In the market (600+ miles/week, looking to trade pickup for killer MPG)
 

What's up ladies and gents,thanks for having me. I am currently looking for a fuel efficient ride and I stumbled across this site that looks to be loaded with great info. I currently have a 2000 silverado with 275,000 miles turning 35's. I just started driving 600+ miles a week only averaging at best 14mpg:(. I was looking to pick up a prius but I'm unsure (I'm 6'1" 270lbs) what to look for or even if its my best bet, my main goal is to get some killer mpg's and reliability. There's alot of info on this site and I'm gonna get after it. Thanks again Jon:thumbup:

Welcome to EM.

Luckily we had a discussion on the best cheap cars to buy based on reliability, fuel economy, etc.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...art-27582.html

This Forum is a gold mine, you just gotta find the gold:cool:

thanks,I will check that out

Looking for new or used? Budget?

Welcome to the site.

I'm looking to spend 15k tops Mr.Metro

That's a healthy budget. Good for finding either a Prius, a VW diesel or a cherry used 1st generation Insight (the mileage champion, with a wad of cash left over).

The insight's are impressive, kinda funky but impressive. I have 3 kids I'm running around constantly with and think the insight might be to small.

Well being that you're a fair bit taller than me (I'm 5'9"), I'm pretty sure the Yaris is out of the question... but I will say that I traded a 16MPG pickup for my 40MPG car and have made my car payments (and saved money on top of that) with the gas I wasn't putting into my truck.

You don't necessarily need something that gets into the 40MPG range to make up for the cost of a newer vehicle. Newer Insights aren't bad, nor are the various Prii, but I would respectfully disagree with Metro about the VW's. Two different friends, two different sets of shop bills. Replacement parts are also not cheap.

You might also look at the Honda Fit. Reasonably small car with plenty of room inside. Anything with a manual transmission has the potential for more MPG, but they are hard to find.

If you want to get REALLY serious after you get a newer car, a fuel economy gauge will save you even more.

Good luck!

~Matt

14 MPG is about 25 cents a mile.That's $600 a month out the tailpipe. If you just tripled the gas mileage it would still pay for everything.
I'm a little over 6 feet and just under 210.
For reliability and no where near your budget an Echo would get you close to 40MPG and cost nothing near your budget. Yaris is the newer generation of the Echo.
Get out of the trap of super expensive transportation. Illinois is rough on older cars, you might consider looking further south for a good example.
The Echo has no timing belt (read expensive to replace). It ain't there to break. They are super reliable cars, and most maintenance is simple and inexpensive.

regards
Mech

Toyota echo

Here is one near Chicago, not sure how close that is to your location. Decent price and not bad miles. At 30k a year for your commute, if you take care of it it should go past 200k easy. Just make sure it was not abused(poorly maintained). 1/5th of your budget.

regards
Mech