Hypothetical street mpg/fun build

As I was taking my lunchtime walk, I got to pondering- what would be a good hatch/ wagon that would be economical to run, reliable, and with a low cost of entry. My mind wandered around to all corners of the automotive world. The car had to be undesirable in the used market for some reason that doesn't make it necessarily a bad car.

The Saturn really isn't a bad car for this criteria. From what anecdotal evidence I've heard they're not terribly unreliable, and are pretty cheap to buy and run.

Some other thoughts that ran through my head...

Saab 900, or 9-3

Ford Focus (someone here mentioned, and yes I do see them cheap)

Something Korean

Accord/Camry wagon (older)

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

My gut thinking on these is as follows:

Saab - too weird to be reliable at this price point. Same as my turbobrick

Focus - a possibility

Korean - this price point does not have the fantastic Korean cars of today

Accord/Camry - fine, but loses in the 'fun' category, plus at this price point I'd want a manual for longevity's sake, and they are rare.

The Saturn is lighter than all of those by a significant amount. The only other wagon option that is as light and tossable would be the Escort. It probably has more go-fast parts, but needs a motor swap to begin with because it starts with way less power.

tuna55 wrote:

ProDarwin wrote: Quaife ($$$$) makes one, Mfactory does too, much more reasonably priced. Both are torsen type.

$750 may as well be $Texas for the Mfactory job

You would fit in well in the Saturn community

tuna55 wrote: Civics are usually much more expensive than Saturns.

For good reason.

My dads neon ACR would get 37 mpg when it was new, and that was with the worst possible gearing combination for mpg. An sohc neon highline with just some light wheels and low rolling resistance tires, better flowing exhaust and whatever maintenance was needed would be my choice for good mpg. My mom has an 05 focus (2.0 5 speed) and it gets 37 mpg on the highway too. Tdis can do even better, but you need to be pretty comfortable with spending $1k+ on maintenance when needed, and you have to get a good one. I was spending about $1 per mile on maintenance for mine while I had it, needless to say it didn't stay around long.

The bubble Corolla Wagon wouldn't be a bad choice, either. More aftermarket than the Saturn, but probably more money.

Swank Force One wrote: The bubble Corolla Wagon wouldn't be a bad choice, either. More aftermarket than the Saturn, but probably more money.

True, I forgot about these. Also pretty light. And many motor-swap options :)

Speaking of Toyota, how about the 4AGE powered 5 door Prism GSi?

Sort of rare and common.

I've driven many Saturns. Almost all of them(aside from the Sky), are no where near as fun as my Accord. Not to mention as well built/engineered. Or powerful. Or anywhere near 75% the car the Accord is. I almost had a buddy pick up a fairly clean 96 5-speed wagon in Cleveland last week for $600.

beans wrote: Or powerful.

I've driven a 4 cylinder 5-speed late 90's Accord EX sedan, but it was horrible slow compared to even a SOHC Saturn. I can't imagine how slow the wagons are.

Not sure how that could be when the DOHC saturns aren't even as quick as my non-vtec car. My stone stock 97 LX coupe went 16.3.... EX's have 15 more HP/tq.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/saturn-sl2-page-6

ProDarwin wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: The bubble Corolla Wagon wouldn't be a bad choice, either. More aftermarket than the Saturn, but probably more money.

True, I forgot about these. Also pretty light. And many motor-swap options :)

You mean the Matrix? I was thinking about those last night- actually I saw one when I stopped for gas (my weekly 25 dollar fillup in the Volvo Amazon...) and it reminded me. I rented one once out west, an automatic, thrashed it though the mountains and never saw lower than 30 mpg. Old ex of mine had a new one with a manual, and it never got less than 35 mpg. And boy, did it swallow stuff. Holy geez.

Another option I thought of is the 89 to 93 Old Cutlass or Buick Century. They did make a wagon version, too. I used to drive one to high school- it was my mom's old car. The reason I picked that date range is those were the years they offered the 3300 V6- basically a de-stroked 3800. It was a great engine, delivered decent economy, and ran and ran and ran. The only trouble that car ever gave us was the computer- they're like $400 I think. You can pick up clean examples for low low 4 figure money- usually someone's grandmother died and the kid wants nothing to do with it- bonus points if the car is white with blue velour interior, or the wagon has wood paneling.

Like this one:

https://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/4622521260.html

beans wrote: Not sure how that could be when the DOHC saturns aren't even as quick as my non-vtec car. My stone stock 97 LX coupe went 16.3.... EX's have 15 more HP/tq. http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/saturn-sl2-page-6

A pre-99 stock DOHC is around 16 flat usually. Many people on the forums have done high 15s in a stock car. Bolt ons will bring them down to low 15s pretty easy, but the motor has nowhere near the easy-power potential that the Accord does. It becomes hard to get more than about 135whp NA and boost it'll only make around 225 reliably before you need internal work.

Isn't the Accord coupe like 200lbs lighter than the wagon? I like accords, but I wouldn't compare the two - the Accord wagon is much bigger and much heavier than the Saturn. Although double wishbones would be pretty awesome.

Around that. The sedans are about the same weight as the coupes. It's a much more substantial car, to say the least. The best thing about Accords is they're a Honda without the ricer tax!

And technically, it's a multi-link front and rear suspension

I know nothing about Saturns, but I think you should find the best cheapo Saturn wagon you can find and just see how cool you can make it using only junkyard stuff. I would make a recommendation for another car but I don't want to be that guy.