Small, Fuel-Efficient Daily Driver Needed, Suggestions?

I forgot about the VW diesels, they get great mileage, need to look into them.

Thanks for the links, those cars are pretty close to me. I appreciate the tips too. What I think I need to do is drive a few different cars around and see what I like.

 

We had a Mazda 3 five door and it was great, aside from changing the oil and terrible tire costs, about 32 mpg.

I had a Pontiac G6 as a company car, and put on 66k miles in 3 years getting about 32 mpg.

My new company car is a Ford Focus that was getting 40 mpg at 55 mpg on two lane county and state highways in West Tennessee and 35 mpg at 75 mph at long highway runs.

Your price range is very limiting...

 

I consistently get 28-29 mpg. If I tried to baby it, I could prob get over 30.

 

I have owned a Subaru, Mazda 323, Misubishi Mirage, Saturn, Suzuki Sidekick and Honda Civic, all with 4 bangers and 5 speeds. All got better than 30 mpg; three got/get (still have the Honda) between 45 and 55 mpg on the highway. The Nissan Sentra is a possibility, too. If you look carefully, you should be able to find something in your budget, tho it will likely have high mileage and need a few $ now and then for repairs.

 

Yes I know the price range is limiting, it will continue to rise until I find something though.

Not bad, I wonder if I could find something in my price range.

I think out of the ones you mentioned, the Subaru, and Civic are the best options regarding reliability and mileage. I don't mind putting a little bit of money into something.

Doesn't seem very reliable or fun lol

 

I have an 05 2d civic. Its a turd for sure, but it gets low 30s for mileage and is pretty comfortable. I'm not near as big as you though.

 

Not sure that falls in the price range, but an older Civic would. Let's see what Craigslist has to offer.

 

Any Toyota Corolla, Camry, xb, xd. I'd even be looking at some of the older infiniti's; they might be cheap thrills too, perhaps.

 

5-lug stick regular cab.

 

Totally forgot about the older Infinity's gonna check them out.

Considered them, but will they really get in the 30's with MPG?

 

Camry yes. My buddy had a camry that got low 30s and was reliable as hell. His wife, when she was in college, had a like 86 camry that he is pretty sure went about 60k miles with no oil change. Other than a bad cv it was a trooper.

 

Getting 30 MPGs with the 2.7L manual is very realistic without having to think about every hill and stoplight. Higher numbers requires more attention. WWs numbers come from experience with some hypermiler techniques which you may or may not want to consider.

My vote would be for a Honda Civic or a mid/late 90s Honda Accord. Mazda and Hyundai have earned notable reputations for quality vehicles so you might want to consider them. This past week, the Sonata made the Top 10 Used Cars list in one survey. Something more to consider: when asked (Honda and Toyota), the automaker they feared the most was Hyundai. And Mazda ranked very high over the past 5 years or so.

I have a 2004 I4 Accord Automatic: I get over 30 mpgs city driving and mid/upper 30s on the highway. I have a 2004 S2000 and anyone large has a hard time riding in that car. As a result, I think the Miata would be too tight...but sit in one yourself and be the judge. Good luck in your search!!

 

I have a 2004 civic, that i have had since new. Now has over 130ka on it. Runs as good as it did when new. Getting 30+ mpg. Maintenance is cheap. I also have a 2003 corolla s with close to 220k. High mileage acuras and infinity are gonna kill you with maintenance costs, (been there). Cant go wrong with honda or toyota, but 4k is a tight budget. Good luck with your search!

 

I second a TDI! Picked mine up for $2900, and best MPG so far is 56.5, stock
It can be "fun" if you want it to be - lowed (or lift), wheels, exhaust, etc... You can get stuff somewhat cheap too since almost every town has a VW crowd. Never mind you can modify stuff to get you more power AND better MPG at the same time. Gotta love diesel!