The sub-$20K passenger sedan market is incredibly overcrowded, so I've decided to start a bracketed tournament to choose the overall winner. Each bracket will consist of three or four cars each and the winner will move onto the next round. I'm going to limit selections to trims with manual transmissions (because that is what I like) and it has to be a sedan under $20,000 MSRP. Currently that leaves me with 20 something models to sort through, so there are going to be 6 quarter-final rounds, then the winners from those 6 rounds will compete in two semi-final rounds of 3 cars each. Then the two finalists will be compared to each and a final victor will be decided. I will set no priorities during this tournament, as I want to see an all-around winner, not a winner in a particular category.
First up in bracket #1 I'm going to pick a selection of American brands and see how they fare against each other using my site,
The Vehicle For Me. While the Ford Focus has been around for years, the Chevy Cruze and Dodge Dart are relative newcomers.
Here are the results:
It is fairly close between the three cars but the Chevrolet Cruze 1LT takes the victory thanks mostly to it's excellent MPG and range. None of the cars here is especially better than the others all-around, but each one seems to offer its own way of shining. For the Cruze it is fuel economy and range (570 miles!), for the Dodge Dart it is passenger volume (which comes at the cost of being the largest car here), and for the Ford Focus, it is power-to-weight ratio (it is the lightest by a large margin).
Quarterfinal Bracket #1 Winner: 2013 Chevrolet Cruze 1LT Manual
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