Toyotas are very good, speaking as someone whose owned 2 of them.

Totally! Toyota won me over with my old Camry, and Spud the Echo is continuing the trend. I fucking LOVE my Echo.

I'm one of the freaks who knows that Toyotas score so high but I've never liked their interior designs and am not partial to their ergonomics. I feel the same way about their Lexus brand.

Not that I'm in the market for a new car, but when my trusty Accord dies (my fourth, two inherited from parents and two bought used), I'm tempted to look at a Honda Fit.

(That should've been "who's")

Honda have terrific back support, the best, I think. I miss that in the Sub. The seats kind of suck, but at least they don't send me to the chiropractor the way certain Volvo station wagons or Mitsubishi Monteros do/did on older models.

A friend bought a new Fit and she loves it. It's adorable! She says, though hasn't demo'd it to me, that the seats fold completely flat, so it actually can haul around quite a bit of stuff.

Interior design matters. I love our Saturns because I can reach and see everything. They passed the crash test by being great protection in a accident. And they didn't lose that much in value. And they work pretty well for the conservative driver ( me) and for the driver that likes to find the edges of the car ( DH). If you are a more careful driver -- the easier it fits you from the beginning the better.

Ma~~~ to Aims mom.

when my trusty Accord dies (my fourth, two inherited from parents and two bought used), I'm tempted to look at a Honda Fit.

I adore my Honda Fit. I got mine last year, and I haven't regretted it for a minute. It lives up to its name, too—I've stuffed skis, arm chairs, and lots of other things into it. Mine got 44 mpg on a road trip last fall, and consistently gets 35 mpg in town. (I drive stick, which helps with the mileage.) It's not a speed demon and I hear more road noise than I'd like when I get above 70 mph, but that's not really its niche. It handles highway speeds fine, it's just a little louder than I remember my Grand Am being. I also got the base model—the sports version might be better there. I'm 5' 8" and it feels very roomy for me inside. My 6' 4" nephew found it a wee bit cramped. Still, I fit 5 people, including myself, in mine for a bit of in-town driving, and no one ended up crushed or unexpectedly engaged at the end of it.

The rental car I am driving right now is a Toyota Corolla, and I've found much to dislike about it.

The car I rented for my trip to the Keys a couple weeks ago was an Accord, and it was merely okay. My biggest gripe was the huge B and C pillars -- whenever I looked back and to the side for traffic, much of my view was blocked. Very nervous-making.

My folks bought a used Kia Optima several years ago, and liked it so well that when my littlest brother went off to college they gave it to him and bought themselves a brand new one.

My Mom just got a Scion and she loves it. She test drove a bunch of cars and only tried this out because my brother recommended it. She did it to humor him.

Turns out it was her favorite. I know it's not what P-C is looking at, but just don't be afraid to test drive something that's no on your list because it may be the one.

Mom is tall with long legs and there is plenty of head room. The only problem is the cup holders in the console between the front seats, there are two and 1 is slightly above the other and it's slightly smaller so you can't fit two large drinks. Which is a very minor issue.

libkitty:

Ok, so I know I'm all lurky, and I jumped the line here, but I was asked about gathering a listing of film industry trade mags, and my mind immediately went to Buffistas. I couldn't help myself. So, does anyone have any suggestions beyond Variety and Hollywood Reporter? They're not looking for popular entertainment magazines or academic criticism types.

Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are okay general industry mags (though they have the most irritating writing style imaginable, practically unreadable), but depending on what you're looking for there's much better magazines out there.

Variety and THR are sort of industry business magazines. They're primarily prepared for studio executives and producers, to know what's going on at the various agencies and studios around town (and the world).

For more of a technical trade magazines (and somewhat more readable), there's:

Cinefex, a visual effects trade magazine. They do very long, detailed articles about movie visual effects, accompanied by many fine photographs.

American Cinematographer, which is the official publication of the ASC, the American Society of Cinematographers. It's an excellent magazine on the subject of principle film photography - how the camera and lighting work together to capture moving images.

Below the Line is a magazine for all the hundreds (nay thousands) of tech and craft people who work "below the line" (meaning, part of the basic resource package required to make a film, opposed to the "above the line" costs - screenplay, rights, director, stars). This is magazine aimed directly at the entertainment industry equivalent of the working stiff.

There are any number of other magazines speaking directly to some technical or artistic aspect of filmmaking, some are interesting, some are not.

But as far as Variety or THR.... Unless you're thinking about becoming Hollywood producer or talent agent, those are really not very interesting magazines. You can find out all you need out of those two magazines, plus a whole lot more, written in a much better style, by reading Entertainment Weekly.

{{{Aims}}} Much ~ma to your mother.