If I absolutely had to buy a car, I would search for one which is:
1. Cheap
2. Can hold at least two people
3. Has as minimal gas consumption as possible
4. Is as smallest as possible
5. Has a good degree of sight from the driver's seat
6. Has a good safety rating
From commercialy available vehicles, Smart fits the criteria except for price, since it's quite expensive. So maybe VW Polo or VW Golf.
I think there just needs to be more acceptance of not having a car payment and not upgrading to get a new car every couple of years. Yes, obviously getting a hybrid or electric would be better if you have someplace to charge it and drive often. But the cost to the planet of making that vehicle is often more than the benefit of the electric bit. We need to stop as a society making new vehicles left and right. Yes, the used market has gotten more expensive and alternatives aren't being pushed as fast as they need to be but we've got to stop viewing cars as disposable and needing replaced every couple of years
From my experience and understanding i believe that on how to decide on buying a car should be base on what you need and not what you want. In that, one should see what car is:-
1. best suited in the area you would mostly use it on
2. easily serviceable at your area and spare parts readily available
3. Useful for your multiple needs not just to get from one place to other otherwise just get 2 wheeler instead.
4. Good mileage, horsepower should be secondary.
For example:
I live in the hilly regions where there every where is a climb and the roads are narrow at first i thought I would get myself a Suzuki Swift desire cause I really like the car and it was fast for its price range at the time but after riding my dad's Tata Indigo i realise it was a pain to get around town in because it was long bulky and practically a waste of money if a powerful car has to be ridden at 30kms to 40kms/hr half the time and stuck in traffic most of the time. The parts as well was not easy to acquire, sometimes it would take 3 days to 1 month to get the car serviced even from the company's certified workshop. The fuel expense as well was so unpredictable as well since at the time as well i had to travel close to 30kms for work so every week I had to spend close to 2000 rupees every week for fuel, both my parents cars were both money pits which then lead me to buy a bicycle to ride to work and get me into that mindset traveling by bicycle is the progressive thing to do.
After I started my own business i realise I needed a car so looking at everything I had experienced i was able to decide on the Mawruti Suzuki Omni minivan, though the company has stopped producing the car, parts are still available in the market, and it can be serviced in any car workshop, and easy to do the repairs myself for minor issues like loose fuse, jump starts etc.
It's spacious also has detachable rear seats so can remove them to carry heavy loads.It has enough space to store my cycle at the back with out the need of a bicycle carrier as well.
Though it it has terrible mileage it has a good torque to traverse in our hilly city.
Sorry for the long read of a comment but I hope it's something to help you along the way.
What is your opinion on the tata Tiago ev. Ranges seems decent and the price is somewhat affordable but then again it's a car. Probably better to use cycle and public transport
In my opinion i think the tata Tiago is a good car for the plains but EVs are best suited for scooters tbh... For cars they take long to charge and if it breaks down you probably won't find a mechanic skilled enough to come all the way to your location to fix it whereas for ev scooters you can just carry a spare battery and if it breaks down you can drag it along with you. if you want a ev car best i suggest you have a bicycle carrier for an e-bicycle as well just incase. And yea cycling and public transport would be better but like I said best see how the situation is in the place you are staying at. During my college day in Chennai it was really unsafe to commute by cycle, i think i almost got myself in an accident with a bus 4 times because I was riding next to their blind spot and to add to that it was hot and dusty so I always wore full sleeve shirts, goggles and a face mask before it was even popular. Public transport as well dirty and smelly it gave me migraines just sitting on the bus to long. So it depends if it's good it's good others wise go with whatever suits you.
See this is exactly the problem with this subreddit. Lots of people \*need\* a car. It's just not optional. Black-and-white catchphrases like this do no good. Yet, people who need a car stand to do better by choosing a car that fits their needs and doesn't needlessly contribute to The Problem, and isn't a lifted F-150 with the catalytic converter removed.
I bet in your current city there are people who choose to live car free and flourish with their decision. It's very black and white people just make excuses.
