Anyone care to suggest a car for me?

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I'd go for a Civic instead of a CRV.

CRVs are dear but they are so practical and versatile compared to the civic which is pretty much a 1-trick pony.

Hmmmm, there's an ex taxi Prius V on craigslist. I didn't realize those were old enough to start getting retired from taxi fleets already. If I can find one of those in OK condition at the right price when I'm ready to buy something later this Spring or early Summer then I think that'd be a winner over a regular prius. More cargo space and all that with about the same fuel economy.

Save the planet, ride a bike.

I have a bicycle. And a transit pass. But neither are practical for all transportation needs.

I never take my bike into the city because you're not allowed to take them on the train during rush hour. Transit is OK to commute to and from work, but inconvenient to non-existent late night, weekends, and holidays. I still need to borrow a vehicle here and there to transport tools or go grocery shopping. Grocery shopping can be done via transit, it's just a major pita.

My commute is approximately 30km each way and takes about 2 hours each way via public transit. It's quicker by car & enables the convenience or running errands after work, or going to the beach or a friend's place instead of sitting in rush hour traffic etc and then cruising home in 45mins.

I won't buy a car until the weather gets nice because that's when kiteboarding season will start again, and theres simply no way to ride a bicycle hauling all that gear 110kms each way to the best kite beach around. Heck, even riding the 30km to work would probably have me too tired to then physically, and safely, do my job.. then I'd be too dead tired to ride home. I might be able to do it once if I had to, but there's no way I could do that 5 days a week, especially not here where it rains for several weeks at a time.

Bicycles are great if you live in the city and work close to home, but out here in the suburbs where I live there are 2-4 cars per household because its the only way for working adults to get around with any sort of convenience whatsoever.

As a preemptive rebuttal to the "move closer to work" argument:
1) My work location isn't permanent.
2) Homes close to work are multi-millions of dollars & rents are also very expensive.

Cars are fairly essential to the suburban commuter, even if you do take the train and just drive on weekends. I'm fortunate enough to be living with family and usually have access to a vehicle to borrow since there are 2 here. The other night they were both in use, but my brother lives 2 blocks away and has 2 vehicles so I was able to borrow one of theirs to go out.

Even with falling gas prices and the temptation to buy something like a truck or gas guzzling awd dodge magnum, I'm still very environmentally conscious and will end up buying an old used fuel efficient car like a prius or some 4-banger hatchback or wagon vs. a gas pig.. even though I can afford the gas, especially as the price drops (although it's still the most expensive in the country here and possibly on the continent) I'd still feel like an a-hole burning up 2x+ as much fuel as necessary.

Saving the planet isn't the easy way, and the concessions needed are always a "but..." away.

You've been doing well so far. You should keep it up.

I'm not going to forgo having a life because a car burns a bit of gas. No chance I'm not going kiteboarding in the Summer, and also no chance I'm going to inconvenience relatives every time I have a Need for a vehicle.

I said I'm considering buying a high mileage prius and driving it until the wheels fall off, not that since gas prices are falling I'm going to rush out and finance a crew cab 4x4 just to watch the needle go down every time I press the gas pedal. Jeez.

Yeah, I'm doing OK without a car through the Winter because I haven't cared about Winter sports for several years now and my financial goals are bigger than wasting money on a car don't need yet. But as soon as Summer hits, I'm putting wheels back on the road for all the reasons I described above. Then there's also social life/dating reasons to have the convenience of a car on the road.

If being carless wasn't a major inconvenience and lifestyle hinderance, I wouldn't really care that much - ie if I made big bucks, lived downtown & all my friends/family that I cared to see lived downtown as well, and there was nothing I ever needed to leave the city for. Even car sharing companies aren't an option for me 1) I have cash, but no credit, so can't rent their cars. 2) You can't drive them out of the downtown area to where I want to go anyways.

