MAY2008 CARANDDRIVER.COM

The Rabbit is facing a tough bunch of new guys, starting with a freshly baked Toyota Corolla, bestseller in the class. We find that Toyotas typically outfrugal the competition in our tests. And sure enough, the top CAFE ranking of 40 mpg is shared here by a pair of Toyotas. The 1798cc Corolla is a traditional four-door. Untraditional is the company’s curveball to left-brainers, the Scion xD.

Mitsubishi has a new take on its com-pact Lancer, a large-for-the-class four-door boasting “shark nose” styling. With the newly available 2.4-liter four, it carries a 31-mpg CAFE score. Saturn replaces its unloved four-door Ion with the five-door hatchback Astra from Germany—CAFE, 36 mpg.

Small-car specialist Suzuki just intro-duced a four-door take on its SX4 (CAFE:

34 mpg), formerly offered only as a hatch-back. Subaru, famous for all-wheel drive all the time, has an all-new Impreza. The downside: It’s the heaviest car of the bunch, and mileage suffers accordingly, achieving a 29-mpg CAFE.

We promised 35 mpg, “more or less.” Our assembled group ranges from 29 to 40 mpg CAFE. Let’s see what they do on the road.

C/D RESULTS BEST IN TEST PRICE ($) DIMENSIONS (inches) WEIGHT

FUEL

TAN

K (g

al)

OCTA

NE

RATI

NG

INTERIOR VOL (cu �)*E

ST VEHICLE

BASE

AS T

ESTE

D

LEN

GTH

WID

TH

HEIG

HT

WHE

EL-

BASE

FRON

T TR

ACK

REAR

TR

ACK

CURB

(lb

)

% F

RON

T

% R

EAR

FRON

T

REAR

CARG

O

FORD FOCUS SE $16,110 $19,705 175.0 67.8 58.6 102.9 58.6 58.1 2760 59.4 40.6 13.0 87 51 43 14

MITSUBISHI LANCER† $18,670 $20,570 179.9 69.3 58.7 103.7 60.2 60.2 3060 58.8 41.2 15.6 87 51 42 11

SATURN ASTRA XR $17,545 $19,490 170.5 69.0 57.4 102.9 58.5 58.5 2880 60.4 39.6 11.9 87 51 41 12

SCION xD $15,170 $17,088 154.7 67.9 60.0 96.9 58.5 58.7 2620 59.5 40.5 11.1 87 47 37 11

SUBARU IMPREZA 2.5i $18,140 $18,140 173.8 68.5 58.1 103.1 58.9 58.9 3080 56.5 43.5 16.9 87 56 39 19

SUZUKI SX4 SPORT $15,395 $16,495 177.6 68.1 60.8 98.4 59.1 58.9 2780 60.4 39.6 14.3 87 51 39 15

TOYOTA COROLLA† $15,910 $16,160 178.7 69.3 57.7 102.4 60.3 60.4 2720 60.3 39.7 13.2 87 51 40 12

VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT $16,250 $16,435 165.7 69.3 58.2 101.5 60.6 59.8 2940 61.9 38.1 14.5 87 51 43 15

†2009 model year.

$18,000 MILEAGE MAKERSCOMPARISON TEST

88