"I subscribed to your Health edition and am getting your tips everyday. Loving it. It's very well done." -Estelle
Read More Testimonials»

Our Buying a New Car Experts

Jean Jennings

Jean Jennings

President, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Automobile magazine...

Shared by First30Days View Profile»
Mike Quincy

Mike Quincy

Auto-content specialist for Consumer Reports

Shared by First30Days View Profile»
Philip Reed

Philip Reed

Senior consumer-advice editor for Edmunds.com

Shared by First30Days View Profile»

Meet all of our House and Home Experts»

News

The latest news on this change — carefully culled from the world wide web by our change agents. They do the surfing, so you don't have to!

Send In The Clowns!

Send In The Clowns!

When police pulled him over in his north London neighborhood, Abraham Gniwosch had quite a stash in his vehicle. According to the BBC, "an adult male and a boy were sitting in the passenger seat. In the back there were two women with infants on their laps, the other six passengers, all young children were either sitting or standing in the center section of the back seat."

They did not report if anyone was wearing a curly orange wig or ridiculously large shoes.

Gniwosch was not trying to perform a circus act when he crammed 13 people into his five-passenger Volvo S70. It appears the teacher was just trying to save money on gas. "I'm not a quick driver, I'm a slow driver," he told the BBC. While he admits his actions were silly, he maintains that there was no danger in giving a ride to a baker's dozen of his friends.

Let's face it—as gas prices climb it will be tempting to fit more and more into compact and subcompact cars. While we don't advocate stuffing an entire tee ball team into your ride, we can tell you that many small cars have enough space to fit all of their equipment and probably a cooler full of Gatorade too! You might be surprised by the capacity of some new cars. If you put the rear seats down, the 2008 Honda Fit Hatchback has 41 cubic feet of space; that's the same amount of space as an industrial refrigerator. The Toyota Yaris isn't too far behind with 30 cubic feet. An average sedan only has an average of about 12 cubic feet. Are you worried about losing space if you downgrade from a sport utility vehicle to a compact car to save on gas? [BBC]

Posted: 6/25/08
bcherep

Well said. I'm so glad to see these practical alternatives to these mammoth vehicles that you see on the roads.

I love the Honda Fit. It has Stow-and-Go seating in the back. Perfect if you have babies that happen to be furry and have four legs.

I had my Prius in for maintenance and they gave me a Yaris to drive around. Man that car had more room then I thought. Sweet!

Bill

  • By bcherep
  • on 6/25/08 4:25 PM EST