Cars!

[silvanis2.0]

My fiance and I are looking at buying a good commuter car for getting him to and from work. Does anyone know of a non-hybrid that gets good gas mileage that we can look into? We both got used cars from our parents, so we've never experienced the car-shopping scene before. Any help you can give is much appreciated. ^w^

[K. Ayato]

Toyota Corolla

[Xeno]

What's your beef with hybrids?

Anyway:
Volkswagen Jetta (petrol or TDI)
Volkswagen Golf (petrol or TDI)
Nissan Sentra
Dodge Dart
Hyundai Accent
Hyundai Elantra
Toyota Corolla
Honda Civic
Honda Fit
Subaru Impreza 2.5i
Ford Fiesta
Ford Focus (current models)

These are in no particular order.

[John_Smith]

I second the Nissan Sentra. My got a 1997. Then she gave it to my grandmother to drive, who later gave to me. Guess what I'm driving now without any problems? It's the longest lasting car in a family with a large car graveyard.
And don't get a Kia Sportage. Don't get a Kia Sportage.

[shooraijin]

Always liked the Honda Civic. Hybrids are getting better, though. Most of the ones Xeno suggested have a hybrid version and some have a upgraded/quasi-performance version (for example, I drive a Honda Civic Si).

My father loves his Fit.

[silvanis2.0]

Thank you everybody for your suggestions. I avoided hybrid because it seems that they're quite a bit more expensive around here. Of course, if we can find one for a decent price we'll have a look at it. Thanks again, this is very helpful!

[Xeno]

With hybrids and EVs it's a trade off. You're paying more upfront to pay less in the long run. The Toyota Prius C starts at $19,080 and gets 53 city/46 hwy. The Volkswagen Jetta Turbo Hybrid starts at $27,260 and gets 42 city/48 hwy, but is a better outfitted car and has a more conventional engine concept.

The new Corolla starts at $16,800. According to this, depending on your driving habits, you would offset the difference between a base Corolla and a base Prius C in 3.5 years, and continue to spend less money. Depending on your finance term, you could be paying the car off right around that time. By no means am I trying to tell you to get a hybrid, just showing you where the offset is.

[Yuki-Anne]

Japan-made cars are usually super reliable. When I was in the States I had a 2001 Toyota Camry that we bought used in 2005, and it has only broken down once: this year (7 years after purchase) with a corroded battery terminal, a problem that was totally avoidable, had regular maintenance been properly attended to (my brother's friend had stuck a screw in the old battery terminal to get it to hold together when it would have cost less than $15 and 30 minutes of labor to just replace the stupid thing). I regularly drove my car to college and back, a trip of 11 hours. I've put well over a hundred-thousand miles on the thing.

My family's ONLY brand loyalty is to Toyota because of the reliable of its cars, and usually they get pretty good gas mileage, too. But really, Honda cars are just as good, I've heard.

[Xeno]

Really any car that is properly maintained will last a long time. Some brands have are known for being reliable even when not being taken care of. As Yuki said, Honda and Toyota are both very well made brands, as are their respective sister brands Acura and Lexus. European vehicles are also very well crafted cars, but absolutely must be maintained or will turn into a nightmare. American cars in more recent years have started to become better, especially those made by Ford since they are using global vehicle platforms instead of cost-cutting North American specific models that were poorly designed.