RWD cars with good MPG? (Looking for a highway commuter)
 

I may be moving back to the country. I would have 80-100 mile round trip. Last car I had for this was a 1996 SC1 Saturn the averaged 40MPGs and I got 100k miles out of it before I moved closer to work. I now have an NB Miata that is mint and won't be driving it but would love to get another RWD car to mod to get the MPGs.
Thanks,
Grinder/Chris

What's the reason for wanting RWD?
FWD is normally a more efficient drive train.

Suzuki Cappuccino is my suggestion if it must be RWD :)

The Smart Fortwo
https://s.aolcdn.com/dims-global/dim...MC011B0101.jpg
The Humbug from Hambach (France).

The Renault Twingo III
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...left_front.jpgSeats 4 and has RWD.

Generally front engined RWD cars are less efficient than FWD or rear engined cars because of the higher weight. Cross mounted engines deliver power in the direction it is needed which is also helpful.

Having the engine weight over the wheels is good too.
I had to help push my neighbor's Mercedes back into his garage when he went out into the snow and ice, discovered it was too slippery to drive safely but couldn't get it back in without my help.
Then I went out with my Insight, had to; it cleared the same grade the Mercedes couldn't handle without a struggle.
It did not please him much I fear.

Does it have to have any real utilitarian purpose? Like seating 4 and or having lots of cargo space?

If not...buy a beater Miata and rag on it all you want. You're kinda stuck with a sports car anyway if you're looking for RWD. Or an old boat from the 80s or earlier. There were some halfass sports cars from the 90s that might give you more seating and or cargo space.

How hard-core are you willing to modify it? You could always stuff a diesel engine in to a C4 corvette...

Does it have to be relatively new? Give us some more "wants" beyond just RWD.

Over 30 MPG EPA ratings and a manual transmission:
Toyota Starlet
Diesel Chevette
Mercedes-Benz 190D

It will be just a commuter/beater so a Miata may work. Just wanted to see what else is out there. For the comments about FWDs I've been there and know why it's more efficient. My route to work has many options. Interstate/highway 50/50 or highway 100%. With the Miata or something sporty I can cut a 10-15 miles off by taking the highway and not interstate. With the Saturn and careful driving I got 40 average on any route I took all year round.

The only "disadvantage" to the Miata is that while you can get in the neighborhood of 35-40 mpg in highway cruising (at least I can), when you take the winding back roads instead your mpg will likely drop. You might have a lot more fun, though :-)

There will be few speed scrubbing curve��

Fiero or MR2 will give you RWD and transverse in a mid-engine.

Nissan 240SX and Z-cars, Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro/derivatives and Corvettes, Mazda RX7 or RX8 (and the aforementioned Miata) for traditional longitudinal...

Old VW bug and most Porsches for rear-engines.

You'll want 4 cylinders for decent gas mileage, which limits which models work. Newer will mean less maintenance, usually.

That's a tough spot to be in. Miatas are geared too frenetically for great MPG, but for the price and driving joy, might still be your best bet. A Nissan 240 is a real toughie to find for a price which isn't insane for what you get - and ditto a Toyota AE86. Toyobarus are coming down in price pretty fast though, and despite needing (I think) premium fuel, older BMWs weren't bad on fuel for what you got in return. A while back I had a thing for Alfa Spiders...but alas, I don't think any of these are really gonna be sure bets for 30+mpg. The MR2 suggestion is a cool one, though.

You might check to see what you can snag grey market. We're getting into the early 90s for cool stuff that's legal, about when the Japanese were getting really interesting.

Oh, wait a minute...how about a Hyundai Genesis? Not entirely refined, but might check enough boxes for you to consider...

I guess I should mention, I don't want to spend more than $3k. It will see all year round Ohio commuting and I'm guessing 25k mile a year. I like the mr2 and 240, not sure about a fiero...whatever I get, it will die in my hands!

You might find others, my top pick would be a caprice with a super-low gear ratio and manual trans. Or you could go with a crown Vic with the same idea.

Or you could have 10x more options and get fwd.

You won't like any 240sx you find for $3k. Drifters have eaten those cars up.

That's the exact price point I was shopping for, and there's not much out there. A beater Miata can be done with ease, and I think that's your only choice, although I'm not up on the Mister Two market. I'm not the world's biggest FWD fan, but as a compromise I do have to agree it's something you should be open to. I don't know about up there in saltland, but down here I was finding Saabs, a stick V6 Mazda6 wagon, etc. If I could have gotten away with the lack of space, I think I'd have done Miata myself, but my Civic 2-dr is about as small as I can get away with. BMW could be a dark horse here, as I was finding the occasional E46 3-series within that budget, but I can't promise you won't be writing lots of checks afterwards. Fuel economy isn't quite there either, although I gather with careful driving you won't be wide of the mark if you miss it at all.

One side note: I've heard Subarus can be "tricked" into running straight RWD. I never chased that rumor down, but if it's true, I see Subarus everywhere, and for cheap. And more frequently with stick than almost any other car I can think of.

