Car Tech forum: Best small car for a college grad?

Amongst the choices you've laid out, I would go for the Honda Fit, as it comes standard with traction control and offers a good amount of room inside. However, I would also consider the Ford Focus, for the Sync system, and the Scion xD or xB. The Scion's also come with traction control, have iPod integration standard, and are from Toyota.

these are really helpful thoughts. I'm adding in the versa and focus to my comparison per the other comments on the thread..

I would agree with the honda fit. Consumer reports rates it as far and away the best economy car. With the manual transmission they got 34 mpg overall (realistic, not estimated), and 32 with the auto.
The Versa is also supposed to be nice, though the gas mileage is unimpressive at 28 mpg (again, a CR tested number. I find them to be quite accurate), plus it's a tad pricier.

I wouldn't bother with the yaris or the focus. As much as i like toyota, the yaris is supposed to be pretty bad (except for it's good gas mileage, about the same as the fit). And as for the focus, there you loose the hatchback, plus the gas mileage is just god-awful (CR is still testing it, but so far they reported they're getting about 24 mpg overall).
Oh and the accent was supposed to be alright, but overall the versa and the fit are definitely the top two budget cars (with the manual transmission fit being at the top)

small car, has all wheel drive, mpg is like 29/25which isint great, but its due to the all wheel drive. but its a perfect car for snow adn city.

For your own safety, avoid the yaris. It doesn't even come with ABS! Also it isn't safe.

I know that this wasn't on your list, but you owe it to yourself to check out the Astra. It's a little more money, but you'll get a LOT of extra safety & comfort features like standard OnStar, Actve Head Restraints (to help prevent whiplash), six airbags, RainSense wipers, Heated Outside Mirrors (great in Boston, I'm sure!), cruise control. You can also get Heated seats for only $250 and StabiliTrak & Traction Control for another $495 (both well worth it, especially in New England). If you look at the other cars, I think you'll see that the Astra is a worthy alternative, and it still gets 30 MPG on the highway with an Automatic (32 MPG with a stick shift)! It's also a LOT more solid feeling than most of those other cars - just slam the doors and you'll see. Good luck with whatever car you choose!