| Author | Message | ||
     Buellish |
I just bought a new truck.And as I have a 60 mile commute to work,I'd like to save on fuel cost and limit the milage I put on the truck. I've got $2000 to spend on a fuel efficient beater to drive to work. A guy down the road has a Ford Festiva for $1800/obo.As I recall they got 40 plus mpg. Any thoughts,suggestions? Mike | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
If you're not opposed to imports, some of the earlier honda civics got better than 50 mpg. It was the civic dh dx dl of something like that. Also any VW diesel or turbo diesel should do pretty well. | ||
| Buell12hundo |
look at saturn's ls200 there pretty good better than the early ones | ||
| Buell12hundo |
(Message edited by buell12hundo on October 12, 2005) | ||
| Scitz |
Find a diesel VW or other car and convert it to a grease car, www.greasecar.com, and run fry grease. I see Bio-Diesel becoming more popular in the future and should be cheaper than gas or regular diesel. Diesel cars also get better mileage than gas cars. | ||
| Midknyte |
Geo Metro hatchback. | ||
| Tramp |
1980s Volvo 240- ultra simple vehicle, very 1950s anti-tech.... stupid-zero mantenance...can pick 'em up in great shape for well under a thousand. My better half is running a '92 Subaru Loyale we got outta the back of the paper for $150- had a fuel leak, and it still has a bad rockerbox leak (lazy ol' tramp)...runs excellent, 4-wheel works great. I rarely ever go near chinese cars, but this was a good deal. our local paper has a 'bargain basemnt' section of items for $200- and less, every fri-sun. That's where I find good project or runner cars. Lie I say, though- Volvo 240 is one cheap and reliable way to go... | ||
| Tramp |
hey, buelish- your profile shot of your bike looks like mine did, back in the day.... | ||
| Court |
Erik Buell had a Ford Festiva and I must say that the automobile is capable of doing some INCREDIBLE things. Erik, long a big fan of performance cars, moved up from a Dodge mini-van that was the moto-equivalent of providing weird Al Yankvich with recreational drugs and an automatic weapon sameultimeously. The Dodge, noted to have plenty of power to achieve astounding speeds, was dumped when Mopar refused to provide a custom mix dual durometer urethane bushing mix to enhance handling at what Mr. Buell referred to as "real world speeds". The Ford Festiva has proven "tougher than our toughest" when hard pressed under "real world" conditions and the addition of an iPod satisfactorily masked the audible sounds of crap piled on the floors shifting during "real world" cornering maneuvers. The perfect vehicle? Who knows, but certainly a glowing de facto recommendation! | ||
| Tramp |
in other words, anything more than $100 for a festiva is sodomy, receiving end.... Geeez- open your local paper, man.... | ||
| Bomber |
Volvo 200 series are stone cold TANKS! can't kill em with a man-portable weapon, and easy to fix when stuff does go wrong -- all pluses minius, propriatary things like tail ight lenses ain't anywhere near cheap -- milage ain't nuthin to write home about, and you look like you wear Earth Shoes and vote for Nader while driving em ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances | ||
| New12r |
I would never own another festiva, throw them away at 50k and save the trouble. | ||
| Buell12hundo |
you could always opt for the YUGO  | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
My most cost effective vehicle: 1986 Honda civic hatchback, I got it for $400 It was a canada car. It had a two barrel carb, 1300 engine, MANUAL CHOKE! After I tweaked it, I managed to get 42MPG out of it. I had it for 3.5 years! all it needed was: radiator, carb rebuild, distributor, and a clutch. Now I have a toyota pick up that gets 20.  | ||
| Buellish |
I've had a few Volvos,242's,244's,a 245,a 740 and an 850.But I've never seen better than 24 mpg out of any of them.My new truck is getting 23. No,I'm after 38 mpg or better. | ||
| Djkaplan |
$1800? I don't care what kind of shape that car is in, it's not worth anywhere near $1800. | ||
| Sarodude |