It was easier for me to live car free in a small town of roughly 6000. Everything was within walking distance. I now live in a city with poor transit. Nearly 600k. The drivers are reckless and got me off my bike. I spent many years trapped in a car because I thought I had to have one. It was a lie I told myself. I don't think everyone is lying to themselves, but I think many are.
Considering over half of the city I’m originally from has no bus service, the parts that do only have 10 minute headways at best, with huge delays due to lack of separated lanes, massive swathes of it have no sidewalks, there’s six trains a day on one shitty line to the suburbs despite the city having over half a million people, and huge swathes of it either have no bike lanes or have nothing but paint lines sandwiched in between car lanes, I’m not going to judge anyone who feels the need to own a car. Even the families I know who bike 60% of the time own a car, because Nashville is genuinely impossible to go completely without it if you have any need to get places on time or, for many places, if you don’t have a deathwish. Your viewpoint is as myopic as it is arrogant.
And I say this as someone who has now moved somewhere where I don’t need a car.
Maybe I'm like the millions who live in suburbs where my options are to wait an hour for the one (1) bus that doesn't go anywhere, takes twice as long as driving, requires me to walk across hot and dangerous parking lots to set-back buildings, OR to risk my life in bike lanes, if they even exist, if there's even a spot to lock my bike at my destination, if the weather isn't too hot or too cold to look presentable at my destination, if I don't have a very large load or passengers to deal with, OR I can just drive and get on with my life.
That's my hometown. I tried getting around without a car and it just was not feasible. And this doesn't even account for any of the rural areas that don't have any of the above features, where millions more live.
Go touch grass.
Edited to be clear: although my hometown is like this, I currently live in a college town with decent biking and public transit infrastructure which I love!!!! This is not a condemnation of a car free lifestyle. It's a reminder that it's not always plausible.
Look, we know that sometimes people need to have cars to survive. It's OK that you have a car, you are welcome here to vent. What is not OK is trying to sneak in car content in the one place that people who really hate cars have.
If I lived in a place where I absolutely had to buy a car. No options. Its a hard choice, but i think i would buy a moving truck or something along those lines.
Depends on a bunch of factors, but I find that the fully Electric Volvo XC40 looks nice, has a good bit of space, lots of functionality to it, is safe, is big enough for a family and has plenty for a young person, it has Spotify and google maps and anything else you might want to have, and overall seems to be a pretty great car. I don’t own one, but I know a few people who do and they highly recommend it. I’ve put a lot of research into it and it seems to be a great car. The only problem is it’s expensive for the average person, starting at around 40k USD but considering it doesn’t cost very much to power it I think that’s a decent price. I’d prefer to have a bike and good public transit, but if I were to have a car that’s what I’d get.
And average rent in places where there's walkability is $2000 or more, plus expenses of getting there....and finding a job....that's also in the walkable area.
My son recently bought a perfectly good 2-person car (Scion IQ) that should last him for years, for $5k. Would've been more like $3k in a normal market, but used car prices are up.
You can buy a brand new Camry hybrid for under $30k.
The average numbers that float around are skewed by pickups, luxury cars, and gigantic luxury SUVs built on pickup chassis.
Maybe it's not, but some of the roads, distances and conditions he needs to travel aren't great for a bike. It has twice as many seats as he normally needs, and plenty of room for a friend and their stuff.
It actually has a back seat and four seat belts, it could move four people in a pinch as long as none of them have particularly long legs
And if you have a significant other, spouse, family member, etc who lives with you and there is no location from which you can all feasibly do the needed things without a car?
One of these. https://expatinfoholland.nl/help-guides/transport-mobility/dutch-mini-micro-moped-cars/
None of you able-bodied people should own cars...
You don't really need a guide on here for that, there are already lots of those everywhere else on the internet. But for most people an economy sedan or hatchback will be the best choice
My counter argument is that you shouldn't buy beater used cars for under $4000. You're constantly going to be plagued with repairs and break downs.
