Considering some new Daily Driver material...

[MiDiablo]

With the cost of gas, and the expectation of it to only continue to increase - the fiance (weird to say/type still; too new) and I are beginning to look at some other options for our D/D's...

We're just going to look at something that's going to get us better gas mileage, and still be a reasonable/fun car to drive/commute in.

So far the only things I've looked into, and considered purchasing, have been these:

2002-2005 SVT Focus ZX3
2007+ Focus ZX3 / ZTS
2007+ Toyota Camry ($$)
2008 Mazdaspeed3 ($$; but so sexeh)Anyone else have any input? Know some stats on a good gas-saver? I'm not wanting to buy a hybrid or an electric car :roll: I'd still like to be able to do something along the lines of wheels/suspension to whatever car we get to make it more enjoyable!

Thanks ;)

-Jo$h

[shinysideup]

ford ranger ex cab 5 speed. 25-30mpg

[BAMF]

2008 Honda Civic!

[Ford DNA]

The Camry Hybrid looks just like the regular Camry. Good looking car!
There's also a Nissan Altima hybrid and a Honda Accord hybrid.

[KAILUAZ]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/462291529_70846a23d1_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/462291533_cda617cb0d_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/2376168320_b94afe50ef_o.jpg

[KAILUAZ]

This one is actually pretty cool:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2088/2375334371_180d0ef9c3_o.jpg

[BAMF]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/462291529_70846a23d1_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/462291533_cda617cb0d_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/2376168320_b94afe50ef_o.jpg

If the underage lookin chick comes standard I'd rock one.

[moshman1205]

go with the MS3 for sure!

[95coBraSVT]

If the underage lookin chick comes standard I'd rock one.+1

[MiDiablo]

MS3 is pricey as hell.

Smart Cars are $16-19k ish; not sure about the used market. I'm sure there has to be some downside to those cars; don't know enough about them.

I don't think I want a hybrid :dunno:

[SLOWBOOST]

why not something along the lines of honda/acura? it is possible not to have them riced out and hell of alot more enjoyable than the above choices?

[moshman1205]

smart cars are gay... but if you get one get an older one, like within the first 2 years that they came out, they are more efficient!!!

[DrDirt]

'87-93 Notch with Turbo Coupe swap. Mod to your individual desires, still get good mileage, lots of suspension mods available and you don't have to be seen driving something that looks like a mutated cockroach from Andromeda. :D

[bvh]

any focus , my gf has a 3dr auto getting 31 mph . she drives from tarpon to usf daily . never had a issue . i might be buying one!

[Ford DNA]

Josh, supposedly the Camry SE gets mid 20s MPH and has a decent sized V6. The Hybrid gets mid 30s, but not much power.

Now, the Accord hybrid is more performance minded, so it has some pep and gets good mileage, but not as much as the Camry.

Also, there's a big variation in tank capacity from car to car. Even same size and class..So if frequency of filling up is an issue, look at that. I friggin hate filling up, no matter the cost...it just bugs the crap out of me to have to do it. LOL So Car A and Car B both get 28mph, but Car A holds 14 gallons and Car B holds 20...I'd rather have Car B!

[Ford DNA]

Just to be sure I'm not messing any of this info up..

2008 Toyota Camry Full Review - Consumer Guide Automotive (http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2008-toyota-camry-5.htm)

2008 Nissan Altima Full Review - Consumer Guide Automotive (http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2008-nissan-altima-5.htm)

2008 Honda Accord Full Review - Consumer Guide Automotive (http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2008-honda-accord-5.htm)

[Strokd85]

I'm about a nats ass hair away from trading in the F250 and picking up a Mazda 3 Sport Touring.. 19.1k after the wifey's discount from work..
Now it just depends on what they want to give me for the truck.. already have heard the story of "well with everyone trading in the larger vehicles..."

Told the guy, listen I don't have to BUY your car, but you HAVE to sell it...

we'll see how it goes, will know this weekend..
other option is a Nissan maxima/altima.. friend works for them so i've got the hookup on the family pricing (dealer cost).. again.. trade in value of my truck > all..

good luck with it!
D

[Ford DNA]

Derek, sell your truck privately. There's still construction companies buying up trucks. Trust me. We've sold 4 of them in the last month.

[Badlatitude]

I would say the v6 altima or the 2 door v6 accord. I test drove the 6cyl altima before that new trans came out and it had almost too much power. The v6 accord has less power but its a nice car. The back seats fold down so u can fit alot of shit in it also we have a used one 2 door black on black. The only thing I will say bad about it is this.. if you have big feet dont buy it. the room they left between the brake pedle and the trans tunnel is VERY tight with size 12 work boots on. infact if your not careful u can get your foot stuck for a second and scare yourself!

