Hot Rod Forum banner

Non Hotrod-Good Used Gas Mileage Cars

4K views 28 replies 23 participants last post by  Siggy_Freud 
#1 ·
With high gas prices was wondering what are some good ( used ) cars that get good mpg. Been doing some searches have found some after 100,000 miles or more have cracked heads, blown head gaskets, timing belts or other high end maintence issues.

Have thought somewhat of looking, but then I wonder if I'd be saving that much by the time I buy another vehicle and the up keep. instead of just paying the gas.

I commute around 45 miles a day S-10 blazer @ 20mpg., I could car pool but depends what shift I'm on. Was thinking of something in the $2000. range but don't know which ones to consider or stay away from. The only foriegn dealer we have in my town is honda even though I know some other foriegn cars are good, concern on service if needed. Thanks for any thoughts.
 
#3 ·
Let's do a little math-
With your blazer,right now,with gas@ $3/gal, your spending$33.75/week or $135/month on gas. If you get a car that gets double the milage,your gas bill goes down to $67.50/month,for a savings of $67.50/month. I don't know how insurance works in Iowa,but just about any car added on a policy here in Jersey with minimum coverage is going to cost about $700/year or more.That cost alone is $58.30/month.Without considering any other costs,you're ahead by $9.20/month.If you spend $2000 for the car ,you might break even in 20 years,assuming you can find a car that gets 40MPG and will last 20 years.
I just used this same type of reasoning on my boss when he started talking about getting a Toyota pick up for my company truckand getting rid of the 2 year old Dodge Sprinter van that gets 20 MPG on diesel.(He was trying to tell me that a V-6 with automatic trans was good for 30 MPG!)
Bear with it-gas is starting to come down-I saw $2.96.9/gal today near Philadelphia on the Jersey side of the river.It was as high as $3.55.9/gal last week.

George :cool:
 
#4 ·
Mpg

I have been telling people this same logic for years but no one wants to believe it. My family vehicle is a '96 Suburban that gets about 17 mpg on the road and probably 12 mpg in town. I did the math also and have decided to keep driving it but cut down on the miles. This is still cheaper that buying, insuring, and maintaining another vehicle even if you spend less that $1,000 on the car.

The only thing that still hurts is filling a 42 gallon tank @ $3 a gallon, I don't like to do the math on that!

The whole gas price thing is really depressing to a motor head, everything we love to do involves burning gas!

Rick
 
#7 ·
Why not a Motorcyle.....?

Better mileage
Fun Factor
Cheap taxes
Cheap insurance

There are lots of motorcyles in the $1000 range that run good and will carry you a lot of mile for cheap money....

Honda ......comes to mind.

.
 
#9 ·
Everybody has good points. But back to the topic. Honda's are great lil cars and last. They're big down fall is the timing belt like most small 4 cyl cars. Your a gear head pick up a book and swap it out yourself for cheap peice of mind. I know a 1994 civic with the SOHC vtec I knocked down 48mpg on the interstate, and I think it got mid 30's with combination driving.
There were several good points about the added cost of a second vehicle but here are a few things to think about. If all you have is the "hot rod" when it needs repairs what do you drive? When you want to do an involved project with it what do you drive? Plus let's not forget about all the idiots on the roadways? Also there is a great feeling when you go from the "beater" into the "nice" car it's like getting a new car every time and not spending any money. Also at least for me I have weathered the normal gas ups and downs by filling all mine up then switching back and forth as needed when gas shoots up.
 
#10 ·
stop crying

Life COST MONEY in case some have missed that fact. I am sick of the boo-hooing that I read on a HOT ROD sight, Go start a site called CRY-A-TANK-FULL and whine about the price of gas there. Do whatever. if you like a fast cool car enjoy it to the max........ boo-hoo the gas went up, stop stuffing your face with twinkies, and instead of going out to the latest restaurant , just to S**T the whole 50 dollar meal into the can. I say put gas in your car go for a ride and enjoy the machine you built (bought). Stop going out to the lame brain movies, that is another tank full. If you realy want to cry about something take a REAL LOOK at the taxes you are paying......... perspective IT's A WONDERFULL THING ......... man get a clue............ :pain:
 
#13 · (Edited)
My daily driver is a 1994 Toyota Corolla I bought for 1500 dollars. It takes the wear and tear off the Z-28 and also gets between 32-38 miles per gallon. It now has 170,000 miles and still runs like new. It's been a very reliable car. I don't mind driving it on gravel roads or newly asphalted roads or any kind of weather, that's the best part, just beat it. Also, I believe everyone should have a back up car.
 
