In order to do a new car comparison, it is important to compare apples to apples. In other words, it would be foolhardy to compare SUVs to compact cars. Any new car comparison should take similar classes of cars and look at how they stack up against each other.

For instance, the Volkswagen Golf, Dodge Caliber, Kia Soul Exclaim, and Mazda 3S Sport are all around the same price – $17,000 to $19,000. While they are largely similar cars, they differ in some respects. For instance, the Golf has a 2.5 liter engine while the Kia and the Mazda have only 2 liter engines. The Exclaim Soul and the Sport also have significantly lower displacement. The Kia doesn’t have front side airbags while the other three vehicles do.

At the other end of the spectrum, you also see similarities between cars. For instance, the Rolls Royce Ghost, which starts at $245,000, is very similar to the Mercedes Benz S-Class which has a much lower starting price ($133,000). Yet, aside from the cache of driving a Rolls Royce, the two cars are very alike in their standard engine, horse power, etc.

The SUV market also shows the differences between vehicles. Let’s take a look at four SUVs ranging in price from $19,000 to $22,000: the Kia Sportage, Suzuki Sportback, Nissan Rogue, and Mitsubishi Outlander. One difference is the horsepower with the Sportage having 140 horses and the Rogue with 170 horsepower. They also differ in how many miles to the gallon they get with the Sportage getting only 25 while the Sportback leads the pack at 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

When you are making a new car comparison, it is important to consider cars by class rather than make judgments between different types of vehicles. Different cars are made to suit different drivers. A Mini Cooper is not the ideal vehicle for a family of six, for instance. When you compare like vehicles, you get a sense of what is the best value for you.

If you are looking for a cool new cars, I suggest you head on over to Edmunds.com for some great shopping. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service