Best affordable commuter car

[LD1]

Good Mornin LD1,
I wish you the best of luck with your new commuter vehicle !

A friend of mine had a Saturn, cant remember the year but he has oil burning issues with it. I believe that Saturn has corrected that problem, but Im sure your probablly aware of that problem on some of the earlier models. Let us know how you make out with your new purchase !

the oil burning problems seemed to only affect the DOHC. That is one of the reasons that I wanted the SOHC, along with gas mileage and reliability

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I'm interested to see your mileage. I've been commuting over 100 miles round trip for about 5 years now. Drove my Suburban until it crushed my wallet. Got an SL1 2001 saturn, with A/C on, driving 70mph with a fair amount of starting turning and stopping, I averaged 31-33 mpg checking EVERY tankfull. The car had automatic. Hope yours turns out well. After 2.5 years (and the state retopping the roads with the coarsest gravel they could find) I bought me a 2003 Impala 3.4 engine. I personnally feel the ride comfort is worth the 4 miles per gallon. Spending 2 hours a day in a vehicle is what is wanting me to move to the city anyway.

You can easily add up what gas, oil and tires will set you back. But it's hard to cost out what mileage depreciation does to your vehicle until you sell it. The one thing you can't put a price on is the 2 hours a day lost sitting in a car. I'd rather be doing something with my family.

You are starting off in a good way, keeping your price down. I ended up paying about $7000 for my used Impala. My neighbor works for a trucking company that uses these Impalas for chase vehicles. He says they last over 300,000 miles and 1 had about 430,000 on it before it crapped out.

 

[LD1]

I'm interested to see your mileage. I've been commuting over 100 miles round trip for about 5 years now. Drove my Suburban until it crushed my wallet. Got an SL1 2001 saturn, with A/C on, driving 70mph with a fair amount of starting turning and stopping, I averaged 31-33 mpg checking EVERY tankfull. The car had automatic. Hope yours turns out well.

Well I'll be filling up tomorrow after work and I'll let everyone know, but i have had two just like this one and they both did 40+. My dad has a 2002 SL1 with the auto like you are describing, and he drives VERY easy and can only get 35-36 at best. And I always check every tankfull, unless I have the trip computer like my truck. Also, my mileage is mostly freeway. Of the 90 miles a day, about 70 is on the freeway @ about 70mph

 

[dmccarty]

I... Spending 2 hours a day in a vehicle is what is wanting me to move to the city anyway.

I drive about 72 miles round trip a day about 90-120 minutes total drive time. When I lived in the city I think I was driving 30ish miles round trip. Drive time was about the same. The traffic was and is so much worse around the city compared to my rural driving.

After about 10 miles my rural drive now is kinda relaxing. There is NOTHING relaxing about driving in the city. Over the last few months I have been driving to a the bone cracker once a week. His office is near where we used to live. Even beating the worst of the traffic the stress is still pretty high because of the crazy drivers.

My F350 SRW diesel is getting 21.2-21.5 mpg this summer. I think its the JD 0wx40 oil I put in at the last oil change. Pretty danged good for a 7000+ truck.

Later,
Dan

 

[LD1]

Just an update as I filled up last night. 385.1 miles and 9.7 gallons which is 39.7mpg. That was also with the car just idleing for about 45 minutes total in the garage while I was trying to fix the AC system, which I did. I know that it doesn't amount to much but I expect 40 or better next fillup.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

great mileage, you must be downhill to and from work, and the wind at your back bothways too!

 

[dmccarty]

great mileage, you must be downhill to and from work, and the wind at your back bothways too!

Nah, I cut holes in the truck floor and I Fred Flintstone as much as possible.

Most of the drive is 55 mph with only a few lights. And if you drive the posted limits you can usually catch the green light. I think the drive is about as perfect as one could get to squeeze the MPG out of a gallon of fuel. I have a manual tranny and going though town on the way home the limits go from 55, 45, 35, 25 and then 20. I can take the truck out of gear and basically coast for two miles. I do drive to max out the mpg and I very seldom put my foot down. It used to be fun to see the black smoke but with the USLD fuel I don't get much smoke anymore. Besides I would always wonder what the black smoke cost me.

For years I have been using Shell 5wx40 oil. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of JD 0wx40 and put it in the truck and tractor. The most MPG I have gotten was 21.2 with the Shell. The JD oil has maxed out at 21.5. I track the mpg with every fill up and use the miles driven vs the fuel used. The trucks computer is usually off by a mpg or so.

Usually the maximum MPG was in the late summer. The JD oil started maxing out earlier in the summer. I think the summer connection to higher MPG is the heat. This year we really have not been as hot as last year so the JD oil is even a bit better mpg wise than Shell.

