Me as well. Actually I bought mine in high school because I wrecked my first car (a Suzuki Sidekick, while not completely horrible, is not a good thing to drive into ditches). I got my Hyundai for about 2500 and it is a 2001. It’s a 2 door hatchback Accent. I love it. I bought it with 48k miles on it and now it has about 110k (I’ve had it about 4 years) and it has never really let me down more than once. One time a fuse blew and caused a few problems, but it ran fine the next day after we replaced the fuse. It gets good mileage and doesn’t look completely horrible (mine was involved in an accident so the front bumper is hanging about an inch and a half lower than normal, plus it has big dents in the hood, but I’m not going to pay to replace it since I am already looking at getting a new vehicle.
Of course, the new vehicle is because I want a 4 door Matrix-type car or a mid-size mid-90’s SUV. Just a personal preference and I think it will be easier with 4 doors.
I have a Subaru Impreza. It’s a 95, and was 9 years old with almost 100,000 miles on it when it was bought. Great little car: small enough to manuever easily and get into compact spaces, but absolutely gigantic inside (I’ve got the wagon). Safe, AWD is great, and the car is just plain fun to drive. Sure, it’s not a WRX STi or anything, but it’s still got the handling that makes it fun to drive. Mileage is in the mid-20s, cargo space is great, front seats are comfortable (back’s kinda tight for an adult), visibility is great, and quite simply has served me well my last 1.5 years of undergrad and all throughout grad school.
Thanks so much for the replies everyone. I was in the midst of composing a lengthy post replying to everyone when the power failed last night. Was afraid to restart my computer with all the wind and lightning so had to wait till this morning. Sorry 'bout that.
phall, helloagain, intelsoldier, brendon small; thanks for the Hyundai info. I’m completely in the dark about them, but I’ll look into the brand and see what the dealer has to offer. (gotta find the dealer first ) I don’t know anyone with a Hyundai so your experiences are a big help.
twickster, quartz; I’m still trying to find out more data on Kia. I think there’s a dealer near my work and I’m going to look into them as well. Thanks for your experiences with yours (I only know one person with a Kia, it was bought extremely used, and I don’t know if it’s an accurate representation of the brand).
dewey, sunspace, quiddity, sam stone; I’d never even heard of a “Fit”. I’ve owned one Honda product in the past and agree that they are extremely well built cars. giraffe; I had assumed that all the Honda/Acura products would exceed my limited budget and never investigated them. We’ll take a look at the Fit and see what it’s like (it is cute).
Several posters questioned the wisdom of a new car or (in one case) buying any car for a high-schooler on his way to college. In answer; We haven’t completely ruled out a used vehicle, but the first dealer we visited offered several new vehicles for less than their (2 year old) counterparts were advertised. I want reliability, and with new prices matching that of used, it seems wiser to just get the new car. Also, in answer to queries about the commute length (“why not move closer to the college”), it’s a little more complex than that. He’s going to both university and flight school, with their attendant commutes. We’ve done the math, and it’ll be simpler and cheaper to live at home so he can make both trips (if he lived at school, there would still be a daily commute to the airport, etc.). There’s no form of public transportation along the routes we need, so even if he lived on campus, he’d still need a car.
Thanks again to everyone who answered. I would elaborate more but am at work and need to finish this quickly.
The Yaris is really nice car. I’m confused by people bragging about cars rated at 28 MPG as if this is good. The Yaris is, of course, rated at 41. In the city.
You could buy a diesel Smart Car and have him get 75 MPG.
And note that twickster was reporting a real-world 27MPG vs the Yaris’ inflated EPA estimate of 40MPG. (In other words, I suspect that that Yaris is going to get closer to 27 rather than 40.)
I dunno. I have a modified Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T Spyder (probably 250hp), and I get 30 mpg average in mixed, real-world driving. I’d be shocked and very, very disappointed if I bought an economy car and only got 27 mpg.
BTW, re: real-world MPG – I went 233 miles on 6.5 gallons this week in my Hyundai Accent. By my math, that’s 35.8 MPG, mix of NYC-area highway and street traffic in a 6 year old car. I have done better on straight highway driving, but 35.8 mpg represents my typical usage & typical mileage.
So what should I expect? Around 70-80% of the estimate for highway mileage? I didn’t really pay attention to the mileage estimates for the last few vehicles I’ve driven (they were bought for other purposes besides economy). I’ve investigated a few of the vehicles mentioned above in this thread, and did some more hunting the thru used car ranks. We’re sort of settling on a comple of vehicles (right now the Corolla is in the lead). If the mileage estimate on the sticker is 41 highway, can I reasonably expect 33 in real-world operation?
) I don’t know anyone with a Hyundai so your experiences are a big help.