Starting vehicle hunt commuter
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Get something with a little character and fun to drive. You can add katskin leather to just about any car for well under a thousand, even less if you do the labor. Electric seat heaters are easy to do when you are reskinning the seats. Maybe a Mini Cooper or a Fiat 500L. An older vehicle may provide a great cost savings and allow for more room and comfort, Lexus RX 350 maybe.
2017/18 Mazda3 hatchback grand touring model.
Fun to drive and handles much better than most. Leather, heated seats, sunroof, HUD, two zone CC, Bose, backup camera, radar cruise control. I've got one and drove 150 miles a day round trip to and from work for years till the pandemic.
Avg. 30 to 35 mpg .
Fun to drive and handles much better than most. Leather, heated seats, sunroof, HUD, two zone CC, Bose, backup camera, radar cruise control. I've got one and drove 150 miles a day round trip to and from work for years till the pandemic.
Avg. 30 to 35 mpg .
N.A. Civic on the smallest rims that fit(probably 15") on higher profile tires? Instead of the 195/60R15 tires, I tried some 195/65R15 tires on the Focus and with the tires at 32 psi, they are a tiny bit more squirmy when pushing very hard on an on/off ramp, but on the highway they ride a bit nicer and are a bit quieter.
I’d avoid a 3rd Gen Prius / Prius V. Head gaskets are lurking around unless you can find one that’s had the work completed as documented.
What about a late model year Fusion hybrid? They seem to used in taxi services and seem to hold up to that kind of severe service.
Alternatively, what about a 2019 Jetta SE or higher trim? It gets the 1.4l engine with the newer body style. From what I read, either get the old 2.5 5cyl or the 1.4l, avoid the 1.8l TSIs which seem to develop oil drinking problems.
What about a late model year Fusion hybrid? They seem to used in taxi services and seem to hold up to that kind of severe service.
Alternatively, what about a 2019 Jetta SE or higher trim? It gets the 1.4l engine with the newer body style. From what I read, either get the old 2.5 5cyl or the 1.4l, avoid the 1.8l TSIs which seem to develop oil drinking problems.
Thanks for recommendations thus far.
Mostly I want 32MPG min highway optimally 40 mpg coupled to some comfort. There is little stop and go(5-10 mins tops) so not sure hybrid makes a lot of sense except they get better MPG it appears in general.
Burning 3 gallons vs 2 round trip 33 mpg vs near 50 MPG won’t break me for the $3/gallon fuel. Hoping to land 40 mpg.
I did not know about Bolt or Clarity. Thanks.
EV interests me for novelty and seems to be a use case for it.
Mostly I want 32MPG min highway optimally 40 mpg coupled to some comfort. There is little stop and go(5-10 mins tops) so not sure hybrid makes a lot of sense except they get better MPG it appears in general.
Burning 3 gallons vs 2 round trip 33 mpg vs near 50 MPG won’t break me for the $3/gallon fuel. Hoping to land 40 mpg.
I did not know about Bolt or Clarity. Thanks.
EV interests me for novelty and seems to be a use case for it.
2011-2017 VW Golf or Jetta with the 2.5L or 1.8T are solid and fun choices. The Civic is another good choice but I believe after 2013 they had CVTs and I just hate the way a CVT drives.
I keep reading about the 1.8T being oil burners on VW Vortex. Is it not a widespread issue on that engine? I don’t see much in the way of oil burning threads on the 2.5 or the 1.4 tsi found in the 2016/17+ Jettas.
You can almost buy a new jetta for the upper end of your budget and it'll get 40 of better unless you go pedal to the metal everywhere....
They are reasonably quiet? I assume yours has some pretty wide low profile tires? I rented a KIA Forte EX with 225/45-17 tires and it was quite noticeable in the first block, with some extra noise and harshness, that wasn't really needed for a commuter type car. The car interior seemed pretty tight really and with the CVT it could get some pretty good mileage, but it needed the base model 195/65-15 tires on it.
I guess a Mazda3 GT with the 16" rims and some quiet tires would be pretty good for NVH.
So are the 2016-2018 Mazda3.
I would get something that’s on the comfort side or something on the “more fun” side.
Looking only at the fuel economy is great on paper until you realize the extra cost for other options is not that much and these “fuel sippers” usually are terrible when it comes to noise, comfort etc.
At 1000 miles a month we’re looking at:
40mpg car - 25 gallons
35mpg car - 28.5 gallons
30mpg car - 33 gallons.
I don’t know about others, but I’d rather have a more comfortable and relaxing ride to work and pay the fuel penalty.
I think I’m getting old
Looking only at the fuel economy is great on paper until you realize the extra cost for other options is not that much and these “fuel sippers” usually are terrible when it comes to noise, comfort etc.
At 1000 miles a month we’re looking at:
40mpg car - 25 gallons
35mpg car - 28.5 gallons
30mpg car - 33 gallons.
I don’t know about others, but I’d rather have a more comfortable and relaxing ride to work and pay the fuel penalty.
I think I’m getting old
I rented a Passat for a week from Turo and it hit nearly 38 mpg in the type of driving I do. Cruise is on 75% of ride.
I did not feel car was economy nor exactly luxury either. It was comfortable
I did not feel car was economy nor exactly luxury either. It was comfortable