Need commuter vehicle.

[buffalobo]

Good mileage and low long term repair costs are primary factors. Not interested in new, only used. Have not owned a car in twenty years, always trucks and Mrs bo has had trucks or large suv. Way out of touch with cars, need suggestions.

Will always prefer truck/suv but really need pure commuter. Do any of the small trucks or suvs qualify as commuter?

Relate some experiences with commuters you have had, especially diesel.

Should have bought snipers little Honda, for the price I would have been making money on it even if only drove it 2 years. I know he takes care of his stuff.

[SideShow Bob]

There is a commuter type Toyota 4 door for sale that the neighbors across the street are selling, they are asking $4K for it.
If you are interested, I will ask them for more info.

[fitz19d]

Motorcycle 3 season, 4 season with a good coat as dry as the winters are? ;p

[gta_spec]

Good deals on early 2000s buick out there.

[Erni]

07 Yaris, or newer. 35mpg day in and out, oil and tires only, trans fluid food for life, spark plugs at 110k, coolant every 5.

[ben4372]

The 2000's Buicks are sweet, and cheap. Usually low miles and not hot-rodded. I would go looking for a Honda Fit. I bought an 07 when I needed an alternative to my truck. I love the thing. good gas mileage room for wife and 3 kids and the seats fold down for camping and loading every thing cargo. A fun car to drive unless you like acceleration. 0-60 is like 9 seconds. Small cheap tires, cheap insurance, SUPER easy to maintain. You mentioned long term cost. Pads and rotors were about 50 bucks for the good quality parts, could have been less if I bought cheap bits. Most older Hondas with under 200k should fit your bill.

[Irving]

Have a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe in the family that I looked into, but I don't think it's what you're looking for.

[Rumline]

A coworker of mine swears by his Honda Fit. I think he's had it since 2008 or 2010 and he bought it used. He brags about how little he spends on maintainence, including tires, and gas.

[Martinjmpr]

What's your budget? For under $4k I would go with a ~2002 - 2008 Honda Civic/Accord or Toyota Corolla with a manual transmission. 30+ MPG all day and dead-nuts reliable. Nothing against American cars but from what I've seen the domestic compacts were almost always bought with a slushbox that sucks power and would be expensive to repair if it fails. A Subaru will get you AWD but correspondingly worse MPG (mid 20's for the Subaru vs mid 30's for the Honda/Toyota.) Mazda and Nissan can also be found with manual transmissions.

Sadly, I sold my MT 'commuter' car (a 2002 Nissan Pathfinder) in December after I crunched the numbers and realized it was stupid for me to have a "commuter" vehicle when my commute totals 60 miles a week (I work at home 2 days a week and on the other 3 days my commute is only 10 miles one way.) The Pathy was a nice vehicle but it really didn't get very good MPG (16 - 17 though that was still better than the Suburban's 10 - 11.)

I miss having a manual transmission car but grudgingly admit that my gas pig Suburban does fine hauling my butt to and from work.

German cars - Audi and VW mostly - seem to offer good MPG but people seem to either absolutely love them or absolutely hate them. I guess some German cars have lots of finicky electronics that can get buggy? Dunno, the only German vehicle I've ever owned is a BMW motorcycle and it still runs fine.


EDITED TO ADD: Some Subarus with the 2.5 engine have head gasket issues. I had a '99 Outback wagon and had no problems with it, and pretty much everyone in my family owns a Subaru, so far none of them have had any issues. I sometimes think the Internet "squeaky wheel" syndrome magnifies flaws and makes people think there are more problems than there actually are, nevertheless, it is something to be aware of as a head gasked is a ~$3000 repair on a Subie.

[Irving]

I think Kelly on here has a Honda Fit as his daily.