Cars with a reasonably tall choice of manual transmission gearing?

[serialk11r]

Stand a chance of getting good FE? All of them! The clutch pedal is there so you can pulse and glide easily

[H-Man]

I don't have the fine motor skills or patience to deal with P&G.

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

H-Man if you wanna buy my HX I would be willing to let it go for what I have into it. But I think even then it would be out of your price range.

I end up trying to figure out what to look for wayy in advance of when I need to get it.
At this point in time everything is out of my price range, heck I could afford the $1400 for my prizm (a bit much for the condition, but it would have cost me $100 for every week I didn't have an efficient car by the last week of August 2012, I bought it in the 2nd week of August 2012 because it was the only manual transmission car I could find on craigslist that didn't have any disqualifying traits (excessive cost, oil burning, salvage title, severe mechanical issues, no smog papers, no pinkslip, etc,)) because I worked my butt off that summer at a computer repair shop that paid flat rate.


Although a friend is looking for an efficient car right now, there is a snowball's chance in hell a HX is going to go for <$2k.

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Unless you really need the interior space of a station-wagon, I'd consider to get a 4th-gen Camaro due to its light platform and good aerodynamics.

I'm going to assume that if I'm going RWD, it will be for a family car.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by H-Man

I'm going to assume that if I'm going RWD, it will be for a family car.

Those Crown Vics from the 90s look fairly aerodynamic. I wonder how would perform one with the Essex 4.2L V6 and the manual transmission out of an F-150 with its differential that is already taller than the one of the truck...

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Those Crown Vics from the 90s look fairly aerodynamic. I wonder how would perform one with the Essex 4.2L V6 and the manual transmission out of an F-150 with its differential that is already taller than the one of the truck...

A buddy of mine has a '92 vic, and before his transmission BBQ'D he was getting 26-31mpg out of it. Then again he drove almost 100% freeway at 60-65mph.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by H-Man

I don't have the fine motor skills or patience to deal with P&G.


Although a friend is looking for an efficient car right now, there is a snowball's chance in hell a HX is going to go for <$2k.


.

I got my HX for 2k. It only needed about ~500$ in repairs. I have about 1k in it right now after the tranny swap and some other goodies.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

A buddy of mine has a '92 vic, and before his transmission BBQ'D he was getting 26-31mpg out of it. Then again he drove almost 100% freeway at 60-65mph.

So, now mind you how efficient that platform could be with an engine that is going to have less pumping losses, and a manual transmission. Can we say 40MPG land-yacht?

[H-Man]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

A buddy of mine has a '92 vic, and before his transmission BBQ'D he was getting 26-31mpg out of it. Then again he drove almost 100% freeway at 60-65mph.

Was that with or without AC? When I spec out a car's fuel consumption for highway use in sunny socal, I assume AC will have to be ran at least moderately.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

So, now mind you how efficient that platform could be with an engine that is going to have less pumping losses, and a manual transmission. Can we say 40MPG land-yacht?

That would be amazing to see.

Originally Posted by H-Man

Was that with or without AC? When I spec out a car's fuel consumption for highway use in sunny socal, I assume AC will have to be ran at least moderately.

I know he doesn't use A/C. I know he rolls with the windows down which is almost just as bad as using the A/C.

[arcosine]

My Saturn has a .605 fifth gear and a 4.025 final, 2.95 overall ratio, 2040 RPM at 65 MPH with 205/70R15 tires.

[H-Man]

How bad is the oil consumption? I've heard that the saturns from that time burn oil, in cali smog laws make anything that kills catalysts expensive to keep running.