Poor man's prius!

ajbirkennewaccount

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Raleigh
I picked up a 1988 Chevy sprint for CHEAP that will be my parts chaser/knock around beater while gas is still so high.

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/17/super-cheap-high-mpg-cars-1986-1989/#more-21

It basically has the same MPG as a prius for less than one prius payment. Plus I will only have liability so insurance will be cheap.

I am going to start doing some kind of greenie wave at all the hybrids I see. Maybe it will catch on. Secretly I am laughing at them (as I too pass every gas station).

I had a ford festiva before this which did pretty well and was quite a bit faster, but sold it on a whim.

had to gloat.
 
Some of that is exaggerated, but I do remember some of those cars consistently getting at least 30+ mpg. I know the toyota tercel hatchback and the CRX were great on gas. The CRX even had a little power to it.
 
I used to have a CRX. I could put $2 in gas in the tanks and make a 2 hour trip and still have some left. Of course gas was just a little over a dollar a gallon then. Now that same trip costs me $10 or $15 in my explorer. Damn I miss those days.
 
In college I had a 1965 Mini Cooper S. it had twin 5 gallon tanks and would consistently make 40 mpg. Wish I hadn't of wrapped it around that damn tree.
 
hscrugby said:
Yea, but a sprint or a festiva can actually give a prius a run for it's money in worst cars to be seen in. :(

that being said, I want to buy something with a blown engine, and do something like this to it:
http://www.electroauto.com/catalog/ackits.shtml#ltrans
Click to expand...

LMAO!

The festiva actually had a rainbow triangle in the rear window when i bought it. I left it in as a joke for a few days before I realized that I wasn't as confident a person as I thought I was.

The sprint is a hella chick magnet!
 
rbo1577186 said:
Some of that is exaggerated, but I do remember some of those cars consistently getting at least 30+ mpg. I know the toyota tercel hatchback and the CRX were great on gas. The CRX even had a little power to it.
Click to expand...

30mpg is nothing. I beat that in my $500 Merc Tracer driving it like a racecar.
I know multipel folks w/ old Civics getting 35-40 consistently. Even a Corolla will get >35

I think it's really funny how hyped up people are about the Prius. The MPGs just aren't THAT great for all the extra cost and fancy gizmos that will inevitably brake.
Get me a car that does 75mpg and I'll give small hybrid cars a serious thought.
 
3cyl / 999 CC of pure furry !!!

Seriously I think if they started making/importing those super cheep econo boxes people would buy them.. Yugos were actually good cars, you just couldn't get parts for em..
 
wife actually has an Escape hybrid. We didn't buy it just for the fuel mileage, if I was going for mpg, I would have gotten a passat or jetta TDI. You can get 40-50 mpg consistently out of them. She wanted an small Escape size rig with decent mpg, I wanted something I could sit in (6'5") with the kids in the back seat, so we ended up with the Escape.

We get 33 or 34 mpg with the escape hybrid around town. On the interstate, you get about 28.

I love driving it when it is in golf cart mode (like in subdivisions or in store parking lots. People jump when you pull up next to them.

She loves it, so that is all that matters, regardless of mpg.
 
Shannon said:
wife actually has an Escape hybrid...
She loves it, so that is all that matters, regardless of mpg.
Click to expand...

I can relate to that.

I bought my wife a 4 door wrangler rubicon and she loves it (I will get to inherit it in 10-20 years and it will still have a powertrain warranty!). We looked hard at the hybrid escape, but she saw my excitement with the JK's and went that way so we would both be excited.
 
ajbirken said:
I can relate to that.
I bought my wife a 4 door wrangler rubicon and she loves it (I will get to inherit it in 10-20 years and it will still have a powertrain warranty!). We looked hard at the hybrid escape, but she saw my excitement with the JK's and went that way so we would both be excited.
Click to expand...

If you still have the original powertrain under it by then:driver:
 
I wonder of the environmental impact of MAKING the prius, civic hybrid, or any other "GREEN" car, vs using something that already exists, but gets like 20-25 mpg. Remember: reduce, REUSE, recycle.
 
Chris_M said:
I wonder of the environmental impact of MAKING the prius, civic hybrid, or any other "GREEN" car, vs using something that already exists, but gets like 20-25 mpg. Remember: reduce, REUSE, recycle.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the enviro impact to generate the electricity. The greenies seem to overlook the fact that on the other end of their electrical oulet is a big honking coal-fired powerplant, not some magic rainbow with free unlimited power :gay:
 
RenegadeT said:
Don't forget the enviro impact to generate the electricity. The greenies seem to overlook the fact that on the other end of their electrical oulet is a big honking coal-fired powerplant, not some magic rainbow with free unlimited power :gay:
Click to expand...

The only argument I will buy, is that at least that energy is coming from a domestic source. E.g. not buying ol from the Saudi folks to run it. As a result, miles per dollar spent, it's cheaper too.

Thanks to that annoying little law of conservation of energy, people often forget that all we're doing is changing where it's coming from.
 
If you can find one, a '90 model metro with the 1.0 3 cyl and the 5 speed will get you in the high 40s/low 50s consistently.
I had one as my 1st car in high school. I beat the crap outta that thing trying to keep up with my friends in 240s and Z-24s and still got around 500 miles per tank (10.8 gallon).
Best ever was a trip to Va and back. Filled up and had a 1 gallon spare can in the back. Made it from M. Beach to Roanoke, VA. Drove around there for 2 days, and drove back. i ran out of gas between Socastee and Surfside Beach, about 6 miles from home. Odometer showed 627 miles. :bounce:
That figures out to about 58 mpg.
I don't understand why it takes a hybrid to match what they were doing 18 years ago, at 3 times the price. That car was $7800 new, with A/C.:shaking:
 
uglyjeepoffroad said:
I don't understand why it takes a hybrid to match what they were doing 18 years ago, at 3 times the price.
Click to expand...

Amen! My "hand-me-down" '97 Camry (145k) will consistently get 37mpg on the highway (cruise set @ limit +5mph). What I find funny is it's NOT a cracker box w/ a Briggs & Stratton... but, a med. sized 4 door sedan w/ a 2.2L(?)/E-auto! My mom bought an Aveo for the "great mileage", but to actually *stay* with traffic, found they have to keep it matted, effectively getting 25-ish average on the highway in something with less interior room than a grocery buggy! Hell, I get that kinda mileage commuting (11miles in the AM & 15miles PM) in mixed stop&go :lol:
 
I love my CRX it get 40-42 highway and 36-38 in town cant beat that even with gas at 3.15 and gal it only cost me $22 tofill up this am and I can drive on that a week with a 50 mile round trip to work
 
The Prius is ranked as one of the top possessions that pompous white people can get

stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/60-toyota-prius/
 
Jetta TDI is teh way to go... With a chip they easily get 55mpg or more and are fun to drive as well. Nothing like black clouds of fury when you suprise the hell out of a civic with a fart can. The good thing about the jetta is you still feel like you can survive an impact with something larger than a house cat and survive and have power to go over a mountain at highway speed.
 
RenegadeT said:
Don't forget the enviro impact to generate the electricity. The greenies seem to overlook the fact that on the other end of their electrical oulet is a big honking coal-fired powerplant, not some magic rainbow with free unlimited power :gay:
Click to expand...

Not at my house - we have nuclear. :alien: (that was the best emoticon I saw to represent someone glowing in the dark)
 
Back
Top