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Sedans are losing sales to SUVs and automakers are fighting dorsum. Buyers of SUVs and crossovers similar sitting upward higher, having more cargo room, and available all-bicycle-drive, and they perceive SUVs beingness more rugged. Rather than carelessness the smaller-sedan segments, automakers are making their compact vehicles roomier and quieter. They're offer technology that until recently was just on bigger, college-terminate models. The all-time compact sedans offering the holy trinity of driver assists: blind spot detection, lane departure alarm or lane go along assist, and adaptive cruise command. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are trickling into center stacks.

Here's a comparing of what the acknowledged compact sedans are doing to stay competitive via their technology offerings. We compare the nine compact sedans that sold 100,000 units terminal year in the US — Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Chevrolet Cruze, Nissan Sentra, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Jetta, Mazda three, and Subaru Impreza — plus the Kia Forte that is on stride to sell 100,000 this yr. Our rundown is sorted by 2022 sales. We too recommend the driver-aid options best suited to the car that, where information technology's possible, don't drag in extras unrelated to safety.

Technology makes smaller cars attractive to big-sedan drivers who're downsizing and became fond of their driver assists, to high-mileage sales reps who like cars with high-thirties highway fuel economy, and city dwellers looking to fit into small-scale parking spaces. Compacts are typically 15 anxiety long (180 inches), nonetheless through ameliorate packaging, the majority are EPA-classified as midsize: Borough, Corolla, Cruze, Elantra, Forte, and Sentra. Most are as quiet as large sedans of a decade ago.

The herd is being culled already: Fiat-Chrysler announced information technology will discontinue the meaty Dodge Dart (10th in compact sales last year) as information technology concentrates on crossovers and SUVs. Automotive News reported Buick Verano (13th among compacts) and a close sibling to Cruze, is also due to be discontinued next year; GM called the report "speculation."

2014_Toyota_Corolla_LE_006

2016 Toyota Corolla: picayune driver-assistance now (expect for 2022)

The 2022 best-selling meaty auto (363,000) is the Toyota Corolla. Corolla is the exception to our hypothesis that pocket-size cars sell well when automakers brand more tech bachelor to survive against crossovers and SUVs. The 2022 Toyota is free of the driver-assist applied science others offering. Instead, Toyota in Corolla'south 50th yr continues to offer an affordable compact car with a cap on price-raising bells and whistles, a formula that made Corolla the best selling nameplate always (40 million as of 2022). Spoiler warning: Look for Toyota to get on lath with tech for 2022.

The 2022 Corolla includes a Star prophylactic organisation, Toyota'south term for electronic stability control, traction command, and anti-lock braking; besides eight airbags, LATCH tether anchors for child seats, and front-rear crumple zones, plus side-impact door beams to protect the passenger jail cell. This is a lucifer for what the residuum of the industry does.

2017_Toyota_Corolla_XSE_1

2017 Toyota Corolla

The solitary driver assist is a fill-in camera with projected path lines on all but the entry Corolla 50. For infotainment, there is one of three versions of Entune Audio (except on Corolla 50), which comprises at minimum one USB jack, Bluetooth for phone calls and music streaming, and Siri Optics Complimentary. Entune Sound Plus provides HD Radio, satellite radio, and navigation via the Lookout man GPS Link app yous can add together to your smartphone and display on the 6.1-inch center stack console. Entune Premium integrates navigation into the car and adds Entune app suite, which use your telephone for connection to the cloud and access to iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable, Pandora, Facebook Places, Yelp, Slacker Radio, Destination Search (replaces Bing) and real-time traffic, weather, and fuel prices information. Entune is not complicated. (Translation: It works.)

Look for the 12th generation Corolla (inset) after this twelvemonth to ship with Toyota'southward small-car version of Toyota Condom Sense that employs camera and laser technology to warn of obstacles and if necessary scrub off twenty mph of speed to avert or mitigate a collision.

Front safety (2016 model): no extras. Side safe: no extras. Rear condom: rear photographic camera.

Infotainment: i USB jack, phone based navigation (Entune Plus) or embedded navigation and app suite (Entune Premium).

Worth knowing: Splendid dorsum seat legroom, iii-v inches more than typical compacts.

Competitors desire you to know: The electric current Corolla is not competitive on driver help technology.

