Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: Coast to Coast 2014 – Washington DC

Matt Gasnier
by Matt Gasnier

Toyota Corolla in Washington DC (these are from Maryland for illustration purposes)

After managing to drive through Manhattan and escape unscathed, we are now travelling 250 miles Southwest to the country’s capital city, Washington DC. But first, I’ll answer a few of the questions you asked in my first article:

  • I did parallel park my 236 inch long Ram pick-up in Manhattan on a crowded West Village street and felt very proud.
  • With French being my mother tongue I never can get quite used to the American convention of calling my truck (or any vehicle) as a “she”. In French, a truck is a masculine word, so my Ram will be referred to as Albert from now on
  • As a lot of you have noticed, it is the Tradesman level, a trim that normally doesn’t get lent to the press.
Dodge Durango and Lincoln MKZ in Washington DC

The Ram 1500 crew cab 4×4 I am driving has a US$35,805 base price. Add-in the Tradesman package, including carpet flooring and satellite radio, 8-speed automatic transmission, 3.0-Liter V6 EcoDiesel engine and destination charge to arrive at US$40,495. Depending on the rebate you can negotiate with your dealer, you can potentially get that back down to the base price or below. A lot of you have rightly asked about fuel economy. A road trip across the US in a pick-up truck immediately conjures up images of an endless flow of dollar bills being sunk into overly thirsty fuel tanks. Not so here.

Albert proudly posing before the Capitol in Washington DC

Aware of the lengthy trip I was embarking in, Chrysler smartly lent me an EcoDiesel, launched only last February and one of the main reasons behind the nameplate’s sales surge in 2014. Back in February the EcoDiesel trucks set a new Ram record with the initial allocation of 8,000 units filled by dealers in just 3 days. Over that period the EcoDiesel variants represented half of all Ram 1500 pick-up orders and overall Ram expects EcoDiesel models to account for 15% of 1500 Series orders this year. So my Albert is quite the popular new kid on the block.

VW Jetta in Washington DC

The reason behind this success? The EcoDiesel delivers 28 mpg highway, currently the best fuel economy for a full-size pick-up truck, compared to 24 mpg for the Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra and 23 mpg for the current Ford F-Series. The 4×4 variant I have gives up one mpg to sit at 27 mpg. Ford launched a challenge to Ram’s mpg crown with its new generation aluminium-built F-Series which will start deliveries in February 2015, however at an estimated 27 mpg for the all-new 2.7-Liter Ecoboost V6, it doesn’t quite match the RAM EcoDiesel yet.

Chevrolet Silverado in Washington DC

I won’t reset the mpg average at all during the entire trip, which should provide me with an all-trip average assuming Chrysler reset it before lending the truck to me. After 3 days and about 500 miles the mpg average stands at 25.3 mpg, keeping in mind there were 3 hours of virtual standstill in Manhattan – and therefore atrocious mpg – to begin with. So we are in line with a best-in-class score so far, and Albert is turning out to be not so thirsty after all.

Buick Enclave in Washington DC

Back to Washington DC, and this being a very small and touristy state, please bear in mind that my observations may not be limited to cars registered within Washington DC even though I tried to discard cars not registered here. As always this is not an exact science, rather a feel for the changing vehicle landscape as I traverse the country. State by state data published by Business Insider indicates that DC is the only State in the country to crown the Toyota Corolla as its favorite car. And as it was the case in New York City, I am pleased to announce that street observations match sales data which is always a great validation. The new generation Corolla has already taken charge of Washington traffic: I saw more of them in the few hours I was in the (relatively small) town than I saw in New York in 3 days!

Toyota Prius C in Washington DC

Overall my impression is that passenger cars are smaller than they were in New York City with less Toyota Camry and Honda Accord and more Nissan Sentra, Versa, Hyundai Elantra and VW Jetta – and of course Corolla as described above. Case in point: I saw my first two Toyota Prius C of the trip here. Hyundai also seems to be enjoying very strong sales here: I spotted a few new generation Sonatas. Nissan is as solid as it was in New York with numerous Altima spotted but less Maxima – in line with the smaller car preferences.

2002 Saturn Ion in Washington DC

I would like to be able to tell you that I saw more pick-ups here but this is only marginally the case and we are still frankly in sedan and SUV territory. The Toyota RAV4 did come across more frequently, both as taxis and private cars. A couple of more Washington observations: the most popular and almost only Jeep seems to be the Wrangler, the current generation Buick Enclave is a success as is the Tesla Model S and the Washington region has a love for the defunct Saturn brand: whereas I had not picked one up yet during the trip before, I spotted three 2002 Saturn Ion in the space of a few blocks!

Next we will be driving through Virginia, North and South Carolina to Charleston. Stay tuned!

Matt Gasnier is based in Sydney, Australia and writes a blog dedicated to tracking car sales around the globe: BestSellingCarsBlog

Chevrolet Suburban and Impala in Washington DC
Toyota RAV4 in Washington DC
Ford Fusion in Washington DC
Hyundai Sonata in Washington DC
Matt Gasnier
Matt Gasnier

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  • Motornik Motornik on Sep 11, 2014

    Speaking of parking .... way to take up two parking spots there in the picture. Just begs for a "You park like an ...." note on the windshield. :-)

    • See 1 previous
    • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Sep 17, 2014

      If you park a nicer car like that here in Ohio, you're begging to get keyed.

  • Wheatridger Wheatridger on Sep 11, 2014

    Earlier this year I had the misfortune of driving in the rich north neighborhoods of DC. It always seemed to be rush hour. From my brief sampling, DC drivers choose their vehicles by the tone and power of the horns. They certainly seemed fond of using them. It was strange to see how much Southern-fried friendliness I encountered from strangers in shops and face-to-face, along with a Jeckyl-and-hyde hostility on the roads. When I wasn't being honked at, it was fun to notice sightings of rare and precious cars like the electric BMW that aren't often seen back home, out on the prairie.

    • TMA1 TMA1 on Sep 11, 2014

      DC drivers are some of the most impatient I've seen anywhere. It's the inflated sense of self-importance, I think. The way it typically goes, a group people began walk through the crosswalk when the light changes. A turning car stops to allow them to pass. And then the car(s) behind him start honking for him to move, even though they can see the pedestrians, and even though they themselves would not be able to get through the crowd. A few days ago, this even happened with a DC cop honking the horn. The taxi was turning right, and he swung around it to go straight through the intersection. As a matter of fact, it was the intersection with the Camaro, pictured above. Of course, it could be worse. I just got back from China, where in the same situation the turning car just wades right into the crowd (which is usually much bigger). I'm still amazed that I never saw anyone killed while I was there. Also, this was a great opportunity to see a Chinese Mustang up close, because the driver got stuck in the crosswalk.

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