A Hen's Tooth For Sale: 2018 Toyota Yaris SE (With a Manual Transmission)

2018 Toyota Yaris SE. Photo via Lexus of Seattle 

I've found a hen's tooth. A rarity. This is a 2018 Toyota Yaris SE (located at Lexus of Seattle). It was the only Yaris model to come with this front and rear facia. That's right, it only appeared for one year, as the Yaris hatchback was discontinued for 2019, only to reappear as a rebadged Mazda2 for 2020, and then genuinely made extinct. To make this Yaris rarer, it's got the factory two-tone black-and-blue paint scheme. To make it a genuine hen's tooth? It's a five-speed manual. And just in case that wasn't enough, it's located in the Pacific Northwest—an area that didn't get allocations of these with manual transmissions. It's like finding a rare animal that happened to migrate out of its natural habitat. (Now re-read this in a David Attenborough voice.)

These Two Small, Cheap Cars Are Selling Like Hotcakes, Despite Impending Discontinuation

The Mitsubishi Mirage and Nissan Versa are the last two mainstream, affordable subcompact cars—heck, last inexpensive cars of any kind—left on the North American market. And guess what? They're recently selling pretty darn well. How well and for how long? 

We Drove a 2015 Chevrolet Spark Halfway Across The Country

I've long had a soft spot for the Chevrolet Spark. When I reviewed the 2013 Spark 2LT  over 11 years ago I said, "... it’s an impressive inexpensive car with lots of personality. In fact, I’m quite smitten with the Spark." A couple years later, my mother-in-law purchased a 2015 Spark LS, aka Sparky. Things have changed since then and she no longer needs it. So, we recently drove it back from Wisconsin to our home in Oregon, some 2,170 miles, and will sell it. So what's it like to drive an A-segment car halfway across the U.S.?

Mitsubishi, Kia Kill Their Smallest Cars; U.S. Subcompact Market All But Dead. Here's Why.

On August 15, 2023, Automotive News (paywalled site) reported Mitsubishi may be discontinuing its thrifty Mirage model after MY2024. This really isn't that much of a surprise since automakers have been abandoning the subcompact market for years now in North America. (Mitsubishi Japan already killed off the Mirage, FYI.) Then today, I heard word via Carscoops Kia is going to stop selling its Rio in the U.S. This leaves just the MINI brand and its small cars and the Nissan Versa as the sole subcompact car offerings in the U.S. I'm not surprised. 

Our Old Suzuki Sidekick, The Teal Terror, is Still Alive in Eastern Oregon

 

This is our old Suzuki Sidekick, The Teal Terror. We sold our trusty Sidekick in 2016 and I hadn't seen it since until now. 

We Sold our 2007 Toyota Yaris. Long Live The Yaris. Long Live Subcompact Cars.

 

Today was a big day. Today we sold our 2007 Toyota Yaris. This marks a lot of milestones. This marks the end of an era. 

Suzuki Announces Plan to Return to North American Market - AGAIN

Suzuki announced today that it is making plans to return to the North American automotive market in 2023. The Japanese automaker pulled out of the U.S. and Canada in 2013, after only having its subcompact SX4, compact Grand Vitara SUV, and mid-sized Kizashi sedan as offerings.

The company, according to a moderately anonymous source maybe, has said it reevaluated the U.S. market and decided to focus on its strength of small crossovers and hatchbacks. It is expected the company will initially offer the latest variant of the SX4 S-Cross pictured above. However, this will be its largest vehicle offering. New dealers might open as soon as Feb. 29, 2023.

Small Cars Are Alive and Well in Mexico

Suzuki Ignis in Mexico

New subcompact car sales are nearly nonexistent right now in the USA. There are only a couple new tiny cars even available for purchase anymore. However, if you want to see a ton of new and different small cars, all you have to do is cross our southern border. I just got back from a week in Manzanillo, Colima, and found small cars are alive and well in Mexico. 

To Be Discontinued: Chevrolet Spark

 

In what can only be described as "completely unsurprising," the subcompact Chevrolet Spark will be discontinued. There had been reports out of Korea that GM Korea was going to halt production months ago, but Chevrolet's U.S. representatives would not confirm its discontinuation for the North American market at that time. Well, now it's official. 

Wrecked: Awesome Lifted Suzuki SX4

Photo via C.Y. Lee

Over eight years ago, I ran into one of the most badass Suzuki SX4s I'd ever seen. This lifted Suzuki SX4 had big knobby tires, a flat-black paint job, and a custom front bumper among other things. I actually got to know the owner, C.Y. Lee, a bit because of it. Ironically, I had just been talking to C.Y. about this car on October 15, 2021, and then, next thing we knew it, it was totaled by someone who went on a rampage in stolen school bus. Yes, you read that right.