Best used economy cars

[texasjohn]

I'd recommend Toyota Camry... There have been 5 in the family, each ran far beyond typical mileage. MPG is 30+. Actually still have 3 of them in operation.

One my son rolled. Another was given to my MIL at 250K and she drove it to 296k when a rod went thru the engine. I've figured out that if I had had the timing belt replaced it would likely still be running.

Repairs and maintenance on all the vehicles have been limited to consumable parts. Repairs on the Camry were easy in many cases... much more so than on any US vehicle I've ever owned.

I tend to be willing to pay more for a vehicle if it will stay out of the repair shop. Many of the friends I have keep telling me about their $800 to $1500 repairs for things that I don't think should have worn out yet. Nevertheless, I know that there are those who have good luck and repair experiences with US vehicles.

 

[coobie]

OK, you guys talked me out of a motor scooter for my 23 mile each way commute. And I'm glad you did. I can afford about $5000 for a used commuter car. I'd like to get at least 30 mpg, and something that I'm not going to be having to repair all of the time. Other than that, I'm wide open to anything. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!!!

We own a used 2000 buick lesabre (3800 V-6cyl.motor)that gets highway 30 mpg,s and 25-27mpgs city/highway hand cal. mileage figures.We bought it used with 110,000 miles on the OD for $3,000 bucks.I believe the 3800 GM motors are the best kept secert as far as mpg,s wise.

 

[Eagleview]

A guy that i know runs a VN Commodore , its a bit like your Buicks and has the 3800 V6 engine . He told me he had done 680,000 kilometres (422,000 miles) in it and because he is waiting for it to blow he said he has'nt bothered to change the oil for 4 years . He drives from Melbourne to Cairns fortnightly for his work hence the big mileage . I think your right coobie about GM3800 engine .

 

[RobJ]

My F250 diesel gets 28 mpg when I keep the rpm below 2000 though so I'm happy with that. For now.

Oh my where have I heard this before. Oh yeah the diesel truck forums and the I can do better than you threads. Pretty soon the crappy mileage of the 6.4 will be up to 25 when they are not much better than the gassers.

Sorry not saying I don't believe you...just that I don't believe these trucks will get that mileage without some sort of gear unit, flat, down wind/down hill, trusting the computer indicator (after resetting running on the highway...I have a Ford 250), use of a sail...or perhaps doing 45 mph on the freeway which isn't real world. I ask every PSD owner I come across, they have all heard of the mileage, but don't get it. 19-20 at slower speeds is what they say.

Now...maybe a sleeper, my son has a 97 mustang, daugher has a 98 mustang. Both with the v6 3.8. I took them up to the weekend place and the 250 mile round trip..couple stops going through some east Texas towns. Doing the posted day speed limits..60, 65, 70. Actually some hills in east Texas. Both got 28 mpg. I figured they might do well because the engine is barely turning at these speeds. If I stayed off 70 and stayed 65 I would think 30mpg could be possible. Paid 2000 for the 97 almost 3 years ago. His 3.8 had that motors head gasket problem and I had to pull the heads and replace the gaskets...about 300. The 98 I bought in January for $2800. Both had about 95k on them. The 98 I had to put new tires on (more expensive 16" wheels). Replaced 1 tire on the 97...curb...they are like 50-60 bucks being 15" tires. Discount tires is my friend. I should add around town, 18-19. But the kids "around town" is really bad, 3-4 miles trips to school, 4-5 stop signs, drive through at sonic, etc.

I'm now looking for a car like the one you mention. Good ideas on the small American cars.

 

[Bird]

just that I don't believe these trucks will get that mileage without some sort of gear unit, flat, down wind/down hill, trusting the computer indicator (after resetting running on the highway...I have a Ford 250), use of a sail...or perhaps doing 45 mph on the freeway

Things like this always remind me of the old Isuzu TV commercials with "Joe Isuzu". How many remember when he was advertising the Isuzu Impulse (sports car) in the early or mid-80s? He'd be saying ridiculous things about the car while the banner running across the screen would be saying something different. I remember him saying it would do 300 mph and the wording across the bottom of the screen said "Downhill in a hurricane".