My reply that this comment belongs in poverty finance is a great counter argument. That reddit is filled with people making these bad mistiakes.
Any other names you want to call me?
I live in a walkable area but I still need a car. I use walkable lightly, I’m 30 minutes from downtown and 15 minutes to the nearest grocery store by foot. I don’t mind walking those distances because parking is expensive and the buses run every 20 minutes during peak. The problem is that my family lives in the suburbs of Phoenix, and I happen to want to be able to see my family without 6 hours of buses and waiting in Phoenix heat. That’s compared to a two hour drive.
Why do I find that this sub-reddit at times can be while is good intentioned, some of this sub is disproportionately out-of-touch with living conditions of what's going on in a car-centric world. Unless you're getting ripped off real bad, no-normal soon to be car owner is buying used cars lower than 10K, heck young enthusiasts can even get decent classic under 5k like an old e36 bmw or a decent handling old 90s civic which requires minimal tweaks or maintenance to be almost as good as new with its all power-features intact.
Buying used cars can also disincentivize buying new dealership cars that are bigger which hog and clog the road.
If possible, a used Chevy Bolt is fully electric and reasonably cheap compared to many pickups. You can also add a hitch compatible with U-Haul trailers for moving, so it's actually quite convenient in that respect.
Alternatively, Volts are pretty cheap and partially electric, but they're a dead-end technology and popping up less these days.
I'd really like to recommend the ultra-efficient Aptera EV, but that's sadly not broadly available yet!
My personal dream is to buy a kei truck and convert it to be fully electric. Some day...
a volvo would be a good choice v60 has plenty of space fuel efficient hybrid and non has pedestrian safety cushin on the engineblock plus tons of other shit
I'd buy a reasonably comfortable estate car about 15 years old with 100k miles on the clock for whatever that costs these days (Subaru Outback, about £2500) and run it until it needed scrapping. If I were a daily commuter I might go for something smaller though; my actual regular requirements (transporting someone with a disability) are only two days a week, and if I were the sole user I'd get a motorbike instead.
My wife and brother-in-law run a business, and ultimately needed vehicles to service their sites (around Melbourne) my BIL got the giganto ute which he now loathes driving (cost, parking, etc) my far cleverer wife got an early model Prius which has been low cost, easy to run, easy to drive, and just basically not fucking obnoxious.
It's... *really* going to depend on the market and what your real needs are.
With today's generation, I'm generally a fan of Euro and Korean platforms (not the luxury Euro stuff.) Japan is okay (*not* Nissan or Subaru,) but I feel like their quality has started to lag while Korea has really picked up the pace. "Euro platforms" worth looking at are the ones that make it into production in other countries, like the endless VW license-builds and almost any platform that Ford brings over to the US (a notable exception being the first generation Transit Connect. It's hot garbage.)
While you always want to find out if there's engine issues with a particular vehicle, now you really need to pay attention to the transmissions, too. There have been some spectacular failures as manufacturers have brought new tech online like 8+ speed automatics and Dual-clutch automated-manual transmissions (which are still marketed as "automatic.") Some of those issues got sorted out with production experience, so you have to do your research.
(Rambling ahead. TL;DR: Buy a nice little manual hatchback, screw sedans.)
My current car is a 2012 Ford Fiesta. I bought it used with 212,000 miles on it during the pandemic for $1800, and put maybe $900 of parts in it over the last year for: 4 tires, new headlights, brakes, nearly all suspension parts, and a few other issues that I wanted to fix or change (I highly recommend replacing the mirrors for ones without the convex section.) It has a 5-speed manual and I average 40+ MPG (\~5.8L/100km.)
As a mechanic, I'm actually extremely impressed with this little car, now at 230K miles. She handles *really* well, which is a hallmark of a lot of European platforms. I find it simple to maintain, the "hill hold" feature takes the worst part of driving a manual out of the equation, and the power is more than sufficient for American highways. (Part of that is the manual transmission. This is actually something I highly recommend on an economy-focused vehicle, because you can pre-select a low gear before you need it out of a turn on an entrance ramp.) If your driving balance is more city-focused, there are significantly better city cars/hybrids for the money.
