Russell's Blog

I'm sure this is old news to most people who know me, but I bought a new car a little while ago. It's a 2007 Toyota Yaris Liftback with a manual transmission. I bought it through Costco's car purchase program, which I highly recommend to anyone shopping for a new car. Negotiating with car dealers is always a headache, and I wasted three weeks trying to convince dealers to actually sell me the car I wanted. Once I went through Costco, it was a snap. You still buy from a dealer, but effectively you let Costco do the negotiating for you.

In the end, I bought it from Torrance Toyota dealership. They were very nice.

The Yaris is a great little car. It is peppy, its handling is responsive but not twitchy, and it is comfortable. I would describe it as "adroit," but that is anthropomorphizing a bit too much. It is a small car, but it isn't cramped. I'm 6'3" (when I stand up straight), and I don't need to push the driver's seat back all the way. It's even possible for a normal-sized person to sit behind me (though maybe not comfortably enough for a long road trip). Most aspects of the car are minimalist but clever. The factory sound system is surprisingly good.

The gas mileage is quite good. I've filled the tank up twice so far, and I calculate that I'm getting just shy of 40 MPG. I should be able to improve that a little as I get used to the clutch and don't need to rev the engine so much when starting in first.

That said, I'm a little disappointed that it's still impossible to buy an electric car. The Yaris, and vehicles of its class, could easily be electric. The Yaris is a commuter appliance, not a family car. They are too small for most people to want to take them on long road trips, so a range of 100 miles is perfectly acceptable. That's easily within the reach of today's technology.

For the last several years, America has supposedly been the land of the pickup tuck and the SUV. However, at the same time, America absolutely fell in love with the Toyota Prius and the hybrid engine. Car companies executives seem to understand well enough that there is demand for a wide spectrum of vehicles -- Toyota itself offers a bewilderingly extensive range of models. Why can't they understand that there is also a demand for a wide spectrum of engine technologies? People who buy minivans might well be interested in taking the family on a road trip to Yosemite, but that same family probably owns another car that almost never travels more than 50 miles from home. The bulk of American drivers live in or very near urban centers, where smaller, electric cars would be ideal. Yet, car companies seem unable to sell anything but large, general purpose vehicles.

One day, a car company will realize this, and make billions. It would make me very happy if those billions stayed here in the USA.