Packages to get: Entune Sound Plus (with Scout navigation)

Listing price with recommended tech, freight: Corolla LE with Entune Audio Plus, $20,245

Bottom line: Reliable and affordable now, competitive on tech in a yr

2016 Honda Civic Sedan

2016 Honda Civic: best meaty, among the best tech-focused compacts

2016 Honda Civic SedanThe 2022 Honda Civic is the best of the meaty sedans and Editors' Choice on our sister site PCMag.com NextCar. Most of the tech and safe tech is offered on every trim line, in particular the Honda Sensing packet of stop-and-get adaptive cruise command, forward collision alert, and self-centering lane departure warning / lane go along assist. If you keep your easily lightly touching the bicycle, the car tracks straight and truthful on interstates, even through curves.

Once you get past the entry LX trim line, every Borough comes with the vii-inch Display Audio infotainment touchscreen system that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Machine, and so there's no reason to purchase Honda'south $1,000 Garmin-based navigation, other than that it works fabulously well. The iii almost affordable trim lines, LX (CVT version), EX and EX-T, offer Honda Sensing as the only option, at $1,000, just not embedded navigation. The EX-L above that offers either Honda Sensing or navigation ($one,000 for either); if you lot want both you lot get the summit-line Honda Touring, which also includes LED headlamps and premium sound. Honda Sensing is a technology-only option; it doesn't force on yous a moonroof or leather seats.

Instead of blind spot detection, Honda includes standard (except on the entry LX) LaneWatch, a rear-facing photographic camera on the passenger side mirror that displays the view on the center stack LCD, overlaid with distance lines. It works well past day, so-so at dark, and on the driver side all y'all get is a wide-angle side mirror. Interestingly, on the virtually-as-new Honda Airplane pilot, the top trim line eschews Lane Sentry for a traditional blind spot warning organization.

Front safety: finish-and-become adaptive cruise control, forrard collision alarm, car-and-pedestrian standoff mitigation braking, (Touring only:) LED headlamps. Side safety: Lane keep aid (self-centering). Rear safe: Honda LaneWatch (passenger side) camera with dynamic guidelines.

Infotainment: 7-inch color touchscreen, ii USB ports, CarPlay/Android Auto, Pandora, HondaLink (phone-based telematics).

Worth knowing: Honda Sensing adaptive cruise/lane keep aid offered on all simply cheapest Civic (manual manual LX). The Civic is then roomy in back that Accord-intenders may find the Civic proficient enough.

Competitors want you to know: Touchscreen infotainment is hard to apply, LaneWatch blind spot detection is a passenger side (only) camera, no rear sonar (not even a dealer option in 2022).

Packages to get: Honda Sensing (adaptive prowl control, lane keep assist), $one,000.

List price with recommended tech, freight: $24,035 (EX-T with Honda Sensing)

Bottom line: The electric current standard bearer, midprice lines use phone navigation (merely), held back by the infotainment interface

160128_0632_hyundai_764A5679

2017 Hyundai Elantra: serious competition for Honda

MY17 Hyundai ElantraThe Hyundai Elantra (review) is new with the 2022 model, now shipping. Information technology added refinement, noise abatement, and a meliorate ride thanks to 400 feet of robotically practical aerospace adhesives on the body panels, 40X the mucilage of its predecessor. It is a well-congenital car that'south sort-of-fun to drive with improved handling but without the sporty treatment of the Civic or Subaru Impreza. (A Sport model Elantra is coming.) It continues the "fluidic sculpture" design language of the 2022-2016, dialed back a scrap.

To get the useful tech, bypass the somewhat Spartan Elantra SE for the Elantra Limited, a $4,000 upgrade that includes bullheaded spot detection with rear cross traffic warning. So choose the $2,500 tech package with navigation, Infinity premium audio, Harman's Clari-Fi (music restorer for low-bit-charge per unit files), a color not mono 4-inch instrument console LCD and ii not-so-tech options, heated rear seats and a sunroof. The Ultimate Bundle ($1,900 plus the tech package) is the real tech package hither, with adaptive cruise control (not stop-and-become), lane deviation warning / lane keep help, automated emergency braking and pedestrian detection, and automated high beams. The 8-inch screen on navi-equipped cars is bigger than Honda's and it works better.

The total, $27,585, actually tops the all-everything Honda Borough Touring by $225, although the Elantra'due south actual selling price may be less after incentives. You'll probably adopt the Elantra's infotainment and traditonal blind spot detection (including the beeps y'all can't mute) to Civic's Brandish Audio and LaneWatch, but Borough's adaptive cruise command is full-range. As these cars improve, at that place is still no 1 perfect compact sedan.

