car

[Jesusfrk611]

30mpg?

I get between 45 and fifty...

my first car use to get around 50 - 60mpg. 30mpg

My first car was a '93 citroen AX (1.4 diesel).
since then I've had a '90 nissan micra (1L Petrol) and I've now got a '93 1.8 peugeot 205 (diesel again).

to be honest the car that I've got now checks all the boxes that I need to check.

It's a small hatch back, it's economical, it's fast enough, powerful enough that I've never gotten into trouble, not so powerful that I've ever gotten into trouble. it's got front and rear doors, (so no need to put the seats forward to get kids or passengers into the back).

I'm sure that the ZX2 is a nice car, not proper plush nice, but not old and ratty, for anyone in the UK it's a new shape ford escort.
personally, I don't know if this is your first car, but I generally think that these cars, (because they are slightly larger and slightly more powerful), make good second or third cars. they probably aren't great for first time drivers who are yet to appreciate the proper size and power of some cars...

I wish newer cars here actually made that kind of gas mileage... They make huge cars anymore here that boast 35MPG... Put that same engine in a lighter car and you might make up to 50 easily. The ZX2 is a small car in the US, we don't have the tiny cars like Europe. If you do some gas mileage mods and drive it like I want to save gas people have gotten the ZX2 up to 50MPG. Some people have completely stock ZX2s and have easily gotten 40MPG. It depends on your personal driving conditions and how you actually drive it, as well as the actual car. Some people have a completely stock car and can't get over 25MPG. I haven't been able to get over 32 in my automatic ZX2 mostly stock when driving to save gas. I don't really pay much attention to MPGs anymore. My driving conditions changed so even if I wanted to I couldn't get 30MPG right now b/c I live so close to everything...

 

[J03]

I of course did not mean bicycle...


And...?

I'm not a taxi service...

Don't get me wrong, having a car and helping people out, carrying stuff etc is great...

but I was saying if you want something to do that then any old four wheel tin box with an engine will do...

want to have a real experience with the road...
a lot of fun...
and actually (quite likely) become a better driver...
then a motorbike is much better than any car...
(note I said motorbike, not a scooter)... even a small 125 bike can be a real joy to ride.

and of course, when I say have an experience with the road, I mean a nice trip, not a close and personal encounter with the road and your face. -you have to try hard to avoid that!

Haha, I was responding to Rohan's slightly less... broad minded response

 

[superman22x]

but rest assured that if you have a car, for $5k you're not going to get an awesome car.
and if you wrap it around a tree, or another car etc then you'll have no car and no $5k...
so my advice would be look for the cheapest, most reliable car you can find.

That's because you are in Britian. The British gallon is bigger than the US gallon. 1.2 US gallons = 1 British Gallon.

And for 5k, you could get a pretty good car. My Ranger was only $3000 and I have put 15k miles on it over the last 3 years with nothing but oil changes, and she still runs strong. Got her at 100k. Then again, it's not that efficient being a 4.0. You could get a 2.3L duratec Ranger though. 30mpg, and decent power.

 

[Legodude522]

Here is a picture of my old 1998 ZX2.

Here is a picture of my new 2008 Cobalt.

 

[lhuser]

I had a Tercel automatic as a first car. I'd start automatic then move to standard transmission if you want to. Gas economy on a manual isn't a lot. Std Tercels do 34 City/39 Hwy while an auto is 33 City/39Hwy...so yeah...woooo, big savings!

 

[superman22x]

I had a Tercel automatic as a first car. I'd start automatic then move to standard transmission if you want to. Gas economy on a manual isn't a lot. Std Tercels do 34 City/39 Hwy while an auto is 33 City/39Hwy...so yeah...woooo, big savings!

It really depends on the car. For instance, an AOD weighs 160lbs while a T-5 weighs less than 100lbs. Thats 60 lbs, a lot of which is rotating mass. Dropping rotating mass helps a LOT in fuel economy. The differences in smaller engine trannys will be smaller though, lol.

 

[eslfish]

Here is a picture of my old 1998 ZX2.

Here is a picture of my new 2008 Cobalt.

She looks pretty!

 

[CBrooks]

Transmission just went out in my 2001 honda civic the other day.. great

 

[Legodude522]

This is just epic!

http://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/cto/1616818931.html

Listing got tagged. Mirror here http://tinyurl.com/ydvqphs