Fuel efficient cars of the past few decades

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SolarAndWood

SolarAndWood

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Feb 3, 2008
6,788
Syracuse NY
Came across this 81 Rabbit diesel on Ebay. Looks clean, good mileage and quick payback compared to my daily driver. Any other models you would put on this list to watch for?

(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PRISTINE-1981-VW-Volkswagen-Diesel-Rabbit-78-000-miles-GTI-wheels-55-MPG-/250889362269?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3a6a2bdb5d#v4-44)
 

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That's a sweet ride. I just picked up a Transit connect for work. I had to beg for it as they were content to have me driving around in an 9 mpg 3/4 ton van. I'm hoping to slowly switch over our entire fleet to something less thirsty. 10-12 mpg vs 22-27 mpg.
 
btuser said:
That's a sweet ride.
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lol, that's what I thought. My wife, not so much. Looks like some 80s pickups will be added to the list. Maybe she'd be more into something like this

(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-Mazda-Diesel-B2200-Truck-Rare-Sundowner-/230655929710?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item35b42a2d6e)
 
That truck is sweet if it really gets the 40+- Mpg the seller claims. I'd never heard of those little Mazdas but now I kinda want one.
Not diesel, or much to look at, or very safe according to some, but the 3 cylinder Geo Metros got outstanding mileage. A guy in town still drives his metro convertable. Cleaner exhaust than the older diesels.
 
Had a VW diesel pickup truck. 50 mpg. Rabbit would be similar.

Had a mid-80s Toyota diesel pickup and Isuzu diesel pickup.

Recomend either or any small diesel pickup.

Very hard to find these days.
 
I wish Ford would come out with a 60ish style step-side truck. Something small, 2 wheel drive just for Summer projects. If they stripped it down and made it a unibody (nothing too HD) I bet they could get close to 30. I'm talking roll-up windows and hub caps, but still abs and airbags.
 
My wife and I just bought a VW jettawagen tdi. It's a sweet ride and averaging 42mpg. Check out the documentary Gashole--it talks about fuel efficient technologies that have come (and gone) over the last century.
 
I have a number of friends with TDIs and they all love them. It was on the short list when we bought the Camry hybrid a few years ago. If VW brought that 70 mpg diesel hybrid Golf to market, I would probably get over my refusal to have two car payments at a time.
 
Dad drove chevy sprints and geo metros for years. I think at one time he was getting close to 60 mpg. As far as safety, they held up well. Mom was t boned in hers by a full size nova at 50 mph and survived along with the dog and my sister. Dad was rear ended by a f350, luckily it was a little icy that day. The bumper was against his back seat which he survived that with some neck and back issues but he's here. Those metros held up okay. What we found though is once they started to rust, they go quick. He always drove standards. I believe the sprints had a handle on the engine where they could be removed from. I've seen bigger engines on motorcycles. I forgot to add, they had well over 200,000 miles on them.
 
I've had an 84 (new) Ford Escort diesel - great engine, crappy handling, a 2000 Beetle TDI which I sold, and my latest, with 70 k miles, a MINI Cooper.
The Beetle got 52 mpg regularly and my MINI gets 42 regularly.
I like both of them a lot.
A diesel MINI, like in Europe, would be nice, but I'm ticked about the high price of diesel compared with gas.
 
I long for the old Honda CRX-HF. 41 city, 50 hwy from a gas engine. Honda reliability. What a great car. Most of them I find on CL are either smashed up, or assaulted by racer boys.
 
I had two gas rabbits back in the '90's and those pics bring back some great memories. The price does seem a bit steep for a thirty year old car though!
 
That rabbit pictured is risky. Note the painted gas cap, it was black from VW so the rabbit may have just gotten a ghetto paint job for the sale.

Honda CRX was my idea too. They were small 2 seaters though. Fast and efficient, quiet.
 
madrone said:
I long for the old Honda CRX-HF. 41 city, 50 hwy from a gas engine. Honda reliability. What a great car. Most of them I find on CL are either smashed up, or assaulted by racer boys.
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lol, I went through every ad south of the salt line on the East coast and found the same thing.
 
Had a '94 Nisan Sentra 5 spd. Got just under 40 mpg. I only got 256k out of it. Was running great, but very rusted. the windshield kept cracking due to body movement.
 
I wouldn't mind having the old 1971 Plymouth Duster with the 225 slant 6 in it back again. 28 mpg around town and a tank of an engine with some low rpm get-up-and-go.
Or an even older valiant with a slant 6.
Basic transpo with some room.
 
I got a 2001 Honda Insight for $4k this summer. (It's the old two-seater, not the newer model)
60mpg
I still see them on CL every so often.
 
I have a 2000 honda civic hatchback 40 MPG backroads and 38 doing 75 on the interstate. 160 K and it doesnt burn oil. Darn thing is an appliance.
 
I looked at an Insight a while ago but golf clubs wouldn't fit.

Another thing I thought about was that if the battery gets weak, I think it sets a CEL and it'll never pass inspection unless the battery is replaced.
I could be wrong.

The look is very cool.
 
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