In a perverse sense, WalkK, I'm encouraged by your perspective: That I'm just as likely to be bullied in a large, stately car. If others agree, I'll be encouraged to favor the Spark. If they don't, I'll continue to suspect that a pink Spark will be tailgated more often than a black Bimmer.
The Spark's price advantage seems to apply to new cars only. The Mazda2 has been depreciating quickly, perhaps because young buyers see that it lacks BlueTooth and move on. On cars.com, within 1000 miles of Maryland, there are at least eight loaded Mazda2s below $13,000 but no Spark 1LTs or 2LTs. Of course,