If you lot go for the entry Elantra SE, at the least become it with the Pop Equipment Parcel that includes some of the tech basics: 7-inch touchscreen, rear camera, Bluetooth (phone and audio streaming), Android Automobile and Apple CarPlay.

Front prophylactic: adaptive prowl control, forward collision warning, auto emergency braking, pedestrian detection. Side safety: lane departure alarm / lane keep assist. Rear condom: blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert, rear camera with dynamic guidelines.

Infotainment: 8-inch touchscreen (vii-inch westward/o navi), 2 USB, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, BlueLink (telematics)

Worth knowing: Basic telematics service (crash notification, emergency assist) is just $99 a year. Nobody does it less expensively.

Competitors want you to know: So-then acceleration. Lacking in embedded infotainment apps. Loaded Elantras not so inexpensive (earlier discounts).

Packages to get: Limited Ultimate Package and Tech Parcel

List price with recommended tech, freight: Elantra Limited, $27,585.

Bottom line: Nearly as adept as Civic with better infotainment and lane departure warning

2016 Chevrolet Cruze

2016 Chevrolet Cruze: New model makes large strides

The 2022 Cruze Hatch offers the design, engineering and technolo

2017 Chevrolet Cruze hatchback

Since 2022, Chevrolet has been renewing its sedan lineup with serious improvements: Impala, Malibu, Volt, and now this leap the meaty 2022 Chevrolet Cruze sedan. A Cruze hatchback arrives this autumn (inset). The Cruze overall is a major step forward in roominess, economy and functioning. Every auto gets OnStar telematics, a rear camera, Bluetooth, a USB jack (i), and the MyLink infotainment system with a 7- or eight-inch color display with Apple Car Play and Android Automobile. To become all the safety and driver help features, you're buying comfort items as well and winding up with 1 of the costlier meaty sedans.

If you desire the fullest array of driver aid applied science, y'all have to purchase upmarket, past Cruze Fifty, LS and LT to Cruze Premier, a $6,500 leap from the base trim line. Cruze LT offers rear sonar, bullheaded spot detection ("side blind zone alert") and rear cross alert in the $495 commuter confidence I package that requires the $i,150 convenience package (keyless access and start, heated front end seats, ability commuter's seat, remote starting time). Merely Cruze LT Premier offers the $790 driver conviction 2 package (forwards standoff alert, lane departure alarm / lane keep aid, automatic high beams, plus the driver conviction I rear alerts), which in turn requires the $865 enhanced convenience package (110-volt outlet, wireless Qi charging, heated rear seats, unmarried zone automated HVAC, limited upwardly/down driver window). If yous want to use Apple or Google maps for navigation, you can accept or get out the $1,995 lord's day-sound-navigation package (embedded navigation, Bose premium audio, color MID in the musical instrument cluster, sunroof). Just if y'all desire embedded navi, you must besides take the corrective touches RS package (sport body kit, rear spoiler, RS lettering, fog lamps, twoscore non 45 series alloy wheels), putting the car at $28,640 list.

On the route, the tiny engine (1.4 liters) is quite acceptable and gets to 60 mph in less than 8 seconds. Apple CarPlay worked well, the trim looked upscale, front seats were reasonably room and there was good legroom in back, merely passengers over v-pes-9 will find headroom is tight.

If you don't want the driver assists and don't mind streaming phone navigation to the dash, every Cruze offers Apple tree CarPlay and Android Car navigation. Otherwise, yous need Cruze Premier and all its options. In a exam bulldoze, the new Cruze was peppy with its turbo ane.four-liter engine and a large pace forward for Chevrolet, just not the way Malibu and Impala are. Its 42 mpg highway rating makes this a skilful choice for long-altitude cruisers, except there's no adaptive cruise control offered. Note to shoppers: 2022 Cruze Limited is the 2022 Cruze held over. Different beast.

Forepart safety: forward standoff alert, automatic high beams. Side safe: lane departure warning / lane proceed assistance. Rear condom: rear camera, rear sonar, rear cross traffic alert, bullheaded spot detection

Infotainment: 1 USB, OnStar, 7-inch or eight-inch touchscreen with CarPlay / Android Auto navigation or embedded navigation, Qi wireless charging, 110-volt jack, Teen Condom (monitoring)

Worth knowing: All trim lines except Premier tin can be ordered with transmission transmission (saves $ane,000-$one,300). All support CarPlay, Android Automobile.

