Best small cars for the buck in North America

Small cars are finally getting some respect, thanks to rising gas prices that now average $3.62 a gallon nationwide. Consumers searching for ways to ease the pain at the pump are no longer snubbing petite cars--some of which come equipped with big-car amenities.

"Having the right vehicles at the right price, at the right time, is driving our sales success this month and this year," says Jim O'Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North America Operations.

The Mazda3 is one such small car, as it has a light appetite for gas and gets a combined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rating of 26 mpg at a base MSRP of $14,985--that's less than half of the $35,000 average new-vehicle price. And the amenities are still solid: Drivers can power-adjust both side mirrors and can stay current on tire pressure and fuel levels with the dash-mounted warning lights.

As gas prices soared in April, so did sales of the Mazda3, which experienced a 14.8% increase in sales, compared to April 2007.

In fact, small cars that deliver a lot for the money were among the bright spots for auto sales in April. Sales of the Toyota Yaris surged 45.9% over the same month the previous year; the Nissan Versa jumped 26.4%, and the Nissan Sentra climbed 25.5%. All of these vehicles and the Mazda3 made our list of best small cars for the buck--inexpensive, fuel-efficient and reliable cars that have low maintenance and repair costs but are richly equipped with comfort and conveniences often found on big, gas-guzzling vehicles.

Rising Popularity

By and large, since 2006, smaller vehicles have become more popular--not just small cars, but also compact SUVs and crossover vehicles, says Tom Libby, senior director at J.D. Power and Associates. "There has been an ongoing shift toward smaller vehicles; it's been gradual and under the radar."

Year-to-date sales of small vehicles comprise 35% of all new vehicle sales, up from 31% over the same period a year ago. Libby says that 42% of all vehicles sold in April were equipped with four-cylinder engines, compared with 38% for six-cylinder engines.

That's because these small cars are so unlike the bland economy boxes of the 1970s, the only alternatives available to motorists during the gas crunch of that era. Creature comforts in those cars included an AM/FM radio, power steering and automatic transmission--and that was it.

"Consumers want to make the least compromise in terms of size and amenities," says Gabe Shenhar, program manager at Consumer Reports. "The small cars today are better on several levels."

The vehicles of today are also quieter with nicer interior, auto analysts say, noting that dials and knobs are less likely to fall off when used. And these cars aren't short on amenities. At the top of our list is the Honda Civic. It has a combined EPA rating of 29 mpg and base MSRP of $15,810. Drivers can position their seat at the right height, adjust the head restraints to a comfortable spot and listen to their favorite tunes through a six-speaker audio system that has MP3 capability.

Completing our top 10 list are the Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet Cobalt, Honda Fit, Volkswagen Jetta and Volkswagen Rabbit. All of these cars are 2008 models even though some, like the Honda Fit, have been redesigned for 2009, but complete testing by consumer-advocate entities such as Consumer Reports has not been done for all models.

By The Numbers

Several measures were used to pull together our list of best cars for the buck. Various government agencies, auto analysts and auto Web sites use unique formulas to define the small-car category.

For fuel efficiency, we used the ratings from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's market class category. The Toyota Yaris is the most fuel-efficient of the group, with a combined EPA rating of 31 mpg.

For price, we looked at the base MSRP provided by the manufacturer for the automatic-transmission four-door trim. Overall, sales of two-door coupes and vehicles with manual transmissions are "a very small percentage of vehicle sales," says Libby. The cheapest car on the list is the Chevrolet Aveo, which has a base MSRP of $10,235 (though that number rises considerably when you add options such as a navigation system, heated seats and premium sound system).

Since consumers often equate low price with "unreliable," all vehicles on this list score at least "good" in Consumer Reports' Predicted Reliability Ratings. The best rating, "excellent," was awarded to the Honda Civic, Honda Fit and Mazda3.

Along these lines we also looked at auto-industry analyst Vincentric's estimated five-year repair costs, which take into account warranties that cover most repairs in the first three years of ownership (but not the last two years), as well as maintenance costs like oil changes and windshield-wiper blade replacements. The vehicles with the highest five-year repair costs at $770 are the Mazda3 and Volkswagen Jetta. This is the area where the otherwise wallet-friendly Chevrolet Aero runs into a little bit of trouble: That car has the highest maintenance cost for the same period, at $3,496, just over one-third of the base MSRP sticker price.

Sacrificing Safety

All the vehicles on our list had to have at least side-impact airbags or curtains, head restraints or electronic stability control, which aid in averting or preventing a crash from occurring.

Unfortunately, only two vehicles that made our list earned triple "good" ratings (front, side and rear impact) from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), which conducts crash tests to measure safety: the Honda Civic and Nissan Versa.

"Small cars tend not to do as well in crash tests," says Russ Rader, IIHS spokesman. "If you are trying to save pennies at the pump, then there is a safety trade-off. Small cars are much safer than they were 10 years ago, but they cannot be as safe as bigger vehicles because of the laws of physics."

Just as higher gas prices seem to be a new economic fixture, so are small cars, says Shenhar. "[Small cars] have been with us since the 1960s, so they aren't going away. They just keep getting better, more economical and safer."