Lordy, we went window shopping for a work car today and a Prius or any other hybrid are not options.

It is depressing. We absolutely need a car for my husband to drive 45 mi. RT to work each day. Our 20 year old Corolla just bit the dust and parts to repair it cost more than the car is worth. Needless to say, we're junking it. If we're luck we might be able to get a couple of hundred out of it from a salvage yard. We have a maximum of $6,000 available to use (including credit we're willing to use) and can't afford a car payment now. Neither can we continue to have him drive the pickup to work either, but the pickup is something we can't afford to lose either.

Just sayin'--don't quit bein' my friend because we can't do the environmentally friendly thing this one time.

A friend of mine has one and I think I will trade in my Ford Explorer for the Escape.

Here is a link....

http://www.fordvehicles.com/suvs/2008escapehybrid/

My wife's Subaru AWD gets 28 mpg or so, and cost a lot less used than a new Escape.

We had a couple of Civics, an 85 that got 43 and an 89 that got about 38. I would look for a used Civic or even an old Nissan Sentra (approx 33 mpg)

When I work on a campaign, the Unions shun you, block you from entering rally's and such if you drive anything but an American car. They make it political. My friend Carolyn, she was running for state rep....she drove a Toyota and they wouldn't let her park anywhere closer than a mile away from her OWN debate!

I drove one for several years as an assigned work vehicle when I worked for the state. I think it got in the low 30's, & the used ones are affordable (if you'll pardon the word).

Are you in the Detroit area or perhaps around Toledo?

I think this is the situation only in areas that are hubs of auto mfg.

I'm in a Southern state and have no problems of this type with my little rice-burner.

Ya might think about shopping around for a classic. How many miles do you drive per week? If it's not too many miles, perhaps a classic Mustang or something like that would do well.

If your driving involves a lot of miles, used Geo Metros get very good mileage. (if you can find one).

I decided to vote with my wallet and support the first US built hybrid that could carry me and my stuff. I can't have two cars, so I went with the middle. If I could have bought two, I'd have bought an Insight at the time for commuting.

I get great mileage and can carry plenty of people and their stuff. The Prius didn't come close to holding any of my gear. Much less people and that gear.

I plan to keep until it gets like your Corolla, not worth fixing (are you sure about that?, what's wrong with it?)

Rebuilt runs $15K-$18K plus labor. We just can't affor to put that much into a 20 year old car.

Heck, a brand new automatic for a very late model car is WAY less than that...?
Someone is fibbing to you...

plus labor. We can't afford to put more money in that car.

He said you ought to be able to get a good transaxle -installed- for about 800 or 900 bucks. (around here anyway, you may have to adjust for location)

They quoted me $2500 for a full rebuild on a pontiac transport - including labor.

My suggestion is to get some quotes from junkyards.

In my area, there used to be several companies importing engines/transmissions inexpensively from Japan.

They get comparable or better mileage at a much more affordable price and you can run biodiesel in them.

Edited to add: You'd never even know you're driving a diesel btw. These aren't the smoke-belching behemoth's of the 70s. :)

$2000 above what we can manage now. We spent the whole morning and travelled in a 50 mile radius of our home.

biodiesel made from recycled veggie oil.

of recycling. You are not putting a new car on the street...you are following the second law of recycling...re useing
:toast:

oh...and I'm assuming you meant that you didn't want to be ditched for not buying a new hybrid, and your OP say "do" just checking :)

Don't beat yourself up over not getting a hybrid. If you don't have the cash, you don't have the cash.

PS If you're in CA PM me, I saw a classified ad yesterday for a civic hybrid for $6500 and I can send you the info. (If I had the dough I'd have snatched that one up myself.)

It's too small for my needs, but it would be perfect for someone who didn't have to try to fit in two car seats.

Just looked and they can be as much as $10,000 less than a Prius and gets about 34 mpg interstate (26 city).

Is there something you're not telling us, Clark?

:rofl:

the structural inadequacies of america's transportation infrastructure are not the FAULT of the individual consumer, but rather the result of decades of foolish short-term planning.

maximize the fuel economy of what you do buy. try to move closer or use public transit if possible.

you are talking about. The fact that you got 20 years out of your old one is a testament to how great they are and they get good mileage to boot.

Toyota has surpassed the Big 3 in recalls now.

and have been extremely pleased with it. Here, all the kids get a 'kids' car for the kids in the family to use, and they've been mostly Corollas. We just happened upon a great find with the Camry.

The Corolla and Civic, like most Toyota and Honda cars, continue to have the fewest reported problems in their market segment, according to Consumer Reports. The Corolla retains its build quality.

a car dealer to tow the car away and give you a "trade in" amount that would be better than what you'd get at the junkyard. Way back when, I had a car that was literally undriveable and I got 1500 in trade in credit that helped me out a bunch where I could have made maybe 50 bucks from the local junkyard after paying for the tow. The dealer has a lot of flexibility to give you trade in credit that might not be realistic and if he wants to make the deal, he might be open to helping you out. It's worth a shot, I always believe you have to at least ask.

Also check out places like edmunds.com, they have reviews and pricing info that might help you find something or get a better idea of where you have room to negotiate on the price.

for a few thousand and get good gas milage out of that.

I got a little Korean econobox with decent gas mileage.

I use an electric scooter for most short hops when I'm not hauling cases of soda (and sometimes when I am), so a hybrid's superior city mileage wasn't worth the extra money. Plus, the highway mileage, something I do a lot of here in the wild west, is comparable.

We do what we can do. Were I on your budget, I'd be looking for an old Civic or Focus or something that got fair mileage and then I'd be paying a mechanic to keep it that way.

