Poll: How much did you pay for your most fuel efficient car?
 

This may have been posted before, but I was just curious. I included all the cars I've owned (in order of ownership and buying price only, not money put in afterward), plus my memory's recollection of the best/worst FE in each. I'm not out to prove a point, but this poll can show that a $20k+ '07 hybrid isn't necessarily a better deal than a sub-$2k 80's Hatchback, provided you can overlook creature comfort advances in the last 20 years, and for some of us, rust and fugliness. Enjoy!

1. '95 Dodge Dakota Sport 2.5L 4cyl 5-sp = $3,000 ~ 20-ish mpg but I didn't keep track back then
2. '81 Datsun 280zx GL 2.8L 6cyl 5-sp = $500 ~ hi/28mpg, low/20mpg - I still miss that car :(
3. '72 Datsun 240z 2.4L 6cyl 3-sp auto = $1,500 ~ teens mpg if I was lucky, she was never meant to be driven slowly
4. '85 Honda CRX Si 1.5L 4yl 5-sp = $1,400 ~ hi/47mpg, low/35mpg - she's still rollin' daily @ 226k miles
5. '89 Honda CRX HF 1.5L 4cyl 5-sp = $800 ~ ? mpg b/c she's only been driven once and during that time she tried to commit hara-kiri, stalled out twice, and in general was a deathtrap...currently being built w/ a D15Z1 engine and other mods

Mak

I paid $1550 for my Civic that I currently drive, and it is currently the best FE vehicle I've owned. I paid $2800 for my VX, but drove it like a banshee and then swapped it, so it wasn't my most FE friendly vehicle.

91 civic std 72k $1500

$825 for my VX

$600 for my CRX but sold it for the VX.

I paid $12,196. (w/o state tax) for my 5 speed Yaris Hatchback. My three month average is 42.5 mpg, nearly all local driving to and from work. My three month average later in 2007 should be 44 mpg. I have been very happy with the gas mileage. Also, it is a ULEV II, Ultra Low Emission Vehicle.

2k even for my rex.

1988 CRX DX 92K $1100

Unfortunately it is DPFI automatic.

Civic DX
 

1997 Honda Civic DX Coupe: New at $12,500

30-35 mpg avg. without trying.

No power steering, no A/C, no power windows/locks, 106hp, 5-speed. Pure driving economy. Loved it. And it handled like mad.

RH77

My first sprint was $1500 from a lot. I've had plenty of two wheelers that went way faster and still got better mileage than ANY of my cars, and I rarely paid more than $500 for one of them.

I didn't pay anything for my honda cb125... it was a trade for a yamaha rd350 (9,000 miles and had the engine rebuilt 3 or more times... I wanted it gone!) and a handfull of cash... the cb125 gets 65+mpg, it was a gread deal.
my '92 vx was $1,900 with 204,000 miles,
'83 civic dx was $325 + $158 for the new tranny,
'85 hf was $700 with around 140,000 miles,
'84 civic dx (42.2mpg life time average) was $800,

I paid $250 for my metro last summer, but had to put some work into it. I probably put another $100 into junkyard parts to get it like it is now. My 95 park ave was around $600 and got 30mpg while being fully loaded.

Back in 1965, my dad paid $235 for a '59 Anglia. We still have it even though we haven't driven it in years, and at 40 mpg, it's still the most fuel efficient car we've ever owned. I take that as sad commentary on the FE of the typical car of the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. You'd think that with 40 years of advances, we ought to be able to blow away the FE of such an obsolete car. And perhaps you could argue that something like the Metro is a significant advance, but I wouldn't. It's just lots of little advances. The Anglia is to the Metro as a standard incandescent bulb is to a halogen. I'm looking for improvements in the fluorescent or LED league.

1988 ford festiva brand new for about $8200, including tax/plates.
average tank was around 45mpg. had quite a few over 50mpg hwy.
All that mpg and it had a Carburetor too!

way too much

$2500 for my '97 Saturn SL.

$2400 for my 1994 Civic DX Coupe with 125,000 miles at the time. Put 80,000 trouble free miles since, just turned 205,000 this past week. Averaging over 45 mpg now.

It was about $11K for a brand new '92 Corolla. I had it for 10 years and always got over 36 mpg/tank. That was before I discovered hypermiling. Now I'd probably be getting more like 45 - 50. Too bad the salty roads turned it into a coroda. ;)

$435+$75=$510 for two bunnies, but that will drop below $500 as I have some parting to do. Hoping to get lower, but I'll need patience for that. The pickup and Camry were free.

