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I know I play Mazda fanboy _way_ too often when giving car advice to ecomodders, but I would recommend a Mazda Protege5. The gearing isn't great, but you'll be turning 3000 rpm at 65 mph. That's definitely better than the Scion.

Also, you'll start out with a Cd of 0.32, which is significantly ahead of the Focus and just a hair behind the Scion.

The reliability is bulletproof. I've never had a problem with mine, and Consumer Reports gives the Protege great ratings in its reliability survey.

Best of all, the Protege is cheap. Scion might be a relatively new brand, but they're doing a great job with brand image. As a result, Scions depreciate very slowly. If you play with Kelley Blue Book (as I did when choosing a car to ecomod), you'll see that the Protege is significantly cheaper than an the same year of Scion xA/xB, Civic, and Corolla.

Oh, one last thing--the Protege isn't fast, but I drove a Fit and a Protege back to back once, and I prefer the Protege's sporty handling.