 

[RichZ]

Well after doing a lot of research, and of course reading all of the posts in this thread, I'll soon be looking for a Ford Escort wagon, for several reasons:

1) Good gas mileage.
2) More room than a sedan. I haven't owned anything but a pick-up or a cargo van in over 20 years. Even though I want this car to be primarily a comuter car for my day job, I still want it to be able to carry at least a little bit of cargo.
3) Reliability. I know a lot of people who have Escorts, they all love them, and have had very few problems with them.
4) I just can't bring myself to buy a foreign car, even a used foreign car.

So, as soon as I get my tax refund this year (my accountant was late in filing this year) I'll start shopping for an Escort Wagon.

 

[Bird]

Rich, I think that's a good choice, but a couple of things you may or may not know. If you already know them, then you can ignore this. I guess 1999 was the last year for the Escort before they changed to the Focus. We had a 1993 Escort wagon and it was a dandy. But of course, we had the 5-speed manual transmission. The automatics at that time were 3-speed; no overdrive, so probably would not be quite as good gas mileage as we got, and I'm not sure when they started putting the overdrive transmissions in the Escort. Since 1999, it's been the Focus instead of Escort and for some reason or other, while the Focus seems popular with a lot of them on the road, there seem to be very few wagons and now I don't think they even make a wagon this year.

 

[RoyJackson]

Another alternative is the Subarus.
I just picked up an '04 Outback (boxer 4 cylinder with 4 speed auto). Over 3 tanks, I'm right at 29-30 mpg...which is a heck of a lot letter then the 2000 Explorer I traded in for it.
This is an AWD wagon, of course (never thought I'd own a station wagon!). There is a fuel penalty for the extra weight of the AWD.
As far as space...for a relatively small car, there's a lot of cargo space!
Biggest downside of all these smaller cars now is they are at premium prices for anything half decent.
If you have an SUV with 100K plus miles, you'll be giving it away at trade in.

Great time to buy a Hummer though! I've read they're also being deeply (!!!!) discounted.

 

[RichZ]

Thanks, Bird. As I said, I did a lot of research on Escorts. They made them until 2003, but they only made the wagon until 1999. I'm going to look for a manual transmission one, to save on gas mileage.

It ought to be interesting for me to re-learn driving a manual. I haven't driven a manual car or truck for over 30 years, but one of my jobs in working my way through college was driving a truck for Lafayette Radio Elecronics. I always found that trucks were much easier to shift than cars, but since I haven't driven any for so long, I'm hoping that cars are now a lot easier to shift. In trucks, you didn't have to worry about giving it just the right amount of gas when you shifted. In the 70's, most cars were pretty tempermental with getting the right amount of gas when you shift. But I'm guessing a "modern" standard is a lot more user friendly than they used to be.

But I have lots of experiecne with driving gear tractors, so that should help me get used to it.

 

[dmccarty]

I ask every PSD owner I come across, they have all heard of the mileage, but don't get it. 19-20 at slower speeds is what they say.

I have a 7.3L F350 SRW Crew Cab 4x4 with an 8 foot bed that I usually get 20.5 mpg. In the summer I get to 20.9 frequently and I did make it across 21.x. ONCE. That takes a light foot and 55ish mph. During the winter the mpg drops to 19.5-20.0. This is all hand calculated.

From reading the truck sites the higher milages are from people thinking they overhead computer mpg is correct or if they have chipped the engine. My overhead computer mpg is usually off by .5 mpg. Sometimes much worse. The chipped trucks seem to report numbers that are hard to believe.

Not surprisingly the price on fuel effiecient used cars are going up due to demand according to a WSJ article.

Later,
Dan