Yea me to. If you add the 2 cars together that I'm driving now. One which cost me nada, it still to much:)

Which do I choose? The poll says "most FE vehicle", the thread says "most fuel efficient car". If 'vehicle': My sailboat uses less 'fuel' per unit of distance than my bicycle.
And are you considering fuel efficiency based on one best measurement of distance per unit of fuel, or on the lifetime (or duration of ownership) average of all distances divided over total fuel? I've had cars that could be wrung out to a better mpg than the best of my motorcycles, but the cars were seldom driven that way. Their average was lower than the motorcycle's.

Lug Nut: what kind of sailboat? I've got a small fleet: 2 beat up catamarans, and a 26 ft weekend cruiser (a Hughes 26 - "the Hyundai of sailboats").

$4500 CDN for the Blackfly. (Remembering it only had 2,000 km on it when I got it).

Compared to $1900 CDN for Firefly#1, which had 14x,000 km on it when I got it.

I need to change my vote, assuming the Beat will beat the Beater. :D

$1750 for 92 Civic VX with 153,000 miles.

My best purchase to date has been the 89 Honda Wagovan I am driving. I paid $500 for it. I had to put about $300 in repairs into it and it has been a very dependable car. It has about 215,000 on it, it doesn't use hardly any oil and runs great.

My next best purchase was a 1987 Civic DX, which I paid $1500 for. I had one daughter who used it for college and then moved on to a Camry. I have a second daughter who is driving it for college, now. I can get a little better mileage out of my wagon, than she gets out of the DX, which is a reflection of the difference between fuel injection and carburated, as well as some engine head design differences.

The way I look at it is that if we can drive something that is using substantially less fuel, then the total emissions which are emitted have to be substantially less than in some other type of vehicle. In terms of cost, I look at it as the total cost/reliability of ownership. With what I've paid for these cars and with the mileage they get, I feel they have been a very good value.

The Metro was tick under $8000, bought new in '95. It's long since been paid off. The Ranger was a gift.

$0 my dad bought it for me as my first car, though he did pay $3000 almost 11 years ago.

299,86x, so close to 300k.

$172 for my old Saturn.

Oh wait - can I say $79 for the blue ForkenSwift? :D

For the sake of comparison I'll stick with the cars for which I have records.

96 VW Passat TDI sedan, purchased in 97: $20,000. 52.5 mpg (135,111.7 mi/2,573.76 gal). 68.6 mpg best tank. Total loss in 2000. Received $6,500 and kept the car. Sold the drive line for $900.

86 VW Golf diesel, purchased in 2000 as an interim: $700, 44.54 mpg (2058.2 mi/46.21 gal). 48.61 best tank. Sold for $500

96 VW Passat TDI sedan, purchased 2001: $6,500, 52.0 mpg (115,894 mi/2,228.7 gal) 82.3 mpg best (2003 Tour de Sol). Sold for $3,000.

96 VW Passat TDI wagon, purchased 2004: $4,500, 48.9 mpg (69,252 mi/1,417.57 gal). 77.5 mpg best (2005 Tour de Sol). Total loss in 2006. Received $5,000 and kept the car. Transferred the drive line into...

97 VW Passat GLX wagon, purchased 2006: $3,300 plus the drive line from above, 46+ mpg to date.

69 SAAB Sonett, purchased in 98: $5,500, consistently 450~480 miles per 12~14 gallon refill, so around 35 mpg to date.

My prior car's and bike's fuel records (and purchase costs) are non-existent or long forgotten. The CM450E was about 65 mpg, the 1500 Goldwing about 45, The Suburban was between 9 and 11. The Tempo was 40, but only once. The Volvo 760 was 20 average with a best of 27. The other dozen or so cars and bikes in the past 30 years are best forgotten.

When I posted this thread, I had car/van/truck/wagon etc in mind (I guess any mass produced consumer-grade 4 wheeled contraption will work. Bikes and boats are in their own league considering weight, engine design, and purpose) I wanted it to be simple so "lifetime" FE will be the criteria, b/c anyone can throw a Ford Expedition SUV down a big hill w/ the engine off and claim "infinite mpg" based on a single run, despite a lifetime of 12.3 mpg (I use that specific figure b/c it's what my sister's Ford Ex displayed last time I talked to her...apparently fuel economy awareness does NOT run in my faimly)

PS - Mabe "V-Dub Nut" should have been a more suiting name Lug? I've always wanted a Baha Diesel Bug myself...