Honda used to make a CRX HF. 1984 - 1987. Late 90's Saturn SL / SL1 - the one with the crappy motor. My better half turned her's in for a coupe with the twin cam motor. The previous car was infinitely better in nearly every way - especially mileage. 80 - 85 mph cruises to Vegas regularly yielded something in the 40 - 43 mpg range thanks to the grunty motor and a tall set of gears. -Saro | ||
| Dfishman |
buy an old aircooled 350cc-750cc jap bike for less than $1000.Then spend the rest on Gerbings electric riding gear!! And if you don't want to be caught dead on a boring old jap bike............Then make it FUN. I did. My daily rider.65 MPG!  I ride my X1 in the twisties..& put the bull***t miles on the old Kaw. | ||
| Jprovo |
I'll second the Saturn SL / SL1 of Saro. You can pick them up in this area for under $2000, they have plastic bodywork so the fenders don't rust or dent. Rock solid reliable. I'd buy another if I needed a cheap car. I regularly got 33-35 MPG while beating the heck out of it. James | ||
| Swampy |
1991 VW Jetta diesel, easy 40+mpg with the air on at speeds over 70mph. Easy to work on also. I put 325,000 miles on mine before I parked it. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Yeah but Diesel VWs are REALLY hard to get cheaply. I tried! Try your local craigslist.org You're in GA, eh? I bet you don't even have to THINK about rust! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
OH! I forgot to ANTI-recommend a car: GEO METRO. when they run out of gas, you need a new one. I knew a few people that had those and none NONE made it past 125K. One blew up so nicely on the highway that the valves dented the underside of his hood  | ||
| Jlnance |
Buellish - Since no one else asked ... Whats wrong with riding the bike? | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Fishman - cool ride, but ya dam well BETTER get 65 mpg, 'cause ya only got 1 of those g's in that peanut tank! Buellish - get yerself an old beater VW bug for a G or so and drive it to death like it's last 4 owners did. AL | ||
| Doughnut |
I like Chevy Cavaliers. | ||
| Buellish |
"Buellish - Since no one else asked ... Whats wrong with riding the bike?" Well,I just put 4000 miles on the S2 commuting to work in a two month period.But I do three interstates,and in Atlanta theres no avoiding traffic.And I am really tired of dodging idiots with cell phones growing out of there ears! | ||
| Spike |
There are plenty of beaters that get good mileage to choose from. How about something a little more fun? I'd recommend an early Miata. I bought a relatively clean '92 model with a salvage title back in '01 for $3k. I beat the snot out of it and still managed to get 29mpg around town. Mine was just shy of 150k miles when I sold it and still ran great. I've seen many with over 200k on the original motor. The common problems include a worn out convertible top and noisy HLAs (lifters). A new top can be found for under $250 and takes about an afternoon to replace. I had a buddy who used to find deals on beater Miatas for about $1k. Best of all, you get a lightweight sports car that's RWD and has double-wishbone suspension at all four corners. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Just bought a 91 Honda Accord 2 dr sedan EX,4 cyl,5 spd, with 129k for 2000,very clean,saw lots similar on Craigs list. Festiva is right around par with Yugo,stay away. I have had 2 different Civics and put 180k+ on both.The last one still belongs to a fireman here and he has 235k and raves about it every time I see him. | ||
| 1313 |
Spike, Buellish had a Miata the last time I talked with him. Don't know if that is still the case... Buellish, Has it been that long ago? Sorry I can't make any recommendations for a 4 wheeled sled, but I can give you a recommendation of what not to get for fuel economy. The old DED SLD (70 Cadillac Hearse) only gets around 8-10 mpg. But then again, since I live where I do I ride year round now. BTW, Did you sell the Camaro convertible? I guess we got some catching up to do... 1313 (Message edited by 1313 on October 12, 2005) | ||
| Tramp |
bombs said (regarding volvo 240s): "minius, propriatary things like tail ight lenses ain't anywhere near cheap " ummmm bombs- here in america, junk yards are FULL of 240s, yard near me has a coouple dozen, taillight lenses are dirt cheap, there, $5- apiece to the public.... |
