15 and Determined

[Cobb]

I too was going to mention a geo, but its made by suzuki or suzuka which is the stones throw from where Hondas are made.

Ill cut to the chase, keep dreaming of your ideal car and mods and in the mean time buy the first truck, van, etc that is in your price range. Dont worry about keeping it long as most new drivers are involved in an accident, but not necessary the cause of the accident.

My first car was a e250 econoline van extended body, 9mpg. It was soo ****ty it helped me to get my second car, a free mercedes 240d from my dad.

[elhigh]

Hey, I just thought of another option, and I think someone may have beat me to it:

An older S-10, 4x2, with the four banger can be pretty thrifty. If you're committed to the Made in America theme they have a lot more domestic content than some other GM options. They're stone-ax simple to work on, lots of room under the hood. And there are huge, huge gains to be made in simple aero mods. Under a truck the aero is just dreadful, but any belly pan you add will be nearly invisible from above. And look around here for aero caps to cover the bed, you'll see some nice ones that keep access to the back for modest loads, but the fuel mileage hops right up.

[MetroMPG]

Welcome, Dominic!

Originally Posted by HydroJim

This is strange. I was your same age when I joined this site back in 2011.

Ha - I immediately thought of you when I started reading this thread. There's hope for the future yet!

I think the big questions are:

1) Can you drive manual transmission? That should be priority #1 if you want to save a lot of fuel over your lifetime of (ICE) vehicle ownership (especially if you're going to be getting older cars -- newer automatics are improving).

2) How much are you going to spend?

3) Are you looking for maximum fuel economy right off the bat (see what I did -- baseball analogy!), or just an ecomodding project?

4) I'd lean towards 1996 or newer for OBD-II compatibility (plug & play fuel economy instrumentation like ScanGauge, Ultra-gauge).

Much fun & frustration ahead!

[HydroJim]

+1 on getting a manual transmission.

[Gealii]

Originally Posted by elhigh

An older S-10, 4x2, with the four banger can be pretty thrifty. If you're committed to the Made in America theme they have a lot more domestic content than some other GM options. They're stone-ax simple to work on, lots of room under the hood. And there are huge, huge gains to be made in simple aero mods.

I second an S-10. easy to lower, a lot to gain with mods, theres plenty of junkers to pull parts from

[23baseball3]

Poomanchu- A Cavalier seems like a good choice, but the issue I see is the wide rear end the the complications that would come in with trying to boat tail it. The car would become much too long for what I could deem useful I think.

Everyone that asked- I'm looking to spend around 1000-1500 on just the vehicle. I might go 1000 on mods if it would be worth my money to do that.

rooster- Unless I could find one for dirt cheap, I probably won't go with a Cobalt.

rmay- If I could find a Chevette for really cheap I think I'd go that route. I'm not interested in the Sprint but I am really considering a Metro now. Even though the Sprint is the Metro, just the earlier version. I might consider the sprint if I could find one.

vskid and elhigh- I'm slowly learning to accept all car manufacturers. Hopefully!

rooster, elhigh- An S10 huh? That briefly crossed my mind but actually that sounds like a great idea now. Aero cap bed cover, rear wheel well covers, moon disks on the front, lowered, grille block, manual 4 banger? Yeah that sounds great!!!

MetroMPG- 1. I haven't driven one yet, but the Nissan is a manual in the garage which is soon to be on the road I believe. I might be allowed to try my grandfather's '64 Corvette Sting Ray because my brother gets to take it to prom this year. I know how to do it, I just haven't done it. I actually want a manual.
2 (Answered earlier)
3 I'd like to be able to see improvements, not immediate 35-40 mpg.
4 What about an MPGuino?

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by 23baseball3

3 I'd like to be able to see improvements, not immediate 35-40 mpg.

At low speeds any manual transmission Cobalt, Cavalier, Grand Prix, Metro, Saturn SL1, etc can easily get 35mpg right out of the box if it runs correctly.

[23baseball3]

Well if they start off that high then with aero improvements and an injector kill switch it'll go up!

[MetroMPG]

If you're sticking with GM - the earlier Saturns seem to be good choices. But they're getting older & rarer now.

The Cobalt XFE is good, out of the box, but I think you've already said they're likely too new for you to want to modify.

MPGuino will work for the MPG stuff, but it's not as full-featured as an OBD-II gauge.

[23baseball3]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

If you're sticking with GM - the earlier Saturns seem to be good choices. But they're getting older & rarer now.

MPGuino will work for the MPG stuff, but it's not as full-featured as an OBD-II gauge.

I don't think I'll necessarily stick with GM. My new way of thinking is that I don't want to depreciate the value of a GM but I wouldn't mind totally messing up a Ford or a Metro. Well, not really messing it up but you get the idea. Plus, I wouldn't really need to worry about the value if I'm just gonna drive it into the ground anyway. So maybe I'll get that Nissan in the garage and have some fun with that?

EDIT: Hmm...
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...a-18575-5.html