[JFortner5]

Hey everyone I've done a little reading here in the past and finally decided to join. I have a 1999 Ford Ranger regular cab with a 3.0L V6, 5 speed, and a 3.73 rear end. I have always liked Rangers as they have been reliable for me and I like the look. If I drive like everyone else I normally get around 22 mpg, but after reading some things on here I managed to squeeze 25mpg out of it. My best with e85 has been 20.5mpg. (My truck is a flex fuel model)

Ill get on to the point, I have two little kids and the lack of space is starting to be more of an issue. My wife has a Grabd Cherokee so we use it mostly but I'd like to be able to take one or both kids somewhere in my own vehicle. I have found that I rarely use the bed of my truck. It also has nearly 155k miles on it. It's still decent but it's showing its age for sure.

My commute is about 25 miles each way, mostly interstate. Out of the 25 I'd say 4 miles are "city." I'm just trying to get some ideas on what cars to look at. I won't be buying new, but probably something in the $6-8k range used. I know that's not a lot of money, but surely I can find something.

Here are my must haves-

Manual transmission, ability to seat 4 people (but not necessarily 4 door), fun to drive, and something I could squeeze 40mpg out of. One more thing would be a car that is generally known for reliability. I realize its a crap shoot with a used car but something with a good track record would be great.

When I say fun to drive I'm not looking for speed really, but just a responsive car that handles well. Good acceleration would be nice, but that kind of takes away from the mpg goal. I don't know if I've set the bar too high, but hopefully I can get a better idea of some cars I should focus on.

I'm sorry for the newb post, but I've mostly been a truck guy. I know a good bit about the different models but not so much when it comes the smaller cars.

I hope to stick around and learn more.

Thanks,
Joey