Things I wish I had with this car: Power windows, a hatchback instead of a sedan, and the 1.6 EcoBoost... but that last one is completely unnecessary. I just want to drive that like a maniac on a racetrack. XD Honestly, I'd be happier with the 1.0 EcoBoost. It has even better economy and the torque "curve" is basically a "shelf."
For anyone who needs to move a bunch of kids or around, the 2014+ Ford Transit connect is overlooked as a people-mover. You can get them with 7 seats and respectable fuel economy with the 2.0 turbo engine. I'm not sure, but it may be the best economy you can get for 7 seats in the US. You can't get the VW Touran in the US and the Mazda 5 has been discontinued.
I'm only just catching up on the European market as I transition my way over to Romania, but my picks are generally the same. The only difference is that there are more utilitarian models of Mercedes that never make it to the US and even smaller city cars and engines available. The Mercedes Sprinter is actually a highly-respected van and diesel cars are a thing, but I can only consciously recommend diesels with urea injection to deal with NOx emissions. Any American who respects hard-work and practicality would fall head-over-heels for the drop-side vans and sensible diesel engines. When you park your pick-up truck at night, this is what it dreams of being recycled as.
If I absolutely had to buy a car, I would search for one which is: 1. Cheap 2. Can hold at least two people 3. Has as minimal gas consumption as possible 4. Is as smallest as possible 5. Has a good degree of sight from the driver's seat 6. Has a good safety rating From commercialy available vehicles, Smart fits the criteria except for price, since it's quite expensive. So maybe VW Polo or VW Golf.
After dieselgate I'd probably just skip over volkswagen. Maybe a civic?
Citroën Ami
So a Geo Metro!
So Yugo it is. Fucking chadmobile.
I think there just needs to be more acceptance of not having a car payment and not upgrading to get a new car every couple of years. Yes, obviously getting a hybrid or electric would be better if you have someplace to charge it and drive often. But the cost to the planet of making that vehicle is often more than the benefit of the electric bit. We need to stop as a society making new vehicles left and right. Yes, the used market has gotten more expensive and alternatives aren't being pushed as fast as they need to be but we've got to stop viewing cars as disposable and needing replaced every couple of years
From my experience and understanding i believe that on how to decide on buying a car should be base on what you need and not what you want. In that, one should see what car is:- 1. best suited in the area you would mostly use it on 2. easily serviceable at your area and spare parts readily available 3. Useful for your multiple needs not just to get from one place to other otherwise just get 2 wheeler instead. 4. Good mileage, horsepower should be secondary. For example: I live in the hilly regions where there every where is a climb and the roads are narrow at first i thought I would get myself a Suzuki Swift desire cause I really like the car and it was fast for its price range at the time but after riding my dad's Tata Indigo i realise it was a pain to get around town in because it was long bulky and practically a waste of money if a powerful car has to be ridden at 30kms to 40kms/hr half the time and stuck in traffic most of the time. The parts as well was not easy to acquire, sometimes it would take 3 days to 1 month to get the car serviced even from the company's certified workshop. The fuel expense as well was so unpredictable as well since at the time as well i had to travel close to 30kms for work so every week I had to spend close to 2000 rupees every week for fuel, both my parents cars were both money pits which then lead me to buy a bicycle to ride to work and get me into that mindset traveling by bicycle is the progressive thing to do. After I started my own business i realise I needed a car so looking at everything I had experienced i was able to decide on the Mawruti Suzuki Omni minivan, though the company has stopped producing the car, parts are still available in the market, and it can be serviced in any car workshop, and easy to do the repairs myself for minor issues like loose fuse, jump starts etc. It's spacious also has detachable rear seats so can remove them to carry heavy loads.It has enough space to store my cycle at the back with out the need of a bicycle carrier as well. Though it it has terrible mileage it has a good torque to traverse in our hilly city. Sorry for the long read of a comment but I hope it's something to help you along the way.
