Associating the word "economy" with air travel is akin to lumping "non-fat" with ice cream. Chances are good the byproduct won't be delectable. After all, there are reasons why the economy section of an airplane is often referred to as a cattle car, what with its long lines, tight quarters, and general unpleasantness. To make things worse, economy rarely applies to economy-class ticket prices. And what's that? Another $5 for a slice of Velveeta, a Slim Jim, a pair of Wheat Thins, and some of Sun-Maid's sweetest? Thanks but no thanks.
Happy to say, when traveling by land, economy class paints a much sunnier picture. Take the four sedans here. With base prices around $20,000, each delivers, at a minimum, 140 horsepower, four-wheel disc brakes, ABS, A/C, six airbags, cruise control, 16-inch alloys, and a six-speaker audio system. Penalty box? Hardly. Moreover, all offer high-end features and options, including a power moonroof, leather upholstery, premium sound, satellite radio, and navigation. Even when fully loaded, at roughly $24,000, these "econoboxes" still cost almost five grand less than the average transaction price of a new car sold today.
For this test, we established the following ground rules: Losers from the last small-car comparison (July 2007) were not invited back, meaning no Hyundai Elantra, Mitsubishi Lancer, or Nissan Sentra. Further, each had to be all-new or recently freshened, carry a base price within a few bills of 20 large, and be powered by a four-cylinder engine. Oh, and lest we forget, they had to shift as most Americans prefer-automatically. In fact, the take rate for automatics among our contestants, whether actual or forecast, ranges from 72 percent for the Impreza to 93 percent for the Corolla, with the Civic and 3 filling the void at 82 percent.
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