BOUGHT [EDIT] find me an econo car.

[andylawcc]

UPDATE: 08-19-2012

I missed out on a few Saturn SL in good condition and low price, end up going back to what i wanted originally: a Nissan Sentra. Signed up at Nissanforum.com and start looking to see what i need to do to it.

sadly and unexpectedly, Saturn's user group is far more comprehensive and informative than Nissan's. So it is unfortunate that i didn't get the SL. but i guess i will have to live with that.


OP:

i am looking for a cheap, gas efficient car as a daily driver. I had some trouble finding "the perfect" one so here i bow to your collective wisdom.

Budget: <$3000, $3500 absolute max.
MPG: around 30
Stick Shift (i need it to tow a bike+trailer)
cheap to maintain (ala, parts are commonly available)

any other car model can achieve these criteria?



i looked at 93-97 Corolla/Prizm (hard to find stick), 95-99 Sentra (not much stick shift, while the old B13 91-94 Sentra rarely have powersteering), and EG/EK Civic (easier to find a stick shift, but more expensive than Sentra and Corolla, while quite a few of them been riced out). I even looked at 1st gen MR2s but they are pretty old or banged up at that price range.

how about the Escort, Focus, Protege, Lancer.... are those relatively cheap to maintain?

 

[postmortemIA]

i still see 1st gen focuses out there, and they should definitely be in your price range. my first choice would be civic, even if older. it might be tricky to find.

 

[HarryLui]

93-02 Saturn S-series.

 

[MiataNC]

I would avoid older Civics. They are usually over priced, over abused, and constantly being stolen/stripped.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Mazda Protege -

 

[kalrith]

I'm in a similar situation. As already mentioned, the Saturn S series is a good choice.

I'm actually considering something like a 3-cylinder Metro, which are supposed to get 45+ hwy mpg. I'll have a 60-mile round-trip commute in the near future, so the difference between 35 mpg (like the Saturn S series) and 45 mpg will be about $300 per year in gas.

 

[CrackRabbit]

I'm in a similar situation. As already mentioned, the Saturn S series is a good choice.

I'm actually considering something like a 3-cylinder Metro, which are supposed to get 45+ hwy mpg. I'll have a 60-mile round-trip commute in the near future, so the difference between 35 mpg (like the Saturn S series) and 45 mpg will be about $300 per year in gas.

Of course if you're in a Metro you might as well be in a cardboard box with a motor and wheels.
I have a first gen Focus that is coming up on its tenth birthday, it buzzes and rattles and is kinda ugly, but the A/C works and I have had to only do minor repairs to it.

If you can find a 1.5 gen (2005-2007) Focus the engine is much, much better than the two that were available with the first gen, and the interior is a bit nicer.
Another great choice (if you can find one) is an Infiniti G20. They are a bit larger than a Sentra and have the nearly bulletproof SR20DE engine.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

93-02 Saturn S-series.

this

 

[andylawcc]

but are parts for the Saturn S-series hard to come by? Since they don't share components with GM's line.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

They made 2 million+ of them, and almost all of the mechanical parts are swappable between generations. Your nearest junkyard should have plenty. I have never had a problem finding brand-new replacements for commonly-replaced parts (various sensors, water pump, radiator, belt, gaskets) at Autozone, O'Reilly's, etc.

They really are dirt cheap to buy and to fix up. For $3k you should be able to find one with well under 100k miles. (I paid roughly $3500 a year ago for a 2000 SL with ~65k miles.) At that mileage level you might need to replace some minor sensors, fuel pump, radiator, water pump, etc. All of these are dead simple to find in most auto parts stores. The engines will last over 200k miles, easily. (Just make sure to have a 60/40 coolant mix.) There are known issues with various model years, but none of them are major.

They have a timing chain, so ideally you won't need to open up the engine until it dies. The manual transmissions are pretty much bulletproof. Oh, and the MT was a fairly common option, so it is not at all difficult to find one. I would say roughly 40% of the Saturn S-series that I come across for sale or in junkyards have the MT.

 

[Black2na]

i 2nd vote for 1st gen focus just make sure you go with the DOHC version the PZEV SOHC is kinda a junk engine. and a few suspension mods they handle REALLY well

 

[MovingTarget]

What about a Gen 3 Cavaier? It seems to meet all your criteria.

 

[skulkingghost]

Ford Escort, I got a 99 a few years back with 74k miles in a manual. Put about 100k miles on it, and it only needed tires and oil

 

[Throckmorton]

Focuses are cheap and most modern you can get for the price

 

[exdeath]

92-96 Camry 4cyl manual

You have to be really really special to kill that car.

 

[andylawcc]

a camry, while certainly is within the <$3500 budget, the mpg is (and i know i am being picky here) not exactly 30mpg-combined (but i do hear ppl with Camry AND Accord getting 30mpg according to their calculation).
With the extra torque from the 2.2L 5F-GE i might be able to get away with towing in an auto, as a manual Camry is exceedingly rare.

 

[bigi]

2000-2001 Mazda Protege. 1.6L Engine 33MPG easily.

Don't know where you live, but this is from around me

text

 

[andylawcc]

oh, i live in LA.

 

[Arkaign]

oh, i live in LA.

Louisiana or Los Angeles?

 

[andylawcc]

Louisiana or Los Angeles?

Los Angeles, CA.

 

[power_hour]

Nissan Altima (1st gen). Saturn S series. Hyundai Elantra (2005-2009). Ford Contour SVT if you can find one.

 

[andylawcc]

1st Altimas are cheap around here, but the 2.4L KA isn't very mpg friendly. how's the elantra in terms of reliability and maintenance? my coworker had a tiburon (3rd gen) and parts are expensive.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Same situation. Wanted something cheap, practical, and decent gas mileage and ended up with an 03 pontiac vibe for $2200 with 200k miles on it. Same thing as a toyota matrix which is basically a toyota corolla station wagon. The pontiac version doesn't hold its value as well as the toyota but is just as reliable. Available with a manual trans and AWD if that matters to you. I didn't want something with 200k miles on it but I got sick of looking and it is a toyota with a timing chain so I said screw it and bought the thing.

 

[andylawcc]

UPDATE: 08-19-2012

I missed out on a few Saturn SL in good condition and low price, end up going back to what i wanted originally: a Nissan Sentra. Signed up at Nissanforum.com and start looking to see what i need to do to it.

sadly, unexpectedly, Saturn's user group is far more comprehensive and informative than Nissan's. So it is unfortunate that i didn't get the SL. but i guess i will live with that.

 

[mvbighead]

Pics.