Anyone care to suggest a car for me?

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don't lexii all require premium fuel?

Probably no more than 87 octane, if that. Those restrictions became more commonplace in the last decade.

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"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I highly doubt you're going to find a lexus suv like that for around $3K.. especially not when 1997 rav4's are advertised for about that. Civilian priuses might cost more, but I'm considering an ex-taxi with 300-400+ kms on the odo.

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Those batteries are a lot of dead weight when their charge cycles are spent. I'd probably look for an Accord Wagon w/ the 5 speed if you can still find those where you are.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I used to drive the dickens out of an '87 Toyota tercel 4wd wagon, underpowered, had to have the foot in the gas all the time but no matter what it got at least 30mpg day in and out, it was an automatic. the far more common stickshift model would probably get better.

My mom had one of those. They've got amazing gearboxes, L/1/2/3/4/5/R: hatchbacks with crawler gears!

I'd love to try one just for s**ts & giggles. It's difficult to come up with any one thing that does more with 75HP.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

it still drives, my niece has it now, but the a/c doesn't work anymore. luckily it is the Puget sound area which seldom gets hot enough to need it more than a few days in a row.

4wd sr5 or not, the Tercel could easily be your best bet. A friend's GF had (probably still has) a '90something 5 cog tercel sedan & I'm pretty sure it rolled over 500,000 miles without issue. Those cars don't look it but they're diesel Merc levels of tough. I've seen a coupe in BC with a SkiDoo strapped to its' roof.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I was about to say 30 year old tercels are pretty worn out and beat by now, if you can even find one for sale.. but look at this time capsule version on craigslist right now:

http://abbotsford.craigslist.ca/cto/5448275568.html

I would probably at least go test drive it if I were in the market for a car Today vs. in a couple months - it's not awd, though.

$1800 seems a bit high, too.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

if I can persuade my niece to let go of hers, would you be interested? awd and automatic, about that many miles as the red one in the CL ad, AFAIK. been in the family since we bought it in 1998.

Hmmmmmmmmm.. it would probably be unstoppable. Even if it has 160k miles vs kms that's still pretty low mileage.. and while condition inside and out are a factor, I'm not sure I want to drive something that's rated for only 22mpg, especially since most cars don't get real world results as good as they're rated for. Then there's the currency exchange rate factor, trip costs to view/buy, import costs/paperwork/modifications.. it might make it one very expensive 80's car.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I got 30mpg with it, mile in and out, city or highway. it was geared a bit on the low side as the engine only made about 75 horses.

I've been browsing all kinds of cars on craigslist.. including some subarus. But I dunno if I'd trust a super cheap subaru, and not sure I want to spend $4-5k on a better example. Hmm. But yeah, they do get close to 30mpg and have a lot of cargo space and awd.. hmm.

As for honda crv's, the downside is that they're lucky to see 21mpg. That's significantly more money for fuel. Like another $150 or so per month when I drive a lot in the Summer. Hmm.

I did email a few car ads today. One is a 2006 hyundai accent slant-back w/ the rear seats missing. It was a delivery car, probably for Lordco autoparts as it seems their whole fleet is for sale. Not sure I want a car with no back seat, though.. just in case I want to have more than one passenger. Also, being a sort of slant-back vs hatch, the cargo area isn't as big.

But there's one I emailed less than an hour ago that was posted 5 hours before.. a honda civic hatchback 5spd w/ sunroof and low kms! If they reply to me and it's available I'll go buy it this evening.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I figured that if I wait another couple months and build my car budget up to $4-5K that what's likely going to happen is I'm not going to want to part with that much money anyways and will end up buying a beater vs. buying a $4K car and taking a risk that it ends up costing me $$$ in repairs.

So, instead I figured I'll just start emailing some of these cheap cheap car ads and see if one of them pans out.

Emailed another one tonight.. not my ideal perfect first choice, buuuut, if it works out - it'll do nicely. It's a little small and has no sunroof, but at least it's a hatchback and has a manual transmission and should get great fuel economy. It's a 2005 Toyota Echo 2dr hb 5spd with... 449,327km on the odo. It has snowies plus another set of rims. So I emailed and asked what their bottom line price is... guy replied w/ a bit lower price, which is acceptable to me, sooo I emailed and said I can bring cash tomorrow & asked what time he's available. If he gets back to me tonight blah blah then I might just have myself a little gokart by sometime tomorrow! It's by far the cheapest car of it's type for sale right now and about 1/3rd or so the average price sooo I figure I can't really lose. Heck, my last car had almost as high of mileage when I bought it and was 15 years older. This one should last a few years yet.. which for slightly more than 2 weeks' pay, I figure it's worth it.

Fingers crossed that he replies again and it all works out!

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.