I did lots of highway driving in my 2010 Yaris (weighs about a tonne) this weekend and I was perfectly comfortable. Though I guess the more used you get to larger, heavier cars the more you would find such a small car uncomfortable.
Like a nice pair of expensive headphones, you don’t understannd difference until you experience it. Like a nice pair of headphones, it’s not a necessity, either.
That said, I don’t think that has a whole lot to do with weight. NVH reduction techniques like insulating material and structural adhesives are not a major weight consideration, it’s more of a cost issue.
Expensive headphones and expensive cars are in that sense completely different things.
And of course in the subcompact ultra-cheap segment like the Yaris was in you’d see a difference just from going up segment within the same brand without touching their luxury marquee.
Going further down this tangent I have always felt like the budget segments have really struggled in the US because paying cash or getting unsubsidized new car financing is so rare. Financing is easy to come by that the purchase of a penalty box economy car starts making a lot less sense when you think of the idea of “$50 more per month gets me into a higher segment.” Over 5-7 years that cost difference is significant, large even, but at some point you stretch out that cost difference enough and it’s hard to argue with the consumerist impulse.
Then you’ve got the “everything is a hybrid” setup with brands like Toyota where you’re not really saving any gas money by buying a smaller car anymore. This is also a significant reason why everything is an SUV these days. (And it’s not like you can get a cheap one, see the Chevy Trax or Kia Niro)
And yes, within a single brand there is price differentiation too. That's the whole point: different priced vehicles for people with different budgets and matching expectations. Absolutely nobody is going to expect the same kind of luxury from a Yaris as from a Lexus.
I agree that when you spend other people's money it is easier to overspend, no contest on that.
I never intended to make an apples to apples comparison. I’m not even really making much of a commentary on how much money people have to spend.
To own a 2010 Yaris someone had to buy that as a brand new car off the lot. The value proposition of that sort of new car purchase is a difficult sell because someone on a budget like that isn’t buying a new car typically, and because of how car buying is financed in America.
If a new car buyer is bothered that the 15 year TCO of a Camry is $750 per year ($60/month) higher than a Yaris [1] when considering fuel economy and purchase price spread, that person is likely not going to be buying a new vehicle at all.
The way depreciation curves work there is a cost floor on a reliable transportation and that depreciation curve isn’t favorable to small economy cars. You don’t predominantly see lower income buyers driving Yaris, Mirage, and Chevy Sparks around. Instead you see them driving around in whatever vehicles depreciated the most and had enough new sales volume to be widely available as used vehicles.
Sure, that’s not an apples to apples comparison. But that’s the kind of real comparison that buyers make, in my opinion.
I’m not here to say that the person replied to is wrong for driving and enjoying a Yaris. I’m merely trying to explain why those economy cars have disappeared from the market, as well as talk a little bit about noise reducing materials.
[1] Yes, I did the math on this. The base model purchase price difference was about $8,000, so that’s $533 per year over 15 years of ownership. The mpg difference is 32 versus 26 combined, so over 200,000 miles at $5/gallon average that’s a fuel cost difference of $3233 or $215 per year. We are assuming maintenance and insurance costs are identical.