2 part thread-new car options and Tundra mods

[welly]

hey all:

I have two separate questions that I'm wanting some suggestions on.

1. I have a 04 Tundra 4.7 that is my daily driver. I get around 20 combined mpg according to my SG2. I've over inflated my tires and removed my mud flaps, and I have a tonneau cover. I'm not real optimistic on me being able to improve on this vehicle's MPG much, but I'd love to get some suggestions on things that may make a noticable difference. I do tow occasionally.

2. Since I drive a gas hog, I'm really wanting to buy another car that is much more fuel efficient. I'd like to buy something in the range of <$3000. I need a 4 door model, as I have a carseat in the back. I'd love some suggestions on some vehicles that can be found in this price range.

Thanks all. I've been brainstorming about both of these for awhile now and would like to get some other thoughts to help me along the way.

[Daox]

I probably wouldn't bother with modding the tundra if you aren't going to be driving it a ton.

As for cheap higher mileage cars, the real winners are usually the foreign cars from Toyota and Honda (echo, corolla, civic, accord). Older small American cars don't get as good of mileage with a few exceptions like the Saturns (SL1). I'd probably shy away from any Korean car that is in that price range. Their quality today is vastly better than the early 2000s. VW also has their TDI line although you'd be hard pressed to find one for $3k. Other than that, the Civic HX has a lean burn engine and you might be able to find one in your price range.

Search craigslist and use fueleconomy.gov to check EPA ratings for the cars and you'll be good.

[welly]

Cool thanks. I drive the Tundra a lot, but many times I don't need the truck portion of the vehicle so picking up a cheap car would do me good.

I'll keep looking around.

[welly]

Still looking for a cheap used vehicle. Now thinking about raising my spending to 5-6K, as I'm not finding anything. I've found a few Ford Focuses in this price range, but Honda or Toyotas not so lucky. I think I would prefer to have a vehicle with 120K miles max, so this is keeping the price high. Anyways, wanted to get some opinions on what would be good options for this newer price range.