Commuter car

Snacky · January 8, 2003

Looking to get a commuter car to ease the daily driving gas mileage and cost.

Any recommendations?

Shaners · January 8, 2003

New or used??? And how much do you want to spend??? Also what kind of MPG's are you looking for???

Snacky · January 8, 2003

Right now looking at either new or used. May go for used since people have been trading in recently and rebates/incentives are ending

Price under $15,000, preferably less to avoid monthly payments.

Mileage, around 25+

chevy4x4trucks · January 8, 2003

How big of a car do you want? I got my Grand Prix GTP used w/ about 30,000 miles on it for 16k and I'm seeing about 22mpg but I do mostly city and it seems like all the freeway driving I do is during rush hour. If you do about 50/50 you'll see around 25, even upwards of 30 mpg. And you can pick up a used one fully loaded for a pretty decent price.

General Lee 01 · January 8, 2003

Look at

GM:

Sunfire\Cavalier

Malibu

Grand-am

Grand Prix

Ford: (Just incase you are like me and not bised to a brand yet)

Focus

Contour

Dodge:

I'd say stay away from:

GM Metro, & Prism (The cars that used to be under the GEO nameplate)

Ford Escort

Dodge\Chrysler Neon,& Stratus

Everything else is on my "ok" list.

Shaners · January 8, 2003

If I had to put alot of miles on and wanted a car that got decent milage that was reliable, I'd have to look hard at a new Hyundia.

Their reliabillity has proven itself to be superior to the Amercan cars and it is backed by a 10 year 100K warranty.

If I were to buy domestic, I'd look at a GrandAm. The reliabillity is OK and the looks are good and there is decent room inside. I would also consider a PT Cruiser because it has great interior space for a small car (I can sit in the back seat) and I like the looks too. Plus it has 7/70 powertrain warranty.

All three of those cars would fit in your price range and would work fine for you...

chevy4x4trucks · January 8, 2003

I'd say stay away from:

GM Metro, & Prism (The cars that used to be under the GEO nameplate)

I don't know, my girlfriends dad works as a courier and has a 94 metro that has run solid since he bought it new and he has over 400k miles on the 3 banger (manual) and it's finally starting to show it's age. But, for what they cost I'd say he's doing pretty good. Not to mention he gets around 45mpg on average.

And a friend of mine has a prizm that has over 160k miles and he just had to replce the clutch, other than that another vehicle that has needed nothing more than routine maintenance.

02Blue · January 9, 2003

I was looking at a beater sunfire til I searched the internet and found out how bad the brakes are on the sunfire. Only large very heavy trucks and suv's take longer to stop than a sunfire. Otherwise, I'm all about a 99 GT I got my eye on.

bowtiebob · January 9, 2003

Just to add a couple of things.

One, I just got back from Hawaii, where we had a Stratus for a rental car. While it had decent power and was a fairly good driver, the interior room was horrible. Getting in and out, even for a young guy like me was tough. Once inside, I was always bumping my head on the roof where it curved towards the doors. Just something to consider.

Also, we have a PT Cruiser and I would definately recommend it. You will find 25 MPG won't be tough at all, and it has fairly decent power. Interior is HUGE for a car that size. Like said before, rear seat room rivals some large SUV's. The front seat is more than enough.

Just a couple of thoughts.

MiSdIrEcTeD_1 · January 9, 2003

Even though I would never own one, I would consider in your case a new Neon Turbo or Even the PT turbo

Economy Car to me? Well, Umm.... Vettes get 20+ mpg

99silveradoz71 · January 9, 2003

Perhaps a Civic or Accord...Granny traded in a 91 with 54k on the clock. The only major repair in 10 years of ownership was the rack to the tune of $800 I think.

Shaners · January 9, 2003

I'd consider a Honda or Toyota but they demand premium prices and usually have more miles on them...

There are alot of used PT Cruisers out there. This 2001 has 9400 miles and is a 5-speed with power windows/locks AC etc... Price at a dealer is $12995. I think with the standard tranny they get close to 30 MPG's on the highway.

Elwood · January 9, 2003

My wife has a 96 neon and that thing will run forever on a tank of gas, and it is only about $10 to fill it up. It handles very good too. The only problems I have with it is I'm too used to the get up and go of my Blazer, and I can't take off as quick (but once it gets up there it'll run as fast as you'd like) and I have long legs and if I have to drive it for more than 2 hours I get cramped up in it. But if you're commute isn't too long you should be fine in it. And it is WELL WORTH it for the gas mileage.

chevy4x4trucks · January 9, 2003

My girlfriend has a Saturn SC2, sporty little car, not a whole lot of get up and go, but I think it was around 20grand new and it was fully loaded w/ leather, sunroof, power acces, etc... Good mielage and a decent ride.

But, the ride still is no where near as smooth as my Grand Prix. After she had the car for a week we went somewhere in mine and she said that it's a much smoother ride. Personally I could care less about ride smoothness, I mean, I used to have a truck, the smoothness of the ride doesn't bother me that much, but I guess if you're doing long commutes it might be a nice factor.

As far as legroom it would be a little more comfortable if I had another inch or two of headroom. The legroom isn't all that bad for a small car considering I'm 6'4" and that's mostly in my legs.

CMNTMXR81 · January 9, 2003

I say look at boards like this one and other car boards.

I always paruse our for sale section on our Midwest F-Body board and one day I came across an 89 Grand Prix SE. I waited a few months for the owner to drop the price even more (unbeknownst to him) then made my move.

He told me all the cars problems which included;

-intermittent operational gauge cluster

-oil pressure gauge barely registered anything (so he thought oil pump was shot)

-digital speedo and odo didn't work

-transmission was on it's way south

-head gasket leak (a mechanic told him this)

-rear struts were bad

-wheels needed balancing

-needs an alignment

-optional power seat operations don't work

-dome light stays on unless you pull the fuse.

So I looked it over, car was solid, and I agreed to his $500 pricetag. I took it home, went to Napa and picked up a few things;

1) The transmission worked like crap because their was NO F*CKING fluid in it. 6 quarts of Dexron III and it shifts like a dream and has ran perfect since.

2) Replaced oil pressure sending unit. Gauge now works great and it has full pressure

3) Took the instrument cluster out, cleaned the motherboard, and the intermittent problem went away but digital speedo and odo went out.

4) Went to the junk yard, found another G.P. popped the instrument cluster out and brought it home and swapped all things needed...Speedo and Odo work like a charm.

5) Head gasket doesn't leak. Oil analysis proved this.

6) Rear struts, I'll worry about that when I absolutely need it

7) Wheel balancing and alignment..the same...I'll worry about it when absolutely necessary

8) Extra power seat operations...I'll worry about that next trip to the junk yard

9) Dome light I found to be the pod that has the dimmer switch in it. I'll pick one up next excursion to the junk yard.

Power flushed the the engine oil and trans fluid, did an oil analysis and everything is fine except the copper which was borderline which tells me the rings are going which I can verify after extended highway driving, it puffs some blue smoke.

All in all, I spent $500 for the car and another $150 in parts. The car gets 21mpg and runs as smooth as a baby's bottom. So watch some of these boards. I should be up for Grand Theft Auto since I stole this thing.