Settle down everyone, I’m not going to try convince any of you that you’re driving way too much vehicle, and if you CARED about the EARTH you’d not only be driving the tiniest thing you could find, but you’d be fashioning your micro-machine out of bamboo, palm fronds, and coconuts. Nosirree, not me, not The Autopian. But as a thought exercise, just how small of a car do you think you could get by with, reasonably? Heck, maybe you already are driving the smallest thing you can get away with.
As for me, I quite enjoy a small car, as long as it has a reasonable amount of zip. The smallest road-legal thing I’ve driven is a Chevy Sonic, which I acquired as a loaner from Enterprise. While the family RAV4 was in the body shop getting de-dimpled after a hail storm made it look like a promotional vehicle for Titleist (or that Mythbusters experiment), I had a ball hooning the little hatchback.
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While hardly a hot hatch, the little machine was quick enough and nimble enough to have some fun with, and I even enjoyed the interior appointments, especially the motorcycle-like gauge-pod thing that took the place of a cowled instrument cluster. But more importantly for this Autopian Asks, I never found myself wanting for a larger car during the two weeks (had to wait on some parts) that the RAV4 was in the shop.
Mind you, I wouldn’t want to make a mulch run in it, but for all the times I actually need all the capacity of an SUV, even a small one like the RAV4, I could just as easily rent a Home Depot pickup and spend less than $200 a year doing so. Weighed against the savings of purchasing, maintaining, and fueling a larger vehicle, that $200 is nothing, really.
So, I could get by with a Sonic. How about you?
What’s The Smallest Car That Could Work For You?
Top graphic image: GM
If I can also keep my Suburban for ‘as needed’, then I could drive anything – drove a Civic for years, no problems, carried all kinds of crap in it, put a trailer hitch on it for a utility trailer for when I needed to haul larger stuff. I just don’t like driving my Suburban around if I don’t have to, and it’s usually easier to load stuff into the utility trailer anyway. So, a Miata with a tow hitch for a small utility trailer would do like 90% of what I need.
But, if I can’t keep my Suburban, than my only vehicle is going to have to be… the Suburban. Or other 1/2 (or more!) ton truck/van/etc. Because I am not contriving some way to haul my racecar and all the trackside support shit 10 hours away in a Miata, and that is something I have to do. I haul cars frequently enough, and live in a remote enough location, that renting gets really impractical, really quick.
If I could only have one car, I could probably get by with a Maverick. I do enough truck stuff that I would need/really like an open bed.
If I can have multiple cars (specifically a truck for truck things), I’m extremely content with driving my compact WRX around every day. Before that I drove an E36 Coupe and had no issue. The largest daily I’ve ever had that wasn’t a truck was a 2004 Subaru Legacy sedan (before “midsize” got so big). I actually prefer smaller cars as long as they’re fun and I can have the truck for utility.
I could probably get by with an OG Mini or a Smart. I really don’t need a big car, nor have much desire for one. As long as it can haul a weeks worth of groceries or my laundry basket, is capable of doing at least 60mph comfortably, and can tackle snow.
If it were legal in my state, probably a Suzuki Cappuccino or similar
My DD is a ’20 Prius AWDand since I give our 3 dogs a ride frequently, they need the space.I tend to haul stuff, so I have a roof rack as well, so while I could go smaller, I’m not sure my spouse would appreciate me hauling the stuff I do in the nicer vehicle.
I drive a NC Miata most of the summer, and my son dailies one of the smallest cars for sale in the US (the ND Miata). So I can go pretty small.
I prefer small cars. I had an Astra and a Volt as my previous dailies. But we do have a variety of sizes in the current fleet, so there’s something for most needs.
A motorcycle? If I was a single car family I think the GX470 or similar is about as small as I can get away with for our daily and travel needs. But if I get to keep my two cars that I already have, then I have been seriously eyeing an MR2 Spyder.
A motorcycle and a backpack cover most of my needs. I have an F-150 longbed though.
Golf, if my dog was smaller I could go one smaller with a Polo. Is there a Polo wagon? Give me the hottest engine though
I daily drive a 1993 Miata and when my band pays for a full PA setup so we don’t have to schlep all that gear, I can fit two basses, my gear bag, and stand and my smaller amp in it, so NA Miata is perfect.
It’s amazing how much stuff you can fit in one of those if you really want to. I never wanted for a bigger car ever when I was dailying an NA.
I used to love small cars. My last car, a ’13 Veloster, offered all the room I needed, 99.9% of the time. But the problem in today’s traffic landscape is that it was too low. Sitting at traffic lights and looking at the hubs of F-350 pickups made me nervous.
Now I drive a CX-5. It’s bigger than what I’d like to be driving, but at least it’s not invisible to drivers of lifted 1-ton trucks.
As for mulch runs – this works just fine:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/RKUkNFpvFbm89JUv7
A 1-series convertible is not exactly large. And that trailer has more payload capacity than most modern 1/2 ton pickups. It’s aluminum, weighs about 220lbs empty, the sides come off and it folds up for storage in minimal space. BMW tows it like it’s not even there, even with 1000lbs of LVP loaded on it, as I just did for a friend. Also, MUCH easier to load than any useless modern pickup truck, given the bed is a whole foot off the ground AND it tilts. Nicer version of the one I used the heck out of 25 years ago.
We have a Kia Ceed (a car not available in the States, it’s about the same size as a VW Golf, or Ford Focus) for a 2-adult no-kids no-pets family. Which seems about right. Has enough interior room to carry 4, and a big enough boot (trunk).
We absolutely do not need an SUV. But that’s because nobody needs an SUV.
If I were single, I could probably drop down to a Ford Fiesta size
But I’m in the UK and we have smaller cars here any way. Not least because a Cadillac Escalade wouldn’t fit our roads.
What’s your lap time on the Top Gear track? 😉
It’s not really that small, but my Kia Niro is about the limit. It is just big enough to fit the family, but feels small. My Jeep TJ is technically smaller, at least in overall length and interior volume, but it doesn’t fit all my kids, and the big axles and tires mean it is considerably wider than the Niro.
Way back in the day (mid-80s) I used a ’69 MGB as a daily driver. In Las Vegas. In the summer. But now that I’m old and grumpy the RAV4 hybrid works just fine. Don’t want anything smaller, don’t need anything bigger. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go yell at some kids on my lawn.
My current ride: a 2004 BH Outback. Room enough for myself, my kids, my dog, and camping gear, but just barely.
Not including my family, the Honda Insight Gen 1 is perfect for me and my dogs.
If I have to move kids around, the Chevy Bolt EUV has the perfect size to throw it around, parking is so easy, and enough space to avoid the drama when you move kids around.
I live in Central Texas, so really anything other than a suburban is too small to safely drive here.
That said, I daily drove a classic mini and loved it. 4 seats, enough space for groceries, and a ton of fun. If I wasn’t terrified of getting stuck in the grill of a bro-dozer and them not even realize it, I would happily drive one again.
I’ve owned a ’74 Triumph Spitfire for nealy 30 years. Cars don’t come that much smaller. But for a daily driver, I would be perfectly happy with another (modern, not original) Fiat 500. Cheap and cheerful done right. Actually, in Italy I would drive the wheels off an original 500, for that matter.