The $25k car is going extinct?

in 2021 my beloved Honda Fit got totaled. I bought it new in 09 and only had 80K miles on it. They don't sell new ones in North America any more. So I bought a Kia Rio. They don't make those any more. I don't really like it but with the current chaos in the economy I'm not trading it in any time soon.

I was in the UK for the first time last month and was struck by how many hatchbacks and sedans they have that we don't in North America.

The dwindling of small hatchbacks in the US is so disappointing it’s difficult to put into words. They were the perfect little suburb grocery grabbers, and now you can’t buy them without overpaying for a used one. The next best thing is a sedan that’s longer and harder to maneuver and park despite having markedly worse cargo space and utility, and to get a hatch (not just a liftback) you’re forced into crossovers/SUVs which carry a chunky price premium.

What I wouldn’t do to bring the Fit and Yaris hatch back to the US market.

If you want AWD a crosstrek or impreza are good little hatchbacks, ignore the "cross" in the name, its much more hatchback than it is a mini-SUV. It is sad that so many of the other little hatchbacks are gone (ex. fit, vibe, etc).

You can buy a Subaru Impreza hatchback.

The closest Honda is probably what I replaced my 2007 Fit with: the hatchback Civic. It's a little longer, and has less usable cargo height, but otherwise is similar enough. (It tolerates my height better too.) Also available in fun, fast versions.

the impreza's feels long enough that it is more of a "wagon" than a "hatchback"

The biggest flaw of Civics (even the latest model) is the lack of height adjustment for the front passenger seat.

The UK is heading down the same path, the best selling car used to be the Ford Fiesta but it has been discontinued now. VW have dropped the Up. Skoda aren't replacing the current Fabia. The general trend is towards bigger SUV's.

The second hand market isn't great because we stopped making cars during Covid so there is a dearth of four/five year old models.

The only light at the end of the tunnel is EV's are now comparable to their ICE equivalents price wise.

There's a load of really good deals on EVs at the moment from what I've seen, I'm guessing cars coming off corporate lease.

From https://www.cinch.co.uk/used-cars/electric-fuel-type?fromYea... there seems to be quite a lot of 2022+ EVs available for ~£10k with relatively low mileages.

So if you've got space for a home charger, those could be pretty good deals.

And it's even more ridiculous because we don't even have the space for these things. People driving round in these monstrosities, struggling down narrow lanes or into parking spaces. Is nobody able to see further than their nose? What are you going to do when everyone has one? I suppose demand bigger roads, more parking etc. And who's going to pay for that? A classic tragedy of the commons.

The Subaru Levorg is the actual wagon version of the same platform. Unfortunately it's not available in the US market.