Heating and ventilation is controlled with three big knobs, though they're not as easy to grab as it first appears. Neither a sunroof nor a navigation system is available, but the Fit comes with a high level of standard equipment. The driver gets a big speedometer flanked by a tachometer on the left and a giant fuel gauge on the right, all ringed in silver trim. At night the instruments are backlit in blue. The cruise control switches on the steering wheel are backlit to match the rest of the interior. At night, blue interior lighting comes on when the doors are unlocked and fades when the ignition is switched on. Honda offers accessory footwell lighting kits to add ambient light. The cup holders work well. Cubbies of varying sizes are scattered about and the glovebox is a decent size. Cargo nets and a tonneau cover are available as accessories. In short, this is a friendly, easygoing car. next page |
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Kia
To be honest I have never been impressed with many of the Korean cars. If you buy a car decently equiped, I can't...
08/09/2006 | 17:08 PM | sethster
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2006 Future Shock!
Here they are, the 59 hottest cars, trucks, SUVs, and concepts headed your way in 2006 and beyond.
more
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