I need a car for next summer... need to look into it now, help?

[Event]

Ok, when I'm at home for summer, I get to drive a 93 Chevy 1500 pickup with a 5.7L V8. With gas at $3.20+/gal, It's hell driving it. Not only does the ride suck, but I get 13mpg! Just paid $63 to go 250 miles...

So I need to know what to expect cost wise for these 2 situations. Like, after insurance and title and stuff, and how often I'd expect a repair to be parts-wise (my dad is free installation )

1. This is the ideal situation: I would like a mid-early 90s VW Golf/Rabbit/Jetta TDI. I hear these things can get almost 70mpg and average at 50mpg! However, I don't know much about diesels, like if repairs are generally more expensive to maintain. I've heard that Volkswagens seem to have the most problems per mile driven. After initial searching, I can't find any cheap diesel at all! Would the initial purchase of a diesel VW be out of my price range, especially with demand rising sharply?

2. This is plan B, which is still 100 times better than driving the truck. I would like to get am early/mid/(perhapslate80s?) Toyota, like a Camry or Corolla, because I've heard great things about gas mileage (30mpg) and reliability (fewest problems per mile driven). Which is the cheaper and/or better fuel economy model between the Camry and Corolla?

I would like to spend no more than $1500(USD) for the initial car purchase, but would prefer to stay around $1000. I might be willing to go to $2000 if it was a diesel and made 50+mpg.

I don't care if it is a 2 seater, or 4 seater, or 1 seater, how much power, how it looks, anything like that. Reliability and cost are the two key factors!! I don't care if my top speed is 80mph if I'm saving boatloads. And as for insurance, I have a perfect driving record at 19. Hopefully it will be lower for a 4-door diesel, if thats the route I go.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you were in my situation, what would you do? I can't use public transportation, there is minimal around here. And I am open to other suggestions as well.

 

[Mx²]

Get a 92-96' Toyota Corolla; reliable and great on gas.

 

[Tornado]

If you are alright with a diesel, a 190D might be what you are looking for. Any of the more recent diesels are all VW's, and as such cost a lot of money.

 

[Luca]

The other thing about diesels is that, since they are so uncommon in the United States, they often command higher prices than their gasoline-driven counterparts. The small savings in gas money won't offset the extra you'll pay up front.

I'll vouch for your decision to look at a Corolla or Camry. The Corolla is the smaller of the two cars and as such tends to get better mileage, but even the Camry does about as well as most American-made small cars (Japan has much more experience building fuel efficient vehicles ). Same goes for the Civic and Accord. Toyota made an even smaller car, the Tercel, but it's a piece of crap and you shouldn't buy one.

You know, if this is ONLY going to be used in summer, maybe a motor scooter would work. You can pick up a good one for the same price as a beater car, they get huge gas mileage (~80 mpg), and your insurance premiums will fall through the floor. It might vary from state to state, but I'm not even sure you need a special license to drive a motor scooter, and even motorcycles have really low insurance premiums (a friend of mine owns one).

You'll have to do more research - I don't know a whole lot about scooters other than that I see them pretty often here in the summer and it seems like one might be a good fit for your situation.

 

[YSSMAN]

Earlier TDI models from VW weren't particularly reliable, so I would pretty much avoid them untill the '99 1/2+ MKIV models.

But if you pick up a VW with the old 1.8L 8V or 2.0L 8V, you can easily average 27+ MPG on a regular baisis, and I've been able to achieve as high as 33 in my '96 Wolfsburg. Cost is an issue though. $2000 will buy you an early MKIII or a decent MKII, but combine that with higher insurance and replacement parts prices, and they get expensive rather quickly.

 

[Slicks]

This is kind of from left-field, but how about an older Mercedes diesel?
I would reccomend the '81-'91 Mercedes 300SD. It's a full-size car, the predecessor to the S-Class. They are built like tanks (Or should I say, tanks are built like them), and the engines are well known for their outstanding longevity (Think 450,000 miles and up). My dad has one, and it consistently gets 36-40 miles per gallon on the highway, and not much less (32-35) in the city.
The earlier ones came with a 5-cyl. turbo diesel, making just over 120HP, and lots of torque. Some later cars came with a more powerful 6-cyl. version of the engine. These cars are usually on the cheaper end of the scale to buy, and I'm sure that a number of examples would fall under your $2000 limit.

 

[Jay]

This is kind of from left-field, but how about an older Mercedes diesel?

Well its not really from left field as Mercedes Diesel was already suggested.

If you are alright with a diesel, a 190D might be what you are looking for. Any of the more recent diesels are all VW's, and as such cost a lot of money.

My dad has one, and it consistently gets 36-40 miles per gallon on the highway, and not much less (32-35) in the city.

Great! I may have to look into getting one myself.

 

[1X83Z]

I'd like to suggest the Toyota Corolla.

No, I have a better idea.

The Toyota Corolla.

A diesel Mercedes will be reliable, oddly enough. Though today we view premium brands (and since the ML- and E-class, Mercedes in particular) as unreliable poo, it hasn't always been that way - they used to be rock solid. But those things pollute more than God and if you register your car in Chicago and that city has smog regulations, there's a good chance it won't pass.

By the way, I have a good suggestion for you: the Toyota Corolla.

 

[=V8 Power=]

Hmm since I hate imports, I will have to say a Ford Focus. They are great cars, they handle like their on rails, very fun with a 5-spd. I think they get around 27mpg city?

 

[Carl.]

Why a Corolla instead of a Civic then?

An unmolested Civic will be as thrifty, reliable as the Corolla, AND somewhat fun to drive. Most Corollas from the 90s are what I'd consider the antithesis of driving enthusiasm. Those I've driven had overassisted steering and a suspension on the very soft side.

About the same goes for the Accord vs Camry. A 4cyl manual accord from the mid-90s looks good, has decent mileage and the combo engine/gearbox/weight makes is a fun car to drive.

I think it's the best looking accord we've had in North America (not counting the TSX/Euro accord), and the same goes about mid-90s civics, as long as they're not purple or turquoise.

 

[niky]

A mid-90's Civic would be cool... the ones that came after (previous to the current generation) lost some of that lively edge that made them fun cars. In fact, the current Corolla actually rides stiffer than said 00+ Civic and has decent handling, although it isn't very communicative.

$1500? A Nissan Sentra SE-R? The "Classic" B13, I mean, not the boxier, slower ones that followed (no offense, TwinTurboJay). But any remaining examples you may find will probably need a bit of work. Still, lively little bugger.

 

[1X83Z]

Why a Corolla instead of a Civic then?

Doesn't matter really, any of that slow-ass Japanese crap should work. Legacy should be mentioned to, but hopefully by someone else because I'm not willing to do a writeup of a vehicle as slow as that one.

By the way, have I mentioned the Corolla yet?