Car tech comparison: Driver assists prop up the static compact sedan segment
Machine tech comparison: Driver assists prop upwardly the static compact sedan segment
Sedans are losing sales to SUVs and automakers are fighting back. Buyers of SUVs and crossovers similar sitting up college, having more than cargo room, and available all-cycle-drive, and they perceive SUVs existence more rugged. Rather than carelessness the smaller-sedan segments, automakers are making their compact vehicles roomier and quieter. They're offering technology that until recently was only on bigger, higher-end models. The best compact sedans offer the holy trinity of commuter assists: bullheaded spot detection, lane departure alarm or lane keep assist, and adaptive cruise command. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are trickling into center stacks.
Here'southward a comparison of what the acknowledged meaty sedans are doing to stay competitive via their engineering offerings. We compare the nine compact sedans that sold 100,000 units last yr in the U.s.a. — Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Chevrolet Cruze, Nissan Sentra, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Jetta, Mazda 3, and Subaru Impreza — plus the Kia Forte that is on pace to sell 100,000 this year. Our rundown is sorted past 2015 sales. We besides recommend the driver-help options best suited to the auto that, where it'south possible, don't drag in extras unrelated to prophylactic.
Technology makes smaller cars attractive to big-sedan drivers who're downsizing and became addicted of their driver assists, to high-mileage sales reps who like cars with high-thirties highway fuel economy, and urban center dwellers looking to fit into minor parking spaces. Compacts are typically 15 feet long (180 inches), notwithstanding through better packaging, the majority are EPA-classified as midsize: Borough, Corolla, Cruze, Elantra, Forte, and Sentra. Nearly are every bit quiet as big sedans of a decade ago.
The herd is being culled already: Fiat-Chrysler announced it will discontinue the compact Dodge Sprint (tenth in compact sales terminal yr) equally it concentrates on crossovers and SUVs. Automotive News reported Buick Verano (13th among compacts) and a close sibling to Cruze, is likewise due to exist discontinued next year; GM called the written report "speculation."
2016 Toyota Corolla: little driver-aid now (await for 2017)
The 2015 best-selling compact car (363,000) is the Toyota Corolla. Corolla is the exception to our hypothesis that modest cars sell well when automakers make more tech bachelor to survive against crossovers and SUVs. The 2016 Toyota is free of the commuter-assistance engineering science others offer. Instead, Toyota in Corolla'due south 50th year continues to offer an affordable compact car with a cap on price-raising bells and whistles, a formula that made Corolla the best selling nameplate ever (xl million equally of 2013). Spoiler alert: Look for Toyota to go on board with tech for 2017.
The 2016 Corolla includes a Star safety arrangement, Toyota's term for electronic stability command, traction command, and anti-lock braking; likewise eight airbags, LATCH tether anchors for kid seats, and front-rear crumple zones, plus side-impact door beams to protect the passenger cell. This is a match for what the rest of the industry does.
2017 Toyota Corolla
The lone driver assistance is a backup photographic camera with projected path lines on all just the entry Corolla Fifty. For infotainment, there is one of three versions of Entune Audio (except on Corolla L), which comprises at minimum one USB jack, Bluetooth for phone calls and music streaming, and Siri Eyes Free. Entune Audio Plus provides HD Radio, satellite radio, and navigation via the Scout GPS Link app you tin can add to your smartphone and display on the six.ane-inch centre stack panel. Entune Premium integrates navigation into the car and adds Entune app suite, which use your phone for connection to the deject and admission to iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable, Pandora, Facebook Places, Yelp, Slacker Radio, Destination Search (replaces Bing) and real-time traffic, weather, and fuel prices data. Entune is not complicated. (Translation: It works.)
Look for the twelfth generation Corolla (inset) subsequently this year to ship with Toyota's pocket-size-automobile version of Toyota Safety Sense that employs camera and laser technology to warn of obstacles and if necessary scrub off 20 mph of speed to avoid or mitigate a collision.
Front safety (2016 model): no extras. Side safety: no extras. Rear rubber: rear photographic camera.
Infotainment: i USB jack, phone based navigation (Entune Plus) or embedded navigation and app suite (Entune Premium).
Worth knowing: Excellent back seat legroom, 3-5 inches more than than typical compacts.
Competitors want y'all to know: The current Corolla is non competitive on driver assist engineering.