[KAILUAZ]

You don't like Dubs? New Rabbit is dope, forget all that Japanese stuff.
http://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/spaceball.gif
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e213/gsurfhippie/Rabbit.jpg
Or go old school:
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/TurboDube/VAG/Mark%201/MK1Rabbit1point8Tside.jpg

[Tiffiny]

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Owner/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpglike the green one lol oldschool in da house

[95coBraSVT]

like the green one lol oldschool in da house+1:nerd:

[ShakinIt]

I had a 2003 Honda Civic EX 5spd coupe.....bought new....only mod was a CAI.....that thing average 34mpg.......never once had any type of malfunction or issue......

Anyway...Hondas are great cars for reliabilty and gas mileage....


Damn I wish I had never got rid of it.....:oops:

[Ford DNA]

Or just wait and get a Chrysler 300 hybrid. Supposedly, for 2009, Chrysler is going to have a hybrid version of every car in their lineup. :D

[blacksheep-1]

About the hybrid cars, the St. Pete times just did an article on them and they're not very economical over the long run. Let's say you buy one for the "environment" because you belong to PETA or something. The carbo footprint over the life of the vehicle is more than a Hummer. Why you ask? because you have to change outt he nicad batteries about every 3-5 years, they really can't recycle them so they have to be disposed of by some other means, which is eco talk for hanging around a land fill forever because they don't deteriorate. OK, so you buy one for the mileage, you'll pay, depending on the model, $2500-$5000 for the hybrid, if gas is approximately $3.75 per gallon, it will take approximately 10 years to pay for the car, and that doesn't include the cost of having to buy a new battery every 3-5 years at approximately $3500- $4000. So at least for now the hybrids are still losers, however, flex fuel vehicles do offer some advantages, since there is about 10-15% ethanol in almost all fuel these days the flex cars can use this to their best advantage. Gas only cars can use it but will not see any advantage andpossibly will lose some mileage and power (my 97 F150 does this). Even though ethanol (E85) is not around too much yet, it will be shortly, the flex fuel cars can take the best advantage of this, even though the mileage will be slightly lower than when using gasoline.
All that being said, America makes some fine automobiles, and with the economy slow as it is, I'd buy American over anything else, my good old F150 has over 210,000 miles on it most of it over 80mph towing a race car. I don't see too many ricers doing that, (it gets 19-20mpg on the highway still).
I'd look at a Ford Taurus
Ford Vehicle Showroom (http://www.showroom.fordvehicles.com/Showroom.jsp?lang=en)
You can get these in all wheel drive if I'm not mistaken.
or..
a Ford Escape
the city admin uses these and they run the crap out of them.

[Ford DNA]

Bumping this thread up. I had to stop for gas yesterday, which infuriates me every time I stop..the price, ya know. I started thinking about other vehicles, and I sat down and did the math.

My truck gets right at 15 MPG. I drive, on average, 100 miles per week. If I sold my truck for something that got 20 MPG, I'd only be saving 1.25 gallon per week in fuel. If I got something that got 25MPG, a 10 MPG increase, I'd still only save 2.5 gallons per week.

I like my truck more than I like those cars plus $4-8 in my pocket.

[Ford DNA]

....which really has nothing to do with you, Josh, since I have no idea how much you drive. Just wanted to share my ramblings and thoughts and figures. :D

[MiDiablo]

I'd prefer to stay American, personally, venturing out into Mazda (still under the Ford Umbrella) would be my first "Import" choice I think.

My girl likes the Ford Edge a little; prefers the Mustang :lol: Can't hate her for that! :bigthumb: FWIW, I'd prefer to see her in the Mustang - I've got my reasons :naughty: but economically speaking, it's not the "right" fit at this time. Vehicle Cost, MPG, Insurance Cost, MODS! ;) Outside of that, she's really only made mention of the SVT-Focus being anything in the Ford Family that she'd rock...

Me on the other hand, I'm going to almost *have* to get something that can tow. With Frankie being part of our family for the long haul, we'll need to have something to pull the car around with. My father's got a Ranger 4x4, which could get the job done - but who wants to have to borrow someone else's car to trailer their own?

I'm not sure what we're going to do. Financially speaking, this is on the list of "to-do" - but it's right behind a few other things we've got to take care of in the next few weeks.