The truck is about to click over 120,000 miles. I hope it lasts another 400K. They don't make them like this anymore.

Later,
Dan

 

[LD1]

Just another update

I filled up today @ 357.0 miles and it took 8.38 gallons which = 42.6MPG

I had about 100 miles of rural route driving @ 55-60 mph and the rest was freeway. I tried to limit the speed to 65-70 mph and didn't have to use the AC much as it hasn't been real hot or sunny lately.

 

[irvingj]

You did good! I'm going to have to check out this Saturn; that's exceptional mileage for a gasser.

This summer I've been having a blast driving my '75 CB360T; since replacing the main needles & jets, it's been consistently over 53mpg.... Just gotta figure out where to install the wipers!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

LD1, I think you might be copying Dan with the Fred Flintstone manuever.

 

[heehaw]

just for the heck of it, double check your odometer on the freeway with the mile markers. the corolla we had was way off
heehaw

 

[LD1]

Already checked the odometer and it is dead on with the mile markers.

Also checked it against my 03 chevy 1500 and the chevy says 89.00 miles round trip to and from work and the saturn was 88.9, so I'd say it is right.

 

[archerm3]

Geo metro. 42 mpg best tank, average about 39-40 for me. Just traded it off for another something.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

...What I don't get is how these micro-cars, like the Daimler-Benz Smart, can be so small, cost as much as they do, and still not get the mileage of a Prius. Supposedly, the Smart has good crash test results, but those results are done against other vehicles of the same size.

I've owned one of those Smart cars. One of the roomiest cars for their size. Real world numbers, I averaged 78 mpg from a simple 3 cyl turbo charged diesel. I don't know how the Prius' calculates its numbers.

As for safety, mine had a panoramic roof, as in, all glass. I felt safer in it than any other car or truck I have owned. You have to review all of the crash tests. They ran the car against a number of different sized vehicles. Recently the car scored highest in its class (seen the report on tv).

The simplest way to explain the safety construction of the car I to think about the physics and technology that has gone into the roll cage in Formula 1 race cars. Same thing.

In keeping with this thread, I suppose the Smart would be out of your budget. Other comments about Saturn's and Camry's are right on the money.

 

[EarPlug]

As for safety, mine had a panoramic roof, as in, all glass. I felt safer in it than any other car or truck I have owned. You have to review all of the crash tests. They ran the car against a number of different sized vehicles. Recently the car scored highest in its class (seen the report on tv).

The simplest way to explain the safety construction of the car I to think about the physics and technology that has gone into the roll cage in Formula 1 race cars. Same thing.

I'm not so sure about the safety after seeing this!

 

[Bird]

That Smart car reminds me of the Isetta of 50 years ago. I once asked an owner if he wasn't afraid of getting run over and he said, "Nope, they won't run over it. They'll just knock it out of the way like hitting a ball with a bat."

 

[jdbower]

I'm not so sure about the safety after seeing this!


View attachment 138692

Actually, that was a Ford Escape and the driver managed to survive. Of course, with an impact like that pretty much any car would be crushed.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

They'll just knock it out of the way like hitting a ball with a bat."

Exactly. That's the part of its concept. No matter how you hit the car, there's never a direct hit so passengers don't suffer the g forces of a direct head on impact.

 

[aczlan]

I've owned one of those Smart cars. One of the roomiest cars for their size. Real world numbers, I averaged 78 mpg from a simple 3 cyl turbo charged diesel. I don't know how the Prius' calculates its numbers.

As for safety, mine had a panoramic roof, as in, all glass. I felt safer in it than any other car or truck I have owned. You have to review all of the crash tests. They ran the car against a number of different sized vehicles. Recently the car scored highest in its class (seen the report on tv).

The simplest way to explain the safety construction of the car I to think about the physics and technology that has gone into the roll cage in Formula 1 race cars. Same thing.

I wouldn't buy one because I dont feel that they are as safe as a larger car. One example is found in a recent (Apr 2009) study by the IIHS which found that "The death rate in 1-3-year-old minicars in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2007 was almost twice as high as the rate in very large cars" this was found to be in large part because while the frame was quite strong, the change of speed was greater in a minicar than in (for example) a midsize sedan.
For more info, go to: IIHS news release

Aaron Z

 

[archerm3]

I wouldn't buy one because I dont feel that they are as safe as a larger car. One example is found in a recent (Apr 2009) study by the IIHS which found that "The death rate in 1-3-year-old minicars in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2007 was almost twice as high as the rate in very large cars" this was found to be in large part because while the frame was quite strong, the change of speed was greater in a minicar than in (for example) a midsize sedan.
For more info, go to: IIHS news release

Aaron Z

Which is why the we should all be driving nothing smaller than an excursion, preferably school busses and semitrucks.