Post by ACD on Jun 17, 2008 18:25:53 GMT -5
As Ben has mentioned before His 1984 Buick Skyhawk got great mileage and performed adequately. As we know car manufacturers have taken advantage of improvements in technology to make cars more powerful rather than efficient. That is what at the time the market demanded. There are many cars out there that get exceptional mileage and you can pay cash for. Late 80's to early 90's compact cars with manual transmissions are capable of amazing mileage. I bought a 1990 Ford Escort for $425. Did a couple hundred in brake work to it and now drive it to take the family any distance trips. The car is getting 36-38 mpg. Cavaliers, Escorts, Tempo's, Omni's, K-cars, Corrolas, Civics, Geo's, Sentras, these are the cars you are looking for. Yeah they are ugly, won't win many awards for performance either, but deliver on the mileage they will. And best of all no payments. Figure out how long it will take to make buying a $25,000 Prius at 48 mpg (highway) worth it over a $2000 or less 35 mpg (highway) beater. Sure the Prius gets 50 in town and the beater about 25 but still thats a lot of gas, insurance, excise tax and more to break even.