Packages to get: Entune Audio Plus (with Sentinel navigation)
List price with recommended tech, freight: Corolla LE with Entune Audio Plus, $xx,245
Bottom line: Reliable and affordable now, competitive on tech in a year
2016 Honda Civic: best compact, amongst the best tech-focused compacts
The 2016 Honda Borough is the best of the meaty sedans and Editors' Choice on our sister site PCMag.com NextCar. Well-nigh of the tech and safety tech is offered on every trim line, in particular the Honda Sensing parcel of finish-and-go adaptive cruise control, forrard collision alarm, and self-centering lane deviation warning / lane continue aid. If you keep your hands lightly touching the wheel, the motorcar tracks straight and true on interstates, even through curves.
Once y'all become past the entry LX trim line, every Civic comes with the seven-inch Display Audio infotainment touchscreen organization that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, then in that location's no reason to buy Honda'south $i,000 Garmin-based navigation, other than that it works fabulously well. The three most affordable trim lines, LX (CVT version), EX and EX-T, offering Honda Sensing as the just option, at $1,000, just not embedded navigation. The EX-L higher up that offers either Honda Sensing or navigation ($1,000 for either); if yous want both yous get the top-line Honda Touring, which also includes LED headlamps and premium audio. Honda Sensing is a engineering-only option; it doesn't strength on you a moonroof or leather seats.
Instead of bullheaded spot detection, Honda includes standard (except on the entry Lx) LaneWatch, a rear-facing camera on the passenger side mirror that displays the view on the middle stack LCD, overlaid with distance lines. It works well by day, so-so at night, and on the commuter side all you get is a wide-bending side mirror. Interestingly, on the almost-equally-new Honda Pilot, the top trim line eschews Lane Watch for a traditional blind spot warning system.
Front rubber: terminate-and-go adaptive cruise control, forrard collision warning, motorcar-and-pedestrian collision mitigation braking, (Touring but:) LED headlamps. Side safety: Lane keep assist (cocky-centering). Rear safety: Honda LaneWatch (rider side) camera with dynamic guidelines.
Infotainment: seven-inch color touchscreen, 2 USB ports, CarPlay/Android Auto, Pandora, HondaLink (phone-based telematics).
Worth knowing: Honda Sensing adaptive cruise/lane keep assist offered on all only cheapest Civic (manual transmission Sixty). The Civic is so roomy in dorsum that Accordance-intenders may discover the Civic good enough.
Competitors want you to know: Touchscreen infotainment is hard to use, LaneWatch blind spot detection is a rider side (just) camera, no rear sonar (not even a dealer option in 2016).
Packages to get: Honda Sensing (adaptive prowl control, lane keep help), $one,000.
List price with recommended tech, freight: $24,035 (EX-T with Honda Sensing)
Bottom line: The current standard bearer, midprice lines utilise phone navigation (merely), held dorsum by the infotainment interface
2017 Hyundai Elantra: serious contest for Honda
The Hyundai Elantra (review) is new with the 2017 model, now shipping. It added refinement, noise abatement, and a amend ride thank you to 400 anxiety of robotically applied aerospace adhesives on the body panels, 40X the glue of its predecessor. It is a well-built car that'due south sort-of-fun to bulldoze with improved handling but without the sporty handling of the Civic or Subaru Impreza. (A Sport model Elantra is coming.) It continues the "fluidic sculpture" design language of the 2011-2016, dialed back a chip.
To get the useful tech, bypass the somewhat Spartan Elantra SE for the Elantra Limited, a $4,000 upgrade that includes blind spot detection with rear cross traffic alert. Then choose the $2,500 tech package with navigation, Infinity premium audio, Harman'southward Clari-Fi (music restorer for low-fleck-rate files), a color not mono 4-inch musical instrument panel LCD and two not-so-tech options, heated rear seats and a sunroof. The Ultimate Package ($1,900 plus the tech package) is the real tech package here, with adaptive cruise control (non stop-and-go), lane departure warning / lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, and automatic loftier beams. The 8-inch screen on navi-equipped cars is bigger than Honda's and it works better.
The full, $27,585, actually tops the all-everything Honda Civic Touring by $225, although the Elantra's bodily selling price may exist less after incentives. You'll probably prefer the Elantra's infotainment and traditonal bullheaded spot detection (including the beeps yous can't mute) to Borough's Display Sound and LaneWatch, but Civic'southward adaptive cruise command is full-range. Equally these cars better, in that location is still no one perfect meaty sedan.