[MiDiablo]

....which really has nothing to do with you, Josh, since I have no idea how much you drive. Just wanted to share my ramblings and thoughts and figures. :D

:lmao: You're too funny :nerd:

I drive, on average, 375 miles per week :roll: Some weeks, much more, others much less. But generally speaking, I'm having to fill up at least once a week - which a full tank gets me about 375 miles. Thus my guesstimate of weekly mileage!

Maybe this week I'll keep tabs on it to see exactly how many :dunno:

[Ford DNA]

If diesel wasn't such a butt raping now, I'd vote for a 20mpg diesel truck for your tow vehicle! I absolutely cannot believe the cost now. :mad:

[Ford DNA]

I used to drive 500 a week when gas was $1.50/gallon. My Cavalier got 35mpg. That would cost me $120 a week now. It cost $21/week with the Cavalier. doh!

[Ford DNA]

375 miles @ 15 mpg = $90
375 miles @ 25 mpg = $54 and change.

[MiDiablo]

Yeah I hear ya...

FWIW - my truck is getting 16mpg city and about 18.5 on the highway (empty). I'm sure pulling Frankie would lower those stats a few points; but not that much, the truck does really well with a load.

I'm spending approx. $420/month +/- on gas, so I guess I was pretty close to the 375 miles mark... Looks like it may be just a smidgen different:

17mpg
24 gallon tank
$3.60/gallon (average cost)
$86.40 to "fill up" - never actually costs me that much; usually about $78 ish...
Filling up once every week, topping off usually around Thursday...

[MiDiablo]

Wonder what the fiance would do if I brought this home to her:

http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/ford-tech-sale/484508-2001-focus-air-wheels-trade-sale-pics.html

:crack:

[smokeshow]

Cry!

Bring this home and she will marry you..

eBay Motors: Ford : Focus (item 250246595680 end time May-19-08 20:40:50 PDT) (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-Focus-SVT-2003-Ford-Focus-SVT-Silver-Low-Miles-Excellent-Must-See_W0QQitemZ250246595680QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item2 50246595680&)

Salvage title for this one.. but might be in the budget..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-Focus-SVT-2002-Ford-Focus-SVT_W0QQitemZ300223883391QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item3 00223883391&

[Strokd85]

Derek, sell your truck privately. There's still construction companies buying up trucks. Trust me. We've sold 4 of them in the last month.

Josh, i haven't heard great things about the SVT focus.. reliability seemed to be an issue.. check out the edmunds consumer reviews..

Unfortunately Amanda, i'm not seeing that type of movement up here.. and this place is loaded with trucks.. which I think is the problem...
People are asking what i'm getting for the truck via trade in.. if it were a diesel, i think i'd have better luck.

Went to Ford, found a nicely equiped (leather, etc) 08 Fusion with Sport pacakge (although I WISh they offered a manu-matic in the thing.. it's got a 6spd auto). Car drives really nice and you can toss it around quite a bit and it's very solid and tight in the turns, would have to say that I'm impressed.

so it comes down to
08 - Mazda 3 5 door sport 5spd 156hp, peppy little motor, good tight handling, but smallish feel inside (to me at least, coming from an F250.. :) )
21/29mph

08 - Ford Fusion SE v6 (4 cyl would be too small for this car) 221 hp 6spd auto, sport package (susp, wheels, etc) smooth ride/power..
solid car, roomy-er. 18/26mpg

both dealers are offering 6k for the F250, which is right about where kelly BB and edmunds put it.
we're torn between the two, as the dealers are about $400-$500 apart right now.. and we both like both cars, they each have their own items we like, but not enough to say.. "ok, that's it"

however, if I can get the Fusion for the Mazda price, i'm all over it.. much more car for the money..

[MiDiablo]

Fusion > Mazda3.

SVT-F did have some issues; but I've owned one in the past and am very familiar with the car and its problems. I loved the car, and would gladly tackle those hurdles again ;)

Side note: I started monitoring the mileage for the week today!!!

[Alan]

Don't rule out "ze germans". Our Rabbit is a blast to drive and has been 100% problem free (15-months old with over 20k on the clock). The new Rabbit comes with power EVERYTHING and TONS of options usually found in cars over $20k...a comparably priced Focus or Fusion has power NOTHING and very sparce options. A new VW built before '09 has a 4yr/50k warranty. The new '09 models will start with a 3yr/36k with free maintenance during that time.

