Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
- it's zippy size (parks anywhere)
- gas mileage
- bright color
- it's paid for
- flip seats
- tons of versatile space (high ceiling)
- 8 cup holders
- shift transmission paddles
- love hatchbacks!
- inexpensive maintenance
However, in my three years of ownership my complaints are:
- really uncomfortable seats (slightly correctable with lumbar support pillow)
- bumpy ride (because it's sport package)
- horrible road noise - can't have a conversation with the A/C on full blast and hear a conversation
- really cheap interior - floor paneling coming out and won't bolt back down
- cloth seats collect lint and are impossible to keep clean. I drive one car load of friends and the car looks trashed with lint, hair and dust everywhere.
- the A/C is weak in hot climates and has been serviced twice
- the tiny lawnmower engine giving only 117 hp (I realize this gives me the economical gas mileage) but this has been dangerous in situations where I needed to accelerate quickly!
I've test driven the new fully loaded Honda Fits. They seem nice, but still road noisy. My friend drives a RAV 4 and I like how it drives, it just seems too big for a single person like me.
I'm looking for:
- a four door
- fully loaded - heated leather seats
- smooth
- quiet
- luxury hatchback
- gives me comparable or better gas mileage than the Fit (36-40 mpg hwy, 30 mpg city)
Does this even exist?
Last edited by WildSpark; 11-07-2016 at 08:49 AM..
Pretty much your only option in the states if you want a new hatchback that doesn't fall under the CUV/XUV/Crossover/Wagon/Whatever you want to call it nomenclature.
It could've been a VW GTI Diesel which could get you that 37-45mpg in a good luxury esque hatch.
There was no such thing in the United States. All GTIs are gasoline and they never imported the GTD. That was killed with the whole VW fudged diesel emissions debacle.
A GTI gets 24/34 for fuel economy with manual transmission but uses premium fuel. It's not "luxury" but it's a nice interior. I drove GTIs for 15 years. I got tired of paying for premium fuel.
The Audi A3 used to be a hatchback. Same platform. Much nicer interior. AWD if you want it. It didn't sell well so they gave up and only import the sedan.
Yeah it would have been nice if the GTD was brought over but after dieselgate I'm pretty sure that will never happen now.
The GTI itself does check most of those boxes. I would average 30mpg in my mixed driving in my 2010. Had the autobahn package so fully tricked out interior. It's a shame they discontinued the Audi A3 hatch here as that would fit the bill even more.
The regular Golf could work. The Wolfsburg edition is really nice and checks off most of your list just down a few points on mpg.
The Lexus CT-H is likely the best option given your mpg requirements, essentially a Prius given the Lexus treatment. But with one big caveat. The 134hp setup in that is going to be much slower than your Fit. It may feel a bit more punchy off the line thanks to the instant electric motor torque. But a Fit does 0-60 in 8.5 seconds with the CVT and the CT does it in 9.8. So if you already find the Fit acceleration dangerous going even slower likely strikes it from your list.
The BMW 3series does come in a hatch/wagon.
Most of the others will have more sporting intentions than luxury. Though things like heated leather seats are pretty commonplace now even in the economy cars. Even Kia's lineup includes heated front and rear seats. And cooled front seats.
The Mercedes AMG GLA45 is an insane luxury/sports hatch. But you're looking more at 20mpg mixed and embarrass most every other car you would ever meet performance.
Maybe something like an Audi Q3, Mercedes Benz GLA (or the Infiniti badged version, I cannot remember the designation), or something of the like.
They are more subcompact CUV's than straight hatchbacks, but you can really load them up as you can imagine from the luxury badging.
Great ride is a bit hard to come by though in the subcompact class just due to size, weight, and wheelbase. The Q3 for instance rides pretty rough compared to a Q5.
A Ford C-Max hybrid will get 45 city and 40 hwy mpg, and apparently the leather seats are very good. I have the cloth seats and they suck. The sound insulation is excellent on these cars and you can cruise at 80mph and have a conversation. 0-60 is in about 7 seconds so it's faster than the Fit
To a certain extent, ride is always going to be affected by wheelbase, so a small, efficient car is going to give something up to something bigger, no matter what the wheels, suspension, noise insulation, etc have going on.
Wow, thanks for the diverse answers! I've owned two, brand new, VW's which were total LEMONS, so no more of that make me. I've also owned two BMW's and while they were fun, they were unreliable and too expensive to repair. Only way to have fun with a Beemers is to lease it and dump it.
I will check out out the rest of the models mentioned.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
