Another what car thread. Something to eat up the highway in reasonable comfort and economy.

My wife is going to be doing notary work state wide for a real estate lawyer. Figure 500-1000 miles a week. A 300k mile Suburban is not the best vehicle for the job. Neither is her Mustang.

Medium size car or SUV. Comfortable hyw cruiser. Decent to good fuel economy, figure 25+ mpg. Reliable. Easy to work on and cheap parts are a must. A cheap used appliance to drive into the ground and throw away.

Hondas are the easy button. Accord. 

German cars need not apply. I have no interest in ever owning one again. 

What else. 

Hyundai Ioniq. 55+ MPG. 

Camry, or any of the Toyota CUVs. Same for most Kia/Hyundai stuff.

2015-up Ford Fusion. Good ones available under $10K. Solid, comfortable, 30+ mpg.

Lowest mile Camry/Sonata/Fusion/Malibu hybrid in your budget. Upper 30s for mpg if she drives like its a rental car. Mid 40s if she's easy on it. They're all safe, reliable, fuel efficient

Are they going to be reimbursing at the IRS rate, or are they just going to pay for fuel and you're on the hook for everything else?

I feel like a prius is the answer here.

In reply to the_machina :

They will be paying by the job. It works out to about $50+/hr. No vehicle expenses beyond that, hence the need for something cheap to operate. 

Yeah, pick the hybrid of your choice. There are probably hundreds of choices at this point - everything from a Lincoln MKZ to a Prius. I'm pretty sure every manufacturer has put a hybrid option on their midsize car and I'm not sure any of them are a bad option.

Sonata, 06-up, Azera or the Optima '11-up or Kia Cadenza. all 4 suffer from Korean depreciation so lightly used models with low mileage are easy to find. The 11-up sonata/optima will knock down 30+mpg with the NA 2.4. 

There are a few EVs which will do that, but they are not cheap.

Mazda 3 wins for me on a $/mile for a lot of driving based on my math in ICE land.

Hybrids (like the Ioniq) make a ton of sense, too.

Mazda CX-5. I had one for two years, had to get rid of it because stuff. I still miss it and think about getting another one.

Used Avalon or ES350.  Either would make the long drives a little more tolerable.  Edit: My wife's '09 Sienna with the same drivetrain has never even had a check engine light during it's life.  Today it's at 195,500 miles.

In reply to Toyman01 :

Panther-Chassis 03+ Mercury Grand Mariqus.

I'm personally loving the Gen2 Prius. 

Here is a real example 

https://savannah.craigslist.org/cto/d/2008-toyota-prius-113k-miles-1-owner/7011439645.html

An 08 at 100k miles for under $5k is a deal. I can tell that this one is pretty loaded also having Bluetooth and Nav. 

Another at a pretty good price. Closer to $3k would be better but 165k doesn't scare me on these. 

https://myrtlebeach.craigslist.org/cto/d/myrtle-beach-2008-toyota-prius-hybrid/7007086714.html

Link to my Prius experiences

The Gen3 Prius of "10 and newer will get you a little better mpg but the buy in price is nearly double over the Gen2. 

I also agree with what Bob says about '11 and newer Elantra, Sonata and Optima

Hard to argue with the Camry for this task.

And you know....like..."Season to taste" eh?

In another thread on GRM, "some guy" professed his love for these...  

Toyman01 said:

Congrats on the purchase.

I can honestly say the P71 is one of the best cars I have ever bought. 

Need to take 5 to dinner. No problem. 

Autocross tomorrow. It can do that. And fairly well. I have several FS trophies with mine. 

Rallycross? Yep, does that pretty awesome as well. Season champ in MR with mine. We put 80 runs on mine one day with 10 drivers.

How about a track day or time trial. No worries, got that done as well.

Let your son drive it daily to work and pretty much beat the crap out of it. Done.

Still going strong. 

PS: There used to be a guy on Ebay selling Mustang takeoffs for $240 a set delivered. I bought 2 of them. One for street, one for rallycross.

And incase you were curious about how to get a P71 truly dirty...

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wob-7SeodEY?rel=0

 

In reply to John Welsh :

Not sure I can talk her into a Panther. It's going to be bigger than she wants and my P71 will only eek out 22 mpg on the hwy. I'll have to talk to her about them.

Avalon Hybrid

My very similar needs and mileage per week on north Carolina roads, with a seriously berkeleyed up spine and neck.

I bought a 108k mile 2012 mazda6 touring. Im 10k in already in a couple of months. Im averaging 27mpg, with outlier tanks od 24 and 29.

Parts are stupid cheap. Oil changes simple enough i dont hate it. Seats comfortable, stereo adequate. 

I paid 5500 from a local flippper on craigslist. 

OHSCrifle said:

Avalon Hybrid

This. Anything you can do with a Camry you can do better with an Avalon, for the same or less money. 
 

I’s look at one of the Toyota/Lexus hybrids for this job. Also, with as many miles as she’ll be driving comfort, low noise level, a good stereo, and safety may trump outright mileage.

Check out the CT200h, ES300h, etc.

I’ve been shopping these types of vehicles for the past week, and there are a lot of good options out there.

John Welsh said:

I'm personally loving the Gen2 Prius. 

Here is a real example 

https://savannah.craigslist.org/cto/d/2008-toyota-prius-113k-miles-1-owner/7011439645.html

An 08 at 100k miles for under $5k is a deal. I can tell that this one is pretty loaded also having Bluetooth and Nav.

Somebody please check my math...ad says "Previously 1 owner."  So this tells me that it isn't new (got that based on the fact it is a 2008...) and the current owner is somewhere between #2 and #27bajillion...I mean a car that has had 7 owners was "Previously 1 owner"...

Oh, and I agree that some version of the Toyota/Lexus hybrid is probably a really good idea here... :)

Toyman,

If you decide to sell off the Suburban, let me know.  I'm in Cola and would potentially be interested.

Edit:. Cancel that. I'm getting on the pickup band wagon when my Tahoe gets replaced...

I’ve got a 2005 Camry LE that does a lot of what you’re looking for... comfortable, cheap, low maintenance, but I’m a bit disappointed in the MPGs. I usually get about 26 and so i drive my Festiva instead now (37-39mpg) even though it’s way less comfortable.

I like the 2g Prius but they aren’t as comfortable and I hate the visibility due to the large a-pillar.

if you can find a nice hybrid Avalon or Camry, that’s probably a good move.