My daily commute is about 30 minutes, and my work requires me to drive a lot. I occasionally need to carry our baby, dog and bulky items. For the really big stuff I have a truck. I think a fun little econo-hatchback is what I need. Easy enough, but there’s a catch: I often hit traffic, so even thou…

I would add the Mazda Protege Hatchback; you can get a good one for less than $6000. It’s also more economical than the Mazda 3.

Looking again, a Mazda3 or Civic Si is out of your $6000 reach. However, you could find the Mazda 3’s predecessor, a Mazda Protege5 for that price. But it will likely have 100K+ miles on it. That’s probably the most fun to drive. I think a Focus ZX5 hatchback or wagon is your best choice; great to…

Always heard good things about the Focus. After some quick CL searches, it’s hard to find a Civic Si hatchback that has an A/T or hasn’t been horribly abused by some spiky-haired punk. How did I miss out on this business of selling coffee-can exhaust tips and faux-carbon-fiber? Those guys must be m…

Test drive the scion tc and it was no where near as fun as the Celica gts. Another one you can look at is the sadly forgotten Acura RSX

A 2wd Saturn Vue. Some of the early Vue’s had a Honda V6 (2002-2003), that would be the best one to get. The get 20-25 mpg and have lots of room and are quite compact on the outside.

2005/2006 Chevy Cobalt LT sedan. We have a 2009 and our kids love it. I’ve driven it several times and it handles well, gets good gas mileage, and is easy to get into/out of. That’s important when putting kids in the back. I would specifically avoid any Toyota or Honda product. They will certai…

@EllyEllis , the problem with an auto transmission is that it can’t read your mind, so say you goose the throttle to merge safely on the freeway, the transmission is usually in too high a gear to accelerate quickly and there is a delay for it to shift down. Sometimes the transmission can’t make up it…

Well, none of the above applies to my vehicle. To me it seems to always be in the right gear. But like I said, it is not an econobox car. It ain’t a luxury car either. Some times on a long grade it will downshift but all you notice is the sudden more power. But I imagine you would have to downsh…

You may be thinking about significantly older cars. More modern auto transmissions are much better. A car from the mid-2000s won’t have the same problems you mention. When you test drive a candidate, take it onto the highway and see how it works. There is a long, steep hill near me that I use to…

Economical commuter, with a tolerable slushbox?

General Discussion

EllyEllis February 6, 2012, 2:28am 13

II don’t know why an automatic drive would “drive you crazy” unless it was a very short trip. But my automatic is so smooth and jerk free that you can only notice the 1 to 2 shift. It is not an econobox tho.

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Economical commuter, with a tolerable slushbox?

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