You can always salve your conscience with the knowledge that even if batteries are recycled, it costs more energy debt than most drivers figure on.

Good luck, I know decent mileage cars are out there, even if at $6000 they're not going to be very pretty to look at.

They save in the city driving but you're just as well off with a used Echo or Corolla for mostly highway driving.

Sure a hybrid is more expensive, but even if it's marginally more expensive, get the hybrid just to save on fuel costs.

Fuel costs are going to be more and more relevant. Cheap gas is a thing of the past.

I'd say you should budget on $6/gal. gas over the lifetime of the vehicle (~8-10 yrs) X the number of miles you expect to drive every day.

Then you'll see which car is more "expensive".

However, I don't have more than $6K to shell out for a car right now. And then there are taxes, licensing costs, and insurance over and above that. We went from a household income of $60K/yr to $28K when I lost my job. We just don't have the extra money to buy a hybrid.

Your options to get any kind of reliable high-mileage car for that much are limited.

Small, used cars like Hondas or Toyotas are usually much higher prices than say, a Buick or a Taurus.

There's no excuse for a car not lasting at least twice that.

What's the longest you've ever owned a single vehicle?

but then that car didn't have a computer and my husband would tinker on it for fun. :)

Now I have a late 1980's Econoline lift van that is beginning to cost me in monthly repairs what payments on a new liftvan would cost. Unfortunately I'm only a year out of bankruptcy and can't qualify for the loan and we are just beginning to get back on not being paycheck to paycheck after the accident.

I don't know anyone with a "computerized" car that goes longer than 13 years. People seem really impressed when they last that long.

Or at least a "northern" perspective.

See, here in Ontario, we have a major car-killer - road salt.

Cars usually fall apart, needing major body work while the engine and drive train are just fine. It happened to me just last year with a Subaru I owned. The car ran great, but literally fell apart while I was driving it.

A 1967 car just doesn't exist in our area.

Median automobile lifetime ~ 16.9 years (Table 3.9, Trans Energy Data Book 2004)

Lifetime mileage ~ 179.0k mi (Table 3.6, Trans Energy Data Book 2004)

Gasoline price begin life ~ $2.90/gal.
Gasoline price end life ~ $14.52/gal. (10% increase per year)

Lifetime median gasoline price $8.71/gal.

Average mpg Corolla ~ 35 mpg . . Lifetime fuel cost $44,545
Average mpg Prius ~ 48 mpg . . Lifetime fuel cost $32,481
Prius Savings $12,064
PV @ 5% ~ $5,289

So, if the difference in price between a Corolla and Prius is less than $5,289, the Prius will theoretically be cheaper. Yes, about a wash.

Thing is, the Prius can be converted to a PHEV and run in-town on electric which could be helpful when the 10 gal./mo. gas ration kicks in, which makes the above analysis moot.

Bottom line, for me, with the uncertain liquid fuels future in this country, the extra paid for a Prius (when buying new) is simply an insurance policy against obsolescence.

On edit: New EPA ratings:
2007 Prius ~ 46 mpg combined
2007 Corolla ~ 31 mpg combined (5 spd.)

Micro luxury car, same engine and transmission as a Nissan Sentra SE R.

Four doors, big trunk, handles well, cruises the interstate at prevailing speeds no problem. You can get five big men in there reasonably comfortably.

You can get a pretty nice one for six grand, mine cost twenty six hundred but had a bit of minor body damage.

Thirty two mpg on the highway, somewhat less in town but the stick helps with that.

Still have it and all I've ever done to it (apart from fluid changes and tires) has been a starter, a set of front brake pads, and a muffler. And those things were all well after it hit 100k miles. The build quality is fantastic- makes my new Honda look like a piece of crap. Should be able to get a nice 95-96 for $3k or less.

As with any used car, take the time to have it inspected...

That because it has the engine and transmission from a Sentra SE R in it, the G20 is quite a lot of fun to drive if you are a person at all inclined to that sort of thing.


It's surprisingly responsive and gets good gas mileage even if you drive it briskly.

2.0 liters seems like a good choice between power and efficiency right now.

A six speed tranny would be nice with that setup.

You will probably find a car .. That's how I found our beauty..(of course we spent more than you are wanting to, but there were others in the range you are looking for ..)

I see a lot of them on the used car market. Never knew anyone personally who owned one.

At 150,000 miles I'm just starting to think about what I want to get when it's time to retire this one, but it's still very reliable so I'm in no hurry about it.

The cool thing about it is that it still looks like new, because the polymer body panels don't collect parking lot dings the way a typical car does.

you can get a nice Bike for that money .

... We're getting there, but we aren't there yet.

for a lot less than a Prius...

Check nearby Honda dealerships.

They will have great gas mileage at a cheap price.

drop a decent used powertrain into it. That's what they did during the war years of 1942-1945. There were NO new cars available. My dad tells still tells about how his father ordered a rebuilt engine from a catalog for his 1940 Pontiac. Didn't run much better than the original, but it lasted till 1947.

Go to Carsdirect or Autotrader or even Craigslist. I spend a lot of time on the Edmunds boards and no one likes CarMax. (the consensus is that they do very little to the car yet mark-up very high).

A 02 04 03 Elantra can be had within your budget with only 75K or so on the odeometer. They are fantastic, roomy little cars, with decent mpg that will run for years if taken car of. Make sure you get the service records. My ex drives her Elantra up and down the west coast. Nothing ever done except oil changes and schedules service. My SO has a new one . She loves it too. I've driven them both. I like the Elantra( new and old) far better than the Corolla or Civic). The latter two will be out of your price range anyway, unless you want to take a car with over 100K. A used American small car will be in your price range, but I would trust one.