A smaller more fuel efficient car... what a crazy notion that is.
How on earth will you get anywhere with less than 200 horsepower under the hood ?
Seriously...
I remember being pretty happy with the 56 hp my Beetle cranked out and was even more happy with the 30-35 mpg it got... that was a '71 Super.
I have a '92 Sentra (yet to be registered / insured) that cranks out a whopping 120 hp but does carry 5 and has decent luggage capacity which is good as I bought it for taking much longer trips with the family.
The new Fiesta has been sold in Europe for quite some time... why Ford has waited so long to bring it to North America is a mystery.
It will take a fairly big cultural shift for people to really embrace smaller cars as their primary vehicle as they have been sold the "bigger is better" for a very long time and the small car has been relegated to the entry level / second vehicle niche for many.
100 hp is plenty for a passenger car and within urban confines you really don't need minivans that have 250hp and go 0-60 in 10 seconds or less.