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
I currently drive a van, but our other car is a Forester, and we’re a family of 4. Do we use the van to it’s potential? Yes. Could we survive if it were replaced with something far, far smaller? Totally. The kids are now front-facing and can both fasten their own seatbelts. Technically, they’re at the perfect age to crawl into the backseat of something with two doors…
Refocusing, a 500 is probably the smallest car we could do, though a Fit would probably be the more practical choice at this point. If I had to go new, I guess we’d be looking at something in the compact hatch segment (3, Civic, Corolla) were we to downsize.
I can fit a moderately sized passenger in the Europa, and there’s enough room in the boot/trunk for a week’s worth of food. So it’s the perfect size for a commuter car.
As an only car for me it fails the “can I take my MTBs to the forest for a week” test. So that’s why I have a nice big GT86 as a practical car.
I was perfectly happy with a CRX as an only car, and before that a Citroen AX GT, so I guess I could go smaller, if I didn’t love oversteer so much.
A Lotus Europa? That is awesome! I think some of them have a storage bin inside the engine bay behind the engine, right?
It’s not the one you’re thinking of, it’s a 2007. Like a Lotus Exige but with a 2.0 turbo engine, bigger doors and some sound deadening.
Loved my Renault Kwid EV, tiny and nimble yet surprisingly spacious with the seats folded down, moved an entire apartment’s worth of stuff in a car the size of a pickup bed. An excellent car let down by its primitive EV powertrain (air cooled battery in 2025?). Get some parts from the gas Kwid, put in a PHEV drivetrain and I’m gonna drive it until it turns to dust!
If my Suzuki Alto Works had better parts support in the US, and cruise control, I’d be daily driving it during the nice part of the year.
As a VW Up! owner I think I have found the smallest car that can work for me. Loads of room in the front – I’m 6ft2in and it’s one of the only cars I’ve driven where the drivers seat doesn’t need to be pushed all the way back. The boot (trunk) is surprisingly decent with a false floor and a proper spare tyre.
The space in the back is surprisingly ok – there more room there than there was in my 2016 Mini Clubman for passengers where the seat behind me when driving was only really any use for Douglas Bader.
Honda Fit.
The Fit is GO!
Honorary mention goes to the Vespa Sei Giorni.
Miata is always the answer. But that’s not going to fit the family. We did stuff all 5 of us into the Peugeot 306 a couple times when that thing actually ran too though so while we need the van for long trips, and it’s long since paid off and will stick around for ever, my car will always be something dumb and impractical.
I even took the Miata on a 2 month work trip without any issue with the size of the car. The fact that it broke on the way is irrelevant! I’m strongly considering importing a polo for the next car.
The smallest car that works for me is any car where I can slot a 5’8″ snowboard between the front seats and still close the trunk lid and shift gears. So, sorry, but no smarts, Up!s, 500s and similar.
With the 500e you don’t have a lever, just buttons, and with the rear seat down I fitted my Burton Johan Olofsson 62 in between just fine. Had my 11y kid with his board with me too.
I wouldn’t kick a VW UP! GTI out of the driveway…
We already have a Fiat 500, and that’s about as small as I’d go in the US. My son was impressed with the Kei car he rented so I am open to smaller. two people don’t need much car
5th gen Polo was doable with rear facing car seats, but bit tight and the trunk situation was challenging on road trips . A Golf/Octavia wagon since that – perfectly fine. Quite full on holiday trips, so maybe not much smaller. When there is a smallish EV with largish trunk, with a ski hatch (or preferably 40-20-40 split) and a towing hook (why would you put the mulch inside the car?), downscaling might be possible.
So, for practical reasons I don’t (and most not supersized people/families don’t) NEED a bigger car, but I might WANT one, and that is a different discussion. Also, the cheaper small cars typically miss some features, that are reserved for more expensive cars because greed. I might want better seats and matrix headlights – yes I am looking at you R4 and EV3/4, why not have them?
Finally regarding the first paragraph. For once, be selfish and think of yourself! Do you want megastorms/droughts/floods, expensive groceries and insurance etc.? Finance the dictators of the famous shit hole countries, yet the 3rd world may be knocking on your doorstep because of intolerable living conditions…There is a middle ground between the tofu/bamboo shoots and brodozers. /end of rant.
I’m currently driving a Fiat 500c. Two person road trips, no problem.
I wish they still made VW Lupo, that’s all the car i want, one door, 4 seats, enough room for grocery.
In the market here to smallest one available is Kia Picanto, nice little car.