If you go for the entry Elantra SE, at the least get information technology with the Popular Equipment Parcel that includes some of the tech basics: 7-inch touchscreen, rear photographic camera, Bluetooth (phone and audio streaming), Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Front safety: adaptive cruise control, frontward collision alarm, car emergency braking, pedestrian detection. Side prophylactic: lane divergence warning / lane keep assistance. Rear safety: blind spot detection, rear cantankerous traffic alert, rear camera with dynamic guidelines.
Infotainment: viii-inch touchscreen (7-inch due west/o navi), ii USB, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, BlueLink (telematics)
Worth knowing: Basic telematics service (crash notification, emergency assistance) is just $99 a year. Nobody does it less expensively.
Competitors want you to know: Then-so acceleration. Lacking in embedded infotainment apps. Loaded Elantras not so inexpensive (before discounts).
Packages to become: Limited Ultimate Bundle and Tech Package
Listing price with recommended tech, freight: Elantra Limited, $27,585.
Bottom line: About every bit good every bit Civic with meliorate infotainment and lane departure alert
2016 Chevrolet Cruze: New model makes big strides
2017 Chevrolet Cruze hatchback
Since 2013, Chevrolet has been renewing its sedan lineup with serious improvements: Impala, Malibu, Volt, and now this spring the compact 2016 Chevrolet Cruze sedan. A Cruze hatchback arrives this fall (inset). The Cruze overall is a major step forward in roominess, economy and performance. Every car gets OnStar telematics, a rear camera, Bluetooth, a USB jack (i), and the MyLink infotainment system with a 7- or 8-inch color display with Apple Car Play and Android Auto. To get all the prophylactic and commuter assist features, you're buying comfort items too and winding up with 1 of the costlier compact sedans.
If you want the fullest assortment of driver assist technology, y'all take to purchase upmarket, past Cruze L, LS and LT to Cruze Premier, a $6,500 leap from the base trim line. Cruze LT offers rear sonar, blind spot detection ("side blind zone alert") and rear cross alert in the $495 commuter confidence I package that requires the $1,150 convenience parcel (keyless access and start, heated front end seats, ability driver's seat, remote outset). Only Cruze LT Premier offers the $790 driver confidence II package (forward standoff alert, lane departure warning / lane proceed assist, automatic loftier beams, plus the commuter confidence I rear alerts), which in plow requires the $865 enhanced convenience bundle (110-volt outlet, wireless Qi charging, heated rear seats, single zone automatic HVAC, express upward/down driver window). If you desire to use Apple or Google maps for navigation, you tin can take or exit the $1,995 sunday-sound-navigation package (embedded navigation, Bose premium audio, color MID in the instrument cluster, sunroof). Only if you want embedded navi, you must likewise take the corrective touches RS packet (sport body kit, rear spoiler, RS lettering, fog lamps, 40 not 45 serial blend wheels), putting the car at $28,640 listing.
On the road, the tiny engine (1.4 liters) is quite adequate and gets to 60 mph in less than eight seconds. Apple CarPlay worked well, the trim looked upscale, forepart seats were reasonably room and at that place was good legroom in back, but passengers over v-pes-ix will notice headroom is tight.
If you lot don't desire the driver assists and don't mind streaming telephone navigation to the dash, every Cruze offers Apple tree CarPlay and Android Automobile navigation. Otherwise, y'all need Cruze Premier and all its options. In a test drive, the new Cruze was peppy with its turbo 1.four-liter engine and a big step forward for Chevrolet, but not the manner Malibu and Impala are. Its 42 mpg highway rating makes this a good choice for long-distance cruisers, except there's no adaptive cruise control offered. Note to shoppers: 2016 Cruze Limited is the 2015 Cruze held over. Different beast.
Forepart safety: forrad collision alarm, automatic high beams. Side safety: lane departure warning / lane keep assist. Rear prophylactic: rear camera, rear sonar, rear cantankerous traffic alert, blind spot detection
Infotainment: 1 USB, OnStar, vii-inch or 8-inch touchscreen with CarPlay / Android Auto navigation or embedded navigation, Qi wireless charging, 110-volt jack, Teen Safety (monitoring)
Worth knowing: All trim lines except Premier tin be ordered with manual transmission (saves $1,000-$1,300). All support CarPlay, Android Auto.
