Best gas mileage in something used & affordable?

Toyota Corolla, Toyota Echo, and Honda Civic should all give you good mileage. However, if you want the best mileage (and a cheaper price), get a standard (manual) transmission and learn to drive a manual.

Jeff

Is there still much difference in gas mileage between standards & automatics? I got the impression that it's down to a pretty negligible amount...

Cathy

It's usually 1 or 2 mpg. But, the OP did say "least cost" and "best real life gas mileage." Standards are usually cheaper to buy than automatics, because there are so few people willing to drive them.

Then again, the OP wants good and cheap. Unfortunately, to get good you can't be cheap.

Jeff

Like the old sign says: "You can have it good, you can have it cheap, and you can have it fast. Pick any two of the three, but you can't have all three."

I always caution people that if they have any back problems to think real hard before getting a manual. I had to give up manual trannies due to how the clutch aggravates the back. I drove a Subaru manual for years - and it had an extremely light clutch, and I couldn't believe much better my back got when I sold it and started driving an automatic for my daily driver. I have a daughter that is discovering the same thing, and she and her husband are in the process of switching their two manuals over to automatics.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Interesting. I can see how this would help some people with back problems.

How is she switching the manuals over? Is she buying new transmissions and parts? Wouldn't it be easier to just buy new cars with automatic transmissions? ;-)

Jeff

Smarta$$ :)

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

I bought a 95' Geo Prism/Toyota Corolla 3 years ago at 135K/mi and now have

It depends on the skill and attention of the driver. If you take the engine up to redline before each shift, fuel economy will suffer. The EPA mileage is pretty much the same because automatic transmisisons have become more efficient and have more gears.

"Cathy F." wrote > Is there still much difference in gas mileage between standards &

You are correct, though it is somewhat manufacturer dependent. Some automatics even beat manuals for years after about 2002. fueleconomy.gov is a good resource for comparing two different cars.

For Toyota, consider especially the early 1990s Toyota Tercels.

No way. I drive too much, it would be a real pain.

I'd sacrified 1-2 MPG for automatic.

We saw a car parked in front of a pizza place this evening, that looked like a Smart Car from a distance. My friend said; no it's not a smart car, it's too big. It turned out to be a Yaris that the pizza delivery guy was driving.

Same car?

Pretty much, yes.

Not once you learn it - shifting becomes automatic.

I still often reach for the shift lever when starting from a dead stop. I drove manuals for 31 years, & have had automatics for the last 10 years; old habits die hard.

Cathy

Who made it though?

New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. ("NUMMI"), a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors, in Fremont, CA makes the Prism sold in the U.S. Corollas sold in the U.S. are either assembled by Toyota in Japan or Cambridge, Ontario, or by NUMMI.

The Geo (later, Chevrolet) Prism and Corolla are based on the same platform and are essentially the same car. The Prism is basically a re-badged Corolla.

Hah! I drove manuals for so long, I have to make myself *not* let up on the gas pedal at shift points when I'm driving automatics.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Almost, except for cosmetics and the lower resale price for the Prizm because few people know it's a Corolla under its skin.

I've never done that, but have slammed my left foot against the floor a few times - mostly in the first year of driving an automatic. Haven't done that fruitless little maneuver in a l-o-n-g time, thank goodness.

Cathy