Bang Shift Approved Economy Car?

[74NovaMan]

I used to drive Fieros for my 80 mile per day commute. 2.5L with a 5 speed always got 30+ MPG. The other nice thing was the plastic body. No visible rust!

[1988montecarloss 2]

ive owned a couple 1992 buick park avenue's, i paid $300 for each of them and they got around 28mpg highway and had leather interiors, air ride and a/c and they'll take one hell of a beating

for mileage/cheapness its hard to beat an 88-95 honda civic/crx with a 1.5 sohc and a 5spd though. whether its a wagon, hatch, coupe or sedan doesnt really matter. my friend has owned 4 of them and they all got over 40mpg and the most he ever paid for one was $300, these will also take one hell of a beating, we couldnt blow up the motor in his sedan when we tried, it would still start no problem when we brought it to the scrap metal yard

[ethelkilledfred]

Cheap to buy, 30+ on gas, no smog and when the motor gives it's last breath V8 TIME!

[DanStokes]

Russell - Why the FWD aversion? Like anything, it all depends on what you're going to DO with it. The Focus is a tough little anvil or a car - they run forever and can be fun to drive depending on which model you get. Remember, the idea is to get you from here to there economically. You have a fleet of interesting, fun cars to drive as the occasion calls for it - so use the Focus for the DD and know you have the cool cars sitting there for you when you want 'em.

If you're concerned with working on them - I'm not that far away. You can bring it over any time and we can do struts, half-shaft replacement, etc. as needed. No big deal. They are DIFFERENT, not HARDER, to work on.

Dan

[Teddyzee]

'96-'98 4.6 Mustang.
I get 30-ish on the highway with my daily. (5 speed, 3.27 gears)

[milkovich]

Interesting thoughts on the small cars.

Perhaps a Honda CRX HF. The CRXs cleaned up in autocross back in the day and were quite tossable. The HF was the high fuel mileage version.

But, probably hard to find now a days.

Probably one of the funnest cars I've ever driven. I had a buddy who had one but he loved burnouts, so we would exchange keys (I had a fox 5.0) all the time. Sitting in one is more "sportscar" then sitting in a corvette and the manual steering is awesome! Sadly, good luck finding one that isn't roached or under 200k mi.

[antmnte]

GM car with the NA 3800 .Easy 30 MPG driving it normal.

[DanStokes]

If the 3800 has the plastic intake expect to have to change it. After the third one we gave up and sold our low-mileage Park Avenue. Nice car but I didn't want a project. Maybe there's an aluminum manifold that fits?

Dan

[BluLightning]

If you have the money, 2012 Mustang V6. 31MPG and 305hp.

[Russell]

Russell - Why the FWD aversion? Like anything, it all depends on what you're going to DO with it. The Focus is a tough little anvil or a car - they run forever and can be fun to drive depending on which model you get. Remember, the idea is to get you from here to there economically. You have a fleet of interesting, fun cars to drive as the occasion calls for it - so use the Focus for the DD and know you have the cool cars sitting there for you when you want 'em.

If you're concerned with working on them - I'm not that far away. You can bring it over any time and we can do struts, half-shaft replacement, etc. as needed. No big deal. They are DIFFERENT, not HARDER, to work on.

Dan

Fwd cars do not handle right when pushed hard. You get torque steer, I rather have over steer. Fwd takes all the fun out of doughnuts. The only thing I can think of that they are better at is drive in snow. The suspention stuff does not bother me but some times its harder get to things under the hood. I have never owned one and I don't enjoy driving others.

[64casteel]

the new corvette on the highway if you baby them they get about 31 and still will out run the prius

[moparmaniac07]

Fwd takes all the fun out of doughnuts.

Donuts are just as fun, you just have to do them backwards [ insert some type of smiley here but can't find any, even in advanced reply]

[silver_bullet]

We started with the goal of having a cool car that got great mileage and came down to our silver bullet...Pontiac Grand Prix GTP with a S/C 3800... has pulled down 30+MPG, ran 3 Power Tours(LONG HAULER) and we're getting set for our 4th... Plenty of speed parts available and not impossible to work on....handles great and has opened more than a few eyes to FWD performance... We will be there again this year(Good Lord willin' and the creeks don't rise!!!!). We plan on stopping at ZZperformance in Wyoming Michigan on June 9th to see where most of our speed parts came from!(They also have ECOTEC hop up parts!)

Otherwise, I think the Evil Atom guys have got this!

[Russell]

the new corvette on the highway if you baby them they get about 31 and still will out run the prius

If I could afford a new corvette I would not be worried about the cost of gas.

[antmnte]

If the 3800 has the plastic intake expect to have to change it. After the third one we gave up and sold our low-mileage Park Avenue. Nice car but I didn't want a project. Maybe there's an aluminum manifold that fits?

Dan

Thats a lot, must have had other problems there. They have updated ones now from GM and Dorman so nothing to be afraid of.