Competitors desire you to know: No adaptive cruise control. Front end/side prophylactic assists express to virtually costly Premier trim line. five-years-free OnStar Basic service excludes crash notification.
Packages to get: Driver conviction I and Ii packages (depends on trim line), Convenience Package
List cost with recommended tech, freight: Cruze LT Premium, Driver Confidence and Convenience packages, $25,650
Bottom line: Best minor Chevy always hurt past complex options packages, no adaptive cruise control.
Nissan Sentra: reliable, roomy transportation
If you want bones, reliable transportation, look to Nissan Sentra. The seventh generation Sentra dates to model year 2013, although ongoing enhancements make 2015 and now 2016 Sentras more desirable. Of the 5 trim lines — Sentra Southward (stripped but has Bluetooth and USB), FE+S (Eco), SV, SR (a sporty SV) and SL (luxury) — the Nissan SR gets y'all all the driver assists you'll need (as options) including adaptive prowl control, only it makes you add luxury / comfort options to become the tech package. The SL comes standard with the driver assistance features, leather seats and a fuller-featured HVAC system.
Trim lines as low every bit Sentra SV and SR offer bullheaded spot detection ("blind spot warning" to Nissan), rear cross traffic alert, navigation, and Nissan Connect in a Driver's Assist Package for $1,020. Sentra SV and up take a fill-in camera. The Sentra SR and SL have LED depression beam headlamps and additionally offer a Technology Bundle with adaptive prowl control ("intelligent cruise control" to Nissan), forward emergency braking, and NissanConnect for $one,230. But they both make you buy premium packages to get the tech package. The SR plus Driver's Help plus Tech Bundle would sell for $23,495 if you could practice that philharmonic. You can't. Instead it's $25,065 for an SR Premium Package that combines Driver'south Assist with moonroof, premium sound, and leather; plus the Tech Bundle. Same thing with Sentra SL, which integrates leather and Driver's Assist (BSD, RCTA) in the base price, but requires the $1,130 moonroof-and-Bose Premium Package to get the Tech Bundle with the total price $25,365. Still, that's nigh $2,500 below the costliest cars in the segment.
NissanConnect, for Apple and Android phones, links your smartphone to the motorcar, controls Pandora and IHeart Radio, and allows some texting and Facebook / Twitter messaging, just it's not embedded telematics like OnStar or Hyundai BlueLink. (Nissan offers a 4G WiFi hotspot with apps ($450 plus data) that includes runway-your-teen features.) If your motorcar has navigation, that's considered part of NissanConnect, too. Nissan describes NissanConnect as being almost like Apple CarPlay until CarPlay arrives on some Nissans this year. Sentra will not exist among the start models tapped. Android Auto back up is even less articulate.
No 2016 Sentra is offered with lane departure warning, let alone self-centering lane go along assist, nor does Sentra offering Nissan's pioneering Around View (surroundings view) camera organization that gives you a virtual overhead view of the car when you're backing into and out of tight spaces. Curiously, Nissans as small every bit Versa Notation have Around View. (Versa is the hands-downwardly all-time-seller among subcompacts with 145,000 2015 sales, a shrinking category in the US that is only ane-5th every bit large as the compact segment.)
The Nissan Sentra cockpit is nicely finished, just other cars build in a bit more than excitement. Dispatch from the 130-hp i.8-liter engine and CVT transmission is not course-leading. Against that, the back seat is quite roomy (this is ane of the midsize-classified compacts) and all seats are comfortable.
Front safety: adaptive cruise control, frontward emergency braking. Side safe: none (no electronic aids). Rear safe: photographic camera, blind spot detection, rear cantankerous traffic alert.
Infotainment: five.0 or five.8-inch touchscreen, NissanConnect with phone apps, navigation, USB, Bluetooth
Worth knowing: Backup camera standard SV and up. Standard EasyFill tire fill up chirps the horn when you add plenty air to reach the proper inflation.
Competitors want you lot to know: no lane departure warning, no Apple CarPlay or Android Motorcar on the horizon, smallish v.0 or 5.8-inch middle stack LCD.
Packages to become: Driver Aid Package (SV) or Premium Parcel and Technology Package (SR, SL)
List price with recommended tech, freight: Nissan Sentra SR, $25,065
Lesser line: Solid, roomy transportation with adaptive cruise, merely not lane departure alert or surroundings view.
