[mpg_numbers_guy]

By this time 90% of metros are rust buckets that need $100s of work, unless you stumble upon a barn find or someone selling one as well maintained as MetroMPG keeps his.

1st gen Civic hybrid manual and Insight manual are both often sold for cheap because of battery issues. Disable the battery and run gas only and they drive just fine if you're okay with slow acceleration. Because of the battery issues, they can be had for dirt cheap when the rest of the car is solid.

A manual Camry or Accord won't get noticeably better fuel economy than the 27 mpg you're getting unless you hypermile and ecomod it pretty seriously. Getting just 40 mpg won't recoup the cost over 27 mpg for a long time. IMO the best bet for striking 50 mpg or higher without the worry of a hybrid system would be one of the two honda hybrids I mentioned above, a manual Fit or Civic, a maual Corolla, Echo, or Yaris. The Prism is a rebadged Corolla.