Fun to drive, great mileage (20k+ yr commute)

Well all of my careful planning on landing a vehicle has had the proverbial wrench thrown into it and now I have no idea what to do.

My situation: Currently drive a 97 LHS with 250k + miles on it. Needs replaced bad. I drive 286 miles a week. Just got a promotion (significantly more money), the catch? Commute is now 386 miles a week (34 miles each leg plus seeing my GF once a week). The LHS by my calculations is barely getting 18mpgs( dont know for sure, odometer hasn't worked in 3 years), and with gas at 4 bucks a gallon, it hurts big time (80+ bucks a week in gas).

I was originally sold on the 2011 Mustang. Decent performance, decent MPGs. Now im thinking the mpgs might not be enough. The problem is that I am not really seeing a car with better MPGs that isn't just a bore to drive EXCEPT for VW cars, which have questionable reliability (not something I want to roll the dice on with a possible 20k miles a year commute) that don't come in at a price premium. Id love to rock a BMW 335d (36mpg and 14.1 sec quarter) but obviously they aren't in my price range.

Anyone have any good suggestions? Ive examined most cars in the 30mpg performance range, and most of them cost more than the Mustang while delivering the same MPG. The only thing thusfar that I see as a compromise would be a Mini Cooper S, and they cost more as well, and have had reliability issues but the MPG offset this a bit. Is there no good answer or is it just going to be a compromise one way or the other? Car needs to be reliable enough to handle 20k miles a year (for the foreseeable future), and fun to drive. Probably in the MID 20s, but at that range it better bring something that the Mustang can't. I am trying to avoid putting a sizeable chunk of my raise in the gas tank. Thanks for the help!

That's quite the commute. If I were in your shoes, and it was in the budget, I'd go for the Mustang with a V-6.

In reply to csbassplayer2003: Mini Cooper does 37, the 2013 Genesis Coupe 2.0T does 27-31 mpg highway (and has a 10 year warranty), Golf GTI gets into the 30s. FT86 will be around 30 mpg. Fiat 500 Abarth will be up there. The V6 Mustang should be plenty quick too. The upcoming Veloster Turbo might be worth waiting for. MX5, obviously. Focus ST is coming soon. Civic Si gets 31 mpg.

In reply to DaewooOfDeath:

The Mustang V6 will probably be faster in a straight line than any of the rest of those, right?

I drove the '12 Focus as a rental. I loved the thing. I got 36 MPG in a week of combined driving. It was peppy, well designed, good looking, and fun- and this impression is based off the auto! I would offer that you should rent a Focus, Mazda2/Fiesta for the week or weekend at least and see what you think. Your gas bill will be halved, and they're fairly cheap buy-in. For similar money, I'd get the focus over the other two for its larger size but similar mileage.

On the other hand, I think the v6 Mustang/Camaro/Challenger all get around 30 on the hwy and have 300+ hp.

Teh E36 M3 wrote: I drove the '12 Focus as a rental. I loved the thing. I got 36 MPG in a week of combined driving. It was peppy, well designed, good looking, and fun- and this impression is based off the auto! I would offer that you should rent a Focus, Mazda2/Fiesta for the week or weekend at least and see what you think. Your gas bill will be halved, and they're fairly cheap buy-in. For similar money, I'd get the focus over the other two for its larger size but similar mileage. On the other hand, I think the v6 Mustang/Camaro/Challenger all get around 30 on the hwy and have 300+ hp.

I also had a 12 Focus rental, maxed out on the options list including black leather.

I was in Texas in the summer

Car was a riot to drive, quiet and got 28 mpg (I was having a little too much fun. Used the throttle in a binary manner)

Are your miles 70+mph highway or 55mph roads? It matters. A lot of the smaller good mileage cars really fall off over about 65 where aero becomes the biggest factor. A mustang and a focus cut very similar sized holes in the air and at 70 get pretty similar mileage.

What does "decent performance" mean exactly? The 07-08 Honda Fits handle shockingly well out of the box, get 32-37mpg, and are dirt cheap. But you WILL get passed by everyone.

My commute is going to be about 95% interstate. I forgot about the Veloster turbo. Supposedly they are going to get 38mpg, but until I see some hard numbers or a release date even it is just pure speculation. Id say at latest Id need to get this vehicle by summer. Warranty does factor in because if I do a 5 year loan on it by the time it is over that vehicle will have racked up 100k miles. And straight line speed for me isn't the end all, it is nice but as long as im not put to sleep (like with most Toyotas) I can live with it if it handles well and has some creature comforts.

calteg wrote: What does "decent performance" mean exactly? The 07-08 Honda Fits handle shockingly well out of the box, get 32-37mpg, and are dirt cheap. But you WILL get passed by everyone.

That depends on how hard you press the pedal. It really is a momentum car with a nice rev happy engine.

I have an '07 Fit and commute 70 miles rounds trip a day. I am really close to hitting 100k on the car after five years of this and still love the car. With the five speed manual transmission I never get below 30 mpg and that's running at 70-80+ mph on the highway everyday. When I drive around the speed limit I routinely see 36+ mpg.