Not sure if this has been brough up just yet, but the new Saturn Astra is also getting pretty good reviews. Essentially it is a rebadged Opel Astra from Europe. It is a pretty sexy looking Euro hatch in my opinion.

[SLOWBOOST]

we just had a focus rental car, and it was very shitty to drive thru the rain. Every puddle that car hits it would hydroplane around, it was almost like driving a boat.

[MiDiablo]

I don't care for VW's for myself. The wife likes the Jetta/Passat - but doesn't really *want* one.

While I agree most Focii suck for options - I'm not talking about a shitty run of the mill rental car - I'm talking about the SVT-F which includes ALL the options, as well as 170hp 2.0L motor and a 6-speed Getrag. Again, I've owned several Focii before and know them in and out and wouldn't mind owning one again.

I've not seen this Saturn/Opel gimmick yet, I don't think?! Hafta gooooooogle it :D

[Ford DNA]

Derek, that's weird. Around here, diesels are just sitting on lots. Nobody will buy them because diesel is 70 cents a gallon higher than gas.

Construction type work is almost nonexistant here, but we still sold our trucks no problem on eBay and Craigslist. Two went out of state..people flew into Tampa and drove them back.

[Alan]

I was always curious about VW but was always hesitant about pulling the trigger due to their shady past and the previous generation Golf's inferior rear suspension design. One test drive and tons of research later...and I was sold. I swapped in the European GTI springs and the handling is on par with my previous SVTF. Power is very close between the two cars as well (Rabbit has the low end edge, but the SVTF has a bit of an advantage on the top end power range). Not trying to sell you on the car...but I have been through three Foci before this latest car. This VW is everything I loved about my SVTF with none of the annoying quirks.

Have you checked out the Mazda 3 yet? My wife had an '04 Mazda 3 5-door automatic for about 50-something thousand miles. Great car with no reliability issues. Even with the auto transmission it was still fun to drive.

[Strokd85]

Amanda, if you don't mind me asking.. what model trucks did you sell?

Alan, the Mazda 3 5 door is a fun car, with the 5 spd it's quite enjoyable (haven't played with the 5spd manu-matic yet..).. my concern is throwing both kids and all of the gear in for a drive to FL.. I don't want to feel like i'm in a sardine can.. I'm sure I'll be happy with either..
almost have to flip a coin at this point.. unfortunately i'm looking for practicality first then sporty-ness... a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old require a bit of gear at times... :)

[Stangonline]

I've had my 08 Mazdaspeed 3 for about a month now and I LOVE IT.

The only downside so far is that it takes premium fuel :(. About $23,500 and you could own one too.

[Strokd85]

picked up the Fusion tonight.. got a damn good deal on it..(at least I believe I did). have to get it cleaned up/detailed, will take pics afterwards (going to rain over the next couple of days so no sense in doing it now).

Rides out pretty damn good though.. already started searching some "mods" out.. ;)

[bvh]

how many mpg? iv been looken in to getting oneI've had my 08 Mazdaspeed 3 for about a month now and I LOVE IT.

The only downside so far is that it takes premium fuel :(. About $23,500 and you could own one too.

[Ford DNA]

Derek, send us that rain!

The trucks were F250s and one F350. Various styles...ex. cab, 4 door, flatbed diesel regular cab. All were XL work trucks.

[Strokd85]

Interesting, mine was a 4 door lariat.. pretty much fully loaded..
got $6300 on the trade, not too bad considering..

Happy we're finally getting the rain, last year was insane how dry it was...

[MiDiablo]

"Got" on the trade... So did you GET a new car?! If so - WHICH ONE?!

[Strokd85]

"Got" the fusion.. very happy with it.. sorry for the drab pics, car still needs to be detailed and it's been crappy the past couple of days. Averaging 26-28 mpg so far...
http://www.netwurkz.net/brawders/albums/userpics/10001/normal_100_3697~0.jpg

http://www.netwurkz.net/brawders/albums/userpics/10001/normal_100_3699.jpg

http://www.netwurkz.net/brawders/albums/userpics/10001/normal_100_3698_adjusted.jpg

Full size images are here if you'd like:

Brawders Family - 1970 Mustang Fastback (http://www.netwurkz.net/brawders/thumbnails.php?album=7)

[MiDiablo]

Ow Ow! FORD WEEEENS! :D

[smokeshow]

SVT Contour MTX-75 mates nicely to a 3.0...
( It's stock 4:06 gear, that should get ya out the hole! )

FWIW... get a diff. if you plan on putting on it though... they need a quaiffe or torsen.. badly!!!