Gas Prices - Ouch, list good mileage cars

Groucho's post hit home as I am starting to look for a daily driver due to car prices. I drive 50 miles round trip a day..

I was leaning towards a old Honda CRX, civic or maybe rabbit (something less then $4000 (as with the savings in gas, it will pay for itself in one year).. but what else is out there more hotrod kind

what kind of mileage can one expect from a 67 or older VW bug with a 1300 motor (or smaller.. not real familiar with them)

or a 6 cyl falcon

 

Ford Festiva.

Great MPG (35ish, 40 if you're careful), ultra cheap (below $1500), and a total shitbox. No investment at all. And apparently they're reliable as anything.

 

grab a Corolla, they run for feakin ever and get 39 to 40 mpg. Bought my wife a new one in 94, ran it for 9 years and 120,000 miles with no break downs or repairs except for front brakes and a battery. Damn Japs anyway. But they are one hell of a good car for a shitbox

 

VW Jetta,94-99,5spd,2.0,32mpg.With 191K on it.the old beetles get stupid mpg upwards of 37+,go with that if you got a good runner

 

Buddy of mine bought a late 80's early 90's VW Jetta....is getting around 30mpg...you can find those pretty cheap.....

 

The wife has a Ford Focus wagon that she likes quite a lot. It gets around 30-32 on the highway. Not too bad. pigpen

 

Co-worker has an 82' Toyota Celica with 300K. Still has the original clutch and will lay rubber. Runs decent and handles good.

 

Wifes car, 2006 Accord. Trip to Knoxville nats 34.1 going and took the long way home, and had to figure several times 38.1. We are sold on this one.

 

VW Caddy aka diesel rabbit pickup should do 40 plus.
Check out vwcaddyforum.
I have an early VW Scirocco 4 speed and ave 33.

 

VW is the way to go, my mom has a 98 GLX Jetta with the Vr6 engine, neck snapping acceleration and great suspention at around 29 mpg highway. it was only $3900 and its a very comfy car to drive. MKII and MKIII GTI's especially 4cyl get around 32 mpg.

 

My fun to drive dailey is a 97 chevy tracker 2 door ragtop. It gets 26 to 28 mpg
driving in the mountains or on the freeway.I check it every fillup and the mpg
is at 26 when we have the most ethanol in our gas formula and 28 with normal gas.

 

How about some older rides that might get good mileage. Not really wanting to buy a late model (80's or newer) .

someone must have experience behind the wheel a vw bug, corvair, 6 cyl ford falcon or 4/6 cyl chevy nova to provide some insight into what fuel economy can be had...

 

i recently bought a 1990 honda accord coupe/5 speed...its getting a lil better than 30 mpg...i had to buy a new set of tires for it after buying it,,so now im into it for about $1210.00

 

I've got an 84 eagle sedan and it gets 30-32 on the freeway when it's in two wheel drive... that's at 60mph...

I dont know exactly, but my 66 chevy van w/250 and a 1bbl gets around 27 at 60mph on the freeway... but that's with the overdrive on!!

I thought about old ramblers and falcons. I've heard the small slant six cars with a stick do really well...

 

96 toyota 4 runner = 22 mpg 320,000.0 miles v6

95 toyota tacoma 4wd = 22-24 mpg 185,000.0 miles 4 cyl

97 toyota rav4 full time 4wd or awd = 24-26 mpg 175,000.0 miles 4 cyl

Reliability speaks for itself. I drive 200 miles round trip 3 times 1 week and one time the next. Repeats every 2 weeks. Really thinking about a new Suzuki. You can get one for less than 12 K comes with 100,000 mile warranty and gets 30+ mpg.

Ford Focus 35 mpg. Pretty common on used car lots.

48 Poncho

 

I'm going to sell my '51 Merc and buy a Prelude so I fit in with the new HAMB format better.

 

"Fuel economy for Corvair models, like performance, varied with the car model and options, but generally speaking 30 mpg (at 30 mph) and 20-25 mpg (60 mph) could be expected from car models, and a few mpg less for truck models. "

not bad, for something that's pretty freakin' cool looking.. and i hear falcons are also pretty good.

 

I dont think I would want to own a Modern FWD Car.

There are plenty Cool ( to me...) Old RWD Cars available that I could build to get good milage.

Or I'd build something like this...

Light weight, could be made to Handle, maybe with a Small V8 like the all Aluminum Buick/Olds/Rover 215 with 4 small Webers, tuned for milage, and a 5 speed.

And, it would still be Trad.

 

metalshapes, I agree doing an older car like the one you post would be fun but no practical for the NW where it rains everyday except or the two days of summer. but the thinking is in the right direction. something old....

 

My '64 Pontiac Tempest had a 215-inch straight six (same as a Chevy 230 six, just a smaller bore size), 2-speed auto and a 2.56 rear end from the factory. The Tempest is the same size car and has the same chassis as a Chevelle.