Ford Focus: Sync three improves the world'south acknowledged auto
The third-generation Ford Focus dates to 2011 with a 2015 refresh. It'due south amidst the oldest of the summit meaty sedans and is currently the world's best selling model. No new Focus is on the horizon, at to the lowest degree not later on 2017 models. All the same, Focus has kept upwardly with nigh commuter tech other than adaptive cruise command and it'due south 1 of the first Ford models to go the new Sync three. With Focus, you tin can get lane departure warning (but not lane go along assist or lane centering), blind spot detection, rear cantankerous traffic alarm, and parallel parking assist.
Focus comes with a three- or four-cylinder engine or an electrical motor; sedan or hatchback; plus performance Focus ST and RS hatchbacks. The base Focus S four-cylinder gas-engine sedan has a rear camera, Ford Sync (not Sync 3), and MyKey, which tracks and limits teen driving behavior. The mid-grade Focus SE offers navigation and premium sound ($1,495). The upmarket Focus Titanium makes standard Sync 3, 10-speaker Sony audio, and 2 USB jacks. Options include Titanium Engineering science Parcel ($795) with blind spot detection ("blind spot information system" to Ford), rear cross traffic alert, and lane keep aid that steers the car dorsum if it approaches the lane markings. In that location's too Active Park Assist ($395).
Sync uses its own AppLink software to control third-political party apps running on smartphones. AppLink will continue and Ford says Apple CarPlay and Android Motorcar volition be offered via software update later on this twelvemonth on Escapes with Sync 3. 2017 Sync 3 Escapes will get CarPlay and Android Auto installed and will offering an OnStar-like 4G LTE embedded telematics modem chosen Sync Connect. Current cars can use a connected smartphone for emergency crash notification (911 assist).
Focus handles well and the auto is quick, although the three-cylinder 1.0-liter turbo engine that is fine on the subcompact Fiesta is overmatched past Focus' size. Sync three works reasonably well (finally). At 178 inches, 4 inches shorter than much of the competition, the dorsum seat is snug compared with Civic, Corolla, Elantra, and Sentra. If you lot want all the tech Ford offers, you'll demand the Focus Titanium.
Front prophylactic: automatic high beams. Side rubber: lane go on assist, active park assist. Rear prophylactic: bullheaded spot detection, rear cross traffic alert.
Infotainment: 1-2 USB jacks, viii-inch touchscreen, Sync iii, MyKey (teen controls), Ford AppLink, navigation, Apple CarPlay / Android Auto via downloadable upgrade (later 2016)
Worth knowing: 911 Assistance does Mayday calling via your cellphone. Ford AppLink works similar Apple CarPlay just with more apps available.
Competitors desire you to know: Tight rear seats. Consumer Reports rates Focus reliability worse than average.
Packages to get: Titanium Technology Package $795. Agile Park Assist $395.
List price with recommended tech, freight: Focus Titanium, $25,290
Bottom line:Crumbling well (but aging), Sync finally fixed, no adaptive prowl command
Volkswagen Jetta: New infotainment, solid driver assists
The Jetta, not the Golf, is VW'due south best-selling car in the Us. The 6th-generation Jetta has been built since 2011 and a replacement isn't probable before mid-2017, but VW soldiers on, this year with an improved infotainment organization and a new gasoline engine. The Jetta diesel remains on stop-sale since terminal autumn, which may exist why Jetta sales are off by 10% then far this year versus early 2015. It besides may be the 2016 Jetta is late in its life.
VW has many Jetta variants, engines, and trim lines, merely the tech options are pretty simple: a well-regarded new MIB Ii infotainment system with VW Motorcar-Internet-App-Connect is offered across the board with a smallish 6.3-inch touchscreen (5-inches on TSI). The Driver Assistance Bundle was expanded this year to include adaptive prowl command, forward collision alarm, emergency braking, blind spot detection, and rear cantankerous traffic alarm. To get all the appurtenances, you lot need i of the higher trim lines (model variants).
