Newbie to the site.

[RotaryKing]

Hi,

I have a 2004 Mazda RX-8 and while its not very economical at all, I'm in the market to buy a fuel economical car for a commute and am mostly going to be using this site for research and questions regarding the modifications made to your cars. I am going to be commuting from CT to NY so my RX-8 isn't the best for it. My worst fuel economy was 13.2mpgs and the best so far was over 16mpgs but not by much. I have quite a few mods but fuel economy wasn't on my list of needs but unfortunately, things change and not necessarily to our liking. I'm currently in the market for a used cheap 4-cyl compact and have been looking at Proteges and Civics mostly with a manual transmission. I prefer something fun to drive and don't mind sacrificing a few mpgs for a bit of fun. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Daox]

If I were looking for fun and good mileage I might wait for the 2012 Sonic to come out. Its a smaller car (~2500 lbs), but they're going to put the Cruze's 1.4L 140hp turbocharged engine in it which should make it a bit more fun than your average small car.

[G. Man]

Welcome, I'm also a newbie. 16 mpg! ouch. I'm partial to Honda Civics. I drive an old one, with high miles on the engine, and pull 50+ mpg with no effort. Good luck!

[RotaryKing]

I would love to buy new but would rather not spend that much money on the upcoming Sonic or Fiesta ST. If I can spend less than $7000 on something that I am not really going to do much to then all the better. I am not too worried about the winter because a good set of snow tires will do just fine.

[euromodder]

Welcome to ecomodder.com .

Originally Posted by RotaryKing

I have a 2004 Mazda RX-8 and while its not very economical at all ... My worst fuel economy was 13.2mpgs and the best so far was over 16mpgs but not by much.

Ouch !
We've got members with trucks getting twice that mileage, and guys doing heavy hauling at those numbers.

I'm in the market to buy a fuel economical car

Manual Civics would be good, especially the more fuel efficient versions.
At that price, you could start looking for a 1gen Honda Insight as well.

I prefer something fun to drive and don't mind sacrificing a few mpgs for a bit of fun.

If you see hypermiling as a game, it can be fun as well, and it becomes rather addictive

[RotaryKing]

Ha, yes, I see it as a game the only problem is that my current car isn't going to allow you to win that game. I can't help driving it the way I do. I was honestly looking at the first generation Insights but I don't know enough about them so I'm going to look into it. My main qualms about it are the cost of the batteries if they need to be replaced and how much its going to cost to get it serviced. I'm quite handy with tools so I can fix most maintenance issues when it comes to ICE cars. Hybrids, not so much. I'm really looking into some early 2000 model year Civics and Proteges. The only problem is finding one that doesn't have a fart can and isn't beat up.

[zx2wannabeMach1]

Damn, what in the world did you do to your rx8? If you're not TT'd you need to go trade that thing in right now. I've got a 4.30 geared Mach that gets 19 consistently around town.

[RotaryKing]

Rev it 9K every time just for fun to see how bad it can go. Its a rotary so fuel economy isn't its top priority and a 1.3L making over 230hp, fuel efficiency isn't its forte. Great for track though.

[cleanspeed1]

Originally Posted by zx2wannabeMach1

Damn, what in the world did you do to your rx8? If you're not TT'd you need to go trade that thing in right now. I've got a 4.30 geared Mach that gets 19 consistently around town.

Rotaries are not the nicest on fuel by nature, and although the Renesis was meant to address a lot of the reliability and fuel comsumption issues, they are not as good on the gas as a reciprocating engine. You still have to spin them to make power.

[zx2wannabeMach1]

Originally Posted by RotaryKing

Rev it 9K every time just for fun to see how bad it can go. Its a rotary so fuel economy isn't its top priority and a 1.3L making over 230hp, fuel efficiency isn't its forte. Great for track though.

Yeah I bet.