Automotive bells and whistles are within your reach
We rounded up five features, once considered luxuries, that are on drivers’ wish lists
When it comes to buying cars, most Canadians shop with a wish list in hand.
Bare bones choices are out there: you can get a base model subcompact such as a Chevrolet Spark or Nissan Micra for under $10,000, and that’s all the car some people need.
But Canada’s climate isn’t the most forgiving for drivers. It’s well-known that there are features out there that can make life a lot easier and more pleasant through those long winters, many hours spent on the road, and that some of the more desirable ones no longer break the bank.
Here are some of the features Canadians seek out most and where to find them at a great price (Listed figures are before taxes and fees): All-wheel drive: If you live in a place where the weather can sometimes pack a real wallop — and let’s face it, pretty much all of us do — being able to send power to all four of your wheels can be a lifesaver.
Subaru has long touted its Impreza compact four- and five-door models as offering the most affordable allwheel drive in Canada with sedans starting at a manufacturer suggested retail price of $19,995. A complete redesign is on tap for the 2017 model and will begin arriving in dealerships in December. So, you can either wait on the new one for its more robust list of standard features, larger cabin and cargo space, and upgraded infotainment system, or you can head out now and try to score a deal on a 2016 version. Heated seats and steering wheel: This highly desired feature was once a luxury and a pipe dream for many Canadians but is now priced well within reach.
Hyundai has been ahead of the curve in introducing heated seats and steering wheels as standard equipment on many of its models. The new 2017 Elantra compact sedan brings standard heated front seats right down to the base model, which starts at $15,999 (or $18,499 with a six-speed automatic transmission). Upgrade to the GL trim and you’ll also get a heated steering wheel from $20,349. A backup camera: All new cars will be required to have one beginning in May 2018. But if your new car pur- chase can’t wait that long, consider a Honda Civic.
This was the 2016 Car of the Year as voted last winter by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), and for good reason: there’s a lot of value packed into its $16,390 starting MSRP, including a multi-angle rear-view camera. If you spring to go up one trim to LX to get out of the manual transmission and add the CVT (from $20,590), your camera gains guidelines and you also get heated front seats and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto functionality among other features. Collision mitigation: You used to have to dig pretty deep into Toyota’s trims to find some of the more popular safety features, but that’s chang- ing as they’re beginning to make their Toyota Safety Sense product suites, all of which include some form of forward collision mitigation, standard equipment in all but a handful of their vehicles for the 2017 model year.
This means that for $16,290 you can buy a Toyota Corolla that comes with the pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert with steering assist, dynamic radar cruise control and automatic high beams. For this level of safety sophistication, that’s a ripping deal. A third row: All of the cars mentioned so far are compact sedans or hatchbacks. What about Canadian families on a tight budget who need more than five seats?
The go-to answer is still the Dodge Grand Caravan, which gets you three rows of seating and over 4,000 litres of total rearward cargo space starting from $24,145 (plus that base price gets you an automatic transmission).
But if a minivan isn’t for you, Dodge still has you covered. The base trim on the Dodge Journey is called the Canada value package, and when you add the optional third row you can get into a crossover with an automatic transmission and seven seats for $23,920.