First eco car.

[Cynicz]

Alright guys so I recently just got a 08 Silverado, mind you gas prices are cheaper than they have been in a while, it's still costly to drive a truck. I've been lurking the forum here for about a week or two and finally made an account.
So I drive roughly 100 miles each way Monday through Friday for work, then probably an extra 30 or so a day once I get to the shop and such.
So let's say I drive roughly 250 miles about 50 of which being city driving the rest being Highway.

I've noticed civics and insights are the 2 most popular cars due to Hondas being cheap and lasting ages but what else is in the under 3k$ range (not counting mods) that is going to last year's to come, be cheap and reliable, and have good gearing for Highway usage. I was looking at like a 2000-2003 Toyota celica but I don't know much about their gearing and how reliable they are in excess of 300k miles.
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. I also plan on modding the aerodynamics of the vehicle to reduce drag. I just want to see opinions on the life expectancy and cost factor for repairs on celicas. I like the sportier looking coupes.

[dirtydave]

4cyl 5speed FTW!

[Cynicz]

That's what I was thinking on the celica was 1.8l 5 speed. But are these cars generally a good eco modding friendly car? Will they last a long time and be cheap to work on?

[dirtydave]

I really don't know honestly... check celica owners forums.
You can also look at the Garage at the top and look at what other Celica's here got.
Also check Fuelly.com for mileage logs.

Seems like about 36MPG is the high and 16MPG is the low on fuelly.com
the low here is 21MPG and the high is 53MPG.

not bad!

[Cynicz]

Just checked the garage. Not too bad. I was hoping for my future goals be keep the car for 5+ years and achieve 60ish mpg. It doesn't have to be a celica that's just what I had in mind since it looks semi decent and small engine.

[dirtydave]

I do like the Celica's. They look nice. I bet they get poor mileage from high gearing. Nothing a little pulse and glide cant fix

[redpoint5]

Good idea getting a smaller car for your commute. You will easily save more in fuel to pay for the extra vehicle, even at low fuel prices.

I'd move closer to work if it's a place you see staying at long term. 200 miles each day is a lot of extra time spent commuting. Heck, my wife is moving because school is just 15 miles away, but Portland traffic will make the commute 1 hour each way. She can't give up 2 hours each day and study medicine.

[Cynicz]

Originally Posted by dirtydave

I do like the Celica's. They look nice. I bet they get poor mileage from high gearing. Nothing a little pulse and glide cant fix

Could I go about changing the gearing to increase mileage? How much do gears typically cost and how hard is It to drop and crack open the transmission?

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Good idea getting a smaller car for your commute. You will easily save more in fuel to pay for the extra vehicle, even at low fuel prices.

I'd move closer to work if it's a place you see staying at long term. 200 miles each day is a lot of extra time spent commuting. Heck, my wife is moving because school is just 15 miles away, but Portland traffic will make the commute 1 hour each way. She can't give up 2 hours each day and study medicine.

My job I travel Alot I travel the whole us and Canada to clean power plant boilers and oil refineries so it's not a every Monday through Friday commute, only when I'm not on the road. But summer is our slow time so I'm home quite a bit then. Right now I live with my parents so if I moved closer to work I'd be spending more money I'm only 22 at the moment but I feel very content with how I'm doing in life. I have my toys and such (crotch rocket, four wheelers, etc) but If I can save money on gas in the long run that's even more savings to invest in toys (:

say I'm home 3 months a year that's 60 work days. That equates to 15k miles. My truck sees roughly 20-22 so give it the benefit of the doubt and say at 22mpg that's 681 gallons. At the avg price around me 1.90$ that's 1300$ a year in gas so if I get a car that gets 44mpg that'll save me 650$ a year if I can hit my 60mpg goal that'll be like 800$ a year savings

[iveyjh]

CRX Hf or Geo Metro XFI, if you can find one, Metro is easier to mod and they both will run forever.

[roosterk0031]

Check out the garage, pick a car that someone is already making your goal and see what there doing to make it. Sure is a lot of Civic VX's in the top.

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