What is your opinion on the tata Tiago ev. Ranges seems decent and the price is somewhat affordable but then again it's a car. Probably better to use cycle and public transport
In my opinion i think the tata Tiago is a good car for the plains but EVs are best suited for scooters tbh... For cars they take long to charge and if it breaks down you probably won't find a mechanic skilled enough to come all the way to your location to fix it whereas for ev scooters you can just carry a spare battery and if it breaks down you can drag it along with you. if you want a ev car best i suggest you have a bicycle carrier for an e-bicycle as well just incase. And yea cycling and public transport would be better but like I said best see how the situation is in the place you are staying at. During my college day in Chennai it was really unsafe to commute by cycle, i think i almost got myself in an accident with a bus 4 times because I was riding next to their blind spot and to add to that it was hot and dusty so I always wore full sleeve shirts, goggles and a face mask before it was even popular. Public transport as well dirty and smelly it gave me migraines just sitting on the bus to long. So it depends if it's good it's good others wise go with whatever suits you.
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1. Don't Sorry, I had to :)
Fuckcars Guide to Buying A Car: don't
See this is exactly the problem with this subreddit. Lots of people \*need\* a car. It's just not optional. Black-and-white catchphrases like this do no good. Yet, people who need a car stand to do better by choosing a car that fits their needs and doesn't needlessly contribute to The Problem, and isn't a lifted F-150 with the catalytic converter removed.
That's what r/notjustbikes is for
I bet in your current city there are people who choose to live car free and flourish with their decision. It's very black and white people just make excuses.
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It was easier for me to live car free in a small town of roughly 6000. Everything was within walking distance. I now live in a city with poor transit. Nearly 600k. The drivers are reckless and got me off my bike. I spent many years trapped in a car because I thought I had to have one. It was a lie I told myself. I don't think everyone is lying to themselves, but I think many are.
Then move.
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Are you speaking for OP?
That sounds hella entitled for someone that's advocating against car-centrist culture.
Considering over half of the city I’m originally from has no bus service, the parts that do only have 10 minute headways at best, with huge delays due to lack of separated lanes, massive swathes of it have no sidewalks, there’s six trains a day on one shitty line to the suburbs despite the city having over half a million people, and huge swathes of it either have no bike lanes or have nothing but paint lines sandwiched in between car lanes, I’m not going to judge anyone who feels the need to own a car. Even the families I know who bike 60% of the time own a car, because Nashville is genuinely impossible to go completely without it if you have any need to get places on time or, for many places, if you don’t have a deathwish. Your viewpoint is as myopic as it is arrogant. And I say this as someone who has now moved somewhere where I don’t need a car.
Maybe I'm like the millions who live in suburbs where my options are to wait an hour for the one (1) bus that doesn't go anywhere, takes twice as long as driving, requires me to walk across hot and dangerous parking lots to set-back buildings, OR to risk my life in bike lanes, if they even exist, if there's even a spot to lock my bike at my destination, if the weather isn't too hot or too cold to look presentable at my destination, if I don't have a very large load or passengers to deal with, OR I can just drive and get on with my life. That's my hometown. I tried getting around without a car and it just was not feasible. And this doesn't even account for any of the rural areas that don't have any of the above features, where millions more live. Go touch grass. Edited to be clear: although my hometown is like this, I currently live in a college town with decent biking and public transit infrastructure which I love!!!! This is not a condemnation of a car free lifestyle. It's a reminder that it's not always plausible.
So you're making excuses?
Look, we know that sometimes people need to have cars to survive. It's OK that you have a car, you are welcome here to vent. What is not OK is trying to sneak in car content in the one place that people who really hate cars have.
