By Bill Sullivan

I have just slipped behind the wheel of a 2008 Toyota Yaris…and I have never felt so big in my entire life.

Not just a little large, mind you; we’re talking Shaquille O’Neal kind of big here. Granted, I’m not a small guy — about 6-1, 240 – but, in this case, the 240 isn’t really the problem. Marvin, my sales rep, seems to have anticipated as much. This could explain why it took him a while to locate the keys when I first asked to have a closer look at Toyota’s least expensive – and, yes — smallest offering. Now, as I reach for the bar that will allow me to slide this seat back and create needed leg room, Marvin’s face takes on a slightly pained expression.

I push back. Nothing happens. “That’s it,” he says. “That’s as far as it goes.”

That’s as far as Marvin and I went, too. Clearly, the Yaris isn’t for everyone. For a base price of $11,350, it is what it is – affordable transportation for small to mid-size people who don’t commonly travel with NBA centers and wouldn’t even consider putting anyone but a child in the back seat.

Lately, a fair number of U.S. car buyers seem to fit that description. According to USA Today, sales of the Yaris were up 70 percent in March from the same month in 2007. Other small cars enjoyed good gains, as did hybrids.

“The Toyota Prius is obviously the hybrid that gets the most attention, since it gets the best mileage for a hybrid, but consumers are starting to discover that there are now a dozen or so new hybrid cars and SUVs that are worth exploring,” says Cars.com editor in chief Patrick Olsen . “There are also plenty of gas-only cars capable of getting 30 miles a gallon.”

The reason behind all this downsizing isn’t difficult to see: Rising gasoline prices and the threat of recession make minimizing purchase price and squeezing out every last extra mile an imperative for the budget-conscious driver.

How best to attack this challenge? Consider two competing schools of thought:

• Take the plunge and go for a hybrid. Sure, you’ll pay $5,000 or more above the cost of a conventional gasoline engine, but it will pay for itself over time. You’ll just have to be a little patient.

• Consider the Yaris and its siblings – small cars that don’t approach hybrid mileage levels (48 city, 45 highway for Prius, for example), but do pretty well in the 30 city/35 highway range.

It’s largely a “pay me now or pay me later” proposition. The real question: How MUCH later?

Pages: 1 2 3