Would you pay 5 times book value for a used car?

[nadthomas]

People are stupid to pay that much for a Geo Metro. You could get a similar age Honda civic for about that much and still get 30+mpg, sure its not 40+ like the Geo, but the civic is a much better car. If you want to drop a little more coin and have a car that is a much better investment my friend/co-worker averages 36mpg in his 05 Civic and he said he has averaged 40mph a couple of times.

Yeah, the newer TDI Jetta and Rabbits get 40-50mpg. That's good enough for me to justify the extra price for diesel. If you are really savvy and want to go the extra mile you can get a veggy fuel conversion kit, or make biodiesel from waste oil for about $1/gallon. Although its amazing to me that you need to make you own fuel to get it at $1/gallon. I could buy it at the gas station for a little less then when I first started driving. I have seriously considered getting a VW TDI car and getting a veggy fuel kit since I drive around to my client's offices for work and log a number of miles. Buying premium gas and getting 18mpg is starting to suck a little.

[skater]

My coworker said he used to get 55 mpg in his Metro. The only thing would be to take an old diesel and put in the $400 kit to run on used vegetable oil. There are people around here who do, and diners give them the veggie oil for free, because, otherwise, they'd have to pay to get rid of it.

I have a coworker that used to have a Metro (until some fool pulled out in front of him). When he was buying a new car he was complaining that he couldn't find anything with similar gas mileage that was affordable - he wanted the cheapest, most fuel-efficient car he could find. I explained to him that as we add more safety and emissions requirements, the weight of the vehicle is going to increase and the mileage is going to drop. He didn't care for that explanation.

In the end, he bought an Aveo. Not a bad car but with my long legs I cannot ride in it comfortably even in the front seat - there's NO WAY I could squish myself into the back seat. He's somewhat shorter, though, so it's not a problem for him.

[JScullin]

You'd be hard pressed to find a modern 3cyl engined car here. The Smart FourTwo is the only one I think.

[skater]

You'd be hard pressed to find a modern 3cyl engined car here. The Smart FourTwo is the only one I think.

Hmmm...they're only like $12,000 too. I thought they were a lot more expensive for some reason. 30-40 MPG roughly.

[JScullin]

The base of the base is $12k (no radio). Reasonably equipped is in the $15k range which is why they can be a tad high for what they are.

[Tygerr]

That's nuts. My friend had a Hyundai accent in high school. I don't think I could stand to drive something like that every day.

[freednighthawk]

I had to work on a Geo Metro, a 94, for an 80yo cooworker of my mothers. Had the CEL on, couldn't figure out why. Drove it over to a shop to see if they could scan the code for me, after autozone said they couldn't (age).

Yeah, I believe the car got great gas mileage, but I felt so incredible unsafe driving it. I guess, must have just been that car though, I dunno. I kinda wanna get me one for putting around in, but I would deffinantly have to do something to it to make it feel safer.

And the fact that she told me she put's $15-20 in it per MONTH. It's like, dayamn, I have to put in $50+ just to try and fill up my tank.

[sonza68]

Hmmm...they're only like $12,000 too. I thought they were a lot more expensive for some reason. 30-40 MPG roughly.

They used to be. Before Mercedes brought them over directly they were imported by ZAP and ran in the low-mid 20's.

[Tygerr]

Actually, I've been seeing a lot of scooters lately. Those things get uber good gas mileage.

[carajo]

They used to be. Before Mercedes brought them over directly they were imported by ZAP and ran in the low-mid 20's.

Say what?