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Canada Help Me Choose
Still have no idea which car is best for you? Try these resources....
If you find that the Canadian car research tools listed on this page are not adequate for your needs you can use the tools on the American page (simply click on the "See this page for: the US" link in the lower left hand corner of the page). Keep in mind that there are some subtle differences between cars for sale in Canada and in the US.
The major differences between US and Canadian regulations mean that cars for sale in Canada must have bilingual labels, kilometers instead of miles, child seat anchors, daytime running lights and more stringent bumpers. Obviously prices shown on US sites are in US dollars and you should keep that in mind when looking at any pricing data.
 
globeandmail.com : globeauto.com
http://www.globeauto.com/
I recently discovered this site via a newspaper ad. The help me choose tool is quite well done. There are 3 separate tools - I would suggest using the first two rather than the 'Ideal Match' which only gives you a few criteria to choose from.
Pros:
The 'I Know What I Want' tool is where I'd start. This tool allows you to specify a make and model (but this is optional), price range, type of car (sedan, coupe), fuel economy range, horsepower, a variety of safety features, transmission type, drive type and fuel type. Once you've obtained a list of vehicles you can re-sort the list and also refine the search to widen or narrow the number of vehicles found. You can email the results or print them out.
Cons:
Although not as full featured as the best American tools this is a very worthy effort and I don't have any significant criticisms of this tool.
 
Canadian automotive network - Find your vehicle
http://www.auto123.com/en/new/find/
It is a sorry commentary on the poor resources available to Canadian vehicle shoppers that this tool - with all of 15 criteria - is the best tool available to help you choose the right vehicle for you.
Pros:
The tool is easy to use and covers the basic criteria you might wish to use to narrow your choices (price range, number of doors, transmission type).
Cons:
This tool gets off on the wrong foot with me right away as it begins by forcing you to choose which kind of vehicle you are chossing (passenger, SUV, minivan etc). On the next page you get to select from a very few criteria one of which I am totally puzzled by (number of places???). The list you are shown when you finish selecting criteria is poorly designed, can't be re-sorted and doesn't allow you to link to information about the vehicles shown.
 
Cars4U.com - Buy or lease your new car online
http://www.cars4u.com/search/
Another lacklustre tool but with so few to choose from we have to include it.
Pros:
It is nice that you can specify price range in three ways - total cost, estimated lease payment or estimated finance payment.
Cons:
There is no ability to specify number of doors, type of transmission or any of the other of tens (hundreds?) of criteria provided on American help-me-choose tools. Sigh.
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