I'm in the market for a new vehicle as well. With gas prices the way the are, I think everyone is wanting something fairly inexpensive with great mpg.
My father is a mechanic & he has advised against the Aveo, very strongly in fact, he as also advised against Hyaundis, Kias, which fit in the same class as the Aveo - Cheap. Cheaply put together, made & not efficient. The best thing that he suggested was something like a Toyota Camry or Corolla with low liters. Most of these you can watch the mileage if buying used, just have a mechanic check out because the time belts can become a big issue. Especially with lots of miles on the engine. Good Luck & let me know if you find a great, inexpensive car, I wouldn't mind the tip.

holy cow, CVT kinda sucks for FE because if you take your foot off of the gas then it slows down like you are breaking. at least that is what I have been told. it was an option on the hondas at one time and a guy around here had one and it drove him crazy. thanks for the heads up.

cthrondson, I personally have been looking at the yaris and the fit along with the smart but we may have an addition to our family so the 2 seater may be out. also the vibe and the matrix for good FE for their size. maybe just some ideas.

Based on statistics I see, my observations and reports from drivers, Hyundai has really picked up the slack and is now as good as any other manufacturer.

Parts are still overpriced as hell due to having to come from overseas.

I'll agree they've picked up the slack, but I wouldn't say they're as good as any other manufacturer. You simply cannot compare Hyundai/Kia to Honda/Toyota in the small commuter car class.

It may drive some people crazy the way CVT works, but, generally speaking, CVT is better for FE than a conventional automatic, and sometimes even better than manual. The reason is that a well built CVT allows you to keep the engine at its most efficient RPM while accelerating/driving at any speed. The key is that the CVT be well designed (I assume Nissan's is, as they generally make quality products, and they have been doing CVTs for a while now), and that you learn how to drive it. Some people probably hammer the gas with a CVT because they are used to shifting and variable RPM--if you want higher RPM in a CVT, you must push the pedal harder--the RPM won't increase due to shifting, because there is no shifting. If you let your foot off the throttle, then you should slow down a similar amount to what you would if you did the same thing in a regular automatic.

If you look at the EPA ratings for the Versa, the CVT is rated higher than the manual:

2008 Nissan Versa:
CVT 27/33
Manual 26/31
Automatic 24/32


All that having been said, it is based upon research I have done into CVT, and reading about cars with CVT, but I have never driven one. If I had $15k-20k to buy a new car right now, I would strongly consider one with a CVT, personally.

I am a little confused about the versa. I would have thought that just the size of the car would warrant mid to high 30s as far as MPG and the fact that their manual gets the worst mileage out of their entire lineup makes me wonder about the gearing that they are using.

CVT is new to me, though I understand the concept, it is still hard for me to understand how there isn't constant wear and frequent replacement of parts just by the way it has been described to me. there again maybe my understanding is wrong.

If you look up CVT on Wikipedia, HowStuffWorks, etc, you can get some pretty good descriptions & a lot of details. There are lots of other sites too. Google turns up some good stuff.

One thing to note is that old CVTs could only be used in low-duty applications (like really small cars, e.g. Ford Fiesta), but there have since been developments that allow CVTs to work even in very high-duty applications (like some kinds of large construction vehicles). Oh, also note that the How Stuff Works timeline is a little wrong about a few things (like Ford not using CVTs before 2004).

Oddly, the CVT in the 2008 Jeep Patriot that I test-drove seemed to have been programmed to simulate a normal transmission, letting the RPM rise and fall. I thought that was a bit weird. I assume it was done to make people comfortable with buying unfamiliar technology by making it feel more familiar...

it may have a couple gears, but there is variation with each gear....

This is exactly right. CVTs have not been popular, so the auto manufacturers give you the option of (or sometimes, require) having the CVT "shift" like a normal automatic. I believe the one in the Maxima behaves like a Tiptronic, allowing you to "shift" it yourself, but I haven't actually seen one in person. If I had a CVT, I would want to be able to put it in "maximum MPG" mode and to heck with shifting.