Old vehicles with good gas mileage

Adam Floyd wrote:...anyone had a Ford Focus wagon?

I had a 2004 Focus Wagon 2.3L with the 5 speed (Oddly enough it was considered a really rare Focus). It was an amazing wagon ! I had it for 5 years and the only thing that failed was a clutch slave cylinder in over 80k miles. It would get 30 mpg high way and 25-26 mpg city. I sold it with over 170k miles for under 4K. It was 23K new...depreciation hit it pretty hard.

If you can find one with a manual it will be a good car that isn't too slow. Find one with a 2.3L manual even better!

If I took two bolts out the bench seat would come out and I could lay flat in the back and I am 5'11. Lots of space back there.

Actually, more room in the back than the 2003 Jetta wagon TDI that replaced it. A compromise with the Jetta wagon but the last trip to the Red it got 48.8 mpg :)

It would be hard to find a TDI wagon for the price range you are looking at though. You could find a sedan a lot easier at that price. forums.tdiclub.com/forumdis…

i completely disagree with ray on this one. for much of my career i had commutes that were 60 to 75 miles each way, every day. i had a couple little shitbox corollas that cost about $2000 each. they saved me a ton of miles and wear and tear on my tacoma. not to mention oil changes, tires, everything is a lot cheaper. i change out an alternator on one of them. other than that it was just oil changes. i kept pretty detailed cost spreadsheets at the time, and there was no doubt that the little shit boxes were worth it.

If you buy a beater and don't have a single clue on how to turn your own wrenches (or a place to do it) it could get expensive fast.

Z.St.Jules wrote:Jeep cherokee for roadtrips, 98 VW TDI for kicking around town or heading to crags. If you can find a MKIII TDI in decent shape, go for it. We get 45mpg.

I second this. Look for a TDI Jetta or Golf. Good gas mileage and plenty of parts around. I still see numerous 98 Jetta's driving around in pretty good shape.

I paid $1000 for an '89 Integra about five years ago. It had 213k on in, I averaged 35MPG overall (living in the mountains and driving fairly aggresively), and I sold it two years later at 258k for the same $1k. Great little car. I believe the Civics of that era have the same 1.6L engine.

Baumer wrote:I paid $1000 for an '89 Integra about five years ago. It had 213k on in, I averaged 35MPG overall (living in the mountains and driving fairly aggresively), and I sold it two years later at 258k for the same $1k. Great little car. I believe the Civics of that era have the same 1.6L engine.

I think only the si models had a 1.6L, the standard model was 1.5. I just put a folding sleeping platform into the back of my Civic si. I can almost lie straight out (5'10") if I squeeze my feet over the hand brake.

Yeah, I think you're right about the si model. I slept in mine once at Shelf and regretted it (I'm 5'11"), but it was doable in a pinch.

DannyUncanny wrote: I think only the si models had a 1.6L, the standard model was 1.5. I just put a folding sleeping platform into the back of my Civic si. I can almost lie straight out (5'10") if I squeeze my feet over the hand brake.

Honda civics all have 1.6L motors. The EX has 1.6 has a single cam and the SI model has a double overhead cams.

Not all civics have 1.6L engines. Prior to 96 they had 1.5l in the lower trims, cx, dx, lx and the ex and si had 1.6l vtec single cams. In 96-2000 they all had 1.6l's, ex having vtec, 99-00 Si's had B16's, DOHC vtec. 01-05 was 1.7l. That being said, my 96 hatch got 42mpg, CX trim. Loved that thing.

Ford escort wagon, if you can find one. My pops had one. Occasionally he'd get 40mpg. Went 225k.