What was your first car, and first eco-car?
 

What were these two cars and how soon did you get the eco car ?

'94 Saturn SW2 automatic.... mmm dual cam I4 :thumbup:

No idea what fuel economy it got... The odometer was busted :p

For the record my first car was a 1964 Dodge Polara 4 door with a 318 V8. Actually not bad miliage for the day, it routinely got about 18mpg when i wasn't on it this was before all the muscle cars so my big plus on this one was you could fit a lot of people in it to go to the drive in movies. Four Dodge Chargers and a Challenger were to follow; all with 440 Magnums. Hey, gas was 60 cents a gallon! The first eco car was a 1974 Datsun B-210, And that got an honest 32mpg.

My first car was a Chevy Sprint... Maybe a 1984? 0.9L, 3cyl, 2 doors and a hatch. We usually got around 45 mpg, and we (mom, dad and I all drove it for the great economy) drove it to about 250,000... And we saw it around town for another 5 years or so. What a great little car!

Guess my first car and my first eco-car were one and the same?

1964 Triumph Spitfire

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...102528_std.jpg

My first car was also my first eco car. It was a 1990 VW Golf Diesel. All of its 52 hp were needed to reach 90 mph.

guudasitgets -

My Dad let me drive his 1971 VW Karmann Ghia ... (lots of light 4-banger compacts in between) ... 1999 Saturn SW2.

My last two cars have been S-Series Saturns because they were American UAW-built cars with competitive MPG. The MPG wasn't the best on the market, but it was "good enough" to make my buy American.

EDIT: Ok, now I think I understand the question. *All* of my cars have been "eco-cars".

CarloSW2

Well, my first car was a 1976 Pinto, and it was getting a respectable 29-31 MPG in 1983 despite the automatic transmission. I suppose I was Hypermiling without realizing back then(little old ladies sometimes passed me on the road!).

My next car for well over a decade (12 years I think) was a 1968 VW Beetle. It achieved about 30MPG after the initial rebuild, 36 after the Slick 50 treatment and 40 after I had a Weber carb placed on it and did a partial Baja conversion after it was struck by a Camaro(I created a fiberglass cover for the motor instead of the stock 'cage', modded the front and fenders but didn't lift the chassis or mod the mufflers-took off over 300lbs!). At long last the poor beastie was hit by a bus-in the Parking Lot no less! :eek: The claims adjuster was going to total it but one of the passengers offered me $800 for the parts-half my parts ended up in a VW Roadster kit he was working on...

I pocketed most of the cash and followed a tip from my VW mechanic to a local salvage yard-found a 1971 VW Squareback Sedan with two smashed headlights, knifemarks in the paint and a broken windshield...$225 later and it was mine! One windshield, one Master Cylinder,two headlights and 6 cans of Tractor paint later, I was happily driving my new toy up the Interstate! :D I routinely achieved 30MPG+ with the Squareback despite a heavier frame (the engine had an early-model Fuel Injector). Eight years later a fellow VW fan offered me $700 for the car, and once I found out he wanted to do a factory restoration I let him talk me down to $600. He may have that VW still.

My current vehicle is a '93 Festiva that I purchased for $800 from a dealer who specializes in Technical Totals (mostly dent-and-ding stuff though, he'd rather part out a vehicle that's not roadworthy). There was wear and tear on the seats, missing paint and a few dings (I suspect a hailstorm) but the motor purred like a kitten. I used fabric glue and leftovers to re-upholster the seats, slipped on new covers and touched up the peeling paint with a spraycan (cheap? MOI?). I've consistently had between 42-46 MPG on the Red Menace, and no maintenance costs other than oil changes and new tires-though I did finally replace the starter this year(factory original it was too!).

I'm finally sanding and filling out the minor dings and have the whole body roughed and primed-but since the factory laid me off in September and i'm going back to school for A+ and Network+, any further work is on hold. Once I pass the exams and get a decent career going though, I intend to have the first 1993 Festiva in Metallic Ruby Flake with a Layered Clear finish! Well, I may play with some Bodymods first... ;)

My first car was a 95 Dodge Caravan 2.5L 4 banger. Could haul 7 people decently. It was no speed demon but it got you from A to B and it averaged around 25 MPG. It was a good car, till the cylinder head cracked in half. Got the Jeep after that which is anything but eco friendly. So in effort to correct that I got my Insight.

Frank Lee , love the Spit! I had a 62 XKE when I was 15 (Lucas electrics UGHH!), Wasn't technically mine I had to share it with my one year older brother. Heay if you took it easy that thing got 19mpg when you had all three SU carbs in sync. I have to mention Vegas here. At that time I worked (of all places) in the warranty repair department at a Chevy dealer. For one solid year, ALL I worked on were Vegas (rust on front fenders, floor pans, Head gaskets and warped blocks). You guys want to know about Vegas? Somebody better start a new website. I can't fit it all in here.