A Look at question of the Week: What’s Your Favorite “City Car?”—WINNER’S UPDATE
WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:
We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our victor will accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store and the acclaim of their peers.
We mentioned that if you could justify it, going for a contrarian pick was a viable choice for our question this week, which was: What’s your favorite “city car?”
You staked your claim for a nice variety of “city cars.” The iconic Fiat 500 received the highest number of mentions, though it was used as an example in our original post. That means that this week, we’re exercising our Editorial Privilege and awarding the prize to the nomination that stood out to us the most. And that came from @mr3000, who put forward the Honda City Turbo II and Motocompo combo:
Image: Road & Track, May 1982
In the early days of the Honda City, Car and Driver and Road & Track nabbed a Japanese-market example for their own road tests, and staff of both magazines gave it high acclaim. Car and Driver solo tested the Motocompo, which was available as an optional extra for that crowded final trudge to the workplace.
Introduced in 1983, the pocket-rocket “Bulldog” Turbo II upped the ante with a wider body and a boosted and intercooled four-pot for that bustling City life. Congratulations, mr3000! Be sure to check your email to claim the prize.
Now, let’s take a look at some other popular nominations from this week’s discussion thread:
“Austin Mini. Or a Hummer H1. Hard to choose.”
Here’s an anecdote from recent QotW champ @bodhi1601:
What’s the best city car? That’s a great question, but I think the answer depends on what city you’re talking about.
For me, the city will always be Boston.
I’ve been to a lot of big cities. I’ve driven in New York, where the drivers are very fast but very skillful, and the roads are laid out like a chessboard. I’ve driven in the apparent madness of Paris, where the rules of the road are well know to the locals but a complete mystery to everyone else and I’ve driven in Rio de Janeiro where there is a shocking lack of respect for human life on the road but I must say nothing can prepare you for the chaos and mayhem of Boston inner city streets. I got my driver’s license there, and I went to school there with my brothers. Boston is a college town. Everything revolves around the universities, and the universities are full of young kids looking for something to do that always seems to be on the other side of town, and they drive there, for better or for worse. Usually worse. They have an elevated train system and I’ve spent plenty of time riding the “orange line” but the trains never seem to go exactly where you want to be and forget about bicycles on the narrow overcrowded and often cobblestone streets where “one way” signs are a suggestion rather than an order and the only rule of the road is “don’t slow anyone down”, even if it means an occasional foray onto the sidewalk. No, in Boston you need a car. The car we drove back then was, in my opinion, the very best car for that city at that time.
It was a 1965 small block, four-speed, Stingray convertible. The car was a true beater. We bought it for next to nothing, patched the radiator, filled the master cylinder with brake fluid, and put a double dose of STP in the crankcase to quiet the chattering lifters. Or was that the timing chain? In any case, we had bucket seats and an AM radio. We easily fit three people and four if you squeeze. The convertible top was a tattered rag, but that didn’t matter. We never put it up. We kept the car in a garage, so if it was raining when we went out, it could dry off when we got back. And driving an open-top convertible when it’s snowing is a dreamlike experience that everyone should try. The car was Ermine White, and in a blizzard, it was almost invisible. The heater put out a ton of heat because the engine was always on the verge of overheating. Park it next to a snow drift near the Public Gardens, and it looked so beautiful that people would stop and stare. By the way, if you don’t turn around and look at your car every time you park it, you’re driving the wrong car. So what makes this the perfect city car? Well, for one thing, it’s fiberglass. The salt trucks could sprinkle on it all day long, and it wouldn’t matter. It had positraction. Pulling up an icy hill was no problem. Just don’t get hit by all the other cars sliding back down. The 4-speed manual puts you in control. The lightweight small block had manual steering, giving tremendous feedback, sometimes kickback, to the driver, which is all so necessary for the cut and thrust of urban combat driving. Turn signals in Boston are not a warning that this car would like to change lanes. They are an announcement that this car will be in your lane in one second. The fact that the blinkers didn’t work was a technicality. The short wheelbase, manual steering, and 4-speed Vette filled the bill every time. And the Piece de Resistance, the car had a yellow stripe on the side from sliding up against a taxicab. Everyone knew we were fearless.
