Best Daily Driver Car/Truck ?

[goodoleboy]

Cost of gas to drive a truck getting 13mpg 25,000 a year is $3000 @ $1.80 gallon.

If you drove a car getting 26 mpg 25,000 a years is about $1500 @ $1.80 gallon.

You will save $1500 a year w/ a gas saver. I have a 17 year old truck and drive it on the weekends, that way i can drive the gas saver on the commutes to work.

 

[sully]

For a small fee you can advertise a vehicle nowadays nationwide on the internet. Heck, for less than a buck you can hang a For Sale sign in the window. No doubt you will probably come out better selling than trading. But if gas prices continues to go up selling a high cost vehicle that gets lousy mileage may prove to be tough. I was told the sale of 4x4's and big SUV's is already down 23%. I've seen more new economy cars on the streets here lately than ever. These gas prices are certainly making an impact. And I'd be willing to bet the national average for gas is going to be well over $2.00 a gallon for regular this summer. Lotsa factors involved in the cost of fuel right now and I don't see any of them changing for the better any time soon. IMO

 

[k1xv]

Given the fact that it has been a buyers market these days, consider, instead of new, a certified lease return car purchased at a dealer that handles that brand as new cars. Get a good warranty with it, even good manufacturer financing.

Dealers, when handling used cars of the same brand as what they sell new, will usually not sell junk because they hope that someday you will return to buy a brand new one.

 

[Alan]

Well taken care of VW's can get decent MPG's.
I just got 30.5 mpg's yesterday morning in city driving with my GTI VR6(75 lights during my commute).This morining 29.5 mpg's.
I don't drive like a fool and I wake up pretty early to get a jump on the traffic to get these numbers.

My old 99 Corolla did better(barely)but the GTI is so

much more satisfing to drive.

The VW TDI's are fun to drive,very torquey and best of all they get extremely good mpg's however they are VW's so they can be a bit quierky.Look at a Golf TDI

.

 

[Amkeer]

I am getting 20 in the city and 22 on the highway with my Tacoma.

Daily Drives:
-2003 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner,2.7 liter, 4 cylinder, Mobil1 5w30 ODO 13000
-1995 Toyota 4-Runner,3.0 liter,6 cylinder, Mobil1 10w30 ODO 94000
http://community.webshots.com/user/amkeer

 

[srivett]

I get 40 US MPG from my 1992 Diesel Golf delivering pizza. I do a mix between long distance (20 km each way) delivery and local 1 - 2 km deliveries. 244K miles and running strong.

I wouldn't get a car with AC, it's too tempting to use. Bare bones is the way to go if you plan to pile the miles onto it.

Cheers, Steve

 

[k1xv]

quote:

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Originally posted by srivett:
I wouldn't get a car with AC, it's too tempting to use. Bare bones is the way to go if you plan to pile the miles onto it.

Cheers, Steve [/QB]

---

\===========
Driving in NJ summer traffic and no A/C?

If your physical appearance at your destination is at all important, without A/C in New Jersey you will arrive looking like a damp wash cloth.

Auto A/C and summer New Jersey....Perfect together.

 

[Whimsey]

quote:

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Originally posted by k1xv:

Auto A/C and summer New Jersey....Perfect together. [/QB]

---

Spoken like a true EX New Jerseyite

.

Buster is your truck leased? Because if it is there "ain't" no way you're going to get out of it before the lease is up without paying most of the lease anyway. Heck! Death won't even get you out of the lease

. But even if you "own" the truck you're going to take a real bad beating. Chances are you owe more than the truck is worth because of the first year's rapid depreciation. In the long run it'll be cheaper to buy the gas. Of course you can take it to Camden and "accidently" leave the keys in the ignition

. JUST KIDDING! Don't do that! The insurance won't even cover what you owe on the loan or the lease. Not to mention that it's illegal and unethical

.

Whimsey

 

[Scooby]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 02supercrew:
Personally I'd keep the truck and get into a Taurus or something of the sort.

$4K will get you into a good used '00 Taurus (or domestic) with 60-80K mi on it, and get 25-30 mpg all day long.

---

Yeah, but better save $2k for tranny replacement about every 50-75k miles. We just traded off a 2000 Taurus 3.0 Vulcan for a 2005 Sienna. Taurus had 82k miles and on it's third tranny. Was only a few thousand miles from needing it's fourth. Also, best mileage I ever got was 27mpg on sustained hwy trips. Everyday hwy mileage was about 24.