Competitors want yous to know: No adaptive cruise control. Front/side safety assists express to nearly costly Premier trim line. 5-years-complimentary OnStar Basic service excludes crash notification.

Packages to get: Driver confidence I and II packages (depends on trim line), Convenience Package

List toll with recommended tech, freight: Cruze LT Premium, Commuter Confidence and Convenience packages, $25,650

Lesser line: Best small Chevy always hurt past complex options packages, no adaptive cruise control.

2016 Nissan Sentra intro January 2022 Newport Beach CA

Nissan Sentra: reliable, roomy transportation

If you desire basic, reliable transportation, look to Nissan Sentra. The seventh generation Sentra dates to model year 2022, although ongoing enhancements brand 2022 and now 2022 Sentras more desirable. Of the five trim lines — Sentra Southward (stripped just has Bluetooth and USB), FE+Southward (Eco), SV, SR (a sporty SV) and SL (luxury) — the Nissan SR gets you all the commuter assists yous'll need (every bit options) including adaptive prowl command, but it makes you add luxury / condolement options to get the tech packet. The SL comes standard with the driver assist features, leather seats and a fuller-featured HVAC system.

Trim lines every bit low as Sentra SV and SR offer blind spot detection ("bullheaded spot warning" to Nissan), rear cross traffic warning, navigation, and Nissan Connect in a Driver's Aid Package for $1,020. Sentra SV and up have a fill-in camera. The Sentra SR and SL accept LED low beam headlamps and additionally offer a Applied science Package with adaptive cruise command ("intelligent cruise control" to Nissan), forrad emergency braking, and NissanConnect for $1,230. But they both make you buy premium packages to get the tech package. The SR plus Commuter'due south Assist plus Tech Package would sell for $23,495 if you could do that combo. You can't. Instead it's $25,065 for an SR Premium Package that combines Driver's Assistance with moonroof, premium audio, and leather; plus the Tech Package. Same matter with Sentra SL, which integrates leather and Driver's Assist (BSD, RCTA) in the base price, but requires the $1,130 moonroof-and-Bose Premium Package to get the Tech Package with the total price $25,365. Even so, that's most $2,500 beneath the costliest cars in the segment.

NissanConnect, for Apple and Android phones, links your smartphone to the machine, controls Pandora and IHeart Radio, and allows some texting and Facebook / Twitter messaging, but it's not embedded telematics like OnStar or Hyundai BlueLink. (Nissan offers a 4G WiFi hotspot with apps ($450 plus data) that includes rail-your-teen features.) If your automobile has navigation, that's considered role of NissanConnect, likewise. Nissan describes NissanConnect as existence almost like Apple CarPlay until CarPlay arrives on some Nissans this twelvemonth. Sentra will non be amongst the first models tapped. Android Auto support is even less clear.

No 2022 Sentra is offered with lane departure warning, permit alone self-centering lane go on assist, nor does Sentra offering Nissan's pioneering Around View (surround view) photographic camera organization that gives you a virtual overhead view of the car when y'all're backing into and out of tight spaces. Curiously, Nissans as small every bit Versa Note have Around View. (Versa is the hands-downwardly best-seller among subcompacts with 145,000 2022 sales, a shrinking category in the U.s. that is only one-fifth as big as the compact segment.)

The Nissan Sentra cockpit is nicely finished, only other cars build in a scrap more than excitement. Acceleration from the 130-hp one.8-liter engine and CVT transmission is non class-leading. Against that, the back seat is quite roomy (this is one of the midsize-classified compacts) and all seats are comfy.

Front safety: adaptive cruise command, forward emergency braking. Side rubber: none (no electronic aids). Rear safe: camera, blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alarm.

Infotainment: v.0 or 5.eight-inch touchscreen, NissanConnect with phone apps, navigation, USB, Bluetooth

Worth knowing: Backup photographic camera standard SV and upwardly. Standard EasyFill tire fill chirps the horn when y'all add enough air to reach the proper inflation.

Competitors want you lot to know: no lane departure warning, no Apple CarPlay or Android Machine on the horizon, smallish v.0 or 5.eight-inch centre stack LCD.

Packages to go: Driver Assist Package (SV) or Premium Package and Technology Package (SR, SL)

List price with recommended tech, freight: Nissan Sentra SR, $25,065

Lesser line: Solid, roomy transportation with adaptive cruise, merely not lane departure warning or surround view.

