siegen

It's hard to tell from these pictures, but it looks much better than the current.

I know huh. I hate flash navigation, yet more and more companies are using it. Every automaker uses it now to some extent; the entire new Chevrolet website is a big flash site. The problem with flash is it may be small in file size, but it loads slower than HTML, specially when you get little fancy "swoosh" effects on all the links (www.toyota.com, the worst offender). Also you can't ctrl-click open anything to a new tab, and you can't ctrl-tab to a different Firefox tab when a flash element in the current tab is active. Need fancy buttons to pop up when you scroll over links? Need the bg color to change when scrolling links? That can all be done easily in CSS. There is something to be said about simple and effective HTML/CSS designed websites. Take a look over at www.microsoft.com and what do you find? NO FLASH.... wow, real web developers, amazing lol. After 10 years I've developed some pretty big pet peeves when it comes to design.

On the contrary, Honda has done something that is very hard to achieve in design. Each page does not need to look identical in order to flow together, they need only have certain design elements in common to link them. Open up several different vehicles into a few different tabs and switch between them and you'll see what I'm talking about. The parts that need to be positioned to link the designs together are, while the rest is more open to design freedom.

If quality, maintenance, blandness, and all other aspects are very similar across different makes; price and fuel economy would certainly be the deciding factors if I was buying an economy compact car (btw, I don't own a Corolla, but for the sake of argument). My experience with a rental Aveo was very bad. And considering the Aveo's real-world mileage being the same or below the Cobalt and most other compacts, no thanks. I generally get higher than EPA ratings on the vehicles I own too, but for comparison's sake, I am using the results available on www.fueleconomy.gov, which shows the Corolla averaging 3-4 mpg better than the Cobalt. The whole point of what I said is that, while there are indeed Toyota buyers who purchase it based on the name, there are plenty that do look at the numbers and do the research, to find out that some of Toyota's cars such as the Corolla are actually worthwhile when compared to others (as for the rest of their line, it's debatable...).

I'm sure if this came directly from Toyota and not a news outfit it would say "less expensive".

I bet they could save at least $500 by replacing the funky grille with something more plain, or use last gen F150s.

I hate sensationalism. How many people do you suppose he surveyed that actually said "Yes, Toyota is more American than baseball & Chevrolet"?. Oh probably zero, yet journalists can get away with saying things like that. What he is essentially saying is, if you drive a Toyota (for whatever reason) then you are stupid enough to think this. Maybe I purchased a Corolla or Yaris because they actually get better real-world fuel economy than any other standard gasoline sedan, specially anything made by Ford/Chevy/Dodge, and are inexpensive to boot. Would I then be considered stupid and unable to tell the difference between a hot dog and a Toyota?

Checking www.fueleconomy.gov submitted ratings, the Cobalt beats the Civic by 2.4 mpg with manual, while the Civic beats the Cobalt by 3 mpg with automatic. Those are mean averages, and there aren't a whole lot of Cobalts on there to sample, around 40 total with 2.2L, while there are well over a 100 Civic samples. So the results may not be quite as accurate for the Cobalt (for example, only one person with a 2007 manual transmission has submitted results, which makes up only 12 total results for manual transmission Cobalts - I wouldn't be surprised if the average drops a little with more people's submissions).

I liked the old one better. This new one looks less professional and cheaper. It also looks like they tried to steal a few design elements from Microsoft's website, but failed. The only thing that is good is the navigation bar, the rest is cumbersome and poorly designed. The new Dodge website is a whole step ahead in terms of design. It works well, specially for the "tough" Dodge look. As far as functionally goes, I may sound biased but I really like the new Honda website for its ease of use and fast loading. No drop-down menus is probably why I like it so much.

It's my old car! Well no not exactly, but I did have a black Civic EX coupe from the same generation. Autoblog article

Having your car gathering featured in a manufacturer's commercial is pretty awesome. I have not so fond memories of an old late 80's 318i that my friend could never get running quite right; and I almost bought a BMW for myself but ended up in my Acura (the lot I purchased it from I was only visiting to look at a black 325i which they sold). brings a tear to my eye... well ok it doesn't actually but it's a great car ad.

Well it certainly boggles your mind, do you just copy and paste the same message every month?

