Ford - Tousley Ford said that we could not even test drive the higher end models without buying them first. The high performance Focuses were all based on the Fiesta/Festiva body. Current cars do not compare to the Escort GT. The Focus manual did not even have a tachometer. The Taurus was not available in a manual. We test drove the Taurus, and strangely that had a tachometer.
Honda - Buerkle Honda. The salesman was relaxed, laid back. Accord LX was number 2 car. The interior was luxurious, elegant, like a higher end BMW or Mercedes. But there was only one manual on the lot (in a four door sedan). There were none of the civic hybrids to even take a peek at.
Honda - The element had a very crude interior. The floor and seats felt like the flatbed of a pickup truck.
Mazda 6i - The best car by far. The
stick felt right. The ride was stiffer, but more exciting. Something in my head clicked when driving this fun car. This is the car we decided on.
Saturn ION2 - they moved the console into the center, and rotated it 30-degrees towards the driver. They did start to make the engine cover out of metal instead of plastic.
They are putting the battery in the trunk to protect it from heating and cooling. The manual still felt sloppy, the steering wheel was small like a go-cart.