2016 Ford Focus SE

Ford Focus: Sync 3 improves the world'southward best-selling car

The tertiary-generation Ford Focus dates to 2022 with a 2022 refresh. Information technology'southward among the oldest of the top meaty sedans and is currently the world'due south all-time selling model. No new Focus is on the horizon, at least not subsequently 2022 models. Still, Focus has kept upwards with about driver tech other than adaptive cruise command and it'south 1 of the offset Ford models to become the new Sync iii. With Focus, you can get lane divergence alert (but not lane continue assist or lane centering), blind spot detection, rear cantankerous traffic warning, and parallel parking assistance.

Focus comes with a three- or four-cylinder engine or an electric motor; sedan or hatchback; plus performance Focus ST and RS hatchbacks. The base Focus S four-cylinder gas-engine sedan has a rear camera, Ford Sync (non Sync 3), and MyKey, which tracks and limits teen driving behavior. The mid-course Focus SE offers navigation and premium audio ($one,495). The upmarket Focus Titanium makes standard Sync 3, 10-speaker Sony sound, and two USB jacks. Options include Titanium Engineering science Bundle ($795) with bullheaded spot detection ("blind spot information system" to Ford), rear cross traffic warning, and lane go on assist that steers the car back if it approaches the lane markings. There's also Active Park Assist ($395).

Sync uses its ain AppLink software to control 3rd-political party apps running on smartphones. AppLink volition continue and Ford says Apple CarPlay and Android Automobile volition be offered via software update subsequently this year on Escapes with Sync three. 2022 Sync three Escapes will get CarPlay and Android Machine installed and will offer an OnStar-like 4G LTE embedded telematics modem called Sync Connect. Current cars can utilise a connected smartphone for emergency crash notification (911 aid).

Focus handles well and the car is quick, although the 3-cylinder 1.0-liter turbo engine that is fine on the subcompact Fiesta is overmatched past Focus' size. Sync iii works reasonably well (finally). At 178 inches, four inches shorter than much of the competition, the back seat is snug compared with Civic, Corolla, Elantra, and Sentra. If you lot want all the tech Ford offers, you'll need the Focus Titanium.

Forepart safety: automated high beams. Side safety: lane continue assist, active park help. Rear safety: blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alarm.

Infotainment: i-two USB jacks, viii-inch touchscreen, Sync three, MyKey (teen controls), Ford AppLink, navigation, Apple CarPlay / Android Motorcar via downloadable upgrade (later 2022)

Worth knowing: 911 Help does Mayday calling via your cellphone. Ford AppLink works like Apple CarPlay only with more than apps available.

Competitors want you to know: Tight rear seats. Consumer Reports rates Focus reliability worse than average.

Packages to get: Titanium Technology Package $795. Active Park Assist $395.

List cost with recommended tech, freight: Focus Titanium, $25,290

Bottom line:Aging well (but aging), Sync finally fixed, no adaptive prowl control

2015_jetta_tdi_4218

Volkswagen Jetta: New infotainment, solid driver assists

The Jetta, not the Golf, is VW'south best-selling car in the Usa. The sixth-generation Jetta has been congenital since 2022 and a replacement isn't likely before mid-2017, merely VW soldiers on, this year with an improved infotainment organisation and a new gasoline engine. The Jetta diesel remains on stop-sale since final fall, which may exist why Jetta sales are off by x% so far this twelvemonth versus early on 2022. Information technology also may be the 2022 Jetta is late in its life.

VW has many Jetta variants, engines, and trim lines, simply the tech options are pretty elementary: a well-regarded new MIB II infotainment organisation with VW Car-Net-App-Connect is offered across the board with a smallish 6.3-inch touchscreen (v-inches on TSI). The Driver Assistance Packet was expanded this year to include adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, emergency braking, bullheaded spot detection, and rear cross traffic alert. To go all the goods, you demand one of the higher trim lines (model variants).

The heart of the Jetta line is the Jetta 1.4T and Jetta one.8T with trim lines chosen S, Due south with Technology, SE, SE with Connectivity, SEL, and SEL Premium. There's besides a Jetta Hybrid; Jetta GLI (like Golf GTI) 2.0T with SE and SEL trim lines; and were it non for this dieselgate affair, some Jetta TDIs. To get the Driver Assistance features, yous're steered to the Jetta 1.8T SEL or SEL Premium. Add Driver Assistance ($950), shipping, and you lot're at $26,415 (with freight) for a motorcar (SEL) with bi-Xenon headlamps, sunroof, rear camera, and navigation, equally well as vinyl seats ("5-Tex") and a manually adjusting driver's seat. Below that, the Jetta 1.4T SE with Connectivity ($23,145 with freight) gives you lot the newest head unit with access to your phone via CarPlay, Android Auto, or MirrorLink, the telephone-to-dashboard display mirroring technology that is still seeking traction. But there are none of the driver assists.

