Well, oldduke, by "all accounts" the Soul and Elantra both give good value for money, if you read U.S. and Canadian consumer mags. In a recent issue, Consumer Reports even recommends the Soul as a graduation gift to worthy candidates.

Personally, I don't care for the styling of either, especially the Soul, which looks too much like a delivery van - and those weird taillights. As you may recall, the recent thread about the 245, those old bricks were great haulers. Even my '88 744 can hold a full-size dishwasher standing up in the open trunk. Don't even think of doing that with today's matchboxes.

IMHO, the way to go today is with a hatch or wagon, never mind aerodynamics. Actually, one wonders why they didn't make the Prius as a wagon/hatch right away. The profile of the "sedan" is almost the same. Well, they might squeeze out one more mpg, I suppose.

Don't know if you received the photoshopped comparison of the Dodge Caliber vs. Volvo PV544, copy of which I sent you through the email channel. Before anyone objects, I'll concede it has a lot of "plot holes". After all, we are looking at a 50 year gap. However, the similarity in side profiles is "uncanny". There is a fair difference in frontal area, track width and weight, if we compare the cross sections, which is missing on that attachment.

As I admitted, in my post to Onkel, I'm not as shrewd as could be - just call me wild and wacky. I might just go for the Caliber, and damn the torpedoes. The prices are good, and it has SUV like ground clearance, which can be handy on our snow-bound (Montreal) winter streets.

Let's hope that someone, somewhere may yet revive the concept of a "simple" affordable RWD car - maybe a kit to convert a light pickup truck - they are getting more car-like - dream on. -Omar