I'm In the market...
 

Well its been about 50k miles since I purchased my 98 Ford Escort. Its been great and I got my $400 out of it. But now the tranny has given up. So I am in the market for a new daily driver.

From the looks of the Top MPG list the Geo Metro sounds like a great vehicle. Good on fuel and semi roomy. I was looking at the smart fourtwo but am turned off by the price.

What other cars are out there that could net me 40mpg with the right driving habits? I do mostly highway driving with some mixed city every now an then.

I would like a small manual diesel car, like a early 90's rabbit or jetta. Preferably turbo. Or another gasoline car. Help me ecomodder. What are good options?

Why not throw a salvage yard tranny in the car? It would be your cheapest option.

I thought about it a few times now. I actually like the car. Coming from a Chevy guy lol. But the suspension is shot, power steering pump is leaking, as well as the radiator and engine. It looses about 1.5 qts of oil every 2500 miles. Also needs another clutch master cyl. It was my beater for a long time. But getting 32mpg is too awesome. I love having my fast cars and my $ saving commuter. I just bought a ScanGauge 2 to try and up the MPG. Gah.

Isn't changing all those bits at once less work than just changing the tranny? (exl the suspension)

If you get a Metro, get the 95+ 2-door hatchback with the 3-cylinder 5-speed. This is the ideal combination. the 89-94 Metro's aren't as comfortable, spacious or safe. If you change the cam for an XFi cam or a 3Tech XFi regrind (actually better design than the XFi cam) and upgrade to a XFi or 95+ 4-cylinder 5-speed trans you'll really improve your mileage (I've heard 5+ MPG for each). Look at my fuel log and you'll see that I'm averaging almost 47 MPG and even delivering pizza (somewhat driving hard) I still get 44.8 MPG. They're also very easy/cheap to work on and the insurance would be less than your current Escort.

Being a front wheel drive car its a real PIA to change a tranny. The oil leaks call for the engine to be removed (front main, rear main, oil pan, valve cover and I believe the oil filter adapter is leaking as well). With 155k miles on the clock, I would like to fully rebuild it. Everything just comes out being too much work and too much money IMO. Another could be had for just under $1500. Repairs total more than that

honestabe, Thanks for the info. I have been really digging the metro because of the cams and other mods I have read about for their engines. Thank you for the info. Gives me a few hints to narrow my search. :)

Older 5-speed Hyundai Elantras are quite reliable, and good on gas. There are also Focuses, Cavaliers, Sentras, and Neons that will get excellent fuel economy with a 5-speed stick shift.

Just make sure whatever you get is ODBII.

I Have a Matrix to over 50 MPG, I got 40-42 with minimal mods.

What's your budget? How new or how old does the car have to be? What kind of performance can you live with? Or do you prefer?

Lots of questions to answer before options start to show themselves.

A CRX HF would be a nice choice; 40+ generally and 50+ on the freeway is easy to do. They're old and many have been beaten to death or riced way out by owners along the way, though, and they're not exactly built to modern safety standards.

On the other extreme, the new Chevy Cruze Eco can pull 40s reasonably well, especially on the freeway.

-soD