“The original Mini. After years of looking at photos of them in magazines, I saw my first one up close in London, parked outside Harrods. I decided then and there I had to have one, and when I got home, I got to work on it. I still have it. Driving a Mini has got to be one of the most joyful things you can do, regardless. It helps to have the steering wheel on the left side. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
The OG Mini has been a popular choice for a second week in a row.
“I haven’t owned one (yet), but my choice this week will definitely be the 1961-1962 Cadillac Park Avenue. No, it’s not a Buick. From a 1960s design perspective the idea of shortening the rear of the car so that it fits in urban parking spaces better – like on and around Park Avenue – doesn’t land very well, especially at first glance. But in 2026 the shorter trunk is downright standard on the proportions of full sized cars.
I test drove a 62 in Los Angeles years ago that I really should have…”
The Short Deck Caddy was certainly an oddball solution.
“How about a Ford Crown Victoria or a Chevy Caprice. Both were used as cabs and police cars. They are big, tough and intimidating. Lots of inexpensive parts are available and another scratch or two will hardly make a difference, just adds to the patina.”
Image: Getty Images via MotorBiscuit
Body-on-frame, rear-wheel-drive cruisers are great.
“The original Honda Civic CVCC. Small. Agile. Excellent fuel mileage. Fun with a manual. Cool in a retro quirky kind of way so you don’t look like a dork behind the wheel. I’ll take two, one to flog in the winter and one to keep nice.”
“When I was a high school kid I used to commute into Boston for my summer job in a 1969 Spitfire.
It was perfect for the daily Grand Prix! So go kart like. Park in impossibly small spots. So light that together with my passenger you could pick up the rear end and place it!”
“1960 Dodge D200 pick-em-up truck. 318 poly V8, 4 speed transmission with granny low. Large intimidating vehicle so people rarely cut you off in traffic. Granny low was great for stop-n-go traffic. Non-power assisted drum brakes took a lot of leg, but hey, 8 tires are better than 4. On the freeway lane changes were not seriously challenged and other vehicles never followed to close thanks to a carborated 1960 V8.”
The contemporary D100 ad, shown above, double-dog-dared us to use it in urban environments, so why not!
“My initial post was dismissive and I feel real bad about it, so I’m going to walk that back and admit that I do indeed have a favorite “City Car”: The Aston Martin Cygnet, which was a rebadged and tarted up Toyota iQ. But I’m talking about the V8 version here. Because 430 HP in a 79 inch wheelbase just feels so right. And I could really make good use of a 4.3 second 0 – 60 time in downtown traffic. If the streets of our nation’s cities were filled with these, the world would be a better…”
That’s the spirit, @oldwrench! A pint-size V8-powered solution is always good.
“BMW 635csi – wonderful in the city and a total pleasure to pilot. I have taken mine all around NYC from Battery to the Bronx and never a dull moment with lots of thumbs up all around.”
“A Renault 4. Small, practical, can get you anywhere and out of anywhere. Can be repaired with bubble gum (ask me how), is bomb proof. If a car was a cockroach, in the sense that it would survive anything even unclear war, the Renault 4 is it.”
Image: CAR Magazine
That’s it for this week’s Question of the Week! Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations once again to our winner, mr3000. We’ll be back with a new question soon.
ORIGINAL POST:
Welcome to the BaT Question of the Week! For those unfamiliar, here are the rules: we ask an automotive-themed question, and the author of our favorite answer from the comments is awarded a $25 credit to the BaT Gear Store.
This week, we’re asking: What’s your favorite “city car?”
City cars are made for the congested urban environment. Park one inside a studio apartment, and still have room to walk around. The ideal model is small, efficient, affordable, and quick enough to get out of its own way when the joint gets too crowded.
Image: Ephemeral New York
Over the years, automakers have even marketed cars tailored for metropolitan life, and certain trends like oil crises, postwar manufacturing capabilities, or changes in tax laws often occasion their production. You don’t have to go small—you can be contrarian and opt for the biggest land yacht you can swing into a parking space, just be prepared to make your case.
We’ll keep the examples to ourselves and leave the rest up to you:
What’s your favorite “city car?”
Let us know in the comments, and give a thumbs-up to any other nominations you deem worthy. We’ll announce the winner next Tuesday.
“Honda City Turbo II. It’s in the name and they are frequently paired with a motocompo”
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Mr3000 commented on Question of the Week: What's Your Favorite "City Car?"—WINNER’S UPDATE