Which used car to buy?
 

Aloha all -

Happy to be joining the group. In Honolulu, gas is obscenely expensive and most driving is urban. It's time to shop for another car, and I'd love to hear everyone's favorites. Two doors and manual transmission are a given. Golf? TDIs are VERY rare here. CRX? Other Honda? Geo? Toyota?

Hoping to hear some discussion, thanks very much in advance for reading.

AlohaTech

Go with the red one. I know, the cops notice them more, but it's worth it.

Two doors and a manual transmission? City driving, stop and go you say? Looks like your only choices are an F-350 with a V-10 or a first generation Honda Insight. Choose carefully.

Kirk

Thanks again
 

Frank and Kirk -

Enjoyed your responses. Clearly I'm in the wrong forum, and it's good to know right away. I'll keep looking.

Have a great weekend -
AlohaTech

how much driving do you do? a CRX is a good option. So are geo metros (or their equivalents).

Toyota corolla and Echo have good MPG ratings and reliability.

That makes you a candidate for a hybrid, even though few of them come with a manual.

The fairly new Honda CR-Z would fit the bill - despite being a hybrid.

The 1st gen. Honda Insight also had a version with a manual gearbox.


Though with some more effort, conventional small, lightweight and small displacement cars can return equally good FE results.

The fuel efficient versions of the Geo/Metro and CRX,Civic with lean burn are nearly legendary.

You are on an island so how much driving can you really do? but with the salt spray I would assume that cars that are 20 years old are no longer around.
An island with high gas prices and a lot of sun is perfect for an electric vehicle and solar panels, that is if you plan to stay there.
You said nothing about your budget, your needs, or what is commonly for sale around you other then that people don't sell TDI's there and that is good, importing all of the parts that they need for upkeep would cost a bundle.

It's tough to beat a used Prius for urban efficiency and overall reliability. Most non- hybrids suffer a big mpg hit in city driving. Just keep in mind that short trips hurt mpg in any vehicle.