What Car for UberX

Another "What car?" thread from me. I love the opinions offered here.

Looking for a car for driving for UberX as well as personal use. I wish I could drive my Miata but it's too old and has too few seats.

I'm thinking: Honda Fit, a 2nd gen Prius, a Mazda3, or maybe a Toyota Matrix. Ideally this car would be a hatchback, nice to drive for long periods (although I drove a Miata cross country) and get good mileage. Per UberX requirements it must be 2005 or newer, have 4 doors.

Thoughts on those choices, any others come to mind? Hoping to spend 8k$ or less. Thanks!

Kia Spectra5

Mazda3 doesnt get great milage and rust is common, matrix is an awesome car, bugeye wrx? 3 series touring?

Rear seat room in the Mazda 3 is abysmal for adults. Go Prius.

Prius is a popular choice for many good reasons.

I had to look this up to see if UberX was like autoX, but with jumps or something.

I'm not comfortable with buying a Kia. The WRX gets bad mileage too, and a 3 series touring isn't better and too expensive most likely, but I'll check them out. What is the mileage like on the Matrix with the 1.8 motor?

I'm leaning towards the Prius but I've heard the Fit's fuel consumption isn't that far behind, and it has more room. And maybe more pep from the motor especially with a 5 speed?

for under 8k, your going to be finding one high mileage prius. My vote is mazda6, but the fuel consumption is meh.

Saab 9-5 is a good pick. They get phenomenal mileage for their size, and are pretty cheap since most people assume you can't get parts (hint: they are wrong).

2003- fairly recent Nissan Altima. 2.5 4cyl isnt great but adequate, good gas millage if you drive gently, and a HUGE back seat its like a small limo back there, they dont look like the largest car from the outside but it really is quite large.

Plus they are cheap relativey nice and many cab companies are staring to fill in their fleets with these.

You won't want a stick for this type of work. Just saying.

Otherwise, the important thing is to keep the appearance inside and out nice, and be courteous.

We were picked up in everything from an old 00ish elantra gt hatchback to a VW CC with uberx. The worst we were in was an Indian driving a beatup corolla.

Scion XB's are very popular for this as well.

I would get a Passat diesel.

I read that as urbex, and came in here to recommend an old fleet truck, a hard hat, and a safety vest.

yamaha wrote: Scion XB's are very popular for this as well.

This right here is my suggestion. Yeah they don't look "cool" to some people, but as someone who is 6'2", the xB has great rear leg room. I'm talking about the first gen ones too. They get good mileage and have a reasonable amount of space.

B6 Passat.

Saab 9-5

I vote prius. They are tough cars with lots of room in the rear seats. Plus you can't beat the gas mileage.

CyberEric wrote: I'm leaning towards the Prius but I've heard the Fit's fuel consumption isn't that far behind, and it has more room. And maybe more pep from the motor especially with a 5 speed?

Mileage really isn't the Fit's strong suit. I can eek out 36 highway and 26-28 city. The Prius is definitely gonna crush it.

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: I would get a Passat diesel.

Not for $8k you wouldn't, if you double that then yes, good suggestion.

What in the wide world of sports is uberX?

In reply to bgkast:

It's a ride-sharing/pseudo-taxi service like Lyft.

I'd make sure it's legal and will remain legal where you are. The local authorities ticketed and towed UberX cars yesterday in Orlando. It appears the local taxi- limo services are not amused by this new service that doesn't have to play by the same rules that they do:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-orlando-tickets-uber-drivers-20140626,0,2834134.story

In reply to Joe Gearin:

I used to do work for some car services and they had to carry a lot of insurance and be licensed. I was curious how these services plan to get around that.

The Scion xB isn't a bad idea, I'll look into those. Thank you.

I have a hard time buying a Saab or VW for this kind of use, I'm afraid they'll need expensive repairs and the mpg isn't that great.

Joe G, I'm in San Francisco and it's legal here and seems like it will remain so, but I'll just sell the car if it goes under. Thanks tho.

I'm leaning towards the Prius, the only advantage the Fit has is size for other uses like camping, hauling small furniture. etc. Anything I should look for when shopping for either car? How long til the battery in the Prius goes?

ppdd wrote:

CyberEric wrote: I'm leaning towards the Prius but I've heard the Fit's fuel consumption isn't that far behind, and it has more room. And maybe more pep from the motor especially with a 5 speed?

Mileage really isn't the Fit's strong suit. I can eek out 36 highway and 26-28 city. The Prius is definitely gonna crush it.

What year is yours? Manual or auto? I'd heard they get better than that....but it was hearsay.

CyberEric wrote: I'm leaning towards the Prius, the only advantage the Fit has is size for other uses like camping, hauling small furniture. etc. Anything I should look for when shopping for either car? How long til the battery in the Prius goes?

I've been doing a lot of research on Priuses.

The bad news is there is no way to predict when the battery could go.

The good news is that reconditioned hybrid cells can be bought for $800, and individual cells can be bought for much less.

So, even if the battery croaks, there are options.