Suggestions for good beater with heater / eco car...
 

Cliff's notes:
I am looking for suggestions on best vehicle to target for a new daily driver to cut fuel economy, ecomod, etc.

Relevant info:
--Performance enthusiast that happens to want to be fuel efficient as well.
--Family man with 4 kids. Car does not need to carry the entire family, but ability to carry kids is a plus.
--Prefer manual trans (see enthusiast) but could make do with auto.
--Minimal budget, (under 1K) but I am a true wrench, so I can find them broken, fix and modify. Prius, Insight, etc are too much.

Looking for opinions...

Daily driver is 97 Ram 1/2 2wd 5 speed. I bought a SGII through EM. With a reliable meter telling me, I am know downtrodden with the MPG from this truck. (15) Doing quick math, I spend roughly $1,800 a year in fuel with this truck on daily driver / primary mode of transportation duty.

I am considering a "beater with a heater" car as a means to use less fuel, and reduce fuel bill.

I admit I lean more towards a performance enthusiast, then ecomodder, but I do drive economically, but the SG pretty much tells the story.

I figure a car that doubles the existing MPG to 30 would cut fuel cost in 1/2 to roughly 1000.00 a year in fuel costs (will need the truck to be a truck from time to time). A car that I could ecomod to, say 45 MPG, would be even better, but I am struggling with the math at the moment (600 a year?).

I flip cars on the side, so finding the right type of car that I can fix and modify is relatively easy. I frequently find 500.00 beaters with heaters that would be an ok start but need brakes, struts, etc. I would like you input on the best starter platform, so I can work on tripling my existing MPG.

Is there a particular platform (IE 92-95 Toyota Corolla) that will serve me to get to and from work, with much better MPG, that will carry kids, and not drive me insane with boredom?

Tons of them are beginning to be available but got to choose that rare gem. Honda Accords & Civics, Toyota Camrys & Corollas are very reliable and economical to run. The older ones are heavily high mileage because of their loyal driver life spans. Find that grandmother from Pasadena, who drove a stick & changed the oil consistently & changed the timing belts, did not ride the clutch, etc....

Any VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat with tdi engine :thumbup:

That is general idea.
How about Nissan Sentra? An SE-R with 5 speed would probably be a decent start...
I dunno bout you, but the cheapest TDI in my area is WAY out of my budget.

how much is your budget?

400-700 bucks.
this allows me to put 300-600 into it to get it up to best MPG possible, (tune up, needed maintainence like brakes, etc) and some ecomodder mods.

Here is a sample of what I was thinking: Kansas City Craigslist

1991 Nissan Sentra XE 375 - $375 (Shawnee, Kansas)

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Engine runs great, car is in good shape, trans needs some work, it lost almost all power in reverse, but not all.
Everything works great other than that transmission problem.
The heat is super hot for a old car.

my only real criteria is fuel injected with a stick. Also a fan of hatchbacks and wagons for practical reasons though a sedan probably has better aero. I'm a performance enthusiast too, only I measure performance in MPG.

Going to fueleconomy (dot) gov and checking a 1991 Sentra gives the following (using the new method that is lower than the old rating method) 1.6 Auto 23 C / 33 H, 1.6 Manual 25 / 35. The 2.0 Auto 20 / 27, 2.0 Manual 21 / 29.

I personally find it easy to drive in such a fashion with a manual to easily beat the EPA numbers. :D Not so easy to make a big improvement on the automatic numbers for me. I don't like kicking an automatic into neutral to coast and then back into drive at near highway speeds.

Good luck in your search.