#14 ·
Gas prices do happen to suck... But I don't care... much. I notice and do shop a little for the cheaper stuff. I drive a 85 Buick Regal with the 3.8 V6. It knocks down about 21 mpg on the highway and 18 in the city. Not bad, could be better, but isn't. I used to think my 383 Elky got bad mileage with low teens around town due to a healthy dose of overlap. I recently drove 170 miles one way and amazed my self with 20 mpg in my weekend warrior (going racing so it wasn't in vain). I got better mileage than my dad's stock 350 (has headers, if it matters) 79 Caballero. I'm a solid 2 seconds faster and get better mileage. That made me feel a lot better about driving my Hot Rod. Oh, FWIW, I have 3.08's in my Elky and 2.73's in the Caballero.
 
#15 ·
I purchased my 91 diesel Jetta 8 years ago for 5000 dollars, it had 100 k on it at that time. It now has over 260k now and still gets 60 mpg city or hwy. It pulls a class II trailer with little problem and recently towed my 4'X8' trailer loaded with 5 mtn bikes, 4 burly guys and all their gear (which all fit into the trunk including the front tires of all 5 bikes!) into the hilly region of my province for a three day weekend of trail shredding. She hardly felt it although we didn't climb the 50% grade hills at more than 80 km/h. At the end of the trip we tallied the fuels costs and we covered 900 km on one tank fully loaded. 10 bucks each is what we split the fuel costs...WoooHOOO! :thumbup:

The only maintenance item is the K@N air filter and an oil/filter change which I do regularly since its so inexpensive to do every 4 months, no plugs, no wires, no cap, no rotor, no electronics. Sweeeet! :D

Its as basic as it gets and I am in love with the economics of owning this car, I had a 87 turbo diesel version previously and actually preferred it to this normally aspirated model but she was pretty tired at 350k, lack of a turbo sure adds to the life of the engine as this one is still as strong as the day I bought it.

It doesn't rust because Germany has a similar climate to Canada and the car is built to a higher standard with sacrificial anodes at all body connection points. The braking system is crossed so the left front and right rear are linked hydraulically, driving and stopping on ice is a non-event. The suspension is long travel so the typical potholes we have here are hardly felt and the seats that came with the car are firm and well supporting...Recaro would be proud even if they don't have the nice side bolsters of a performance seat. Parts from the dealer are almost always cheaper than aftermarket and better quality to boot, VW knows how to attract the family oriented customer thats for sure.

At one time I actually hated these cars because they are so ugly but let me tell you the police don't even look twice at the car as a result and I don't drive it any differently than a faster car...if anything I speed more in it because you have to drive a little more aggressively to keep up with fast moving traffic. I have never gotten pulled over or ticketed in this car, no vehicle has ever done that for me. ;)

I firmly believe it's the finest/cheapest to operate commuter car on the planet. Don't tell anyone else cause I want to buy another one cheap before everyone finds out. :welcome:
 

Attachments

#16 ·
Ghetto Jet said:
I think for some the issue of saftey comes to mind.



I consider motorcyles fairly safe....... :D IF you are careful. This is the 2001 Harley Deuce I bought in December of 2000. I bought my first Harley at age 16....over 40 years ago. Had a few Hondas too....

Everything is a risk of sorts.....

.
 
#17 ·
Deuce said:


Everything is a risk of sorts.....

