Old vehicles with good gas mileage
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Figured I would throw this out there and see if anyone has ideas I haven't thought of. |
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honda civic, toyota corolla/tercel are known reliable cars, easy to repair with good gas mileage |
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How many miles do you think you'll drive with the second vehicle? I bet when you're done buying a second car, paying insurance, and fuel it will be less expensive to just drive your truck. |
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I had a '95 Honda Accord which had a problem with the speedometer/odometer failing but otherwise was a very good car. I should have had the issue repaired but chose not to at the time because I simply didn't have the spare cash. I can't remember what the MPG was but it was a little better than the '03 Subaru Impreza I drive now, which gets 31 on the highway. Now doubt a Corolla or Civic would be even better with that regard. |
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Toyota Echo could be a good option too. |
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Thanks for the info, |
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I had a '99 Toyota Corolla. I bought it with 90,000 miles on it sold it with 250,000 miles on it. I drove it to Alaska and back from California, where it averaged 29 miles per gallon. I drove it all over the US. I took it on rough dirt roads and on many, many climbing trips. I slept in it for probably a year worth of nights. |
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I have a ford focus hatchback. It's pretty ideal for a climber and handles everything but real off road. Have had to repair a few things but overall pretty reliable. |
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F250 diesel. Gets 19 empty. Gets 15 towing 7 Priuses with 3 Boulder NIMBY's in each. Goes off road no problem. Throw a 2000 lb camper in the bed and hardly notice it. Pulls 10,000 lbs with ease. |
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Greg D wrote:F250 diesel. Gets 19 empty. Gets 15 towing 7 Priuses with 3 Boulder NIMBY's in each. Goes off road no problem. Throw a 2000 lb camper in the bed and hardly notice it. Pulls 10,000 lbs with ease. Efficiency is a relative term.Hell ya! And here I thought all outdoorsman-like people drove little trucks. |
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I have a Tacoma for road trips, and a 91 Civic for around town. The Civic is a complete beater, but will not die, and the insurance is almost nothing. It gets about 36 on the highway and 30 in the city. We did destroy the computer ($500 repair) on it about 15 years ago when we struck a rock with the undercarriage (apparently only Canada manufactured Civics had the computer in that location). |
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Adam Floyd wrote:Thanks for the info, I figure I'll drive 12K+ on a different car which will save about 1000-1500 bucks in fuel, additional insurance is 20 a month plus registration. I also just rebuilt the top the engine on my truck at 260K miles and want to save it for hunting and climbing trips that need 4x4. Anyone had a Ford Focus wagon?Here's the CL listings for Vegas: lasvegas.craigslist.org/sea… I think you need to drive the civic for three years straight (12K/yr) to break even. The list of $2K Honda Civics is pretty rough. |
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I actually have a '97 Nissan Sentra I'd be willing to sell for $900. She's got about 235,000 miles and gets about 35m/g. Manual transmission. She's not a looker but she runs well. I am in NC though. |
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toyota corolla, end of discussion. |
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ccanez wrote:I actually have a '97 Nissan Sentra I'd be willing to sell for $900. She's got about 235,000 miles and gets about 35m/g. Manual transmission. She's not a looker but she runs well. I am in NC though.It's not generally worth driving 5,000 miles round trip (Vegas to NC) to buy a $900 car. I mean, we're talking $700 just in gas... Adam, I'm in a similar boat as you, but you have to put a ton of miles on the beater to make it a worthwhile purchase. Once you consider consumables (tires, oil, brakes) and the risk of repairs, it starts to look like a really shaky proposition. I half-suspect the best plan might be to get a good 7-10 year old car that will have low depreciation. More capital investment (maybe $8k?) but much lower risk of repairs. If you can recoup most of the investment by selling it eventually... At least for me, the worst part is I really rack up the miles on ski trips and such, where I would drive the Tacoma no matter what. I would primarily drive the beater around town, to work, making it even harder to leverage MPG savings. So at least for me, a cheap motorbike or bicycling might save the most money, even if I always take the Tacoma when I go climbing. Aside from the cheap purchase price and phenomenal MPG, bicycles and scooters and such can be repaired with duct tape and tongue depressors. |
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Patrick Shyvers wrote: It's not generally worth driving 5,000 miles round trip (Vegas to NC) to buy a $900 car. I mean, we're talking $700 just in gas... Adam, I'm in a similar boat as you, but you have to put a ton of miles on the beater to make it a worthwhile purchase. Once you consider consumables (tires, oil, brakes) and the risk of repairs, it starts to look like a really shaky proposition. I half-suspect the best plan might be to get a good 7-10 year old car that will have low depreciation. More capital investment (maybe $8k?) but much lower risk of repairs. If you can recoup most of the investment by selling it eventually... At least for me, the worst part is I really rack up the miles on ski trips and such, where I would drive the Tacoma no matter what. I would primarily drive the beater around town, to work, making it even harder to leverage MPG savings. So at least for me, a cheap motorbike or bicycling might save the most money, even if I always take the Tacoma when I go climbing. Aside from the cheap purchase price and phenomenal MPG, bicycles and scooters and such can be repaired with duct tape and tongue depressors.Beaters are never worth the price if you're trying to save money for fuel on a second vehicle. People come out of the woodwork to add anecdotal stories about how they only had to put in gas and drive their '90 Carrola. Oddly, every beater car I've ever had (carrola, impreza, etc) required maintenance; tires, breaks, alternators, etc. The OP has to drive 36K miles (3yr*12K) just to break even on fuel alone for what he planned to invest. What are the odds that in three years the beater won't need maintenance, scheduled or otherwise? Odds are the offered $900 car will cost AT LEAST the purchase price in maintenance alone to keep on the road for three years. The cheaper the car, the higher the maintenance. The purchase price isn't the only cost to factor. Depreciation, maintenance, insurance, opportunity cost on the capital, etc. Plus, you have to bee seen driving that piece of junk. If you were actually saving money it would be ok but you get to look like a loser while losing money on the deal. |
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I have had a bit of everything from 3 diesel ford 4x4s to station wagons(one I built a system and ran on waste vegetable oil). I was mainly just looking for advice on models as I want to stop driving my Taco so I can save it and stop driving it around the RR loop daily as BFG all terrains are more expensive than little car tires. Tacomas seem ridiculously expensive as mine has gone up in value since I bought it several years ago and I get notes from people trying to buy it regularly. |
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I bought a 97 Saturn sw2 3 years ago and couldn't be happier. The car gets 34mpg fully loaded with 2 ppl, 2 dogs and a months worth of camping and climbing gear. Its a station wagon, so long enough to sleep in, plus lots of room for gear. Saturn is GM, so even though the company is out of business its still easy to find the occasional part. I haven't had any major issues with it and I'm at 215k miles. I've taken it up "4wd only" roads in NM and UT and crossed small creeks in it. Its the best car I've ever owned hands down! |
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Jeep cherokee for roadtrips, |
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91 Civic hatchback manual is the perfect combination of good mileage, reliability, low cost (1-2k depending on condition), and easy to find cheap parts. If you can keep the body from rusting out, it will last forever. |
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A friend of mine bought an '89 or '90 Honda CRX that has a '91 Acura Integra motor in it. I think he paid $1000-ish. Did a little work to it and has since driven it across the country twice. I rode with him from Leavenworth, WA to Echo Summit near Lake Tahoe, CA and we averaged over 40mpg. Great car to bomb around in. |