best resale/used car for money and mpg
 

I'm looking for a 1995 to 2006 low priced car, with the potential for high mpg.

Are there any lists on here of such cars?

Also, is there a list in descending mpg order of cars used by forumites?

That is kind of like asking where the best place to eat is, it really depends on your area and what you have available to you, how large of city you live in, what city you live in and what vehicles are popular in your area, then you need to figure out what vehicle fits your needs, not just how many people can fit it in and how much cargo you can carry in it but how long do you want it to last, if you only drive 7,000 miles a year a vehicle that has issues with rust is going rust out before it wears out but if you drive 30,000 miles a year a vehicle with a less reliable drive train is going to give you issues first.

There are not lists exactly like you are looking for, however the EPA MPG web site lets you sort by age and gas mileage but they do not give you vehicle issues or used vehicle cost, Kelly Blue Book gives you costs and there are a number of good car review web sites to give you vehicle issues, trouble is, vehicles that have very few issues hold their value, so do cars that get good mileage.

If you're looking for high mpg, nothing beats the original Honda Insight.

A Prius or Manual Honda Civic HX.

No offense but that age range also includes the Metro which "should" be cheap along with the good versions of the Dodge Neons (if there was a good version, I'm talking FE only)

Oops you said resale, but then again :)

It will be most useful to post your budget, as this will determine which cars are available to you. For example, if you can't spend more than 2k, that automatically rules out almost every car made after the year 1999.

johnlvs2run -

Here is some good data from larrydag :

CarloSW2

johnlvs2run -

Keep in mind that the above data covers *all* manufacturer models in the Ecomodder Garage. If you see a manufacturer you like, you need to go into the Garage and filter for that manufacturer and then figure out the model that is the MPG winner.

For instance, the Audis have a wide deviation, but maybe that is because some Audi's are diesel while others are gassers.

CarloSW2

That is awesome, thanks very much.

I'd like to stay below 2 to 3000, but definitely below 5501, the cost of my previous car in 1993, which was 4 years old at the time. I am willing to be patient and look for a good price for lower miles, better condition and greater potential.

Do the figures reflect the average of all models for that manufacturer, or the very best performance of any model for that manufacturer? Also, are those auto and manual combined? It is surprising that only a few of them are over 40 mpg.