Econo box car shopping

[C(-)ris]

With summer coming up and winter over in the frozen tundra of WI combined with rising gas prices I am realizing that I need to find a cheap car and reduce my gas expense.

I have a 80 mile round trip commute 5 days a week. My SUV has been averaging about 22mpg. Gas is around $2.74 right now but it has been rising for the last few months. We have a 2001 Pontiac Vibe(it also averages right around 22mpg) that is near death that my wife drives to work, she has 5 mile commute in town. We are looking to replace that car and then swap. She would drive the SUV and I would take the more fuel efficient vehicle.

If trends continue I'll be spending about $50 a week on gas just for the commute. That works out to about $2590 a year. IF I had a car that averaged 32mpg I'd be looking at $35 a week on gas or $1781 per year. Savings would be about $800 a year. If I found one that got 40mpg it would save me around $1100.

Given that, I'm trying to figure out what gives me the most bang for my buck in a used car. My go to car 10 years ago for this was a late 90s Saturn SL Sedan. You could get them for under $2500, they got 40mpg highway, parts were dirt cheap, easy to work on, they didn't rust, and they typically went 250k plus miles before they died. Sadly, they are now a 20 year old car and most all of them are past their useful life.

I've been searching to try and find a newer replacement but haven't been able to find anything. 10 years or newer, around $3k, 40mpg, under 120k miles. Does this exist anymore?

[mattkime]

I'd be tempted to look at a used chevy volt or similar. You won't find it at $3k but you might come out ahead after calculating gas cost.

[Speedy]

mattkime wrote:
I'd be tempted to look at a used chevy volt or similar. You won't find it at $3k but you might come out ahead after calculating gas cost.

But only if you can recharge at work. And even if you can recharge at work, in the winter you'll still burn a gallon of gas a day.

[C(-)ris]

Speedy wrote:
[quote=mattkime]
I'd be tempted to look at a used chevy volt or similar. You won't find it at $3k but you might come out ahead after calculating gas cost.

But only if you can recharge at work. And even if you can recharge at work, in the winter you'll still burn a gallon of gas a day.
No charging at work. I'd need something that went all 80 miles and then could charge in 8 hours or less.

[Speedy]

C(-)ris wrote:
[quote=Speedy]
[quote=mattkime]
I'd be tempted to look at a used chevy volt or similar. You won't find it at $3k but you might come out ahead after calculating gas cost.

But only if you can recharge at work. And even if you can recharge at work, in the winter you'll still burn a gallon of gas a day.
No charging at work. I'd need something that went all 80 miles and then could charge in 8 hours or less.
Then go for a Prius.

[davester]

My brother just went through this process for the exact same parameters. He looked at the Volt and Prius options but eventually decided that a Mazda 3 made more sense and is also a very nice car, available inexpensively used.

[mrbigstuff]

Just get one that won't drive you too crazy with its buzzing engine or road noise over all of those miles each week.

[cbelt3]

If you do the math your will discover that the premium you pay for plug in hybrid doesn’t pay for itself. Think of what you drive in and how far. My little Civic started out on my commute at 42mpg and now averages about 34mpg after 200K Miles of wear and tear.

[Thrift Store Scott]

Second the Mazda 3. I rented one on vacation a couple of years ago (sedan, not hatchback) and found it to be a perfectly pleasant vehicle with no remarkable deficiencies.

I can't speak about the Volt specifically, but people who own Priuses seem to REALLY love them and only trade them in when it's time for the big battery to be replaced. That battery used to cost about $7500 but might be less now, so I'd figure the cost of a new battery into the overall purchase price of a used Prius.

Since Ford is going to be discontinuing the Focus and Fiesta lines soon, you might could wait and catch a good closeout deal on one or the other of those.

[C(-)ris]

Thrift Store Scott wrote:
Second the Mazda 3. I rented one on vacation a couple of years ago (sedan, not hatchback) and found it to be a perfectly pleasant vehicle with no remarkable deficiencies.

I can't speak about the Volt specifically, but people who own Priuses seem to REALLY love them and only trade them in when it's time for the big battery to be replaced. That battery used to cost about $7500 but might be less now, so I'd figure the cost of a new battery into the overall purchase price of a used Prius.

Since Ford is going to be discontinuing the Focus and Fiesta lines soon, you might could wait and catch a good closeout deal on one or the other of those.

I’ve thought about buying new or newer and making payments, but to keep the payments low enough to net even on the gas savings would mean a large down payment and long loan period. Leasing won’t work because I drive too many miles.