I would say Cruze or Sonic with the 1.4T. Even with the ups and downs of the mountains here, 36mpg is doable with even a heavy foot and a 6spd. Autos get at least 2-3mpg less.

I can't help but say something...

If the only reason you are thinking about buying a new car is to save money at the pump... You have to be really bad at math.

You are putting enough miles on cars you make them 'worthless' in a very short order..

So if the plan is to save money on the commute. Well.. A cheaper gas hog might actually cost you less per mile than a shiny new car which would get marginally better fuel economy...

A new mustang will not lower your total cost per mile of driving.

Now.. if you want a mustang... and can afford the luxury.. and really want to spend your raise before the money even shows up in your bank account..

Go for it..

If you are going for cost-effective and fun-to-drive, the Turbo MINI is not the answer vs the v6 Mustang in my experience. They're quite expensive to keep and maintain, demand premium fuel, and most real-world MPG figures top out at 30mpg.

We also have an 08 Fit and while it's a great simple appliance car that is fun to drive quickly through roundabouts, it's not going to measure up near the Mustang in fun factor. It will, however, be less expensive to run and maintain, and return 35+ mpg on the freeway with regular gas. It's a bit buzzy on the freeway though, and the tight steering can feel twitchy at times above 70 mph.

Upon rereading your post, I'd say the answer is Miata.

Math:

Current car @ 18MPG 20000/year= 1111 gallons @$4/gal=$4444/year @5 years=$22222

Resale: ~$1k, Maint: ??

Focus (or other decent mileage car) @36mpg purchase price $16k?
20000/year= 555 gallons
@$4/gal=$2222/year
@5 years $11111

Resale: $6-7k

Gas Savings: $11111
Residual cost: $9-10k Total Cost:
New Focus: ~$21k
Old Car: $21k+ maint cost

So its a wash if you get the new car with higher mileage expectation. Except that you can get the new car, with a warranty, an d modern features to drive during that time.

ronholm wrote: I can't help but say something... If the only reason you are thinking about buying a new car is to save money at the pump... You have to be really bad at math. You are putting enough miles on cars you make them 'worthless' in a very short order.. So if the plan is to save money on the commute. Well.. A cheaper gas hog might actually cost you less per mile than a shiny new car which would get marginally better fuel economy... A new mustang will not lower your total cost per mile of driving. Now.. if you want a mustang... and can afford the luxury.. and really want to spend your raise before the money even shows up in your bank account.. Go for it..

There is something to be said here about this subject. A spreadsheet will greatly help figure this out. I was and still am in a similar spot. My current paid for DD gets 20mpg. For me to break EVEN on a "newer" car, I had to get something between 40-50mpg, assuming the insurance stayed the same. Add in the additional insurance required, I would be better off just sticking it out with my POS. The difference was a lot of gas that could be bought.

You are probably worried about breaking down right? If you keep up on all of the PM stuff and breakdowns won't happen anywhere near whatever you buy.

2013 Focus ST is coming out in a few months. Turbocharged, manual, wrong wheel drive. LOL

In my somewhat limited experience with the LHS, one with 250,000 miles has outlived its life expectancy by about 150,000 miles.

Are you totally against a CPO car? The cars that are just out of your reach brand new might be well within reach 3 years out with a CPO warranty, which in some cases, are the same 3/36,000 you used to get with every new car.

In reply to Conquest351:

OMG...and they called the 98-02 Camaros "catfish-faced"..... That one they have pictured looks like a giant goldfish...

Ranger50 wrote: In reply to Conquest351: OMG...and they called the 98-02 Camaros "catfish-faced"..... That one they have pictured looks like a giant goldfish...

Yeah, but I want one BAAAAD. LOL They need to make a friggin AWD Turbo Focus!!!

The answer may not be Miata, but it could be Mazda. I'm looking at a similar commute increase and the MINI Cooper S is already getting long in the tooth. I started another thread asking about the Skyactiv Mazda 3. It is relatively inexpensive, rated at 40 on regular gas, and has respectable performance. Most reviews prefer it over the Focus.

MazdaSpeed 6? Or are you looking for a NEW car?

J308 wrote: In reply to DaewooOfDeath: The Mustang V6 will probably be faster in a straight line than any of the rest of those, right?

The Genesis Coupe and Focus ST would probably be close enough you couldn't notice.

My 2011 Fiesta is a lot of fun to drive. It won't win many drag races but it is peppy enough for DD. There a several handling kits available. Gas mileage is great, runs upper 30's to low 40's. Drove a trip once, 425 miles. Got 40 mpg at 60 mph average speed. Handles great at interstate speeds.

So you are looking at 30+ MPG Performance Fun to drive Long life expectancy. Reasonably comfortable.

WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THIS IS GRM? THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS

What if you look at cars with ~60k miles on them already? Doing so would take the steepest part of the depreciation curve out of the equation. You could drive the car for 2 years and sell it with 100k on it. Your cost/mile equation would probably be fairly okay at that point.

If used cars are an option, you could look at an e46 3-series. I've owned 2 now and my current 330 ZHP will give me 30 MPG on the hwy while doing 75mph with the A/C on.