2008 Honda Civic vs. 2008 Mazda 3 vs. 2008 Subaru Impreza vs.

Associating the word "economy" with air travel is akin to lumping "non-fat" with ice cream. Chances are good the byproduct won't be delectable. After all, there are reasons why the economy section of an airplane is often referred to as a cattle car, what with its long lines, tight quarters, and general unpleasantness. To make things worse, economy rarely applies to economy-class ticket prices. And what's that? Another $5 for a slice of Velveeta, a Slim Jim, a pair of Wheat Thins, and some of Sun-Maid's sweetest? Thanks but no thanks.

Happy to say, when traveling by land, economy class paints a much sunnier picture. Take the four sedans here. With base prices around $20,000, each delivers, at a minimum, 140 horsepower, four-wheel disc brakes, ABS, A/C, six airbags, cruise control, 16-inch alloys, and a six-speaker audio system. Penalty box? Hardly. Moreover, all offer high-end features and options, including a power moonroof, leather upholstery, premium sound, satellite radio, and navigation. Even when fully loaded, at roughly $24,000, these "econoboxes" still cost almost five grand less than the average transaction price of a new car sold today.

For this test, we established the following ground rules: Losers from the last small-car comparison (July 2007) were not invited back, meaning no Hyundai Elantra, Mitsubishi Lancer, or Nissan Sentra. Further, each had to be all-new or recently freshened, carry a base price within a few bills of 20 large, and be powered by a four-cylinder engine. Oh, and lest we forget, they had to shift as most Americans prefer-automatically. In fact, the take rate for automatics among our contestants, whether actual or forecast, ranges from 72 percent for the Impreza to 93 percent for the Corolla, with the Civic and 3 filling the void at 82 percent.

With our gear loaded, we headed for the quaint town of Tehachapi, site of our Car of the Year handling loop. Encompassing 30 miles of highway stretches, town streets, and mountain roads, the COTY course has proven ideal for measuring a car's liveability, competence, and fun factor. For a midday break, we paid a visit to Mountain Valley Airport, home of myriad sailplanes and the training spot for many NASA and military test pilots. Which one of our frugal flyers would glide to the finish line first? Time to board.