Grettings all,
After months of looking at several different hatchbacks I finally made up my mind this week and purchased a 2008 Matrix XR. Major compition was the Caliber/Patriot (wife's choice) I was leaning towards a used ZX5 Focus or the Saturn Astra (out in Dec 08). What finally made the decision was taking out all emotion out of the decision last weekend and ranking desired features in Excel. Priority on the list was economy and hauling utility. I do deliveries for my wifes wedding business several weekends a month.
Rank Carz City Hwy 50/50 Cost Seat up Seat down EngineHp PowerRank RP
1 Toyota Matrix 26 33 29 1490 21.8 53.2 1.8 126 70.0 16 20
2 Saturn Astra 22 38 30 1400 12.2 44.7 1.8 140 77.8 9 18
3 KIA Rio 27 32 29 1490 15.8 49.6 2.0 143 71.5 12 18
4 Honda Fit 28 34 31 1395 21.3 41.9 1.5 109 72.7 9 17
5 Dodge Caliber 24 29 26 1663 18.5 48.0 1.8 148 82.2 7 17
6 Jeep Patriot 23 27 24 1745 23.0 52.4 2.4 172 71.7 9 16
7 Toyota Yaris 29 36 32 1352 9.3 25.7 1.5 106 70.7 10 15
8 Kia Spectra 23 30 26 1611 18.3 52.8 2.0 138 69.0 12 15
9 Nissan Versa 26 31 28 1542 17.8 50.4 1.8 122 67.8 12 12
10 Suburau Outback 16 26 2219 66 33.5 65.4 2.5 170 68.0 10 11
11 Hyundia Accent 27 32 29 1490 15.9 1.6 110 68.8 7 9
12 Suzuki SX4 22 28 24 1801 8.2 38.1 2.0 143 71.5 1 7
13 Ford Foucs 24 33 27 1598 18.0 40.2 2.0 136 68.0 5 6
14 Mazda 3 5 door 24 32 27 1598 17.1 43.8 2.3 156 67.8 5 5
15 VW Rabbit 19 28 22 1966 15.0 46.0 2.5 150 60.0 3 3
16 Suzuki Reno 20 28 23 1879 8.8 45.4 2.0 127 63.5 2 2
17 Chevy Malibu Maxx 18 28 2120 56 22.8 41.0 3.5 201 57.4 0 0
Happy with the decision so far.