Commuter vehicle ideas

[BULLBLASTER]

My wife’s 2010 forester had head gaskets go at 95k. Also had some suspension bushing around the same time.

I will say that genera maintenance is easy to do and fairly low cost on our Subaru.

[Bofire]

I am retired so I never drive in traffic and I live in the county so I drive between 35-50 most the time. I bought a 18 4Runner about 18 months ago, 25000 miles, average 20 MPG
Carl

[Birdguy]

Thanks again guys. I will have to do some test driving in the near future. I will look at the Subaru, likely a couple Toyota hybrids, smaller standard SUVs from Toyota and Honda and perhaps Kia. Some great advice here and I certainly appreciate it coming for guys who do what I do and do not work on a car lot  .

[time2hunt]

Rav 4 best little rig I’ve owned. I average 26 in the summer and about 22-23 in the winter and I commute over snoqualmie pass. It’s so nice not to have to throw chain on those crappy days. There’s plenty of room in the back and even more if you lay the back seats down.


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[dreadi]

If I had to commute to work, I'd be looking for 45mpg vehicles. The price of fuel here is hard to swallow.

[BigGoonTuna]

i bought a '13 mazda 3 for a work commuter about 2 years ago.  paid way too much, but my wife prodded me into it as she didn't like me driving my slowly dying pontiac vibe any more.  it's been a reliable car but the drive by wire is a little weird to get used to.  i did have to do the front wheel bearings at 60k.  gets around 38mpg combined, and even with the econo 2.0l motor, it can throw you back in your seat if you really stomp on it.  i'd get myself in trouble if i had the 2.5 or the 2.3l turbo.

time will tell if this thing will be as reliable and cheap to own as my '95 corolla(that i put about $200 into aside from tires and oil changes in 7 years of ownership), but so far so good.

[buglebuster]

5.9 L Cummins 

[mountainman]

Prius AWD. 50+ mpg and get you through most all mother nature can dish out

[throwingsticks]

Thanks guys! Commute is about 20 or so miles each way. I have only had one day I could not get home in that accord and it was the rain and flash freeze day we had 10 years ago or so I say I could have but did not try the last three hills. AWD would be a big perk but not a requirement, would allow me to take it to the place on the east side. I park in a lot with a bunch of careless door bashing people so I do not need the nicest looking thing. Dependability is probably #1, gas mileage #2 as even with my truck I seem to put about 15-17K a year on my driver. Kids are grown so do not care about them, lol. Dogs may become kids so SUV would be cool but not a requirement. Over the years I have warmed up a bit to the Subaru but not there just yet, lol. Budget could upwards of $15K but of course less is preferred, this will be what I drive until I retire and move to the country!

Thanks again for the help. We have owned a few Toyotas (2 4 runners, and a 4x4 pickup) s-10, 1500 and 3500 chevys, 3 Accords. They have all been great cars. I am just thinking it would be nice to not get in and out off the ground every time I get in and out of the car. Getting older and fatter is not helping but that is another issue  .

Assuming $3.50 a gallon for gas and 17,000 miles annually, at 20 MPG you would spend $2,975 on gas and at 50 mpg you would spend $1,150.  For $15k you can buy are nice used Prius and a new gun EVERY YEAR with the $1,785 you save... Plus the maintenance on a Prius is dirt cheap, no belts and brakes last forever....