I had some free time away from the wife and kids yesterday, and I decided to take the time to drive 5 cars. Unfortunately, my local dealers didn't have a Fit or a Mazda3 on the lot, so I ended up just comparing 3. Now, these are a bit "mixed and matched", but they are all relatively in the same class (size wise), but all over in terms of quality.
I've been eying the Rabbit for a bit now, and I posted a couple of weeks ago here about why VW's get relatively bad gas mileage compared to their competitors. It doesn't matter! Since this is the VW group, I'll start with the Rabbit. Other than a Mercedes C-class, this is the nicest car I've driven in a long, LONG time. There was very little to not like. The engine just flat out surprised me with it's "punch". Not a little, but I'm still flabbergasted. The tranny was slick and smooooooth shifting, but would respond quickly when you got on the gas. Oh, the features! Just about everthing you could want, with good handling and a rock-solid feel to the chassy. In short, It reminded me all over again of why I loved my VW. This was a bad-ass car. Cons: relatively poor fuel economy; still kinda a smallish car; expensive. Yep, it's expensive, with a 4door and auto with little else added running up to accord pricing..
Caliber: This was the surprise for me. I like Dodge products, their handling, and I particularly like the Caliber and it's styling. But I've read the C&D review(s), and some others, and I was curious. Wow. This is the WORST NEW CAR I'VE EVER DRIVEN. The engine was pretty smooth and moderately torquey, but a bit lazy. The tranny was okay, but nothing special. The interior was the WORST you could imagine, and the dash height makes you think somebody installed it about 3 inches too high!! Cheap, cheap, cheap plastic everywhere. Unfinished edges, and when in doubt, put more plastic. Good Ghod, Dodge! Look at the inside of a Mazda3, or a Civic. Use GOOD plastic at least, and there's no crime against cloth on the door. Of particular interest, the rear has plastic on both sides (inside), plastic on the back of the back seats, and a hard, sharp-edged plastic plastic cover over the spare. During the test drive, the salesman's tag fell and every bump or corner, you got this loud 'ssshshhshshshs!!!! crash!" noise as the tag slid and bumped with no sound deadening across the back of this crappy car.
Versa: Wow. Simply put, if I hadn't driven the VW, I'd probably have bought this car. It's roomy (about as much as the VW), handled well, but not sporty... just "solid". Pretty quiet. The CVT Tranny was just cool, but the engine was the biggest difference with the VW. It was perfectly okay, but just felt a bit weak compared to the Rabbit. Of course the Versa gets 30/36 mileage, so that's the tradeoff, eh?!. The interior was very nice, pleasant, with some good touches all around. Of course, it's not close to the VW, but still very, very nice for the price point.
In short, I think I may have decided yesterday to buy a new car...the question is do I want to push $20k for the Rabbit, or do I want to be careful and spend about $15k for the Versa. Years ago, I drove a Golf and a Protege, and ended up with the Protege. Now, the Mazda was one of my favorite cars ever... but since my favorite car was probably my VW, I've always wondered if would have been happier with the Golf. I like Nissan very much, just about every product they have now... but I find myself thinking that if I got the Versa and not the VW....2 or 5 years from now I'll be wondering what it would have been like to spend the extra $70/month for the Rabbit.
JP