Topic: Comparison Test: Small Sporty Cars

[Autos_Editor]

Peter Bleakney takes a close look at a quartet of cars that are "small, economical, punchy, and fun as a bag of candy bars."

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[ajay]

Liked the idea of the article . Would have been nice if it was a comparison test . Basically I thought it was a Hyundai commercial .

[sailor723]

I'm not sure why the Velostar was included.
The other three are actual performance versions while the Hyundai seems to be trying to get by on looks and styling alone. (more of a "sporty" looking car)

As this was supposed to be about "sporty" cars I would have at least expected to see more performance specs/data about acceleration,handling,top speeds etc etc......and, in spite of the title, there seemed to be almost no comparisons between the cars. Sorry, but I have to give this one a "fail"

[JohnnyMac]

I like all these vehicles and understand why many would be sold but I can't help but think that times are changing for cheap performance.  Over the past 20 years if you wanted a cheap sports car (under $30,000) you were basically left with a bunch of FWD vehicles that left a lot of sport out of their performance.  Now we're seeing some pretty high performance vehicles with RWD in this category like the Ford Mustang V6 (I know that past versions were also under $30,000 but they weren't really good performers like this current version), Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ (did you see that Scion just put their MSRP of the FR-S on their website and it comes in under $26,000), and Hyundai Genesis 2.0T. 

If this vehicle is going to be your only vehicle I guess the cars in this article would make more sense with more doors, space, and winter driving capabilities.  But if this is your second vehicle in your family I don't know why anyone would even consider one of these until they at least tried the great RWD options that I listed above.

[Jaeger]

Liked the idea of the article . Would have been nice if it was a comparison test . Basically I thought it was a Hyundai commercial .

Not sure how the article could be described as a Hyundai commercial any more so than a VW, Honda or Fiat commercial.

Jaeger

[D70]

Small sporty Front Wheel Drive cars perhaps would have been a more appropriate title. Rear wheel drives for similar prices include the Miata, Genesis Coupe, Subaru BRZ and  Scion FR-S.

The GTi is the only one that could be considered a realistic 4 seater

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/6897345534/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/7043440277/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/7043431153/

[Thinking Out Loud]

I'd call it 'Select, Front Drive Sports Compact Competitors'.   

This does not appear to be a back-to-back comparison, rather a snapshot of certain - not exhaustive - vehicles in this class.

Why no Sentra SE-R (Veloster though!)?  Focus or Fiesta ST (or whatever Ford's sports versions are) or Mazda 3GT?

VELOSTER?   

[nlm]

I gotta say that whole line-up is a mish-mash for "small sporty cars". Not sure that a GLi belongs in the same arena as an Abarath. And agreed re: the Veloster; why is it here?

Of the four I'd probably take the Si if 'sport' was a priority and the GLI if 'looks/luxury' were a priority. I did see a GLI in person with the 18" wheels and the whole vehicle looks A LOT richer than $28k.

[JohnnyMac]

The GTi is the only one that could be considered a realistic 4 seater[/color]

I think you might have forgot that the Civic SI can be had with 4 doors.

[aquadorhj]

i think it's a fair shake.   of course,  it wasn't REALLY a comparison in the sense that other mags/sites do comparo tests, but it says right in the title, "SportY cars" not SportS cars.

Mini is a sporty car, even with anemic 1.6, because it's widely recognized to be one of the best handling FWD.
Fiat certainly does LOOK sporty with huge wheels and sporty package thing,
Veloster also LOOKs quite sporty, and with Turbo version coming soon(like the abarth), may be more eligible to be included in the group than without.

GTI and Si are like the enhanced version of those.

Ford does not have any ST or whatever performance version of their Fiesta and Focus yet.  have they even been confirmed for sure?

[Jaeger]

i think it's a fair shake.   of course,  it wasn't REALLY a comparison in the sense that other mags/sites do comparo tests, but it says right in the title, "SportY cars" not SportS cars.

I don't see how you can call it a comparison test when there is no effort made to compare the subject vehicles, let alone rank them.  Both the Veloster and the Fiat seem like oddballs in this group.

Jaeger

[aquadorhj]

i think it's a fair shake.   of course,  it wasn't REALLY a comparison in the sense that other mags/sites do comparo tests, but it says right in the title, "SportY cars" not SportS cars.

