Hi guys,
I am going to be in the market for a "daily drive" pretty soon. What do you guys suggest (or recommend) that's a reliable car, cheap on gas and insurance.

thanks in advance.

 

Hyundai Elantra.
I bought one for like 500 bucks.It had a little wire problem that I found and fixed.
That car got me like 35 easy MPG.and it actually felt heavy on the road.,Not like a Tin Can sort of car.
Oh,it has over 320 Km on it..and still going strong.

 

Can you define "cheap"?

 

i am thinking around 12km/L-ish (or better). Preferably a sedan (4 doors) as this will result cheaper in insurance. Oh btw, a price range say "$3000"-ish. What car outhere that generally cheap on the insurance?? For whatever reason, civic isnt cheap on insurance (agent says "they got stolen often").

 

ya insurance on civics isn't cheap at all. I'd go corolla or if you can get one and don't mind the size get a trecel. I love those little cars.

 

1992 323 hatchback.. beige on grey.. find one without a lot of rust underneath and you will never find a more practical car.

 

Another choice I just thought of would be a mazda millenia s. I've always had a thing for those cars. I don't really know how good they are or how fuel efficient they are, but I like them.

 

Millenias, no matter how cheap the initial purchase, will cost you more in repairs than any other Mazda - especially the S model which comes with the supercharged Miller Cycle Engine. They've got a good km of vacuum line under the hood and it isn't easy to get to, and parts cost a fortune. Do not get. Just to give you an idea, Mazda calls the supercharger a Lysholm compressor - do they REALLY need to make everything so difficult on that car? They are extremely cool cars, very luxurious for a Mazda, and they looked really good (still do actually) but as a practical DD they are no good at all.

 

Like I said, don't really know how good they are. Scratch that one then. You already own an Rx-7. No need to torture yourself more.

 

Any comments (input) on jetta or golf?? the "tdi" model?? For whatever reason they are cheap on insurance too (1999-2002 models). The 4 cylinders ones

 

not too bad of a car, very fuel efficient (diesel of course), but can be costly to fix. My friend has a Jetta TDI and it needs a pile of work. Suspension is completely hammered out of it, turbo is pooched, etc. It also has a pile of kms on it. VW's can also be a bastard to work on if you're planning on fixing it yourself. Go buy yourself a set of triple square sockets.

 

Buy a mazda protege, 2002+, es model. You will be happy.

 

Toyota Echo.

 

98 honda accord 600+ on the tank cheap on gas runs like a top..change oil, change brake pads u good to go..... make sure its the 4 cylinder


hybrid

 

I will second that. VW's can definitely be a pain especially when you have to buy triple square sockets (what i'd consider a specialty tool) just to change the brake pads.

 

Impreza sedan or sportback. You can find 1st and 2nd gens for around $3000 with 150,000kms. I'm picking one up this weekend.

 

I wouldn't mind a manual Golf TDI or Jetta TDI at all. Diesels are CHEAP on gas. But this is what I did to my last one so maybe not the best idea...



thewird

 

Freaking VW's, my mom's Passat had 4 ball joints per front wheel. 4!!!! WTF were they thinking? Real ****-suckers to replace too after they seize. But yeah, if you can find one in your price range, you will never regret a Golf TDI, great on gas and very practical, just make sure the turbo boosts fine, and it doesn't need a ton of work to safety.

Otherwise, like everyone else said, Toyota. We've had a Tercel and currently have an Echo for a delivery car, gets run 14-18 hours a day, beaten as bad as any car can be beat. Tercel lasted 380K, and the Echo is coming up on 400,000. Unbelieveable cars.

 

A couple misconceptions here.

First off, it's true, 4 doors are cheaper on insurance than 2 doors. But usually in the vicinity of $40 or so a year. The reason for this is not what most think "oh 2 doors is 'sporty'"

It's because a door on a coupe is much larger than the door on a 4 door. Therefore it cots more to replace it.

If your insurance agent/broker is telling you that the reason a civic is high on insurance is "because they get stolen often" then get a new agent. Civics are high on insurance because in the breakdown of rate groups for automobiles they get a 5 out of 5 in the Accident Benefits portion (a 1 is the best you can get for ABs)

-Geoff

 

This is true, but my convertible is in Aviva's "level 6" category which means it's in the cheapest range of insurance for them. For this reason, it seems they like to pull random numbers from a hat when they give you your quote.

I agree with 01+ 2.0L protegay's. They are the best of the proteges - parts are cheap, readily available, EASY TO FIX!! (which is a big plus for someone who likes to do their own work) and very reliable. If you get one, make sure it's had the 96,000km interval service done which replaces waterpump, timing belt, spark plugs, air filter, timing belt tensioner if needed, among other things I can't remember the list but the service from a dealer should be around 1000 bucks and it says a lot about the owner of the car when they've had this service done on time.
Also there is a EGR valve replacement for 2001+ that is in a SSP bulletin for warranty from the dealer. Check that that's been done because I think it is for 9 years from the build date of the vehicle which means 2000, 2001 proteges probably won't be covered by the bulletin anymore which means you'll have to pay.
Last thing I can remember is the exhaust front pipe, the little 90* pipe which houses the secondary 02 sensor under the Cat, these go quite often but aren't super expensive so it's a plus if it's been done sometime in the past, the newer ones have thicker flanges I believe and are welded in different places which is where they fail the first time.



P.S. my buddy recommends against subarus in general because the parts costs are ridiculous apparently. He had a '99 2.5RS and his lasted 250,000k though, which was pretty cool. Just sold it with leaky heads (both of them lol) and a fudged up ignition system.

 

How much "fun" do you want it to be? If reliability and cost of operation are your primary concerns, then you'll have a hard time beating a corolla. A 1997-2000ish Corolla is as boring as paste, but it will run forever, start every day and cost next to nothing to own. Oh, and when you tire of it, you can sell it for damn near what you bought it for. You'll have to try to kill it.

 

toyota tercel

 

How about camry? For whatever reason the insurance for camry is cheaper than corolla, but i've bad experience with camry. Its keep on leaking power steering oil (fixed a section, then leaks on a different section). Any "good" sedan make by "north american" brand?? Is saab any good (900 hatchback, 4doors)?

 

Stay away from used Saab's, they have many reliability issues, and parts are worse then Subarus. Subarus aren't too bad, if you know how to fix one of them you can fix all of them.

As far as cheap parts go, my best car was a '95 Grand Am V6, I tried killing that thing to no avail. But, i had to replace the intake gasket, rad, PS hoses, etc. Including the purchase price AND maintenance, it cost me about $2000 over 5 years. Still the best car I've owned to date.

 

Nissan sentra. easy 6l/100km and if you get one with low enough KM's and keep up on the maintenance it'll last a long time.

05 and up are built like little tanks. Just peek underneath at the suspension, its all built for a car twice its size and weight.