Curious newcomer from Eastern ND.

[mikeyjd]

Originally Posted by UltArc

I'll just leave this here...

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ems-18892.html

Whatever you decide, I look forward to seeing how it turns out

I was going to say Honda Insight. The automaitcs can get 60+mpg on a commute. Prius would be another option, albeit a little more money if you want a 2nd gen.

[bannie]

Wow... Thanks for that great info!

I didn't know I could get a Honda Insight for that price!

Looking around, there's a pretty nice one for under $3000. Looking at the Carfax on it, it looks like it's been a bit neglected and likely needs another tranny fluid change, but all in all, looks like a decent vehicle.

It's a 2001, but looks like the guy bought it with a loan, took care of it, paid it off, and then took out a shady second loan on the vehicle for cash. He defaulted on his payments, and after 3 years they managed to Repossess it. Sell it at auction to a dealer, and there it sits... Overpriced by about $500, but not too bad looking.

I just bought a bunch of stocks on the stock market, made some major repairs to my house and put in a new water softener, so I'm a bit low on money, but I will definitely keep an Insight in mind for my future vehicle!

For the short term, I'm going to look into possibly buying some gauges to put into my Camry or Impala to start learning better driving habits. I'll also have to start leaving earlier for work too.

[elhigh]

The cool thing about all that refurb work on the tractor: you can do it with the engine still in place. And it just happens to be at a convenient working height.

Those first-gen Insights work just fine with the IMA battery failed, I think you can even run the vehicle reliably with the IMA pack completely out of the vehicle. That's a 60+ lb. weight reduction on a car that only weighs 1800 to start with, significant.

G1 Insight also use a timing chain instead of a belt, so you can have some confidence that even in the face of poor maintenance, at least the valves haven't met the cylinders. If I didn't already have a car payment to meet, I'd be in the market for a G1.

[bannie]

I sure do like the simple and reliable design of the Farmall engines!

If only there was a way to incorporate them into a normal street legal vehicle with an efficient transmission!

In the meantime, I'm still pretty interested in designing and building my own reverse trike design though. I'll have to find out what might be the best engine / transmission combination to use for it... I'm a fan of Honda motorcycles, but something modern and fuel injected might be the most efficient option. I like the idea of a lightweight, efficient, fun, and all-weather motorcycle / trike designed and built by myself.

For a daily driver all year round, I'll probably go with a used Honda Insight if I can find one when my Camry finally does die, but it's now at 280,000 and still going strong with great compression in every cylinder and no other problems (aside from little interior issues, rust, and other old-car issues).

Does anybody have any suggestions on motorcycle recommendations?