Car Category Confusion!
Posted on July 19, 2010
Filed Under Car Complaints
As consumers, the auto industry can be awfully confusing unless you work for a car company or are simply an automotive fanatic. Even automotive fanatics who are familiar with all the models you will find at Used Car Indianapolis shoppers have the option to decide between might still be confused about how to make accurate comparisons. Say you set your sights on the new Ford Fiesta which will be available at any Cincinnati Ford dealer soon, how will you know you are making the right choice? You can’t compare oranges to carrots; they are different food categories. If you are in the market for a Ford Fiesta, you should check out vehicles that are similar to it to make sure you really like all that is has, or doesn’t have, to offer. You could compare it to the Passat Wagon which can be found at any VW Dealer, but then how do you make an accurate comparison between two very different vehicles? Frankly, it can be quite confusing. We will outline how U.S. News categorizes their cars. This won’t help you with trucks, vans, SUVs, crossovers, or hybrids, but seeing all the categories laid out can only help to clarify the car categories.
U.S. News divides cars into small, midsize, large, sports cars, convertibles, wagons, and hybrids. All of that sounds simple enough until you realize that each of those is further broken down into subcategories!
Small cars have the subcategories and examples as follows. Affordable small cars, with the top three models being Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, and Honda Civic. Upscale small cars, with the top three models being Volkswagen GTI, Audi A3, and BMW 1-Series. Lastly, hatchbacks with the top model being the Ford Fiesta.
Midsize cars have similar subcategories. Affordable midsize cars typically are under $25,000 and include the Ford Fusion Hybrid. Upscale extends to $40,000 and includes the BMW 3-Series.
Large cars also include luxury model categories. Affordable large cars include the Ford Taurus, with prices usually under $35,000. Luxury large cars include the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Infiniti M, and Acura RL. Super luxury cars cost more than $60,000 and include the Porsche Panamera. The last subcategory is exotic cars and includes the Maserati Quattroporte.
Sports cars have similar subcategories as above. Affordable sports cars are under $35,000 and include the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Vehicles above $35,000 are known as luxury sports cars and include the Chevrolet Corvette. Super luxury implies a price over $70,000 and includes the Porsche 911 Carrera. Exotics cost over $100,000 and an example is the Lamborghini Murcielago. Muscle cars go into this category and include the Chevrolet Camaro.
The convertible category is broken down into affordable (Ford Mustang) and luxury (Chevrolet Corvette). The wagon category is divided into affordable full size wagons (Subaru Outback), affordable compact wagons (Hyundai Elantra Touring), and luxury wagon (Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon). The hybrid category has yet to be divided and includes the Ford Fusion Hybrid.
People who looked at this item also looked at…
Related items
Comments
Leave a Reply
