These cars although cheap, offer quite a bit for such a cheap price. You get a decent enough 4 cylinder engine that can get out of its own way within a reasonable time, surprising reliability considering the build quality, and an ok driving experience. These attributes make this car an excellent Point-A to Point-B car for a city, or a long highway commute with its good fuel economy, and being cheap to fix.
Fuel economy
I bought this car flat for $2000 off an elderly lady, and I can already say, I've paid this cars way through gas mileage savings easily compared to my previous truck.
Controls and instruments
Everything is straightforward and functional. It all works the way it is meant to with no gripes and no strange functions or buttons.
Front seat support & comfort
The front seats are cloth and don't really have too much padding on the back but on the lower part, where you sit, there is so much padding that it makes it very comfortable on long road trips.
Reliability & durability
I've driven this car thousands of miles now and I can firmly say that this car is darn near unkillable. It's been on gravel and driven long distances without missing a beat. This car may have been made with haphazard build quality but the powertrain, suspension, and brakes take beatings and never stop ticking.
Depreciation
With these cars being so cheap to buy, many junkyards scrap these cars and sell the parts at serious discounts over brand new parts. Combine the cheap parts with the "easy" nature of the powertrain and suspension repairs and you get massive savings over dealer fixes.
Powertrain performance
It is slow. I mean really slow. You can really tell this car has 115 horsepower. Passing isn't too bad but it really struggles in certain conditions. The automatic works quite well with smooth shifts but paired with a slow motor makes the engine shift constantly.
Safety & braking
These cars are practically tin cans. I don't think an airbag is going to save you when you get into a collision. The sheet metal is really thin and quite easy to dent which doesn't really help in the overall safety department. Despite this, the ABS and Traction Control work quite well though. It's not aggressive like it is in my Rav4 but it gets you out of a jam nicely. Braking is also nice on this car but it tends to go through pads more often than usual.
Quietness
It's not very quiet. Half of it might be my tires but when driving on the highway at speed, it is quite boomy and loud.
Rear seat room & comfort
These cars may look big enough for 4 people on the outside but if you have the front seat moved all the way back like I do, there is very little footroom for rear seat passengers. On the plus side though, the seats are comfortable enough.
Interior styling
My car is grey, on grey, on grey. The whole car is grey. It's a little boring.