It's time to get rid of my current vehicle and purchase a new ride. I'm looking for some suggestions. Here's my criteria:
Excellent gas mileage, I'm talking over 30mpg here
Inexpensive, less than $17,000
Confident handling
Reliable
Fairly spacious
I'm focused on smaller cars. In the running are a Mazda 3, Kia Spectra or the Kia Rio Cinco, Toyota Corrolla S and the VW Golf.
Anyone have first hand experience with any of these? Or anyone have other suggestions?
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Never criticize someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, when you DO criticize them, you are a mile away, and you have their shoes...
If you choose any truth and follow it blindly, it becomes a falsehood, and you, a fanatic.
out of those you mentioned, the mazda 3 is generally regarded as the best of the bunch. Having said that, I have never personally driven or rode in one.
Another option would be a slightly used mid sized car , which can be purchased through a dealer with an excellent warranty attached to it.
I was hoping to get more than 12 blocks to the gallon...
__________________
Never criticize someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, when you DO criticize them, you are a mile away, and you have their shoes...
If you choose any truth and follow it blindly, it becomes a falsehood, and you, a fanatic.
With the current price of gas, I can't understand why people continue to buy large vehicles. Last summer, a friend of mine bought a Chevy Avalanche. This thing is mammoth. And so are his gas bills. I'll take a little compact car any day. I'd like to spend the remainder of my pay check feeding ME, not my car.
I honestly don't spend alot in gas and I do go where ever I want to.
Yeah sure a compact car would be great for someone with a compact family...but if we wish to go anywhere together I need something bigger than that. Hubby wouldn't fit in a small car comfortably and from the way my boy is growing we would have to strap him to the roof too!
Small cars just aren't practical for some peoples life style. For instance, I live on a large farm driveway is 600 ft long (guess we like big driveways too! lol) ~ don't really see how I would get into that driveway with a lil' car in a snow storm and hubby was at work. PLUS, How in the world would we be able to drive in the farm lanes out back in a Eclipse?
I have a chevy tracker 4x4 convertible that will go just about anywhere and it gets around 25mpg, so you can get go anywhere performance and decent mileage at the same time :)
if you need more passenger space, there is always the suzuki xl-7, seats 7 and still goes almost anywhere.....