I respect the environment FAR more than most people, but I'm not willing to give up all of the freedoms of driving. I could see if I didn't ever have to transport anything for work (tools), lived and worked within a walking community, had no friends, family, social or sex life, didn't care to go anywhere or participate in sports & recreational activities, never wanted to stay out passed 8pm (the time I have to catch the train by to catch the last bus M-Fri) etc.. BUT, I actually have a life... soooo consider the ~7 months of not having wheels on the road (despite the fact that I could go transfer some funds around and buy a car any day I please) a rather generous gift to the environment. Come Summertime I'm buying my freedom, enjoyment, time and convenience back for less than $5K taxes & a year's insurance included.

I'd say the metal-hydride batteries in Toyota hybrids have got to be more environmentally impactful than basic Japanese steel. Older (circa 1999) 4Runners are a nice deal, often under 3K USD & you can find the 2.7 4cylinder trucks with timing chains pretty easily. Sure it would drink more pricey Canadian gas but it would probably never break.

I have heard that the battery production might be rather dirty, but I'm not familiar with the actual stats to say which is dirtier.

Regardless, any prius I might buy had it's batteries produced several years ago - so I wouldn't be stimulating any new demand for a battery pack. Although I would imagine that new battery production will become cleaner over time with better environmental safeguards & consumer demand for it as people become more familiar with damage caused.

As for a 99 4runner.. they get 16-19mpg. Assuming 16mpg, and the fact that we have the most expensive gas in the country.. there is about a snowball's chance in hell that I'd be buying one of those. I drove my last car 50,000kms in a year and a half. The most I ever drove was 45k kms in a year in my own car, and another probably 20k kms in a work vehicle. 33k/year included doing zero actual road trips - just weekend trips to the beach. I have financial goals that are far more important to save & invest for than spend several hundred to a grand a month on gas. F that.

I like my old 4runner quite well. They are good for racking up high milage with minimal hassles. Plenty of cargo room in the back with the rear seat folded down. They're not easy on gas, though.

Which is why a 4runner is not even a remote consideration for me. If I was ok with 16mpg and a thousand dollar a month gas bill I'd go buy a 4 door F-150. But I don't need one for work/business purposes yet, so until I need something more substantial to haul tools/materials etc then I'm going to buy and drive some sort of fuel sipper that's either a hatchback or wagon, simple as that.

Rav4s are kinda slow except for the V6 ones, but all the 4wd models have electronic center locking diffs & should be about 10mpg better than the 4runner.

Not sure about a new one, but for around $3K you can get a 1997 or 1999 one as per local craigslist ads. 2wd versions get 23mpg, 4wd is rated for 21mpg but real world users report 19.7mpg for automatics, 5spd might get 21. If I were willing to spend that much on fuel I'd buy an F-150 on propane/dual fuel. But I'm not.. hence considering cars in the upper 20's or higher - much much higher with the 46mpg+ prius.

A friend of mine has a ~2014ish rav4 and it's a great vehicle, just not ultra fuel efficient and far too high a price tag for me to even consider it. Money is for other things, not cars at this point in my life. I like cars, but right now I simply view my vehicle as a transportation appliance to get from a-b and that's it.

You might consider one of the rare 2 door Ravs, less sheetmetal = more efficient. The FWD ones are probably OK, also Subarus might be seen as a happy medium - 2.2L Outbacks go FOREVER & they hover around 26-31mpg(U.S.), seems like ground clearance might mean a lot.

I doubt the cargo space in a 2 door is very good. Probably not a lot of room to sleep in the back like a 4 door.

Subaru? Never again. F that brand. I had a 2000 Legacy Outback Limited. Very luxurious w/ heated leather seats and dual power roofs etc.. but damn near EVERYTHING broke on that car in the year or so I owned it and drove it 45k kms. Between repairs and depreciation (I bought it used for $12,900 in around 2006ish) that car cost me $10,000.00. IN A YEAR!

My neighbour had an older legacy for a short while.. cracked head/losing compression.. so he sold it off. Both of us had pretty bad experiences with subarus and won't make that same mistake twice.

Subies require discernment... as a Coloradan (we have tons of them here) I've compulsively learned most of their engine codes so I can avoid that. Thankfully there have been many alternatives, maybe an old Lexus RX300 would be more suited - more motor, more reliability, still AWD and the 2 owners of those I've met love them. It's pretty much a ritzy Japanese-market Rav4 with more power. Plus, they've got to be cheaper than Prii...