For years, I drove a 1990 Honda Civic hatchback, and I still love that car. It got 40 mpg on the highway, and I was able to trave some pretty nasty roads with it to go hiking, skiing and fishing. But last summer in British Columbia it started to fail me as a car to take into places like thier logging roads. Yikes! We passed on 3 lakes as impossible to get to, and almost swamped my care at another.
But I totaled the poor guy on September 9, after an early morning fishing trip when a F-150 stepped on his brakes a little too hard at the end. Sigh. $3000 dollars worth of damage and a $2300 vehicle. So we bought a '97 RAV4, the gas mileage stinks (23 mpg) but it handles the awful road much better, and has been places that I would have been stuck in the Honda. All the gear fits better, and the head room is better, and I get less road spray on my windshield. Its a heck of a fine car for me, but I still miss my Civic. I guess I am just a small car guy. Rob -- Rob Blomquist Kirkland, WA