The heart of the Jetta line is the Jetta i.4T and Jetta one.8T with trim lines called S, S with Technology, SE, SE with Connectivity, SEL, and SEL Premium. There's also a Jetta Hybrid; Jetta GLI (like Golf GTI) 2.0T with SE and SEL trim lines; and were it not for this dieselgate thing, some Jetta TDIs. To become the Driver Assistance features, y'all're steered to the Jetta 1.8T SEL or SEL Premium. Add Driver Assist ($950), shipping, and you lot're at $26,415 (with freight) for a car (SEL) with bi-Xenon headlamps, sunroof, rear camera, and navigation, also as vinyl seats ("V-Tex") and a manually adjusting commuter's seat. Beneath that, the Jetta one.4T SE with Connectivity ($23,145 with freight) gives you the newest head unit of measurement with access to your phone via CarPlay, Android Machine, or MirrorLink, the phone-to-dashboard brandish mirroring technology that is however seeking traction. Simply at that place are none of the driver assists.
VW's engine lineup is solid now that VW dropped the ii.0-liter not-turbo 4 in favor of a stronger 1.iv-liter turbo. The automobile is roomy, merely as this generation winds down, the interior appointments aren't that upscale. And ride and handling no longer brand y'all think you're getting a bargain-priced Audi — non even with the GLI models that are supposed to be siblings to the hot-rod Golf GTI.
Front safety: adaptive cruise command, forrad standoff warning, emergency braking, postal service-collision braking, xenon headlamps. Side rubber: none. Rear safe: blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert.
Infotainment: Bluetooth, i-ii USB, half-dozen.iii-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, MirrorLink, navigation
Worth knowing: Jetta is one of the roomiest compacts
Competitors want you to know: Current Jetta design dates to 2011. No lane difference warning (other VW models have it).
Packages to get: Driver Assistance on SEL or SEL Premium
List price with recommended tech, freight: $26,415
Bottom line:Roomy just feels its age. 1 High german car that doesn't feel so sporty.
Mazda three: the all-time sedan for drivers who dear driving
The 2016 Mazda3 sedan is an easy machine to summarize: sporty, lots of applied science (even a head-upward brandish), not the nigh spacious back seat or trunk. At that place are three trim lines, Sport, Touring, Grand Touring; 2 engines, 155-hp two.0-liter (designated Mazda3 i) and 184-hp 2.5-liter (Mazda3 s) iv-cylinder engines; and half dozen-speed manual or six-speed-automated offered on nearly lines (3 south Touring is automatic-only). The Mazda3 is sold every bit a hatchback-almost-a-wagon version, also; Mazda calls it the Mazda3 5-Door.
Even the entry Mazda3 i Sport comes standard with Bluetooth, ii USB jacks, rear photographic camera, 7-inch touchscreen, Commander rotary controller, and 9-speaker Bose audio. Blind spot detection and rear cantankerous traffic alarm is in a Preferred Equipment package, total cost with freight $19,665 (six-speed transmission; add $1,050 for six-speed automatic). Rear parking sonar is a standalone $495 option on whatever Mazda3.
The Touring makes standard some of the Sport options and adds an Active Drive Brandish, a head-up display (inset) in the class of a panel atop the instrument cluster. The Mazda3 Southward Chiliad Touring further adds bi-xenon steerable headlamps and navigation, and provides access to the $two,600 Technology Package: adaptive prowl control ("Mazda Radar Cruise Control"), forrad collision warning ("forrard obstruction warning"), lane departure warning, automatic high beams, smart metropolis brake support (automatic braking at 2.5-19 mph or 4-thirty kph), active grille shutters, and i-ELOOP regenerative charging. This makes the auto a very-mild hybrid: Regenerative braking charges a large capacitor, which helps power the car'due south accessories, but not the drivetrain, and adds 1 mpg to EPA ratings. This tech bundle also pushes the Mazda3 close to $30,000.
The Mazda Connect infotainment system does not yet support Apple tree CarPlay or Android Automobile; Mazda manifestly wants to make sure the connections work well before turning them loose on paying customers. Meanwhile, Mazda 3 vehicles can control Aha, Pandora, and Stitcher internet radio integration apps on smartphones. Information technology will play text messages aloud and let you create vocalisation-to-text responses. Information technology is a good system one time you lot go past the initial learning curve.
On the road, the Mazda3, like whatever Mazda, is a blast to drive either with either engine, either gearbox. The larger engine (plus added features) ups the price of the s Touring by $3,700 over the 2.0-liter engine, and the southward Thousand Touring by $2,200 (the Mazda3 Sport merely has the smaller engine). The larger engine does help functioning and simply affects fuel economy by 1-ii mpg. The manual gearbox actually gets 1-3 mpg less in city driving than the automated.