VW'south engine lineup is solid now that VW dropped the 2.0-liter non-turbo four in favor of a stronger one.four-liter turbo. The car is roomy, but as this generation winds down, the interior appointments aren't that upscale. And ride and handling no longer make yous think you're getting a bargain-priced Audi — non fifty-fifty with the GLI models that are supposed to exist siblings to the hot-rod Golf GTI.

Front end rubber: adaptive cruise control, forrad collision warning, emergency braking, post-collision braking, xenon headlamps. Side safety: none. Rear safety: blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert.

Infotainment: Bluetooth, 1-two USB, 6.3-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, MirrorLink, navigation

Worth knowing: Jetta is one of the roomiest compacts

Competitors want you to know: Current Jetta blueprint dates to 2022. No lane deviation alarm (other VW models have information technology).

Packages to get: Driver Assistance on SEL or SEL Premium

List price with recommended tech, freight: $26,415

Bottom line:Roomy simply feels its age. One German car that doesn't feel so sporty.

2016_Mazda3_A2Q9811

Mazda three: the best sedan for drivers who love driving

2015_Mazda3_5D_s_Touring_6MT_Blue_Reflex_-31The 2016 Mazda3 sedan is an easy car to summarize: sporty, lots of technology (even a head-up brandish), not the most spacious back seat or trunk. There are three trim lines, Sport, Touring, Grand Touring; 2 engines, 155-hp 2.0-liter (designated Mazda3 i) and 184-hp two.5-liter (Mazda3 due south) four-cylinder engines; and vi-speed manual or half-dozen-speed-automatic offered on almost lines (three due south Touring is automated-only). The Mazda3 is sold equally a hatchback-almost-a-wagon version, also; Mazda calls it the Mazda3 5-Door.

Even the entry Mazda3 i Sport comes standard with Bluetooth, ii USB jacks, rear camera, 7-inch touchscreen, Commander rotary controller, and 9-speaker Bose sound. Blind spot detection and rear cross traffic alarm is in a Preferred Equipment package, total price with freight $19,665 (six-speed manual; add $ane,050 for six-speed automatic). Rear parking sonar is a standalone $495 option on any Mazda3.

Mazda3 active driving displayThe Touring makes standard some of the Sport options and adds an Active Drive Brandish, a caput-upwards display (inset) in the form of a panel atop the instrument cluster. The Mazda3 S Grand Touring further adds bi-xenon steerable headlamps and navigation, and provides admission to the $ii,600 Technology Package: adaptive prowl control ("Mazda Radar Cruise Command"), forrard collision warning ("forward obstruction alert"), lane departure warning, automated loftier beams, smart metropolis restriction support (automated braking at two.5-19 mph or iv-xxx kph), active grille shutters, and i-ELOOP regenerative charging. This makes the car a very-mild hybrid: Regenerative braking charges a large capacitor, which helps power the car's accessories, but not the drivetrain, and adds 1 mpg to EPA ratings. This tech package also pushes the Mazda3 shut to $30,000.

The Mazda Connect infotainment system does non yet support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto; Mazda apparently wants to make certain the connections work well earlier turning them loose on paying customers. Meanwhile, Mazda 3 vehicles can control Aha, Pandora, and Stitcher net radio integration apps on smartphones. It will play text messages aloud and let you create voice-to-text responses. It is a good system once you get past the initial learning curve.

On the road, the Mazda3, like whatsoever Mazda, is a blast to drive either with either engine, either gearbox. The larger engine (plus added features) ups the toll of the s Touring by $3,700 over the 2.0-liter  engine, and the s Grand Touring by $two,200 (the Mazda3 Sport only has the smaller engine). The larger engine does assistance functioning and simply affects fuel economy by i-2 mpg. The manual gearbox actually gets 1-3 mpg less in urban center driving than the automated.

Concerns? The back seat is not spacious. Nor is the trunk, only y'all tin solve that for $1,000 past specifying the hatchback Mazda3. There's besides a fleck more road and wind dissonance than the Civic or Elantra. Only if you want the most tech in a meaty car, the Mazda3 is worth a test drive.

