Just about a year ago I posted this diary asking the readership for input as I considered buying a new car. I was specifically looking for an efficient little hatchback that would perform decently in snow. The responses included a lot of helpful information and food for thought--e.g. I wound up rethinking my desire for heated seats (the fact that MN had racked up about 50 days below zero by that point last year did affect my judgment).
So in view of the commenters' info, stats from Consumer Reports, and other anecdotal evidence (incl. accosting a Subaru driver in a parking lot to ask how he liked his car), the Oscar went to....a 2013 Honda Fit. The Subaru Crosstrek was a very close second, getting raves for different models (standard and hybrid) from Kossacks as well as a couple of friends.
And how has it worked out for me? More after the orange exhaust cloud....
Once I'd settled on the above two contenders, I got in touch with my trusted car broker, who is a goddess, and told her my specs. And lo, in less than 24 hours she'd found me a Fit that was a) exactly the color I would have chosen (dark blue), b) a manual transmission, and c) somewhat discounted with 0.9% financing. And, like Cecil meeting Carlos, I Fell In Love Instantly. Test driving confirmed the diagnosis, so I grabbed it. My first new car ever, by the way, in 35 years of driving. The newest car I'd ever had before that came with 41k miles on it--this one had about 1/1000th of that, woo hoo!
I immediately named this adorable machine Podrick, and he's turned out to be an excellent helpmeet. One of my main issues was ease of hauling a large musical instrument around, and that's a deal easier now than it was with a sedan. Like a TARDIS, the Fit is bigger inside--there's a great deal of space despite how cute and small it looks (a colleague reported that you can stuff a lute quartet and their instruments into one quite comfortably). I got the Sport model, which is less tricked out than some, but it has a USB doodad in a discreet little compartment on the dash, so now my tunes are on a stick instead of numerous CDs. And the real-time fuel economy gauge is totally hypnotic, I'll probably go up a tree someday because I'm mesmerized by that damn thing....
And speaking of that, what about fuel economy, which was one of my purchasing criteria? Answer: AWE. SOME. Not quite up to hybrid levels, of course, but a gigantic improvement over the old Sentra, which in turn was an improvement over the prior Corolla. I took it on a road trip out to DC in the summer, and, according to the gauge referenced above, averaged about 41 MPG over the whole trip (largely highway with a bit of puttering around the metro). Right now, on winter blend gas with mostly city driving, I'm still just over 30, and in warmer weather was hovering around 34. And I am informed that performance actually improves a bit in the first year or two--don't know quite what to expect, though, since the car has less than 6000 miles on it so far (I work from home and have a grocery store within an easy walk, so not a huge amount of everyday driving).
And what about winter driving? Well, as it turns out, this winter hasn't been what you'd call challenging here in the relatively balmy Twin Cities--we've had remarkably little snow, and significantly less brutal cold than last year. So the jury's still out on that aspect of Pod's performance. One perk: the vertical rear windshield and spoiler make snow removal a lot quicker.
Minor grousing: The front windshield is roughly the size of a football field, so I had to get a custom sunshade. It also doesn't come with a cargo cover, so that was another extra thing to get. And I suppose the heater could be a little more muscular, esp. around the feet. But those are pretty trivial in relation to overall satisfaction level.
So, to summarize: 1) I adore this car, 2) I highly recommend the Fit if you're in the market for a plucky little hatchback, and 3) thanks to all the Kossacks who provided their input! I'm a terminally indecisive person, and getting comments from so many of y'all was a great help.