.[/QUOTE]

true. ever drive a hotrod? omigosh, those are too fast, you might hurt yourself! -sounds like Grandma, doesn't it? Well, don't be like Grandma. Go out, and use your brain and pray to The Man Above for good guidance and I wish you the best of Godspeed myself. :thumbup:
 
#18 · (Edited)
Deuce said:
I consider motorcyles fairly safe....... :D IF you are careful.

I think where you live and the conditions of driving you do affects level of truth in that thought. If you live in a low population area, where you hardly ever see another car on road when you're out. Then being careful goes a long way because they're are really no other uncountable factors to deal with. I do alot of congested highway and city driving everyday. I always keep in mind that no matter how good of a driver I am it won't always protect me from the numerous idiots that are on the road with me. That's why I like being surrounded by metal.

A good friend of mine was riding his Harley to work about 3 years ago. He was cruising safely down the highway when someone made a lane change right into the side of his bike. He never saw it coming and the driver never saw him until she made contact. Fortunately he lived, but lost some fingers and some movement with his left hand, shattered his left leg. Without his hands this guy couldn't be a real mechanic anymore.
 
#19 ·
Lots of options,

My brothers and I have driven Saabs for years now, and I'm always impressed when I think about how great they are. for example, slightly modified, (up to about 200hp from 165) 1986 Saab 900 SPG gets 28mpg, when driven hard, despite the fact that 5th gear is 1:1, not overdrive. Any gearhead can do all maintnance/repair with help from this website www.saabnet.com it's the best bulletin boards around for model-specific advice. Plus, a saab motor will go for over 250,000miles with good maintenance, and will deliver satifying performance to a hot rod guy, while giving great gas mileage. They deliver more torque than horsepower, and hitting full turbo boost is an amazing experience. Their handling is awesome, brakes are great, and they are unique, much like the classic cars and hotrods we all love. Non-turbo models are great too, just slower. BTW, NO burnouts or hard launches, you will end up buying a new transmission, just be mindful that a sudden shock to the trans can cause it to flex too much, destroying something. That's just about they're only weakness.
If you want to get a little crazy with it, there's the performance bulletin board, which has a guy named jak that revved a stock motor past its factory redline of 5500rpm, up to 7500rpm using a remapped ECU. he now sells custom ECU's for a great price. check him out at www.jakstollperformance.com

Also, VW's newer TDI series diesels are probably exactly what your looking for. my mom's 2002 jetta gets 48mpg with an auto trans, cruising fully loaded from Virginia to Ohio over the Appalachian Mtns. 90hp, 149lbs of torque, doesn't sound like much, but it's no slouch if you know how to drive it. Just remember that there's no point in shifting past 3200rpm. and easing on the throttle yields much better acceleration than stomping on it. check up on these diesels at www.tdiclub.org it has a great FAQ's page.

Rember that daily driving an economical car not only saves money on gas, but saves the good petroleum stuff for your weekend cruiser.
good luck with whatever you do.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Fast Orange said:
Let's do a little math-
With your blazer,right now,with gas@ $3/gal, your spending$33.75/week or $135/month on gas. If you get a car that gets double the milage,your gas bill goes down to $67.50/month,for a savings of $67.50/month. I don't know how insurance works in Iowa,but just about any car added on a policy here in Jersey with minimum coverage is going to cost about $700/year or more.That cost alone is $58.30/month.Without considering any other costs,you're ahead by $9.20/month.If you spend $2000 for the car ,you might break even in 20 years,assuming you can find a car that gets 40MPG and will last 20 years.
I just used this same type of reasoning on my boss when he started talking about getting a Toyota pick up for my company truckand getting rid of the 2 year old Dodge Sprinter van that gets 20 MPG on diesel.(He was trying to tell me that a V-6 with automatic trans was good for 30 MPG!)
Bear with it-gas is starting to come down-I saw $2.96.9/gal today near Philadelphia on the Jersey side of the river.It was as high as $3.55.9/gal last week.

George :cool:

*****
I agree with FAST and Ricky. Been there, done that.

The only problem is....... this time gas ain'ta gonna get mucho cheaper than $ 2.50 and if it does.... not going to be there for very long....