Front rubber: adaptive cruise command, forward collision alert, metropolis (depression-speed) braking, autodimming headlamps, steerable xenon headlamps, head-upwardly display. Side rubber: lane departure warning. Rear safety: rear camera, blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alarm, rear sonar.

Infotainment: 2 USB, Bluetooth, 7-inch touchscreen, Commander control wheel, Aha-Pandora-Stitcher support

Worth knowing: Automatic transmission gets better fuel economy

Competitors want you to know: Less luggage and back seat room than other compacts, only south M Touring gets tech package

Packages to get: Engineering science Package, rear parking sensors

List cost with recommended tech, freight: $29,710

Bottom line: The all-time commuter's car of the bunch, serious tech (even a HUD), meliorate for 2 occupants than 4

Subaru 2022 Impreza

Subaru Impreza: The roomy get-to sedan for snow, pelting

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Subaru EyeSight

The 2022 Subaru Impreza is the simply all-wheel-drive compact sedan in the group and it'south standard on all Imprezas. It's as well a roomy family sedan with great crash exam scores. Subaru uses a unique stereoscopic camera system, called EyeSight, for the front-and side-rubber tasks: adaptive prowl control, lane deviation warning, and pre-collision braking (standoff mitigation). The 2022 Impreza represents the last of a five-twelvemonth model run. The successor is due after this year and may accost Impreza's well-nigh pressing issues: The 148-hp engine is somewhat noisy and underpowered compared with the competition; fuel economy is only fair  (28/37/31 for the CVT, 3 mpg less for the five-speed manual).

The 2022 Impreza comes in 5 trim lines: 2.0i, 2.0i Premium, and ii.0i Express, with all three offered every bit a sedan ("iv-door") or hatchback / wagon ("v-door"); plus the hatchback-only 2.0 Sport Premium and ii.0 Sport Limited. EyeSight is offered on one sedan, the Limited, every bit well as on the Sport Premium and Sport Limited hatches. (The Impreza is besides the basis for the high-performance Subaru WRX also every bit the crossover Subaru Crosstrek.)

EveEyeSight comes only as part of a $2,895 package chosen, simply, Moonroof + Keyless Access & Button-Push Offset + Navigation System + Eyesight. Since the moonroof and keyless access are a $1,500 choice available separately, we estimate EyeSight's portion of the price is $600-$900, the rest taken up by the nav organization. The twin cameras at the elevation of the windshield take the place of both radar and the single photographic camera used on other vehicles for adaptive prowl control, forrad collision warning, and lane difference alert. If you want an Impreza sedan with tech, you demand the ii.0i Limited and the Moonroof … EyeSight packet, $23,390 with freight.

1._2017_Impreza_2.0i_Sport_Sedan

2017 Subaru Impreza

Every Impreza gets a rear camera and at least a six.two-inch center stack touchscreen. On Express and above, the screen is vii inches and in that location are dual USB jacks. The Impreza integrates control of smartphone apps Aha, Pandora, and IHeartRadio, but Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not supported for 2022. Every Impreza also gets StarLink telematics. Basic service with crash notification is $99 a year; enhanced service is an industry-leading $149 and includes stolen vehicle and car warning alerts, remote lock/unlock, and a vehicle locator.

The 2022 Subaru Impreza (photo inset) arriving later this year will be longer and wider with slightly more engine power and an upgraded cockpit. EyeSight volition continue. CarPlay and Android Machine will be integrated.

Front safety: Adaptive prowl command, forwards standoff alarm. Side safe: lane difference alarm. Rear rubber: rear camera.

Infotainment: 1-2 USB, Bluetooth, 6.2 or seven-inch touchscreen, navigation, motorcar control of smartphone apps Aha, Pandora, and IHeartRadio. StarLink telematics.

Worth knowing: But compact sedan with all-wheel-drive. High crash-test scores. Roomy back seat. Reliable. Hatchback version if you don't desire to become to Forester or Outback crossovers.

Competitors want you to know: less refinement than contest (until 2022), no bullheaded spot detection.

Packages to get: Moonroof + Keyless Access and Push button-Button Start + Navigation System + Eyesight, $ii,895

Listing toll with recommended tech, freight: $26,285 (Impreza Limited 2.0i)

Bottom line: Best compact sedan for winter driving. All-new 2022 Impreza will be more competitive.