Concerns? The dorsum seat is not spacious. Nor is the trunk, but you can solve that for $1,000 by specifying the hatchback Mazda3. There's also a flake more road and wind noise than the Civic or Elantra. Only if y'all desire the virtually tech in a compact car, the Mazda3 is worth a test bulldoze.
Front safety: adaptive cruise command, frontwards collision warning, city (low-speed) braking, autodimming headlamps, steerable xenon headlamps, caput-up display. Side condom: lane departure warning. Rear safety: rear camera, bullheaded spot detection, rear cantankerous traffic alert, rear sonar.
Infotainment: 2 USB, Bluetooth, 7-inch touchscreen, Commander control wheel, Aha-Pandora-Stitcher support
Worth knowing: Automatic transmission gets better fuel economy
Competitors want you to know: Less baggage and dorsum seat room than other compacts, only s Grand Touring gets tech packet
Packages to get: Technology Package, rear parking sensors
List toll with recommended tech, freight: $29,710
Bottom line: The best commuter'southward car of the bunch, serious tech (even a HUD), ameliorate for two occupants than 4
Subaru Impreza: The roomy go-to sedan for snow, rain
![960x600_1-eyesight[1]](https://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/960x600_1-eyesight1-300x167.jpg)
Subaru EyeSight
The 2016 Impreza comes in five trim lines: 2.0i, 2.0i Premium, and two.0i Limited, with all three offered every bit a sedan ("4-door") or hatchback / railroad vehicle ("five-door"); plus the hatchback-only 2.0 Sport Premium and two.0 Sport Limited. EyeSight is offered on 1 sedan, the Express, as well as on the Sport Premium and Sport Limited hatches. (The Impreza is also the basis for the high-performance Subaru WRX as well as the crossover Subaru Crosstrek.)
EveEyeSight comes simply equally function of a $2,895 package called, simply, Moonroof + Keyless Access & Push-Button Showtime + Navigation System + Eyesight. Since the moonroof and keyless access are a $ane,500 option available separately, we gauge EyeSight's portion of the price is $600-$900, the rest taken up by the nav organization. The twin cameras at the top of the windshield have the place of both radar and the unmarried camera used on other vehicles for adaptive cruise control, frontward collision alarm, and lane departure warning. If yous want an Impreza sedan with tech, you demand the 2.0i Limited and the Moonroof … EyeSight package, $23,390 with freight.
2017 Subaru Impreza
Every Impreza gets a rear camera and at to the lowest degree a vi.2-inch center stack touchscreen. On Limited and above, the screen is 7 inches and in that location are dual USB jacks. The Impreza integrates control of smartphone apps Aha, Pandora, and IHeartRadio, merely Apple tree CarPlay and Android Auto are non supported for 2016. Every Impreza also gets StarLink telematics. Basic service with crash notification is $99 a year; enhanced service is an industry-leading $149 and includes stolen vehicle and automobile warning alerts, remote lock/unlock, and a vehicle locator.
The 2017 Subaru Impreza (photo inset) arriving after this twelvemonth will be longer and wider with slightly more engine power and an upgraded cockpit. EyeSight will continue. CarPlay and Android Motorcar will be integrated.
Front rubber: Adaptive cruise command, forward collision alert. Side safety: lane deviation alert. Rear safety: rear camera.
Infotainment: 1-two USB, Bluetooth, half-dozen.2 or 7-inch touchscreen, navigation, machine control of smartphone apps Aha, Pandora, and IHeartRadio. StarLink telematics.
Worth knowing: But compact sedan with all-wheel-bulldoze. High crash-test scores. Roomy back seat. Reliable. Hatchback version if you don't want to go to Forester or Outback crossovers.
Competitors want you to know: less refinement than contest (until 2017), no blind spot detection.
Packages to get: Moonroof + Keyless Access and Push-Button Start + Navigation System + Eyesight, $two,895
List cost with recommended tech, freight: $26,285 (Impreza Limited 2.0i)
Bottom line: Best meaty sedan for wintertime driving. All-new 2017 Impreza volition be more competitive.
2016 Kia Forte: rising star even before the 2017 upgrade
The Kia Forte was redesigned in 2014 and is looking at a midlife refresh for the 2017 model year. For now, it'south a roomy, well-appointed machine from a company you probably didn't know existed 10 years agone. Even without much technology beyond the UVO infotainment organisation, Forte sales jumped 14% concluding twelvemonth and another 26% in the first four months, putting a 100,000-unit yr within range. Kia is a sister company to Hyundai and shares its basic design with the Hyundai Elantra, which already has its 2017 version on the marketplace.