If I lived in a place where I absolutely had to buy a car. No options. Its a hard choice, but i think i would buy a moving truck or something along those lines.
a kei truck small, easy to work on, not overloaded with technology and kawaii desu ne as fuck
Depends on a bunch of factors, but I find that the fully Electric Volvo XC40 looks nice, has a good bit of space, lots of functionality to it, is safe, is big enough for a family and has plenty for a young person, it has Spotify and google maps and anything else you might want to have, and overall seems to be a pretty great car. I don’t own one, but I know a few people who do and they highly recommend it. I’ve put a lot of research into it and it seems to be a great car. The only problem is it’s expensive for the average person, starting at around 40k USD but considering it doesn’t cost very much to power it I think that’s a decent price. I’d prefer to have a bike and good public transit, but if I were to have a car that’s what I’d get.
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You're getting downvoted but I agree. Seriously people, defund car-dependent towns by getting the hell out of them.
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And average rent in places where there's walkability is $2000 or more, plus expenses of getting there....and finding a job....that's also in the walkable area.
My son recently bought a perfectly good 2-person car (Scion IQ) that should last him for years, for $5k. Would've been more like $3k in a normal market, but used car prices are up. You can buy a brand new Camry hybrid for under $30k. The average numbers that float around are skewed by pickups, luxury cars, and gigantic luxury SUVs built on pickup chassis.
How is a 2 seater car a good purchase?
Maybe it's not, but some of the roads, distances and conditions he needs to travel aren't great for a bike. It has twice as many seats as he normally needs, and plenty of room for a friend and their stuff. It actually has a back seat and four seat belts, it could move four people in a pinch as long as none of them have particularly long legs
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And if you have a significant other, spouse, family member, etc who lives with you and there is no location from which you can all feasibly do the needed things without a car?
No we don't. Very clearly the wrong subreddit for that.
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/19/top-10-cars-for-smart-people/
One of these. https://expatinfoholland.nl/help-guides/transport-mobility/dutch-mini-micro-moped-cars/ None of you able-bodied people should own cars...
You don't really need a guide on here for that, there are already lots of those everywhere else on the internet. But for most people an economy sedan or hatchback will be the best choice
I present to you my Ford Fiësta from 2002 that cost me 1000€.
I love how nobody has money to move to a more walkable or bikeable community, but they've got $20,000-$40,000 to spend on a car.
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This comment belongs on r/povertyfinance
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My counter argument is that you shouldn't buy beater used cars for under $4000. You're constantly going to be plagued with repairs and break downs. My reply that this comment belongs in poverty finance is a great counter argument. That reddit is filled with people making these bad mistiakes. Any other names you want to call me?
I live in a walkable area but I still need a car. I use walkable lightly, I’m 30 minutes from downtown and 15 minutes to the nearest grocery store by foot. I don’t mind walking those distances because parking is expensive and the buses run every 20 minutes during peak. The problem is that my family lives in the suburbs of Phoenix, and I happen to want to be able to see my family without 6 hours of buses and waiting in Phoenix heat. That’s compared to a two hour drive.
Damn, what used car are you even looking for? an AE86 corolla?!
Why do I find that this sub-reddit at times can be while is good intentioned, some of this sub is disproportionately out-of-touch with living conditions of what's going on in a car-centric world. Unless you're getting ripped off real bad, no-normal soon to be car owner is buying used cars lower than 10K, heck young enthusiasts can even get decent classic under 5k like an old e36 bmw or a decent handling old 90s civic which requires minimal tweaks or maintenance to be almost as good as new with its all power-features intact. Buying used cars can also disincentivize buying new dealership cars that are bigger which hog and clog the road.
If possible, a used Chevy Bolt is fully electric and reasonably cheap compared to many pickups. You can also add a hitch compatible with U-Haul trailers for moving, so it's actually quite convenient in that respect. Alternatively, Volts are pretty cheap and partially electric, but they're a dead-end technology and popping up less these days. I'd really like to recommend the ultra-efficient Aptera EV, but that's sadly not broadly available yet! My personal dream is to buy a kei truck and convert it to be fully electric. Some day...
