Hi from down under!

[Madact]

Greetings all!

As per the title, I hail from Australia. Currently driving a 90s Toyota Camry wagon that gets about 9 litres to the 100 (around 26 mpg to you USA folk) on the open road, so no great shakes.

Looked into acquiring a Honda Insight ZE1 recently (just moved further from work, increasing my commute from 6km to about 40) but apparently the red tape in this country won't let me have one unless it goes through a many 10s of thousand dollars certification proceedure (a once off for the model) and I can convince a garage to become an official 'compliancer' for them as well, after which anyone would be able to import them for a small compliancing cost (eg. change the headlight bulbs and wiper blades and add an 'unleaded fuel only' sticker, which seems to be it for most cars that have gone through this process). So... nope.

Plan B: I happen to own a Subaru Fiori (aka 700 / Rex / Sherpa) which has some potential, especially contemplating a chop top, laid back windshield and some serious aero improvements at the rear (and possibly some bigger wider tyres - it's been off the road a while for a minor prang in a situation where it REALLY shouldn't have lost grip). The thing has a 700cc engine, weighs next to nothing, and already (last driven a few years back) gets in the ballpark 5l to the 100 (45-ish mpg) if memory serves correctly. Not sure about taking on another project at the moment, but I'm curious how far it could go..

Other relevant interests include:
HPV and hybrid (of the human power - electric sort) design & construction
CFD / FEA analysis
Model aircraft
Computer programmer (by profession)

[backpacker3]

I love the subaru Sherpas, those little things are pretty neat. And a lot of folks on here love the metro and the two of them have similar body styles so you might find some good inspiration around here..

[Abhishikha]

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii,
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[California98Civic]

Welcome to both of you, Maddact and Abhishikha.

A Subaru Fiori? Like this one?



There would be a lot of room for aero improvement on it for your 40km commute. A chop top would be cool looking, I'd bet, but it's really pretty expensive I hear. You could start with the low hanging fruit, like wheel well skirts on the rear wheels, and airdam, pumped up tires, and slowing down to speedlimits or just under when safe. The big gains are always to be had, it seems, in extending the back with a "boat tail." That's a big job, but not as big as chopping and this particular car, with that big square back, would likely benefit a lot.

[dirtydave]

That,s a nice little car! I would love to have one in the US!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

If you could avoid lowering its top, it might be better. Getting some higher mileage is good, but sometimes it's not really worth to compromise so much the comfort.