First eco car.

[cowmeat]

Might wanna consider a TDI for that long of a commute. You're gonna kill whatever you end up driving those miles, but TDIs do tend to last a long while and give good mpg

98 volkswagon Jetta TDI 40+mpg

You didn't say what part of Illinois, but if you're in southern Illinois here's the ugliest Metro I may have ever seen.

1999 Chevrolet Metro

And a more normal one with a new motor

http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/cto/4860563320.html

[Cynicz]

I considered the tdi but the only ones in my price range are like 90s and I can't stand the boxy body style. I saw that flame metro (yes I'm southern illinois and work out of St louis) I actually considered it since I have a sander and my best friends uncle owns a body shop so I can paint the car (cheap and quickly) for the price of paint. But the rust turned me off.

[cowmeat]

I went to SIU in Carbondale, and lived in Marion and Sesser before moving to Florida, and my daughter was born in DuQuoin.
I was a cable lineman for a while and worked out of Florrisant Mo. I kind of miss the area, other than winter!

Good luck in the search!

[War_Wagon]

How about a Saturn? I am a Honda fan, and you can't go wrong with a CX or other base model Civic, but Saturns, especially single cam models with a 5 speed, seem to sell a lot cheaper and rust isn't as much of a concern. Plus you can get them in a wagon which may be helpful if you need to carry anything to work with you. A late '90s SW1 with a stick would be a good choice IMO.

[Cynicz]

Just got offered a 139k mile, 2000 Celica gts for 2500$ in excellent condition. I know gts isn't preferred but correct me if I'm wrong but since it's dual cam and variable valve timing can't you map the ecu to only use 1 cam, cut back on rpm range, and adjust the valve timing? It's also the 6spd manual 1.8L
Online specs say typically 24city 31highway, i figured a 30highway was a good place to start. Do some aero mods to start, while practicing my driving skills. Then later rebuild transmission for taller gearing and map ecu

[Xist]

I wish that someone had responded by now, but I do not think that you can deactivate cams.

[JRMichler]

Originally Posted by Cynicz

This car will be a purely eco mod project car. I'll be stripping everything I don't need in the car. Things I plan on removing is all the trim pieces carpet and stuff in the trunk area, rear panels, rear seats, all speakers except driver side door speaker. All carpeting in front and rear floor boards etc.

If you rip all that stuff out, driving it will sound like rolling down the road inside a bass drum. After a few hours listening to the never-ending roar, most people would park the car and go back to the FSP. Depends, of course, on your tolerance for noise on the road.

[dirtydave]

Yeah I gutted my KIA when I first got it and cleaned it all out. It didn't last long lol

[Cynicz]

Not too worried about the sound. I have a 08 Silverado that I drove for 3 days completely gutted (was getting ready to install a system) and yea it was loud but it didn't bother me and it helped me stay awake during the 2 hour drive to work at 5:45am lol

I decided to turn down that celica, I'll look for a civic vx

[Baltothewolf]

With that kind of a commute, a G1 insight sounds perfect for you. Even driving it with no care to mpg, as long as you have the appropriate tires/other underbelly panels I'm sure you would get 55+mpg. You can get a decent one with little or no problems for 3k, and a perfect one for 4k. They are dirt cheap right now due to gas prices.

[Edit]: I have been driving my insight with little to no care to MPG, at 70-75mph on the freeway and 3k RPM shifts in the city, and I am at 64.6 this tank. I don't have any under engine panels or front wheel strakes. I'm fairly sure I would be at or above 70 if I had those.

If you went from 22 mpg in your truck, to 60 in the insight, over 15000 miles, you would save 1,000$ in gas. BUT there is more. Do the spark plugs to the truck last 105,000 miles? Do the distributor/wires last forever? I have yet to see an insight that was taken care of have failed coils, and the spark plugs, EGR plate and valve adjustment only needs to be done once every 105,000 miles. Also, how much is a set of tires for your truck? A set of Re92's (don't you dare get anything else on the insight, instant 5-10mpg drop) are about 400$ installed, although if you grab them while on sale, they can be had for as little as 65$ a tire.

However, the insight does have a down side, a replacement IMA battery costs 1800$. If you properly take care of it (via grid charger) they will easily last 10 years, but the gas savings alone in 10 years will pay for it 5x over.