Commuter car recommendations

I drive about 18,000 miles a year for my employer and have decided my V-8 pickup needs to spend more time parked. I'm looking for an inexpensive ($4000 max) car that'll get 30+mpg.

The top of my list is a late 90s Toyota Corolla, but I'd be interested in recommendations for other cars to consider. Fuel economy and reliablilty would be the most important factors to consider. Ease of maintenance would be another.

Thanks for your help.

Reply to
Frank
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In my opinion, a Toyota Camry or Corolla or a Honda Accord might be one of the better buys.

I would buy, perhaps, a standard transmission. A lot of people neglect the very hell out of their automatics.

There is no GM or Ford that I would buy used at this point.

Reply to
<HLS

Buy a Corolla or Civic new for not a whole lot of money, enjoy the excellent milage, take care of it and it will last for a loong time. I would avoid used cars unless you are willing to really research the title because there are a lot of totalled cars from the hurricane damaged areas that are being peddled.

Reply to
John S.

I had a 1989 chrysler lebaron 2.4 l 4 cyl that got excellent milage highway.

with 18,000 miles anually I would either buy or lease a newer car or find out why your employer won't buy one for you. a business would have good tax writeoffs for the vehicle.

Reply to
marks542004

Corolla/Camry are nice cars but they do have one problem. They refuse to die...

Reply to
dnoyeB

Benefit from other's stupidity. The fact that people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts for clapped-out Hondas and Toyotas rules them out. Spend 1/3 as much for a relatively low-mileage small American car like a Neon (avoid the first-gen Neon) or Focus. Enjoy.

Reply to
Steve

The Chevrolet or Geo Prizm is a rebadged version of the Corolla which may be less expensive as a used car due to the "domestic" badge (the Prizm and Corolla were both made in the NUMMI factory in the US).

However, with fuel economy being a concern, choose a manual transmission; if you cannot find or do not want a manual transmission, choose the 4-speed automatic over the 3-speed automatic transmission that is common in the Prizm and Corolla. Don't expect handling to be anywhere near sporty, especially with low-trim 1998 cars.

The Honda Civic is another car with good reliability and fuel economy; however, make note of when the timing belt was last changed, or be prepared to do that service upon buying a used car if it was not known to be done recently enough (Honda engines can suffer major damage if the timing belt fails).

Reply to
Timothy J. Lee

Well if riding motorcycles doesnt bother you, then Geo Metro. My XFI gives 50-55mpg which gives me more money for projects ->635CSI TURBO. Dont expect a whole lotta car...last one I owned went 325K miles before she was burning oil and junked.

Ciao, DieInterim

Reply to
DieInterim

I currently own three motorcycles and do about 20,000 miles a year on them ;o) It's just not practical to ride them for work, though I do sometimes. And believe it or not, it doesn't save much money -- I tend to run through a $400 set of tires in 4000 or 14,000 miles, depending on which one I'm riding. But that's way off topic.

If I find a car that doesn't cause me much trouble, I can save $1000 a year on fuel. That'd pay for a $4000 car in four years, which is when I plan to retire. And the car would still have some value when sold. And -- my big incentive -- my nice V-8 pickup will have roughly 75,000 fewer miles on it, and it won't need to be replaced. I won't retire unless I'm totally out of debt, and buying a new vehicle is out of the question. All this makes a $4000 vehicle right now very attractive.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Reply to
Frank

my work car is a 96 geo metro. i drive 90 miles two and from work,and only costs about $25/week. it has given me absolutely no trouble.

Reply to
tom&kel

I was going through a bunch of rubber on my 'wing until I switched to a car tire on the rear. So far I have over 30K on the latest one and it still has a lot of life left on it.

Take a look at

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Oh an track back to Dans main site
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if you like interesting bike stories.

Reply to
Steve W.

Reply to
Frank

Automatics also tend to cost more to repair when they do break, and they usually cause worse fuel economy.

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US EPA fuel economy numbers for cars from 1985 to current.

Reply to
Timothy J. Lee

Frank wrote: : I drive about 18,000 miles a year for my employer and have decided my : V-8 pickup needs to spend more time parked. I'm looking for an : inexpensive ($4000 max) car that'll get 30+mpg.

: The top of my list is a late 90s Toyota Corolla, but I'd be interested : in recommendations for other cars to consider. Fuel economy and : reliablilty would be the most important factors to consider. Ease of : maintenance would be another.

: Thanks for your help.

I think you made a very good choice in considering the Corolla. Additionally, a 4 cylinder Camry would provide decent gas mileage. The V6 Camrys tend to get around 25 MPG or so which wouldn't be as good.

If it were me, I'd opt for a 4 cylinder Camry because of the size of the car and being a little more comfortable vs. the Corolla but both are excellent choices.

b.

Reply to
<barry

Not even a Geo/Chevy Prizm? They sell for less than Corollas since many people still don't know that the cars are actually Corollas.

Reply to
do_not_spam_me

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