A used car with an impossible task!

I need a new used car to perform an impossible task.

1. small enough to park easily on New York City streets

2. comfortable enough for long trips (500 miles per weekend & 2500 miles 3 x year)

3. great gas mileage

4. safe and reliable

Toyota Prius. Honda Civic Hybrid.

Yes, many of your equirements are “mutually exclusive”!

The smallest car that’s halfways comfortable is the Hyundai Accent, 4 door sedan. I’ve rented this little buggy several times on vacation, and the gas mileage is great, not too noisy, and easy to park. It’s also very low on the list of NY auto thieves, if that’s important. It’s what I would buy if I were in your shoes.

If you find one about 2 years old the price will be very attractive; even new they sell for only about $15,000 fully equipped.

Two cars meet your conflicting requirements:

  1. Taxi for the first point
  2. Rental car for points 2 - 4.

Much cheaper in the long run.

Twotone

Acura RSX.

It’s worst point will be #2. But if you want real long-distance comfort you’d need a longer wheelbase car like a Cadillac or (best) a Waldoch conversion van. And those would fail miserably at 1 and 3.

I’ve done long road trips (over 2k miles) in the RSX’s predecessor, the Integra, and it was fine. The RSX is a little more refined, which will be good for your purposes.