American Honda Sales Climb 13.8 Percent on Strength of All-New Accord, Light Trucks Honda CR-V, Odyssey, Fit; Acura MDX and RDX set new September records Press Release 10/02/2007 - TORRANCE, Calif. - American Honda Motor Co., Inc., posted record September sales of 127,200 Honda and Acura vehicles, up 13.8 percent on a daily-selling-rate basis*, the company announced today. American Honda year-to-date sales totaled 1,193,520, up 2.8 percent on a daily-selling-rate basis*. Honda Division posted record September sales of 112,831, up 17.5 percent compared to last year. September records for individual models included the CR-V with sales of 19,769, up 68.7 percent for the month; the Odyssey with sales of 16,464, up 24.2 percent for the month; and Fit sales of 4,565, up 139.1 percent for the month. Accord sales increased 31.2 percent to 35,031. Honda Division total truck sales of 48,120, up 15.3 percent, set a new September record. "The mid-September launch of the all-new Accord helped increase sales momentum for both the model and the Honda brand," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda. "The diverse lineup of Honda cars and light trucks has become the strongest and most competitive in the company's history." Acura Division posted sales of 14,369 with new September records set for the MDX and RDX sport utility vehicles. Sales of the MDX increased 34.1 percent to 5,162; RDX sales increased 19.1 percent to 1,951. Overall, Acura light-truck sales increased by 29.6 percent to 7,113. September sales of the TL luxury performance sedan totaled 4,324; the TSX sports sedan totaled 2,574. *The daily selling rate (DSR) is calculated with 25 days for September 2007, versus 26 days for September 2006. Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 230 days for 2007 and 2006. All percentages reflect DSR. For more information about Honda vehicles, please visit www.honda.com. For media inquiries, please go to www.hondanews.com. For more information about Acura vehicles, please visit www.acura.com. For media inquiries, please go to www.acuranews.com.

I take it magazine reviews don't know how to inflate a tire? :AH-HA_wink:

I bet a lot of people were surprised when the new EPA standard dropped most mid-size V6 sedans into the teens for city mileage. The new hybrid Yukon gets 20/22, and will likely get less real world economy if previous hybrids are any indication, not to mention highway mileage. The Accord is larger and heavier than all of these, yet gets better mileage: Accord 19/29 Camry 19/28 Aura 17/26 Altima 20/26 Fusion 18/26

But the Versa is priced considerably lower. It's like comparing a 5.3L engine in a Impala to a 5.3L engine in a Ferrari. You can't bash the Impala's for being weaker. The Versa is much cheaper, and competes with vehicles that have lesser horsepower. They should be comparing the Astra 3-door to the Civic Coupe, which is very similar in price, size, and has a 1.8L engine.

Does lease count?

Fueled by a crazy guy!

So is this car Civic/Cobalt Coupe sized or is it a sub compact? Because the way they're comparing it to the Versa makes it seem like it is a sub compact. But the starting price and the last paragraph makes it seem like it's a compact: "2008 Saturn Astra is a real alternative to the popular Honda Civic, Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla and VW Rabbit". If it's a real alternative to those cars, why not compare the engine to the 1.8L Civic engine for example?

This is hilarious. Even though it's nothing new with automakers, the fact that Toyota is trying to give excuses a week before sales figures are released, is simply laughable.

Subaru Legacy Pontiac Grand Prix GT Chevy Impala Those are the only ones I can remember. The Subaru was enjoyable to drive, the other two were extremely uncomfortable. The seats, the steering wheel, the door panels, all had very poor ergonomics and materials. I remember the steering wheel of the Grand Prix being particularly unbearable to touch.

I wasn't really implying time line, more of if you're used to large sedans, a car like this is going to be pretty odd.

The swept windshield probably helps with aerodynamics. The way the hood flows into the windshield may reduce the high pressure area at the cowl. Having those little windows ahead of the side mirrors improves visibility when the windshield sweeps so far forward. Otherwise the side mirrors would have to be really far forward, which wouldn't work with the small hood. Replacing that windshield would probably be pretty spendy, but thankfully the angle will make it more difficult to pick up rock dings.

They sell cars in Canada? lol j/k

Yes, you're just predisposed to a different type of styling.