Highest MPG commuter for 5k?

While searching for a better job, it's come to my attention that I have an Interstate and a Highway that can take me east/west/and north, respectively.

While the P71 has been a great car, I think she's going to be replaced with a much more fuel efficient ride.

I know traditional wisdom dictates that I should probably find the best maintained 4-cylinder penalty box I can get and drive the wheels off it it, but I'm looking at even more economical vehicles. Namely, the 1st gen Insight and any TDI around my price mark.

To be honest, even considering the whole hybrid battery system and aluminum construction, I'm way more comfortable with the idea of an Insight. I am a little uncertain about parts availability for such a unique car, but I doubt it's going to be much of an issue.

At least with the TDI stuff, I can cannibalize some parts from other non-diesel VW's, but I am a little leery of any VAG product, especially since I'm all thumbs when it comes to working on cars.

Hmm, I've also been cruising CL while typing this, and it seems that early Civic hybrids have entered this price range as well. That may be the sweet spot, as there are a ton of these out there.

Insight.

I saw a Civic CNG this weekend...

I think the Insight will be the eventual winner. I kinda like the idea of the Civic hybrid, but would definitely prefer a manual tranny.

I'm also keeping an eye out for any of the more economical Hondas, but around here they're all either beat to hell or have a turbo'ed B-series engine swap.

a coworker has a 1st gen Insight. It's got north of 200K on it. It's been reliable, but feels like a tin can to drive and sounds like it's going to break in half. I can't remember the fuel economy he get's but I'm sure it's in the 40's, mostly highway.
I just picked up a 1999 Golf TDI for not much more than 3K with new timing belt, skid plate and steering/front suspension on it. My first tank was driving it home, 99.8% highway netted me 52 mpg.

I'd find a crx to drive long before I'd punish myself with an insight.

Find a pristine mid 80s CRX HF????

Racer1ab wrote: I think the Insight will be the eventual winner. I kinda like the idea of the Civic hybrid, but would definitely prefer a manual tranny.

The 7th generation Civic version of the hybrid had a stick shift option. I've considered this one myself.

Is this an added car to your fleet, or a replacement?

Oh, and what's the fuel requirement at $5k. That way you can have a sliding scale for a car that costs less. $1000 buys 200 gal of fuel- that will get you a long way, even at 25mpg.

Depending on the drive, a P71 at 25mpg will be worth it over a car like the HF (I had one- great car, but I'm quite sure I would be more tired after 5 hrs of that vs. a Crown Vic.)

To add to Alfadriver...
Go to www.fueleconomy.gov and compare potential vehicles against the car you have. Then, "personalize" the driving for more city, more hyw or higher gas prices.
This will then show you what you can expect for annual savings. If you drive less than 15k miles per year, you may be surprise how small the difference can be.

These calculations for savings will also take into account the higher cost of Premium fuel or Diesel.

In all seriousness, I would look at a Miata or a first-gen Honda Fit or maybe a BMW 325e if you're willing to go vintage. Bear in mind that overall fuel mileage is not the same as highway fuel mileage. Hybrids typically fall short of their mileage "estimates" especially during highway driving. It really depends if you want a big comfy car (like your CrownVic) or a smaller sportier one. Like alfadriver suggested, a few MPG doesn't really make a difference in your running costs, especially when you included insurance, depreciation, repairs, etc.

4 door civic sedan manual, from 1993-2001.

Cheap, reliable, great mpg, relatively comfy (the 4 door rides better than any hatch I've been in).

MPG means nothing if the purchase price is too steep.

There's a bunch of sub $5k Civic HX's on CL here. Not a single Insight that isn't a total turd.

A $5k Insight is ragged out and has 200k on it. May need a battery too. They have a niche following.

I'm in the same market. Not a great time to buy being tax season.

I don't want to deal with the TDI (friends have had big $$$ problems) or any old high mileage hybrid. Best deal for something clean is on an 02-05 manual civic. HX for a couple mpg better, we're looking for an LX sedan which gets mid-30s mpg highway.

$5k would buy you a lot of Metros or Festivas....

Or a 42mpg 1.1L Opel Kadett, whatever the smallest VW turbo diesel is, an Acme adapter, and a Samurai overdrive 5-speed, with some change left over for nice seats.

Insight

http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/insight/2000

oldopelguy wrote: $5k would buy you a lot of Metros or Festivas.... Or a 42mpg 1.1L Opel Kadett, whatever the smallest VW turbo diesel is, an Acme adapter, and a Samurai overdrive 5-speed, with some change left over for nice seats.

