A little anecdotal evidence here-last Saturday I took my 16-yo son car shopping. We hit all the dealerships, and the so-called "Big 3" )Chrysler, Ford, Chevy) were abandoned. Really! NO customers at all at either of them when we stopped...
OTOH, the Honda and Toyota dealers were packed-I had trouble finding a place to park at the Toyota place. At the Toyota dealership, ALL the salespeople were busy. At the Honda dealer, there were a few salespeople available, and I got help immediately.
We looked at a Honda Fit, which was sold as we were looking at it! Looked at the 2007 Civic, with which my son and I fell in love! 30 city, 40 highway on a LOADED Civic w/ auto trans.
Saleslady said no deals on the Fit or Civic, but they'd talk turkey on the Accords, Pilots, and CRV's.
All I'm sayin' is; try to beat that Civic at a Chevy, Ford, or Chrysler dealer-can't be done...no wonder GM, Ford & Chrysler are hurting!
I drove it for 8 years, about 60 miles a day commuting to work. My son turned 16 and I gave it to him. He drove it HARD for about 3 years while he was in H.S. but never hurt it. Then about 3 years ago, he passed it down to my daughter. She is using it at college in Illinois now.
Well, my baby is 12 and I told her that in 4 years it will be her turn. She is so mad because it'll be about 19 years old and she doesn't want an "old" car. I told her tough, the Honda is built to last forever... LOL! Her turn will come. When gas is $5 gallon she'll thank me ... LOL.
It is no wonder if you see things like that...
Of course, Consumer Reports had the Ford Focus as their top pick among small sedans (take that Civic and Corolla!), but took away the honor as it didn't pass muster in the side impact test when not equipped with optional side impact air bags (standard on the others)....
When I started looking, I saw that you could get a Focus equipped with what I wanted for $12500 off the lot. The Civic was going to be $18000, and the Corolla about $16000 similarly equipped. The Civic and Corolla have higher mpg ratings, but looking at the owner reports on fueleconomy.gov, I saw that owners were reporting a much smaller gap than the EPA ratings would have you believe. It would take a LOT of driving at 3-4 mpg difference to make up for $5500 difference in purchase price. For the average driver, that difference means about $150 a year extra in gas. I don't think anyone buys a car planning to keep it for 36 years, do you?
Oh, and the Focus comes with a longer warranty, too....