After lunch we had a bit of time to kill so we thought we'd go look at some new cars at the dealerships up there. I'm not looking to buy anytime soon, but my friend is considering getting a vehicle in the not too distant future.
I have to say it was kind of fun looking at new cars. They're all so nice and shiny. Our first stop was a Honda dealership. We took a look at the Insight and Fit. The Insight is a hybrid vehicle that's quite good on gas. The Fit is a small, inexpensive, practical car. It also has decent fuel economy, just not as good as the Insight.
While I was there the 2011 CR-Z caught my eye (pictured above). It's an updated version of the old CR-X. My cousin David had one of those many, many years ago when he was still living in Long Island, N.Y.
The new CR-Z is a sporty looking, 2-door hatchback. As well as the Insight, it's a hybrid too. It gets 5.6L/100 kms City and 5.0L/100 kms Highway (CVT model). That's really good. It uses about half as much fuel as a gas engine SUV.
Starting at $24,290 for the CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) model it's a bit more expensive than a regular gasoline engine vehicle. But, in the long run you're going to recoup the savings in fuel costs (which as we speak is a ridiculous $1.35/L) and you'll be doing your part to save the environment. A double bonus.
As for my friend, she needed something a bit larger. And she really was hoping to get something with 4-Wheel-Drive. So we shopped around a bit more.
Next we headed over to a Ford dealership. There we saw a Ford Focus and Ford Escape. We looked at the hatchback model of the Focus and considered the 4WD hybrid model of the Escape. Both get reasonable gas mileage. But, the hybrid costs twice as much. So I believe that vehicle is out of the question.
We also hit a Nissan dealership, where we didn't see anything that we were interested in, and a Mazda dealership. I suggested the Mazda 3 or 5, but my friend didn't seem too impressed with either of them. She kind of took a liking to the CX-7 SUV. The AWD (All Wheel Drive) version of that vehicle sucks gas like there's no tomorrow though.
As for myself, I liked the styling of the Mazda 3 Sport. It's a bit more practical than the CR-Z in that it's a 4-door hatch instead of 2. And it costs slightly less starting at $18,695 (for the automatic version). But, it does use quite a bit more gas (8.7L/100 kms City; 6.0L/100 kms Highway for the GX model with automatic transmission). So that's not good.
Anyway, it's something for me to think about in a few years when I'm more serious about buying another vehicle.
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