Well it has been confirmed, the Rio (subcompact) has become a finalist in the under 21k crowd, beating other compacts that are bigger, like the Mazda3 and Dart, probably because of price, and fuel economy, yes it is a decent car, but this kind of testing needs to be taken with a grain of salt, at times, depending on the category, I don't think some vehicles will be crossed shop, Rio would be cross shopped with other subcompacts, like Mazda2, Fiesta, and Fit. Just that Kia was smart at choosing the right trim model to get extra points on price, it doesn't even have A/C!
Maybe there could be guidelines, like all vehicles in that category must have power windows (unlike the rollup windows still in the new base Corolla!), auto tranny, a/c, cruise, and bluetooth. Oh well, at least people who pay attention to detail more or less know what they want, and can tell for themselves...
