Apple to Apple New Car Comparison

Okay, you want to do a new car comparison. Well, it is important to do an apples to apples search. By that I mean that you should be comparing similar vehicles rather than looking all over the map. Narrow down the type of vehicle you are looking for and then make a new car comparison based on that kind of car.

We'll start with the coupe market. We'll consider 4 vehicles priced between $17,000 and $19,000: the Volkswagen Golf, Dodge Caliber, Kia Soul Exclaim and Mazda 3S Sport. Here's one difference: the Golf has a 2.5 liter engine while the 3S Sport has only a 2 liter engine. The Exclaim Soul and Sport have lower displacement than do the Golf or Caliber. The Kia is the only one without front side airbags.

At the other end of the spectrum, you also see similarities and differences between cars. For instance, the Rolls Royce Ghost and the Mercedes Benz S-Class are very similar cars. Very similar in many ways except for price. The Ghost starts at $245,000 while the opening bid on the S-Class is just $133,000. So, if you are not worried about the cache of driving a Rolls Royce, the S-Class could be a bargain.

The SUV market also shows the differences between vehicles. Let's take a look at four SUVs ranging in price from $19,000 to $22,000: the Kia Sportage, Suzuki Sportback, Nissan Rogue, and Mitsubishi Outlander. One difference is the horsepower with the Sportage having 140 horses and the Rogue with 170 horsepower. They also differ in how many miles to the gallon they get with the Sportage getting only 25 while the Sportback leads the pack at 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

When you are making a new car comparison, it is important to consider cars by class rather than make judgments between different types of vehicles. Different cars are made to suit different drivers. A Mini Cooper is not the ideal vehicle for a family of six, for instance. When you compare like vehicles, you get a sense of what is the best value for you.