The Commie Chinese are buying up all the world's oil/wood/steel to fuel their record growth and paying for it with the ONE TRILLION DOLLARS trade deficite the USA sent them in the last 8 years (USA Today, front page Feb 2005). They are now # 2 consumers, and projected to be # 1 ahead of USA in 6 years. That is DOUBLE their present consumption.

The USA has been saving our own oil for the possibility that someday we won't be able to buy foreign oil. Use theirs, save ours, as long as we can.

The Chinese and Japs are buying up all the bonds, etc. to fund our national debt and in 6 years will be a position to bankrupt this country at will. The next depression will make the 30s look like a church picknick. the only reason they don't do it NOW, is that we are still funding their growth.

Better get used to it. We lost 2 wars to the Chinese. And now they are going to defeat us without firing a shot, just like they said they would.

Don't you like to hear the $ 58,000 SUV owners squeel about Bush and fuel prices on the TV news... ???? ROFLMAO

Buy Wal Mart goods. The Commies need more money.
 
#21 ·
fitzwell said:
late 80's / early 90's 4cyl 5 speed mustang.No one wants a 4 cyl 'stang, you can pick 'em up cheap (600 bucks, 125k miles, cold air) & get 28-30 mpg :thumbup:
my daily driver
We've had 2 new ones, an 82 stick and 80 auto, and a used 88? auto, and no matter what I could never coax more than 25 out of either one on an interstate highway trip at 65 mph. My 2002 4.6 Lincoln Town Car gets 27 @ 73 mph on cruise on the exact same road/weather. In town there is no descernable difference.

My buddy has a 3800 v-6 buick and we traveled together and he used more gas than I did. Even my Mark 8 gets 27 on the same highway. My daughter in law's 98 Taurus gets 28 on the same road.

Old cars suck for mileage. Even the new little ones are only 3 mpg better than a big car.
 
#22 ·
xntrik said:
Old cars suck for mileage. Even the new little ones are only 3 mpg better than a big car.
When ya go real old british and german/american ( Opel ), I would have to disagree. like MGB's And like Triumph Spitfires, also Opel's got good gas mialage. My mom had a '69 GT 1900 and avraged 42 MPG


For newer cars, Escorts W/ manual are good especially it the timing is adjusted, my mom was getting 42 MPG @ 120,000 miles and it dropped down to like 35 when it hit 160,000 miles.
 
#23 ·
I drive 91 F*** Escort wagon as an everyday beater that gets 35-37 mpg all day long! Escorts of that vintage(stick shift) get great mileage and are pretty much bullet proof,except for rear springs and timeing belts. A timing belt takes about 1.5 hrs to change and costs $13. But as someone mentioned previously, depending on how many miles you drive...adding another car may be a case of diminishing returns.I have 5 on the road right now, and the ins is a bit hard to take.
 
#24 ·
matt167 said:
When ya go real old british and german/american ( Opel ), I would have to disagree. like MGB's And like Triumph Spitfires, also Opel's got good gas mialage. My mom had a '69 GT 1900 and avraged 42 MPG


For newer cars, Escorts W/ manual are good especially it the timing is adjusted, my mom was getting 42 MPG @ 120,000 miles and it dropped down to like 35 when it hit 160,000 miles.

You are a Chevy guy, aren't you??
 
#25 ·
gas milage? what a joke a car goes to crap just sitting.those scooters and small cars are a real bonus for milage but what about comfort?drive 2000 miles in a small car,trip to the back doctor mmm 40 bucks laid up day or two the caddy or lincoln sounds got to me. comfort with 5 friends out to dinner with everyone kicking back something,gas milage just got real good! god bless
 
#26 ·
xntrik said:
You are a Chevy guy, aren't you??
Half Chevy half Ford guy, I own a '67 Ford Falcon and a '51 Chevy Fleetline. I used to own a '83 MB 240D that I was going to turn into a custom by dropping in a 350 but, I lost interest, junked the donor and stripped the MB for the parts and that was junked too ( I only paid $250 for the car, and it wasn't running )
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top