[vox] [OT] Alternate Vehicle Advice

[Shwaine]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005, Hans W. Uhlig wrote:

> I am looking to replace my aging van with something
> newer. I am looking for a vehicle with a pricetag
> <15,000. So used is preferred. With decent room for
> tools and GF and everything else.
>
> Biggest Caviat is I need as high of gas milage as
> possible. I now drive an average of 150-200 miles per
> day as part of my new job and get milage. The better
> the milage and handling of maintnence the happier I
> will be.
> Ive looked at hybrids but I dont have that kind of
> capitol unless someone knows a place where I can find
> one cheap.
>

Well, it might be hard to find a hybrid in that price range. However, I 
have a 99 Honda Civic coupe that routinely gets at least 30mpg driving 
around Davis and gets more like 35+mpg every time I take the freeway down 
to my sisters. It's fairly roomy for a coupe, but I'm average female 
height. A tall guy I had as a passenger has complained about hitting his 
head a bit. It's also got decent trunk space (I used to store lumber in 
the trunk before I was able to get a cubby at the wood shop) and you can 
fold down the back seat for more room. Only problem is if the item is too 
tall, more than about a foot and a half, it won't fit through the trunk 
opening. I had to put a 19in CRT in the passengers seat once and another 
time I borrowed a roommate's sedan to bring home a 40g fish tank because 
it wouldn't fit in through the passenger door (plenty of back seat room, 
just couldn't get it there with a coupe). So about the only time I find 
myself wishing I had more space is when I'm working on a large project in 
wood shop or setting up a new fish tank.

Not sure how the gas mileage is on the Civic sedans, but probably 
comparable. I've heard nothing but good things about regular Civic gas 
mileage. Actually, the first year the Civic hybrid came out, the biggest 
criticism I heard was it only got about a 10mpg improvement over the 
regular Civics and people felt they'd wasted their money on the hybrid, 
heh. A used one should be in the <10k range, unless it's a recent model 
year. Might even be able to get a new one on the lower trim lines.