Corolla, Mazda3, or Sentra?

J

jnh896

New member
Hello,
I am wondering what your personal experiences are with these vehicles. We are getting a small car for DH due to his commute. They all seem to rank "medium risk" on the informedforlife website (I guess because of their size) The Mazda3 and Sentra come standard with side curtain airbags.

I know a lot of people like the Corolla. We have had Nissans in the past, but don't know anything about Mazda.

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

Cheers!
Joy
 
ADS
S

southpawboston

New member
be very careful navigating informedforlife.org and make sure you read their website about how they calculate their scores. their risks are calculated using a proprietary algorithm that assumes a "medium" score for any test that there is no data for. this is as opposed to just ommitting the calculation for the that test.
 
CDNTech

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
DH commutes with a MazdaSpeed3 that he adores. It's a lot of fun to drive and gives you the zip you need when you want it. :)
 
S

southpawboston

New member
the mazda is definitely the most fun to drive and zippy of the bunch, but also the least fuel efficient. the corolla is the most fuel efficient, but just boring to drive.

also, the mazda comes with more available options than the other cars, such as navigation, high intensity discharge lights, heated leather seats, etc...
 
G

Guest

New member
Pure commuting, the Corolla is nice. Yes, it's boring to drive, but sometimes you want that if you're just going in traffic to/from work.

Are you talking new cars? Corolla is about to be updated. If you go with it, they better be offering you a screaming deal. Invoice or under.

Personallly, I'd go with the Mazda or the Civic.
 
SafeDad

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
I think stability control is at least optional on 2007-2008 Civic and Impreza models. If you get one with that option, those would be very safe alternatives, also, particularly the Civic that would also have better fuel economy.
 
B

brightredmtn

Well-known member
CPSDarren said:
I think stability control is at least optional on 2007-2008 Civic and Impreza models. If you get one with that option, those would be very safe alternatives, also, particularly the Civic that would also have better fuel economy.
Click to expand...

ESC is only available on the V6 suped up Civic. I just bought a 07 Corolla with optional side airbags and ESC. The Mazda 3 has optional ESC on trim levels that aren't ridiculously expensive (like the Civic's MSRP over $22,000 for the model with ESC.) The new 09 Corollas just out have standard side airbags and ESC is much easier to find.

The Impreza has optional ESC too but these only come in four wheel drive or all wheel drive (don't know the difference but one of the two) so the gas mileage was stinky! I would have bought the Impreza if it weren't for the horrible gas mileage. Check out:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

To compare gas mileage.

Have you considered a Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe? They are both made by Toyota and basically a wagon Corolla. I found many more Vibes with ESC than I did Corollas.
 
Defrost

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
For good gas mileage, you could also consider the diesel VWs (the Golf, and I think the Jetta are available in diesel). We get 40mpg in our Golf. I'm pretty sure they're considerably more expensive than the other cars you're looking at though. (Our Golf is an '01 and we got it for 16K brand-new, but I think the price went up considerably a few years ago.)
 
S

southpawboston

New member
Defrost said:
For good gas mileage, you could also consider the diesel VWs (the Golf, and I think the Jetta are available in diesel). We get 40mpg in our Golf. I'm pretty sure they're considerably more expensive than the other cars you're looking at though. (Our Golf is an '01 and we got it for 16K brand-new, but I think the price went up considerably a few years ago.)
Click to expand...

no longer sold in the US :( ... choices now are 5-cylinder gas engine or 4-cyl turbo gas engine.
 
SafeDad

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
I didn't get a chance to look closer, but VW had a big kiosk about their diesel technology at the auto show. Maybe it is making a comeback?
 

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