My sister is wanting to look for a newer car. She is currently driving a 96 Celica (EPA: 25 city, 31 highway, 27 combined). She is tired of having a two door car and is making 4 doors a requirement for her next vehicle. It also must have a manual transmission. She also does a lot of driving for her job so I am swaying her towards a fuel efficient vehicle of course. She had been looking at small SUVs.
I talked with her and got her to realize that its really not a good idea. So, I immediately think of a Civic HX, but then find out that its only made in a 2 door model, very disappointing. I thought about doing an engine swap, but I really just don't have time to do it. The next thought was a TDI of some sort (minus the Beetle which she doesn't like). The only downside is the higher price of diesel currently.
I'm really kinda wanting to get her into a much higher mileage vehicle. Thats not incredibly easy to do when her current vehicle is getting 30 mpg. I know theres the basic Corolla/Civic that I could go for, but its not a real big improvement. She wants to keep the price under $8000. You guys got any ideas?