The Taurus was about the worst built car I have ever had. Resale/ trade-in is terrible. I've had terrible luck woth Ford's. My 1992 Ranger was the best. My $34k 2001 loaded Supercrew had TERRIBLE quality. Hood looked like it had been painted by a 3 year old (traded out on dealer lot the day it arrived). Outside door moulding kept falling off. Rear window moulding replaced numerous times. CD changer changed 3 times, left outside mirror fell off with 4k miles. Finally got rid off it.

I've had great luck with 'yota's. Probably be all I get from now on. On my 5th, with no major problems.

 

[labman]

Dump it now while there is a lull in ever increasing gas prices.

 

[Blokey]

My vote's for the Accord V6!

 

[Jon]

Here's my take on it.

Buy a low mileage Cavalier, a new 5-spd (like somebody else mentioned), etc... They are cheap but very frugal on gas, no special fluids, easy to repair and generally durable if not quiet and tightly built.

You could also get a Civic - 2 co-workers have them and one gets 39.5 very consistently (and it's winter right now) and they are about as durable as you get. You could also get the 4-banger Accord. I have a 2002 Accord V6 (3.0L) and I get 20-22 mpg in the winter with 50/50 city/highway and Blizzak's, and it will get 29-31 on the highway (with the air ON).

My old Buick Roadmaster got 17-18 around town and low 20's (up to 24) on the road, and that's with a smallblock 350 and turbo 700 with lockup. That car has 287,000 miles on it now.

Personally, I'd look for a used low mileage Civic or Cavalier for mileage concerns. No such thing as a truck that gets "great" mileage. My father's 2000 Suburban (6.0L, 2500 HD) can get into the low 20's easily, and usually runs 18+ mpg. His former 1994 Ford F350 with the 460 got between 18 and 24 easily, if you kept your foot out of it.

A family friends 1992 Accord gets 24+. All of these vehicles have been as reliable as a stone axe.

 

[JeepZJ4.0]

I know in Houston, there is a large market for used a Ford Taurus. Most of them are under 10 and even if it has the 150hp V6, it's still plenty of torque and power to get your around town and still grab good gas mileage. One equipped with a Durtec will give almost the same mileage, maybe better since the engines weigh almost the same but the Durtec has 200hp and 200ft/lbs of torque (a jump of 50 and 30).

 

[jsharp]

We told you to get the Tacoma in the first place Buster.

But, $1500-$3000 beaters are the way to go for commuting if you can do any mechanical work on your own. No worries about door dents, paint fade, theft, etc. and the insurance is usually cheap. In fact, it might be a cheaper overall insurance bill if you own a beater and just keep liability on it with full coverage on your "nice" vehicle.

My 4Runner is coming up on 80K miles and I'm only going to use it 1 more year for commuting since I'd like to keep it forever if I can. I'm going to pick up a beat Geo Tracker Or Suzuki Samurai to drive to work...

 

[Steve S]

buster you would loose more money than you would save.

 

[Amkeer]

I agree with others that you will lose more than you will save. Another thing is you will be dealing with......ah forget it I tried to tell you before you did this.

 

[buster]

If I can't make a move, I'll stick to my original plan and keep for 3 years. No big deal. When I first wrote this post I was in a ****** off mood bc alot of things have changed at my company and caused me to panic a bit. The Ram has many things I like about it obviously or I wouldn't have bought it. The Tacoma is not the answer though, IMO.

 

[buster]

Just talked to my friend at a Honda dealer. I can get into a siler 2 door accord coupe/leather/manual for the same monthly payment now with nothing down. It has 160hp/161lbs of torque. I test drove it and it wasn't bad at all. I can't believe I'm considering this. I've driven used cars all my life and never do things like this but I might have to bite the bullet. I'm OUT OF MY MIND.

[ February 09, 2005, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[cousincletus]

I would consider something like this...http://www.carmax.com/dyn/factsheet/factsheet.aspx. Carmax gives you free estimates and a computer printout on your trade value. Something to consider. When we traded the Jeep on the Durango Carmax gave us a quote that was about the same as the other deAlers. No big bargain but they make it quick & easy.

 

[cousincletus]

Link didn't work. It was a 2004 Malibu, 12,000 miles for $11,000. For the price and mileage I wouldn't think you could go wrong. Even if the rental was beaten it's still got plenty of warranty.