The RWD 1970 Subaru 360 gets about 50mpg at 70ish MPH,
but you gotta run it right on the floorboards.

At more reasonable speeds it will turn in Mid 60's MPGs

You can find them for free if your willing to do a restoration.

Good Luck

I don’t know why nobody has mentioned the Ford Mustang... I’m talking specifically about the 79-93 generation or the “Fox body”... those were available with a 2.3 liter engine and manual trans... I’m sure the EPA figure isn’t great but Rangers with that trans can get 30s... subtract a few hundred pounds and a little off the CdA and I think it could be done easy

Your just making it hard for yourself looking at RWDs, you've already got a fun rear driver for the weekends, why not just get a cheap comfortable hatchback with cruise control for the commute?
On the highway FWD vs RWD is no different and on a long drive home driver comfort is highest priory more than handling.

I've always wondered what this could do if properly hypermiled. It was on my list for consideration 8 years ago when I bought my TSX.

https://latestautocar.com/wp-content...oor-Latest.jpg

I think that's a bit out of his price range. ;)

Like really, really high maintenance costs?

Gotcha covered :)

It sounds like working around a Subaru to have it operating as RWD-only is the most cost-effective option for you.

S10 or Ranger if 30 mpg is good enough

Could probably extend that to any 2wd, 4cyl/manual compact pickup... I don’t see why 30 wouldn’t be doable with a Frontier or Tacoma...

A 1995-2002 3.8 5 speed Camaro would check all your boxes.

Original epa highway was 31mpg, you can beat that pretty easy.

Its aerodynamics seem fairly good for its days, plus it wasn't quite an oversized pig compared to the 5th-gen Camaro.

I drove my 06 GMC Canyon 10,708.4 miles in 2017, and burned 301.87 gallons, for 35.5 MPG. Most driving was speed limit to 5 MPH over.

Wishful thinking: If I could get the engine and manual transmission from the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado in an older Ford Ranger with aeromods, I could get that to about 40 MPG.

Have you tried a used car site like autotrader? You can punch in your location, drive preference, and max price you'll pay. You can even add the MPG range you want; that should get the 27 bazillion pickup trucks out of the way! I just did it for my area and found some really interesting choices.

Well, even though it would be the simplest approach to simply pick a compact truck and call it a day, maybe the OP would rather want an actual car, and nowadays there is a lack of affordable RWD family cars with a more reasonable operating and maintenance cost.

BTW what about an early Mazda MPV?

Are Starions cheap now?

Aren't them mostly unobtainium by now?

I see some options I hadn't thought of, keep this going!

Tatra T87
Porsche 356
Tucker
Scarab
Tata Nano
Fuji Cabin
Peel P50
Polaris Slingshot
California Commuter
Bajaj

I have no idea. I don't keep up on cars of that era very well. I'm either about pre-smog cars, or '96-up ones with OBDII...the stuff in between kinda falls flat for me but as I hear more about this stuff by osmosis, I gather it's starting to become more and more popular. I'd never in a million years have thought 80s anything would get popular again.

Even though the auto industry was just recovering from the oil shocks, and taking its first steps in some technologies that are now widespread, at least there were still some real station-wagons by then...

True enough. Wagons basically made their last stand in the 80s...as cool as some automotive nerds find Audi or Mercedes wagons these days, they were a bodystyle in decline even then.

I guess I have a bit of an aesthetic bias...the 80s didn't turn out cars, or fashion in general, which I respond positively to. Even musically I can at best say I'm very dichotomous or digital: I love it or I hate it, with no room in between.

But it's also that transition, speaking strictly about cars, after our government went heavily after both emissions and fuel economy. It brought forth a lot of tech with no standards, a Wild West of tech. There's no OBDII consensus, no commonality to the ways in which auto tech was pushed to innovate. There's essentially a dead zone of zombie cars which continue to run for which I couldn't ever justify ownership.

The greatest car of the 80s is a Regal Grand National especially than 86 or 87 or really especially the 87 GNX. I rather have a 87 GNX than a 87 Ferrari 328.

RWD cars with good MPG ==> The greatest car[s] of the 80s

???

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=35

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=...307529.jpg&f=1
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=206491

40mpg enough? Look for the $500 barn find and resto-mod it.

At least some of those oldtimers were still easy enough to fix by oneself at the shade of a tree.

Right wheel drive, standard, under 3k? Best luck! 35 for sale within 200 miles of Cleveland.

https://m.autotrader.com/cars-for-sa...cleStyleCodes=

Personally, I don't recommend the smallest engine. Especially in large vehicles, they have to work extremely hard. Think little ecoboost in an F150. Yes, idling in traffic, and puttering around is fine, but people who use them see almost no benefit in fuel, as anecdotal as that is.

I found great success with the V6 in 2011-2016 Mustang, but it took work as well. My 2005 3 cylinder Insight sees 50+ all year, any condition, as I thrash it about. Personally, I would get a truck, and modify it to high heaven, if I was going with your requirements.