Used to average 20 MPG with it. The engine was rebuilt at some time before I owned it and was getting a little tired. I didn't keep it tuned perfectly, but it started every time and it was reliable. If kept tuned perfectly it might have done a little better. It was a damn good car with plenty of trunk space for hauling car parts, that six was quiet and smooth running.

Slow acceleration drove me crazy (20 second ET in the 1/4), so I dropped in a 455 and cut my gas mileage in half.

A Chevy 250 six just might find its way back under the hood someday, but it's really not too hard to get a 350 or 400 Pontiac to get 20 MPG if you have it tuned right and go easy on the cam and gearing.

 

I wont own another focus. Too much upkeep. Needs realigned alla time an sstill eats rear tires. Mid-late 80's turbo k cars were great 30+mpg, nice accel., super rigid unibody could clobber most fullsize cars too. aaah...

 

i had a 62 olds with the 215, got around 19 mpg on the freeway when i was on the throttle the whole time. didnt really figure out mpg except once. figured it was better than my other truck.

had a 73 VW bug that got around 30 if i remeber correct. those are pretty good cars. and if the motor goes to shit, you can get them for pretty damn cheap too. i wish i had known that before the car got impounded.

 

Plus they've got fat fenders and running boards! Don't expect to get an early one cheap though.

 

My Crestliner gets 20+ on the road. It would do better if I would keep my foot out of it. Yes it does have overdrive.

 

Personally, I'd avoid VW's unless you actually want to turn wrenches on your daily driver every weekend. Dont get me wrong, VW makes some fine automobiles, but they tend to be extremely high maintenance. I'm speaking about anything newer than about 1995.

Old Rabbit diesels are the hot ticket. Search for one on evil-bay and you understand why they are commanding such high prices. 50+ mpg.

Old beetles make some killer rides. They can even be HAMB friendly. Cheap as dirt, aesy to wrench on, and 45+ mpg

Toyota makes as good an automobile as you can get.

If you really wanted to stick it to OPEC, you could find/buy an older diesel and run it on Veggie oil from restaurants. Or make your own bio-diesel for about $1.50 a gallon. Mercedes makes the best passenger car diesels available.

For that matter, if your gonna run a ride on used veg oil, any diesel will do as the "fuel" is almost free, so MPG wont really matter.

GM made some diesel cars back in the 70's and 80's. There kinda rare these days, and cheap as dirt. They got a bad reputation back when they were new because the diesel fuel back then had a lot of water in it and messed a lot of them up, but it's not an issue with today's fuel. Those cars were WAAAAY ahead of their time. If GM introduced them today, it would be a super success

Diesel's are the way to go for economy. A diesel engine will burn 40% less fuel for the same power output as a gasoline engine. The GM sedans from the 70-80's were known to get 28-30 mpg, while a gasoline equiped car of the same body would struggle to get 20.
VW Jetta gas gets 32, diesel gets 45
Benz gas sedan gets 20, diesel gets 30
Dodge pickup gas gets 13, diesel gets 19
Etc.
Etc...
The VAST majority of those european super economy cars are diesel powered.
Those new smart cars you see running around get 55 mpg on gas, but the european diesel version has been known to get up to 80 mpg

My neighbor used to have a nova with an inline 6 and he swore it got 55 mpg. Worth pointing out that he was in his late 70's... And he drove it exactly like an "old man"... So I guess it's possible to get 55 mpg out of almost any car if it never goes over 50 mph.

If you want to know more about running a diesel on veggie oil, just ask me. That's my "thing"... I'v got 140,000 miles on "free fuel"

 

Best mileage I have had with a car that is NOT OT...
66 Chevy Truck, 250 L6, 4 spd, all original aside from repairs My first car). high teens in town when driven conservatively (which was rare) and low 20s on the highway. WOT wouldn't peg the 90 MPH speedo cuz of the deep farm-truck gears.
'63 Chevy II with '74 250 L6 from a Nova got high 20s on the highway with a glide and highway gears. In the family since new. The truck is behind the barn the ChevII is in, waiting for me to rescue them.
Most of the stripped down, base model, 6 cyl stuff of the 60s got mid 20s to mid 30s when new. Imagine what they will get with OD , better tires, etc.

A gas mileage thread can be kept on topic...

 

New Chuck Taylors $10...

Dogtown skateboard $150

Pay with Flesh!!

 

I can never get more than 30 out of my Bug. I guess I try to drive it too fast! I have a 240sx that is a fun car to drive, owned since new, gets 30+ and has a/c....but it's for sale.....it's either the Nissan or one of my rods....see ya Nissan! My wife will continue to be pampered with the Cadi STS, at 20mpg it's not all that bad for 300+hp.

 

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are

My '06 Silverado (4.3, 5 speed) gets overall city/highway combined of 24.5 mpg, driving a maximum speed of 60 on the highway. It only got 20 combined when I drove 70.

My wife's 99 Acura TL with 185,000 miles gets 27 mpg if driven nicely

I had an '81 Rabbit diesel that got 45 mpg...a friend had an '80 Rabbit pickup that got 50.

 

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