Hyundai On The Rise?

The redesigned 2011 Hyundai Elantra

The Hyundai Sonata sold well last year after the redesign, and the Hyundai Elantra is set to follow in the Sonata's footsteps, with a redesign that making it look similar to the Sonata's sleek style.

What else is good in the Elantra? Affordable price, good gas mileage, and everything else is on par with the competition (namely the Mazda 3, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus...etc).

Only time will tell, but I think the Elantra will be Hyundai's 2011 version of the Sonata (in term of sale performance)! What's next for 2012? Maybe a redesign of the Accent?

Photo courtesy of www.egmcartech.com.

Future of Manual Transmission

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE THESE DAYS?!?!? DRIVE STICK SHIFT!

Less and less people are learning how to drive manual transmission cars...and as a lover of stick shifting, that bothers me. Why? Because that means manufacturers will continue to decrease the number of cars that are available with manual transmission, and that means later in life, I may not have the choice to drive stick.

With the automatic transmission improving year by year, there seems to be almost no use for the manual transmission...other than FUN! A while ago, manual transmission was at least more fuel efficient. But now, automatics are catching up...so what benefit does manuals serve? With the human population becoming lazier and lazier, manual transmission will be gone before we know it!

By the way, for those of you greatly obsessed with manuals, www.standardshift.com has a good forum for people like you!

Photo courtesy of www.motorward.com.

Mazda 3...Canada's Next Honda Civic

 Honda Civic has been Canada's best selling vehicle for...the past 13 years? Something like that.

Well, in 2010, the Civic was not the best selling car in Canada. It was actually...you guessed it, the Mazda 3. Thus far in 2011, the Mazda 3 is still outselling the Civic, and sales continue to be strong. Can Mazda 3's sale sustain, and can Mazda 3 become the next long term best seller in Canada? That is to be seen.

But there are many things going for the Mazda 3. What are the things that made the Civic so successful?

• Affordable: Starting at $15K, the Civic is an affordable vehicle for everyone.
• Reliable: Reputation wise, we all know about Honda and Toyota's reliability. I hate to hate on domestic brands, but they (Ford, Dodge, Chevy...etc) are simply unreliable (at least in the past). If you want reliability, you go for Japanese vehicles. (Obviously this is greatly disputed now with Toyota's recent troubles).
• Styling: Both the Corolla and the Civic have good reputation in terms of reliability. They are both affordable and reliable...so what separates them? Well, let's be honest. Young people think of Toyota as boring, dull, and unexciting. On the other hand, Honda doesn't give that impression as much (for some reason). While styling is subjective, most people tend to agree that the Corolla's styling is boring, while the Civic is at least slightly better, if not a lot better.

So what makes the Mazda 3 a good candidate to become the next best seller? It has all of the above named features, especially with the styling. While some people hate the smiley face front end, we can all agree that the styling of the Mazda 3 is more sleek than what we're used to from inexpensive Japanese vehicles.

 Photo courtesy of www.autospectator.com.