What car - extended commute edition

I'm about to go from 35 miles round trip to 80, and my Nissan Leaf is unlikely to cut it come winter time.

So my priorities are - comfort, economy, and reliability. Sportiness really doesn't matter as it's all 80 mph freeway, so I would prefer something comfortable with a decent sound system that still returns decent mpg and doesn't have a reputation for expensive repairs. It doesn't have to be large - it's just me - but it does have to be decent on a freeway during snow. I'd like to keep it under $12,000 for sure, maybe way less.

My thoughts so far are:

Chevy Volt
Mazda6 Grand Touring

Any great contenders I'm missing?

Well, the Prius is ideally suited for this, if you can tolerate is deplorable driving dynamics.

Otherwise, just about any FWD compact to full size Asian import should work well. My commute is 120 miles round trip, and my Elantra does great. Accord, Civic, Sonata, Optima, Mazda sedans all would be fine choices.

13-14 accord 4 cyl will get you better than 35 mpg highway, is a rock solid car.

The volt (in your price range) has a range of about 40 miles at 50-55. At freeway speeds that drops to 32-35. With AC/heat on it's even less. Then the gas engine fires up and it's a normal very comfortable car. With less freeway but frequently over 100 miles a day I'm averaging about 90mpg mixed cycle. I like this car.

I'm currently car shopping for similar reasons. The 2013+ Accord with the 4cyl are rated at 36mpg highway. The 2014+ Altima 4cyl is rated at 38mpg highway. The Altima is the more fun one to drive according to most online reviews.

What keeps drawing me to the Volt is that I have 110 charging at work, and I'm used to never filling up. I'm not going to enjoy going back to the gas station grind.

Have you looked at these: lexus ct200h?

In reply to bastomatic:

If you can charge for 8 hours of work I doubt you'll need gas more than twice a month. If you haven't driven one yet, you should.

Loved my ex-wife's Mazda 6 Grand Touring with the Tech Package.........very nice place to put down the miles.

Mazda 6 sounds like a good idea. You could pickup a 6 speed CX-5 in that price range too. I average low 30s for mpg driving almost 70 miles a day.

bastomatic wrote: What keeps drawing me to the Volt is that I have 110 charging at work, and I'm used to never filling up. I'm not going to enjoy going back to the gas station grind.

Holy crap Volts are cheap. I didn't realize they were available with so little miles at that price point.

I might have to give that a closer look.

I've had good luck with my 2014 Cruze 1.4t 6 speed. Averaging 36 mpg with a mix of surface streets and longer 80mph highway travel and I don't baby or hypermile it. 125,000 miles in almost exactly 3 years now. A pvc valve and negative ground cable have been the only issues. Tires lasted 83k and I'm still on the original brakes.

I am seeing them as low as $5-6k around here with higher miles. Low mileage ones are still easily under $12k.

Aussiesmg seemed to have good luck with his Elantra. I think he has/had over 200k on his.

My commute is 100ish miles, I've done 179,000 on my '12 Mazda5 averaging 29mpg. Nice thing with the MZ5 is that if I need to have a pickup or take people somewhere I can use it for all of that as well. I've contemplated the Volt and nearly pulled the trigger twice but this one is paid for and manual.

Klayfish wrote: Well, the Prius is ideally suited for this, if you can tolerate is deplorable driving dynamics. Otherwise, just about any FWD compact to full size Asian import should work well. My commute is 120 miles round trip, and my Elantra does great. Accord, Civic, Sonata, Optima, Mazda sedans all would be fine choices.

Box in the rear twist beam, put on some decent tires and enjoy your dynamic bliss at no expense to ride quality or pocketbook. Mine is very sticky (205/50/15 gforce sports) and rotates quite nicely.

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Solved

Is the Leaf going up for sale? I know at least two people on this board who are looking!

Sorry I didn't see this come up. Most likely yes it's going to go up for sale. No firm timetable yet. I'm looking at another boardmember's Kia soonish.