quote:
Originally posted by ipab
I was wondering if you guys have any recommendations for fuel efficient cars, something that will last me a while and my budget for this is around $10 000.
Any small 4-cylinder engine car by a major Japanese manufacturer, e.g. a Honda Civic. European brand cars generally cost more and break more (at least as far as the selection available in North America), but if you really like one, you can consider it. Do not touch anything from Detroit with a ten foot pole.
Pick one you like and can find a good deal on -- the gas mileage for all of them will be about the same and I don't think your budget is enough for a hybrid, even used. Hybrids also haven't been around long enough yet to tell how they hold up with age; a used one could end up very expensive to maintain.
A manual transmission is a good idea if you don't have to drive in congested traffic a lot. Depending on how you shift it, you can get either better performance or better gas mileage than an automatic.