2016 Forte

2016 Kia Forte: ascent star even earlier the 2022 upgrade

2016 ForteThe Kia Forte was redesigned in 2022 and is looking at a midlife refresh for the 2022 model year. For now, it's a roomy, well-appointed car from a company you lot probably didn't know existed ten years ago. Fifty-fifty without much technology beyond the UVO infotainment system, Forte sales jumped 14% final year and some other 26% in the starting time four months, putting a 100,000-unit year within range. Kia is a sis visitor to Hyundai and shares its basic pattern with the Hyundai Elantra, which already has its 2022 version on the market.

Kia offers ii sedans: the Forte LX with transmission or automatic transmission and a 1.8-liter engine starting at $16,840, or the Forte EX with a two.0-liter engine and automatic transmission at $20,840. At that place are as well hatchback (Forte five) and coupe (Koup) variants. On the LX automatic sedan, a $ane,000 Popular Package provides a rear camera with a vestigial four.three-inch brandish. On the Forte EX in that location's a $3,000 Premium Parcel of UVO eServices Telematics (information connections are through your phone), navigation, and heated leather seats. Atop that, buyers can add together the Premium Plus Parcel ($5,000 total for the two) with LED taillamps, a 4.two-inch LCD in the musical instrument console, 10-way power adaptable ventilated driver's seat (but not the rider's seat), heated rear seats, and heated steering cycle seats. That's it for model year 2022 tech.

2017 Forte Sedan EX

2017 Forte Sedan

The updated 2022 Forte sedan (inset), due shortly, adds an South trim between Lx and EX. Both EX and S go UVO telematics, a 7-inch touchscreen, and eventually support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Multiple driver assists will be offered: blind spot detection and rear-cross traffic warning; lane departure alarm and lane keep assist; forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking; just not adaptive cruise control. The 2022 Forte will transport with a new 2.0-liter engine. Pricing hasn't been set yet.

Front safety (2016 Forte): none. Side condom: none. Rear safety: rear camera.

Infotainment: Bluetooth, USB, UVO eServices telematics, navigation,

Worth knowing: Roomy cockpit, uncomplicated controls, affordably priced

Competitors want you to know: No commuter assists on 2022 Forte, then-and so fuel economy

Packages to get: Premium Package, Premium Plus Package

List price with recommended tech, freight: $25,840 (Forte EX).

2016 Honda Civic Sedan

2016 Honda Borough Sedan

What are your best buying choices in compact sedans?

Every compact auto is, at minimum, pretty good in 2022. Almost offer lane departure alarm and bullheaded spot detection and, increasingly, adaptive prowl command that also helps with lower-speed metropolis braking. Here'southward how we'd suggest sorting them out as y'all think about your next car.

Best car: Honda Borough. Honda (above) is on top of its game. The Civic is neat for driver and passengers. The middle trim lines you're likeliest to buy offer Honda Sensing (full-range adaptive cruise, lane deviation warning / lane keep aid) only don't offer navigation and let you connect your iPhone or Android phone and run its navi through the center stack display. Simply make certain you can live with the Display Audio interface. Too see how you like Lane Watch, Honda's unusual take on bullheaded spot detection.

All-time car, runner upward: Hyundai Elantra. An excellent car with a more mainstream touchscreen interface and blind spot detection. Unlike Civic, Elantra's adaptive cruise control isn't end-and-go, though.

2016_Mazda3_MG_2934

2016 Mazda 3

All-time driver'due south car: Mazda3. Mazda3 is a boom to drive, most trim lines offer manual gearboxes, and it'south the merely ane with a caput-up display. Need more than room, don't desire the CX-3 crossover? Try the Mazda3 5-door (hatchback).

Best all-weather car: Subaru Impreza. The only i with all-bicycle drive. Rugged. Reliable. Affordable. About to be replaced.

Roomy for four adults: Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, VW Jetta. Regardless of their other attributes, iv adults tin can ride in comfort in cars that are barely fifteen feet bumper to bumper thank you to interiors that make them, technically, midsize cars.

Waiting for 2022 or 2022 (demand more tech): Toyota Corolla, Kia Forte. Fine cars both but with hardly any commuter assists or tech beyond USB and Bluetooth in the current editions. New models are coming.

Waiting for 2022 or 2022 (demand more modernity): Ford Focus, Subaru Impreza, VW Jetta. The driver assists are pretty good. But the cars are at the ends of their 5-6 yr model lives and feel it.

All the tech you need if you don't need ACC: Chevrolet Cruze. The newest Chevy sedan is well executed. Unlike its true-midsize sibling, Chevrolet Malibu, there's forward collision alert but no adaptive cruise control.