Early model year Lupo in a silly color like blue/yellow/green with the tim & Tom interior is the dream
I’m on the tallish side so my first concern with any vehicle is adequate headroom. Beyond that, I’m cool with smallness. I don’t fit in a Miata, but I’ve had & loved a 1st gen Honda Prelude, a 3rd gen Civic Si, and a Del Sol. Current dog-having requires a back seat, and I’m quite happy with a cavernous Kia Soul. Anything I can’t fit in there with the seats down probably shouldn’t go in my apartment anyway.
My favorite car was my 89 Honda Civic SI. Small, good handling, peppy engine and 5 speed, decent interior room, supportive seats and roomy w/ the back seat down. Current cars are a 2+2 BMW E93 and a .Golf GTI. The worst of the GTI is a fair amount of road noise.
Let’s see, smallest > largest drives, anyone?
For me, ’73 Vespa Sprint > ’64 Chev Belair wagon. Hard to pick which was more fun.
I used a Sonic for the pest control company I own. We put the rear seats down and had a fold up ladder plus equipment in the back. It was tight but it worked. I sold it 6 months before the engine blew.
For current cars, I have a Chevy Bolt. It is absolutely shocking how much junk you can stuff into that tiny car.
Not that tiny.
A Spark EV OTOH.
Funny you should mention. When car shopping back in 2013 the Chevy dealer let me keep a Sonic hatch for the night. And yes, it was super cute, but just a wee bit tight.
A few years ago, my son and I went to Scotland for a week. I rented a mid-sized car and Hertz “upgraded” me to a Ford Ranger. Since we were going exploring many small roads, I went back in and asked for something smaller. They offered me a Hyundai i10 N line. This is a tiny city car with a 90hp turbo engine and 5 speed manual. It was the perfect car for two people with luggage for a week on the B roads.
I had a 2022 Mitsubishi Mirage for a rental for 3 weeks last year while my Ford Maverick was getting hail damage repaired.
It was an ES trim so it didn’t have fog lights, LED headlights or even a center console. But it did have freezing cold A/C, cruise control, power windows/locks and Android Auto.
The 165/65R14 tires would cry at any hint of enthusiastic driving. It was hilarious to bomb around in. The CVT sucked a little of the fun out of it but you could hammer it around town and no one would notice.
According to Wikipedia, the curb weight ranges from 1808-2105lbs. I think a 5 speed manual car would make a great around town car.
I liked it. It was an honest car that wasn’t trying to be something it wasn’t.
My 5 speed manual Mazda2 makes the commute more enjoyable. I feel like a rally driver but as you said, no one notices.
I wish the manual Mazda2s were easier to find. I’d love to have one as a run-around-town car.
The smallest car that would work for me is the 1965 Mini Panelvan I used to have. I want that back, badly. Room for me, my dog, and whatever nonsense I want to lug around.
How big is your yard Peter? I’ve done mulch runs in my BRZ before no problem! I’d imagine a Sonic would do fine. I remember I had one as a rental once too, turbo was plenty peppy! I love Miata’s too. And I really enjoyed the Abarth I test drove years ago. Basically I love tiny cars, but at 6’4” I have to work pretty hard to figure out which ones I can fold myself into tolerably, if it’s going to be something I’m going to own at least.
My 1973 Triumph TR6 is just the perfect size, and that 2.5L straight six runs great, and is great for the size of the car.
I don’t think I’d want to go smaller than my 2-door Geo Tracker. It’s probably just barely big enough as it is, since I regularly have the full four people in it, and have often wished for a fifth seatbelt, or an actually usable amount of trunk space while the rear seat is in use. Now, it’s body-on-frame design means it’s probably not the most space efficient, so I could probably get a dimensionally smaller vehicle while still having the same interior space. Though that being said, I’m not sure how many American-market vehicles are smaller dimensionally. I’m playing around on carsized.com, and it looks like it’s got a shorter length than a Fit, Yaris, or Spark, so it might be smaller than anything short of a Scion iQ or Smart Fortwo? I guess a Fiat 500 is about 7 cm longer?
Depends. I honestly need different vehicles for different things throughout my workday so I usually have 2 or 3 dailies set up for different tasks.
For hay work, i consistently overload my ‘96 K1500 by close to 50%. I believe it’s rated for 8200lbs towing, and a full load of hay weighs something like 14000. On back roads where I’m not going over 30mph it’s no big deal. That said, i absolutely would not ever go with a smaller truck. My ‘99 K2500 feels a little better with a full wagon and has a 12000lb rating, but it’s not always available and so I often use the 1500. I absolutely couldn’t go any smaller in that capacity, which is honestly a very large portion of my day-to-day activity.
I do, however, use a variety of compact pickups for moving cows, running farm-to-farm, etc. My ‘97 Ford Ranger is about the perfect size…I’ve often thought I could probably downsize to a kei truck, but the Ranger is pretty much perfect for chore work.