Kia offers two sedans: the Forte Lx with transmission or automatic manual and a 1.eight-liter engine starting at $16,840, or the Forte EX with a 2.0-liter engine and automatic manual at $20,840. At that place are also hatchback (Forte 5) and coupe (Koup) variants. On the Sixty automated sedan, a $one,000 Popular Package provides a rear photographic camera with a vestigial 4.3-inch brandish. On the Forte EX there's a $iii,000 Premium Package of UVO eServices Telematics (data connections are through your phone), navigation, and heated leather seats. Atop that, buyers tin add the Premium Plus Parcel ($5,000 total for the two) with LED taillamps, a 4.2-inch LCD in the instrument panel, 10-fashion power adjustable ventilated driver's seat (but non the rider's seat), heated rear seats, and heated steering wheel seats. That's it for model year 2016 tech.
2017 Forte Sedan
The updated 2017 Forte sedan (inset), due before long, adds an S trim betwixt LX and EX. Both EX and Due south get UVO telematics, a 7-inch touchscreen, and eventually support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Multiple driver assists will be offered: blind spot detection and rear-cross traffic alert; lane departure warning and lane keep assist; frontwards collision warning and autonomous emergency braking; merely not adaptive cruise control. The 2017 Forte will send with a new 2.0-liter engine. Pricing hasn't been prepare yet.
Front end safety (2016 Forte): none. Side safety: none. Rear safe: rear camera.
Infotainment: Bluetooth, USB, UVO eServices telematics, navigation,
Worth knowing: Roomy cockpit, uncomplicated controls, affordably priced
Competitors desire you to know: No commuter assists on 2016 Forte, and then-so fuel economy
Packages to become: Premium Packet, Premium Plus Package
List toll with recommended tech, freight: $25,840 (Forte EX).
2016 Honda Civic Sedan
What are your best buying choices in meaty sedans?
Every compact machine is, at minimum, pretty proficient in 2016. Most offer lane departure warning and blind spot detection and, increasingly, adaptive cruise control that besides helps with lower-speed city braking. Hither's how nosotros'd advise sorting them out as y'all call up near your adjacent machine.
Best car: Honda Borough. Honda (above) is on top of its game. The Borough is corking for driver and passengers. The middle trim lines you're likeliest to buy offer Honda Sensing (full-range adaptive cruise, lane divergence warning / lane proceed assistance) only don't offer navigation and permit you connect your iPhone or Android phone and run its navi through the center stack brandish. Just make sure you can live with the Brandish Audio interface. Also see how y'all similar Lane Lookout, Honda's unusual take on blind spot detection.
All-time car, runner upwardly: Hyundai Elantra. An excellent automobile with a more mainstream touchscreen interface and blind spot detection. Different Civic, Elantra'southward adaptive cruise command isn't stop-and-get, though.
2016 Mazda 3
Best driver's car: Mazda3. Mazda3 is a blast to drive, virtually trim lines offer manual gearboxes, and it's the only one with a head-up display. Need more room, don't want the CX-3 crossover? Attempt the Mazda3 5-door (hatchback).
All-time all-weather condition car: Subaru Impreza. The but i with all-bike drive. Rugged. Reliable. Affordable. About to be replaced.
Roomy for four adults: Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, VW Jetta. Regardless of their other attributes, four adults can ride in comfort in cars that are barely 15 feet bumper to bumper thanks to interiors that brand them, technically, midsize cars.
Waiting for 2017 or 2018 (need more tech): Toyota Corolla, Kia Forte. Fine cars both but with hardly any driver assists or tech across USB and Bluetooth in the current editions. New models are coming.
Waiting for 2017 or 2018 (need more modernity): Ford Focus, Subaru Impreza, VW Jetta. The driver assists are pretty good. Just the cars are at the ends of their 5-half dozen year model lives and feel it.
All the tech you need if you don't need ACC: Chevrolet Cruze. The newest Chevy sedan is well executed. Different its true-midsize sibling, Chevrolet Malibu, there's frontwards collision warning merely no adaptive cruise control.
Source: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/227767-car-tech-comparison-driver-assists-prop-up-the-static-compact-sedan-segment
Posted by: johnwasion.blogspot.com
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