I have been scoping for the perfect subcompact car for almost a month now. Our room is now filled with car magazines such as C! and TopGear and I also get swamped by printouts of reviews of different cars (courtesy of hubby). I’ve been watching motoring shows too.

Basically, the search has trimmed down the choices to: (a) Toyota Yaris, (b) Honda Jazz, and interestingly (c) Hyundai i10 1.2L. Although the Hyundai i10 has not been rated by C! yet, the Yaris and Jazz are on the 8-9 out of 10. It’s good enough because only the Ferraris and other high-end cars usually get a 10. In the latest issue, though, you’d see that the Mitsubishi Lancer GT surprisingly inched its way to a 10/10 too. If you wanna know why, then grab a copy of C! in the latest news stands.

Subcompacts nowadays are very appealing to car buyers because they’re economical and environment-friendly, with only so much of carbon emissions. This is a sure come-on for a staunch environment advocate as myself. I wouldn’t dwell on the Yaris and Jazz, since the two have clearly etched a sturdy name for themselves in the market. Toyota and Honda are at the forefront of automobile manufacturing business. Thus, Yaris and Jazz as choices need no justification. So, allow me to walk you through the less popular (but ever building its reputation) Hyundai i10, with 1.1L and 1.2L variants. Let’s focus on the 1.2L.

Price-wise, the Hyundai i10 1.2L is an absolute winner, which will only costs 578,000 pesos, roughly 12,844 USD. Neat. By the way, the 1.2L variant is arriving on October 16 here in the Philippines. In India, the i10 was released in October 2007 and in just a few months after its release, it has already garnered the following awards:

• • Business Standard Motoring, December 29, 2007
  • - Car of the Year 2008
• • CNBC-Auto Car, January 9, 2008
  • - Car of the Year 2008
  • - Best Compact Car 2008
• • NDTV-Car India, January 10, 2008
  • - Car of the Year 2008
  • - Small Car of the Year 2008
• • Overdrive, January 11, 2008
  • - Car of the Year 2008
  • - Viewer’s Choice award
• • iCOTY (India Car of the Year), February, 2008
  • - Car of the Year 2008

From Hyundai Blog “Hyundai is adding a 1.2-litre engine to its i10 city car line-up. This four-cylinder engine is quicker and more refined than the 1.1, which continues, but is just as economical: it returns 56.5mpg and emits just 119g/km of carbon dioxide, keeping it in tax band B (£35 a year).” Following the India launch, the i10 debuted in Europe in the Bologna Motor Show and crash tests in Europe have given Hyundai i10 a 4 out of 5 stars.

Guess I’ll have to wait for December for the hottest promos. Thanks to car companies that need to up their annual sales. Learn more about the i10. More here.

Update: 

Btw, Honda Accord also got a 10/10. The more expensive variant.