recommendation for a sub compact sedan

**roycruz** · January 15th, 2013 07:29 AM

Would appreciate recommendations for a sub compact with focus on the following:

1, good interior and trunk space, a must for us coz we carry a lot of baggage when traveling between Makati and Lucena
2. good fuel consumption, not necessarily the best
3. good at overtaking - a must on provincial drives
4. preferably modern looks; something we can show off :-)
5, must be automatic

We can probably stretch our budget to 840k.

We're almost done paying for our 2008 honda city 1.3 at and is now looking for a new car. Never realized it would be difficult though.

Our initial choice was the hyundai accent but we were discouraged by friends who suggested it has lower quality. This was aggravated by comments on the net on the knocking issue. Has this really been fixed or not?

Our next choice was the chevy sonic which we checked out at the showroom but didn't have a chance to test drive (it was past 5pm) and we are in Lucena on weekends. My wife and I really love its features and she was disappointed last night when I told her that it is very slow when overtaking from what I read. This is a challenge on provincial highways where it is common to have slow tricycles or trucks in front of you. A friend suggested disabling overdrive when overtaking. What's that? Should we just shift to manual mode when overtaking?

Up next is the 1.3 city whose looks and features we didn't find as enticing as compared to the sonic. Well we actually haven't found an affordable car as good on paper as the sonic though we may have no choice but to accept that fact. Unfortunately I read comments last night that the newer city has higher fuel consumption than our 2008 city. Arg!

So now we're back to square one. Any suggestions please :-)

**GTi** · January 15th, 2013 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by roycruz

Would appreciate recommendations for a sub compact with focus on the following:

1, good interior and trunk space, a must for us coz we carry a lot of baggage when traveling between Makati and Lucena
2. good fuel consumption, not necessarily the best
3. good at overtaking - a must on provincial drives
4. preferably modern looks; something we can show off :-)
5, must be automatic

We can probably stretch our budget to 840k.

We're almost done paying for our 2008 honda city 1.3 at and is now looking for a new car. Never realized it would be difficult though.

Our initial choice was the hyundai accent but we were discouraged by friends who suggested it has lower quality. This was aggravated by comments on the net on the knocking issue. Has this really been fixed or not?

Our next choice was the chevy sonic which we checked out at the showroom but didn't have a chance to test drive (it was past 5pm) and we are in Lucena on weekends. My wife and I really love its features and she was disappointed last night when I told her that it is very slow when overtaking from what I read. This is a challenge on provincial highways where it is common to have slow tricycles or trucks in front of you. A friend suggested disabling overdrive when overtaking. What's that? Should we just shift to manual mode when overtaking?

Up next is the 1.3 city whose looks and features we didn't find as enticing as compared to the sonic. Well we actually haven't found an affordable car as good on paper as the sonic though we may have no choice but to accept that fact. Unfortunately I read comments last night that the newer city has higher fuel consumption than our 2008 city. Arg!

So now we're back to square one. Any suggestions please :-)

Subcompact with a good interior, trunk space and powerful engine? Well there are only two choices that I can think of. City 1.5 at 836k or Accent 1.6GLS at 828k. Test drive or at least visit both at the showroom to get a better feel of both cars. The Accent is quite nice, especially the top of the line variant which is quite generously spec'd. The knocking issue plagues the 1.4L variants, not the 1.6. And even that is now solved with an ECU update.

Disabling overdrive when overtaking is OK, though I've never had the occasion to do it as it was never needed. This feature disables the top gear which then makes the tranny shift more aggressively and keeps the engine speed at high rpms giving better performance in overtaking. A/T's with manual mode do not have this function as that is pretty much what the manual mode is for.

Another alternative you may want to consider is the Elantra 1.6A/T at 888k. You add slightly more but get an award winning car of a higher class that gives decent gas mileage and excellent performance.

**vinj** · January 15th, 2013 09:22 AM

If you're looking for a automatic and will be travelling with baggage regularly, shy away from a 1.3L already as this will definitely lack power and consume more fuel given your use. At 800K+ you can already look at the following:
- Vios 1.5 a/t
- Accent 1.6 a/t
- Honda City 1.5 a/t
- Avanza 1.5 a/t (baka may discount to bring the price within your budget)
- Nissan Almera 1.5 CVT (this is the latest to be released and may be worth checking out given the CVT version comes in at 760K i think)

* the trunk space. Best to bring the usual baggages you carry in your trunk and do a test fit when you check out the car.

Visit the dealers and take a look at those choices

At disabling the o/d when passing, you keep the car on the first three gears (if it's a 4-speed a/t); this is done when you're driving on mountain roads and passing on highways. This limits the propensity of the car to "gear hunt" given the low speed, hevay load and changing terrain you may encounter. It also gives more engine braking when you release the gas pedal. You can also shift manually through the gears.

**IMm29** · January 15th, 2013 09:29 AM

I agree with GTi on the Elantra. Though it's P48K past your current max budget, it's from a higher car class - so you get more space for both the passengers and cargo, power, handling and IMO, looks. I'm not sure about what slash-price offers HARI has for the Elantra, seeing that it's still selling pretty well. The Accent 1.6L TOTL model would be a bit smaller, but it's zippy with the 1.6L engine and elegant in black.

The Vios 1.5G is one of my usual choices, but it is getting old. Or perhaps that could mean Toyota may be giving good deals on it.

**vinj** · January 15th, 2013 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by IMm29

The Vios 1.5G is one of my usual choices, but it is getting old. Or perhaps that could mean Toyota may be giving good deals on it.

True, it is getting old and is seen all around but for some guys like me, i don't care as long as it's a really good deal on the price and a good car overall. Given how good and reliable the Ondoy edition Vios of my in-laws was, i'd still not hesitate to get one if it's a car to be used for the daily grind.

**roycruz** · January 15th, 2013 10:44 AM

Thanks!

Will check out the accent 1.6 since our only concern then was the engine knock. Is it true that hyundai requires an every 3 month maintenance? Might also consider the elantra if we can get additional funds.

Considering that the sonic is 6 speed then disabling overdrive, if it has one, will still give it 5 speeds to play with? Not sure if my wife is willing to go manual mode for overtaking. We never found the need to use it on our 1.3 city.

The 1.5 city is definitely in our list unless we find something better. Mitsubishi's site does not offer much info on the almera. No offense to vios owners but we're not rich so we expect to have a car with modern looks for our hard earned money :-)

Edit: just checked the accent 1.6 and I like the specs + price is the same as the sonic. Will definitely check this out. How's the fc btw?

**Egan101** · January 15th, 2013 12:02 PM

The current City has quite a big trunk! We can fit in 4 golf bags in the trunk plus other stuff. The 1.5E model can do 10 Km/L on city driving, 12-13 Km/L on combined city-highway routes, and 15-17 Km/L on the highway. Though given a choice, I would be looking towards a compact sedan with good enough FC and bigger interior space (Elantra, Lancer EX, Civic, Altis, Focus).

**Richardson Chan** · January 15th, 2013 12:31 PM

Headroom, Legroom, Boot space. Rear Aircon. Panalo ang Nissan Almera. That's all I could say though since I wasn't able to test drive it.

**Rockyds** · January 15th, 2013 12:47 PM

Na-check mo na ba ang Lancer EX 1.6 GLX? 825k lang ang base unit M/T.

**dct** · January 15th, 2013 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by Rockyds

Na-check mo na ba ang Lancer EX 1.6 GLX? 825k lang ang base unit M/T.

and 855k for AT. i suggest you go with 1.5 engine subcompact like vios or city or even accent 1.6. but you are already at lancer's price which is a compact sedan. so might as well consider it