I don't see how you can call it a comparison test when there is no effort made to compare the subject vehicles, let alone rank them.  Both the Veloster and the Fiat seem like oddballs in this group.

Jaeger

you are right, but maybe it's one of the new things the crew are trying out.  nothing out there says you only have to do comparo one way.   

by the way, way to go on getting more than 150 smites!  you are almost at 160.  are you the champ?

[Thinking Out Loud]

i think it's a fair shake.   of course,  it wasn't REALLY a comparison in the sense that other mags/sites do comparo tests, but it says right in the title, "SportY cars" not SportS cars.

I don't see how you can call it a comparison test when there is no effort made to compare the subject vehicles, let alone rank them.  Both the Veloster and the Fiat seem like oddballs in this group.

Jaeger

you are right, but maybe it's one of the new things the crew are trying out.  nothing out there says you only have to do comparo one way.   

by the way, way to go on getting more than 150 smites!  you are almost at 160.  are you the champ?

I can see it now:

BACK TO BACK brochure SHOOT OUT:  Blue Cars Under $18,000     

[aquadorhj]

i think it's a fair shake.   of course,  it wasn't REALLY a comparison in the sense that other mags/sites do comparo tests, but it says right in the title, "SportY cars" not SportS cars.

I don't see how you can call it a comparison test when there is no effort made to compare the subject vehicles, let alone rank them.  Both the Veloster and the Fiat seem like oddballs in this group.

Jaeger

you are right, but maybe it's one of the new things the crew are trying out.  nothing out there says you only have to do comparo one way.   

by the way, way to go on getting more than 150 smites!  you are almost at 160.  are you the champ?

I can see it now:

BACK TO BACK brochure SHOOT OUT:  Blue Cars Under $18,000     

OMG, that sounds exciting!!!!!  I just cannot wait to see the results!

[Mike]

This (and the small family haulers) were articles published in the 2012 autoTRADER Buyer's Guide that for one reason or another were never posted on this site.

The 5 CUV comparison is how all comparison tests will be performed in the future, including some head-to-head comparos.

There is a massive comparison test set in May and two head-to-head shootouts scheduled in over the next two weeks.

-Excess Fest Next Week
-Compact AWD Sedans the week after

[Jaeger]

you are right, but maybe it's one of the new things the crew are trying out.  nothing out there says you only have to do comparo one way.   

It may be just semantics - but if there's no actual comparison of the vehicles, that's not doing a comparison 'another way' - it's simply not a comparison at all.  They could call it something like "Segment Spotlight" and at least it wouldn't be misleading.

Thanks for the smite props. 

Jaeger

[Mike]

you are right, but maybe it's one of the new things the crew are trying out.  nothing out there says you only have to do comparo one way.   

It may be just semantics - but if there's no actual comparison of the vehicles, that's not doing a comparison 'another way' - it's simply not a comparison at all.  They could call it something like "Segment Spotlight" and at least it wouldn't be misleading.


Jaeger

That's basically it, but we are going to focus more on the actual driving comparisons.  Our big comparison in May will include Chris and Peter and Jonathan and I so it should be done well.

[Jaeger]

you are right, but maybe it's one of the new things the crew are trying out.  nothing out there says you only have to do comparo one way.   

It may be just semantics - but if there's no actual comparison of the vehicles, that's not doing a comparison 'another way' - it's simply not a comparison at all.  They could call it something like "Segment Spotlight" and at least it wouldn't be misleading.


Jaeger

That's basically it, but we are going to focus more on the actual driving comparisons.  Our big comparison in May will include Chris and Peter and Jonathan and I so it should be done well.

Of that I have no doubt!

Jaeger

[jyarkony]

This is both a comparison test and not a comparison test. However, we don't have a Not Exactly Comparison Test category in which to file it, and they are not Previews (except the Abarth, which was not yet available for Road Tests) so we The focus when this article was commissioned was to review the most recent additions to the small sporty cars, without any huge emphasis on ranking them or evaluating them against each other as the Veloster is a class down in power and price. You can be sure that once the Veloster Turbo is available, we will be revisiting this segment and bringing some of them back together and perhaps even doing some RWD vs FWD feuds... 

now that we have a bit more experience under our belts, there will be little need for Segment Previews or Spotlights and you will all get your winners...

[Spheric]

The Jetta is not exactly 'small' but I forgive the definition stretch just so to get into the spirit of things....just like my Tim Horton's 'small' coffee appears to have put on weight recently.