What is the best MPG and longest lasting and cheapest to keep car??

[freebeard]

hackaday.com/2017/09/05/re-engineering-the-ford-model-a-engine/

Re-Engineering the Model A Engine is [Terry Burtz]’s project to take the Ford Model A engine from the 1920s and re-engineer it with the benefit of some upgrades to increase its longevity and reliability. The new engine would look identical to the original unit, but would feature modern metallurgy, a re-engineered crankshaft with up-to-date bearings, a pressurised lubrication system, and some cooling system modifications.

The web site has a fascinating technical description and history of the Model A engine, along with a detailed examination of the proposed upgrades. There is a long list of project updates, but sadly work stalled in 2015 due to difficulties finding an iron foundry that could cast the blocks at an affordable price.

Foundered on the foundry.

Should be revisited in light of metal 3D printing.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Should be revisited in light of metal 3D printing.

Maybe resorting to ceramic compounds would be cool too.

[hayden55]

A friend of my maxxed his odometer out on his 04 (not sure on specific year) toyota corolla. Still on the stock clutch, stock 5 speed, stock motor, no oil inbetween changes, and honestly still drives it like a race car. I'm blown away with how reliable it is. He hasn't done anything but regular maintenance. I'm assuming he is somewhere under 400k miles now.

I would say 90's civic but they are all beat to hell and people wan't them for k swaps now so they are expensive.

Possibly a 2nd gen prius could be the next best. 3rd gen prius was plagued with pcv oil consumption, egr issues, piston ring issues, head gasket issues. They don't seem to make it to 200k on average. All of the toyota v6 & v8's of old LAST FOREVER but they all get pretty bad mpg for a daily.

[Caddylackn]

Don't forget the Toyota straight sixes.

I had an '83 Supra with the DOHC 2.8L. I bought it in '86 with 47k miles on it.
I put 200k miles on it, then gave it away around 2002 (what a fool).

I wish I still had it. It still had the original brakes and clutch on it. It had the typical rust issues that all Japanese cars from the early 80s had.

It would get 25 mpg, which was good for a sports car in the early 80s. It had 150 hp stock, which was the same as a mustang or camaro V8 of the same year.

[freebeard]

I still miss my [45MPG] Dasher diesel. If I wasn't land poor, I could still have stored it.



The money was burning an inflationary hole in my [conjectural] pocket so I put most of it into ammo. A new computer is in the cards (Orange 800 vs Seeed ReTerminal).

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Caddylackn

It would get 25 mpg, which was good for a sports car in the early 80s.

Not sure a sports car like that would be exactly what an austerity-minded car buyer would consider, yet eventually the aerodynamics would render it suitable to some efficiency-oriented project.

[hayden55]

Shoot it honestly wouldn't be bad. The 80s/90s/early 00s Toyotas sacrifice a couple mpgs for basically lasting forever (on most models, some models in particular are still no buys for me). My Sequoia and LS400 I drive now are known to be some of the longest lasting vehicles ever created which makes up for the mpg in my mind.
I think they went too hard core on the mpg and emissions on the new models. The trade in fuel economy seems to be pretty devastating on the longevity of them now.
Outside of rubber parts and rust the old ones will just run. So you will need to lube and clean door locks, keep chassis rust at bay, and will probably need to do a lot of oil seals and hoses as they reach 20 years of age which seems to be the limit for rubber seals and hoses. I would rather deal with a couple oil leaks than cleaning the egr cooler on the prius all the time so the car doesn't blow up.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by hayden55

I think they went too hard core on the mpg and emissions on the new models. The trade in fuel economy seems to be pretty devastating on the longevity of them now.

No wonder in some countries with much more lenient emission regulations, the 5L-E engine is still available to the Hilux.

In my country, the last model to be fitted with that engine was this, phased out in 2005



Meanwhile in other countries, the current generation offers the 5L-E engine, sometimes alongside modern engines such as the 1GD-FTV which is the sole engine for the Hilux here.

[hayden55]

Yup its a great engine that's why they still use it when they can. Don't get me started on emissions diesels over here. lol
They are kinda unreliable until you do the delete on them. The emissions equipment is unreliable on them and tends to break the truck over 100k now. The pre emissions diesels seem like they won't ever die from the amount of them I still see driving around over here.

[racprops]

Well this was interesting.

I will now start a thread on what best MPG Improvements have you done??

Other than doing a major search for a couple of special old cars, no clear winner showed up.

Seems I have the best model years of the selection of cars, SUV and Van with the costs of fuel, service and repairs.

A major fact is my being able to make most repairs myself. At lease with the American made cars…

A fact many miss is the total cost of owning a car, SUV, and van. This includes the cost of these CARS, then cost of repairs, cost of insurance, last cost of fuel per miles.

Thus the cost of a new Tesla vs. a hybrid, vs. a straight gas power cars can run thousands in the difference in the total costs over the common 12 years of common ownership life.

At this time the new Electric cars look very risky, high costs of buying, costly repairs if needed, lack of anyone that can service them, risk of fires, and the insane idea of putting everyone at the mercy of a monopoly: your local power company, who can raises the cost as they feel like it with NO other supplier …at least with gas there are choices…. Competitors.

For decades cable was alone choice, it or Over the air TV. Now we have OTA, Cable, satellite, and many systems on the internet.

Electric power is still only one company in your neighborhood. You don’t buy anything other than natural gas from the ONLY supplier, you shop for everything else..get the best deal you can find.

And with diesel and electric you cannot not do anything to improve their cost to drive, I have found I can improve a gasoline driven car’s MPG.

So onward…

Rich