Newbie Here Looking for Recommendations on Commuter
 

Hey guys I currently drive a 2012 Kia Sorento GDI round trip is 125 miles.

I am looking to get a great commuter vehicle as my other vehicle is a 2002 Audi 2.7T. So not that great either :)

Budget is 5k or less.

So someone on here may be able to point me to hidden gems that still get great gas mileage. I would at first not want to change my driving habits or install any mods to achieve(maybe if some mods are simple I might). I would like to get combined total of at least 40mpg. I know about the golf's and the civic hx,cx,vx lineup. These are hard vehicles to find. Maybe there is a vehicle I am not familiar with from say mazda, nissan or others.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the site.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are going to have a hard time hitting 40 mpg in any vehicle (in your price range) if you're unwilling to change your driving habbits (assuming they're "normal"). If you beat the EPA rating with current driving techniques chances are you will with the new car too. If you get below EPA, ditto with the new car.

Cars in your price range with good mileage would be a Civic, Corolla, Echo, or Saturn. Nissan and Mazda aren't really known for their good gas mileage. Use fueleconomy.gov to find the EPA ratings for different vehicles.

You dont need to do much to drive better. I drive the same as anyone else on the road but when i need to stop i put the car in neutral and coast. The more time you coast the better fuel economy. Im almost at 38mpg with my stock civic and if i wanted to i could get over 40MPG but i dont like holding up people behind me.

I paid only 2k more for 09 cobalt xfe with hail dents. Last 2 tanks 44 mpg, no special driving, 50-55 mph, and coast into corners. 50 mph will get 50 mpg once warm. Jumped on freeway yesterday for 25 miles at 70 and was still in the 40's.

http://www.garysautoia.com/images/Cars/154345.htm

Find the local salvage yard websites and watch for something like this. Mine has AC but this one fits your price.

I think Daox asks a really good question to help you make sure your expectations are realistic: What mileage are you currently getting from your existing vehicles & what are their EPA ratings?

^^^ +1.
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/...erisbetter.jpg

What about a VW TDI?

If you can find a VW TDI for under $5k its gonna have about a million miles on it or major problems, at least around here.

Are you ok with a manual transmission? Most get better real life fuel mileage than automatics.

With a round trip of 125 miles, and if you are getting 22 mpg average in the Sorento and commuting 5 days a week, four weeks per month, you are using over 113 gallons of gas. Changing to a vehicle that gets 30 mpg {no driving habits were changed, after all} you are still using over 83 gallons of gas. At $3.00 per gallon, you went from roughly $340 per month to commute to about $250 per month.

Are you sure no adequate housing exists between where you live and where you work? If you were closer to work by half, you'd only spend $170 per month for fuel for commuting without changing your vehicle or habits. You also save money on regular maintenance, you save by buying tires less frequently and your insurance premium should go down {if the insurance company knows how far you commute}. All that money saved could go towards increased housing expenses if needed. A side benefit is the extra free time in your day to do something besides commute.