[jcp123]

I was reasonably impressed by the Volvo V70 we had for a bit...'99 model, had the 2.4 turbo. Doing nothing at all but setting cruise to 60, it nailed 31mpg with a/c running the whole way, and had a smidgeon of suburban driving mixed in too. Round trip, probably 250 miles.

My dad's '00 Passat wagon was a solid 27mpg performer, he had it set to 62 on cruise and whatever a/c was comfortable, but then his was saddled with V6 and 4motion AWD. With a 1.8t and 5-speed, FWD, it'd be much better higher maintenance costs but ours was bulletproof, and the suspension was about 1000000x better than the Volvo which managed to have a stiff ride and squishy handling.

Maybe an Accord or Camry wagon might be an interesting one to sniff out. The Camry wasn't available with a manual, the Accord I think technically was but would be tough to find. Despite being old, these cars were built at the height of Japanese quality, so they should be quite dependable, as my beat down old Echo is. Subarus of the same era are almost as durable and are more common with manual, but tend to be a bit more beat up and of course the AWD saps MPG.

I am a wagon fan so I think about these things...