Quote:
Originally Posted by deathtrain
look for mid-late 90's Toyota, Honda manual gear box. They are cheap, easy to find, and cheap to maintain.
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Except the easy to find part, at least in my area, the manuals (2 that I found vs 40+ autos) were $500+ higher priced compared to the autos and were often in worse shape or have 300k+ miles. Michigan salt eats cars alive, if they sit they rust out FASTER, so not many good shape cars with low miles
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For Toyotas, aim for 93-2001 corollas, or the larger 92-99 camry (newer is better mpg via EPA ratings). There is a member on this site with a manual 1.6L corolla that gets over 60mpg with mods, with my auto corolla with a 1.8L and less mods I'm getting around 45mpg for my current tank. By the way..... the corollas are rated under 30mpg average!
early 80s VW rabbits did very well on gas/diesel
any honda civic should pull good mpg
personally I would stay clear of dodge or Chrysler, my own personal preference (my dad is a auto tech, just to show my view point a little). Having said that I heard Neons are fairly reliable but no personal experience.
Here is a list I was studying before I got my corolla... I was going for a 1981-1982 VW Caddy (rabbit pickup) diesel.
Super Cheap High MPG Cars: 1978-1981 | MPGomatic