1999 Honda civic. Had a 99 altima and I thought it was a waste of gas to drive such a boat around. Plus it kept breaking down on me all the time. Sold the altima. Looked for a 1999-2000 civic since I liked how the lights looked and the design update. I looked for a 5 speed, I wanted to choose my own gears. Found one for $5,500 and bought it. Had somebody drive it to my house and then I practiced during the nights how to drive stick.

No problems with the car. The only real big expense I have to worry about is the timing belt and the water pump in 10k.

I also love the fact that's it's faster, more reliable, better looking, and wastes less gas than my last car.

1989 Geo Metro Lsi...paid $600.00 US. MPG? Don't know yet, I need to replace motor mounts before I start driving on a daily basis (see my post Engine ~shake~! ).

I will say it was a hoot at the pump when I filled it up, bought the car it almost empty so I filler her up to get home, 7.2 gals. I can't wait to start driving her.

My old Tercel was free. That thing if I remember correctly was getting high 20's/low 30's in the city before I knew anything about green driving, so I imagine that I could have done wonders to the FE of that beater. I also got the Green machine for free when a friend of the family died. Her family didn't think that the car was worth anything substantial, didn't consider selling it worth the effort and I didn't have a car at the time. It ended up being the second best car I've ever driven behind the Tercel. I just really with it had a stick. One day...

88 Crx
 

I paid $1100 for my 88 CRX.

Odometer read just under 100k when I got it. Unfortunately it is an automatic which will hopefully be changed later on down the road.

I haven't put any real money into it other than regular maintenance. It's pretty much the car that I want to teach myself how to do mechanical work on. First project was doing to brakes and rotors this past weekend.

I've got a list of other things I want to do as well :

- MPFI Swap
- SuperMID install (I have it but can't install just yet)
- Auto to manual swap

After that it will be just about where I want it and at that time I hope that I will be easily able to average 50 MPG.

I forgot that there are other sailors on here. I sail a 19' 1974 Capy Dory Alberg Typhoon that I absolutely love and have owned since I was 12 years old (got a killer deal on it and saved every penny I could for about three years). The full keel is great and allows me to easily manage the sudden storms that we have here in the summer.

I also have a few kayaks that I've built.

Maybe we should have wind powered listed under 'alternative fuels.'

$7k OTD plus tag and tax for a 1992 Festiva. Loaded with everything you could get on one except for the Auto tranny. Wonderful car. Would buy two of them today at $9k if they still sold them here in the states. 40 to 45 mpg with your foot on the floor and the A/C on. Turning the A/C off was like the turbo coming on.... :)

In contrast,,, I paided 19,128 for my current junker 06 EX Civic Sedan. The Festive only had one very minor warrenty issue that took 15 mins to fix. The Civic has had more warrenty issues than the last 5 new cars Ive bought. The Accord has been a tad better. Word!!! Dont buy a new Honda unless its built in Japan. They are way over priced and not the cars or lore.

psy

bwaa $225 us for a 1980 chevy chevette, usually gets high 20's low 30's (i saw 32 once but i counted it off as i wrote somehting down wrong) prolly dumped another $100 into it. best car ever IMO. fits 4 adults comforitably (im 6'2" and fit in the back seat just fine with the fronts all the way back.)
currently 27 years old...

$2,300 for the Geo which is a steal in Saskatchewan (the owner originally wanted $2,950). There's an ad on the school bulletin boards for a '95 model described as having less than 200,000km on it, new battery and muffler and they want $4,000 for the dang thing! Cars are NOT cheap in my province. Maybe it's because driving is regarded as high a priority as breathing in my city. Regina has the 4th worst suburban sprawl (per capita) in all of Canada so there's always a huge demand for automobiles.

$1500 for the 92 Civic VX h/b w/173K - haven't driven it much yet, working on getting the mpgs up w/a few tunes & tweaks

$1750 for the 94 Civic DX h/b w/135K when I bought it (now has 213K)- solid 35-42mpg depending on the outside temps (STILL ! , love this car)

$2250 for the 92 Civic DX sedan with 124K (now 135K) this one's mpg sucks at about 30mpgs...gotta r&r the o2 sensor & do some tweaking here too to get the mpgs up

all 5 spd.

kinda OT but do O2 sensors go bad with age?