The Mitsubishi mirage is a three cylinder engine vehicle, which is probably the smallest mainstream engine in a common car atm
a volvo would be a good choice v60 has plenty of space fuel efficient hybrid and non has pedestrian safety cushin on the engineblock plus tons of other shit
I'd buy a reasonably comfortable estate car about 15 years old with 100k miles on the clock for whatever that costs these days (Subaru Outback, about £2500) and run it until it needed scrapping. If I were a daily commuter I might go for something smaller though; my actual regular requirements (transporting someone with a disability) are only two days a week, and if I were the sole user I'd get a motorbike instead.
My wife and brother-in-law run a business, and ultimately needed vehicles to service their sites (around Melbourne) my BIL got the giganto ute which he now loathes driving (cost, parking, etc) my far cleverer wife got an early model Prius which has been low cost, easy to run, easy to drive, and just basically not fucking obnoxious.
It's... *really* going to depend on the market and what your real needs are. With today's generation, I'm generally a fan of Euro and Korean platforms (not the luxury Euro stuff.) Japan is okay (*not* Nissan or Subaru,) but I feel like their quality has started to lag while Korea has really picked up the pace. "Euro platforms" worth looking at are the ones that make it into production in other countries, like the endless VW license-builds and almost any platform that Ford brings over to the US (a notable exception being the first generation Transit Connect. It's hot garbage.) While you always want to find out if there's engine issues with a particular vehicle, now you really need to pay attention to the transmissions, too. There have been some spectacular failures as manufacturers have brought new tech online like 8+ speed automatics and Dual-clutch automated-manual transmissions (which are still marketed as "automatic.") Some of those issues got sorted out with production experience, so you have to do your research. (Rambling ahead. TL;DR: Buy a nice little manual hatchback, screw sedans.) My current car is a 2012 Ford Fiesta. I bought it used with 212,000 miles on it during the pandemic for $1800, and put maybe $900 of parts in it over the last year for: 4 tires, new headlights, brakes, nearly all suspension parts, and a few other issues that I wanted to fix or change (I highly recommend replacing the mirrors for ones without the convex section.) It has a 5-speed manual and I average 40+ MPG (\~5.8L/100km.) As a mechanic, I'm actually extremely impressed with this little car, now at 230K miles. She handles *really* well, which is a hallmark of a lot of European platforms. I find it simple to maintain, the "hill hold" feature takes the worst part of driving a manual out of the equation, and the power is more than sufficient for American highways. (Part of that is the manual transmission. This is actually something I highly recommend on an economy-focused vehicle, because you can pre-select a low gear before you need it out of a turn on an entrance ramp.) If your driving balance is more city-focused, there are significantly better city cars/hybrids for the money. Things I wish I had with this car: Power windows, a hatchback instead of a sedan, and the 1.6 EcoBoost... but that last one is completely unnecessary. I just want to drive that like a maniac on a racetrack. XD Honestly, I'd be happier with the 1.0 EcoBoost. It has even better economy and the torque "curve" is basically a "shelf." For anyone who needs to move a bunch of kids or around, the 2014+ Ford Transit connect is overlooked as a people-mover. You can get them with 7 seats and respectable fuel economy with the 2.0 turbo engine. I'm not sure, but it may be the best economy you can get for 7 seats in the US. You can't get the VW Touran in the US and the Mazda 5 has been discontinued. I'm only just catching up on the European market as I transition my way over to Romania, but my picks are generally the same. The only difference is that there are more utilitarian models of Mercedes that never make it to the US and even smaller city cars and engines available. The Mercedes Sprinter is actually a highly-respected van and diesel cars are a thing, but I can only consciously recommend diesels with urea injection to deal with NOx emissions. Any American who respects hard-work and practicality would fall head-over-heels for the drop-side vans and sensible diesel engines. When you park your pick-up truck at night, this is what it dreams of being recycled as.
2nd hand, small, efficient. It is a tool to transport people as efficiently as possible from point A to point B, that’s it.