This makes me wonder: Did they ever sell the VW Lupo diesel in Canada? I'm sure the import fees would be ridiculous, but it does stir my curiosity. I vaguely recall something about those getting 70 or more mpg in real-world numbers.

In reply to Alan Cesar:

I've been told before that if the Lupo were sold here, our mileage figures wouldn't be as impressive because the European gallon is bigger than the American gallon.

I should've put in my original post, I'm looking at commuting around an hour or 60 miles each way.

I had a chance to sit in an Insight a couple weeks ago at auction, and was surprised at the build quality and how solid the car seemed to be for having nearly 300k miles on it. Of course, this led to my online search. Considering the Vic gets 20 mpg (lousy 3.55s), saving 4 gallons of gas a day would add up over a month on my theoretical commute. (I have a few irons in the fire, so this isn't all that far-fetched.)

It's kinda funny though, I left up an ad for a supercharged Miata on the computer...and when SWMBO was texting me earlier this evening, she said that if I was thinking about selling the Vic, I oughta buy that instead.

I had been talking about selling the Vic, buying an Insight, and then buying a beater that I can stick historic plates on. She pointed out how much I love to drive, and how miserable I'd be without some sort of toy car.

Hmm, I wonder how much highway fuel economy I'd pick up by sticking 2.73s in the Vic? Would I get nearly the same mileage as a civilian CV?

I very nearly bought an Insight as well just a few months ago. I don't drive as far as you, but I put about 16k per year on my car. As already mentioned in the thread, the 1G Insight has a following, so a nice car is pretty expensive. Typically, $5k will get you one that has a ton of miles and a worn/dead battery pack. It was a cool car to drive, in a video game sort of way. Nice car overall, and I still may get one someday. But in the end, I wanted a car with more versitility and some nice luxo touches and was willing to sacrifice some fuel mileage. Bought an '01 Saab 9-5 wagon instead. Saved several thousand over what the Insight would have cost. Buys a lot of gas.

my wife and I wanted a cheap, reliable, high mpg car that would also be a little fun...and I bought a 1993 civic dx hatch for 1800 bucks. I have owned it for several years now, and it now has all poly suspension bushings and koni/ground control coilovers...but otherwise the engine is completely stock we get about 37 to 40mpg's depending on how I'm driving.

It is slow, but I will soon be doing some mod's.

With a bump in compression, Z6 intake, 160 dollar delta cam regrind, ebay exhaust, and a good tune/chip, you can make some pretty decent hp and torque out of those little D15b7's...and STILL get great mpg's

the higher compression means running super, but makes the engine pretty efficient, and you can get mid 40's mpg's with one if careful

and you are talking about a car that can really punch it from corner to corner, and mine handles really, really well

I'm going to throw a twin-cam Saturn into the ring. They get extremely good mpg, aren't penalty boxes to drive (handle surprisingly well), are easy to service, and for $5K you can find an extremely nice one.

The SC2 is even kinda sporty looking, and with the 3rd door pretty darn practical.

Joe Gearin wrote: I'm going to throw a twin-cam Saturn into the ring. They get extremely good mpg, aren't penalty boxes to drive (handle surprisingly well), are easy to service, and for $5K you can find an extremely nice one. The SC2 is even kinda sporty looking, and with the 3rd door pretty darn practical.

I'm a fan of Saturns and always sugguest them when someone is looking for an incredibly cheap, reliable E36 M3box that is maybe a little fun to drive. Here, I think they don't apply. A Sx2 with a MP2 trans is going to net maybe 40mpg highway, while the Insight is going to get mid-50s to 60mpg average. Plus, unless the Saturn is very modded wagon or 1st gen coupe, the Insight is a cooler car and more likely to satisfy a car-guy, despite being significantly slower.

And for all you guys saying the difference of several thousand in purchase price buys a LOT of gas... well, at 15k/year and $3.75/gal the difference between 20mpg and 60mpg is ~$1,875. Making up that difference doesn't take long at all, and after you do, you still have a car that's worth more.

I've got a 2000 SL2 (the DOHC one), and the highest MPG I've ever gotten was roughly 40 MPG, in the dead heat of summer, on the highway, without using the A/C or opening the windows. Normally it gets around 35-36. It's probably a considerable improvement in mileage, but not as big of a jump as 50-60 MPG would be. The advantage is that they're ubiquitous in junkyards, and if you get one that's been maintained well (read: all fluids kept up properly) it should run forever, and anything that does break you can find in pretty much any junkyard.

It depends on what you're looking for beyond just mileage. I've always thought the Saturns were sharp looking cars, but the aren't 'cool' or really made for spirited driving, but if you're just looking for solid, realiable transportation they're perfect... but then, so are most similar-era compact sedans...