Hi, I?m glad I found this forum it seams there are lots of like minded efficiency nuts, I have always been that way mainly due to a small pocket book and an aversion to gainful employment.
It wasn?t until I was 33 that I brought my first car (having spent my youth bumming around on sailboats) a Chevette, no one told me it was under powered it never gave me any problems I forget its MPG but $20 went a long way.
After that I got a 92 Ford Ranger 4 Cylinder 4x4 mainly because the road ended several miles before the place I choice to live was located, it has had some problems over the years and has averaged 24mpg, its 15 years old with 300,000 KM on the clock and still going, its being relegated to hauling stuff and camping trips (a small camper fits on the back)
As I no longer need the 4x4 and its getting to be an old gas guzzler it was time to find the most gas efficient small car I could afford with a decent body I only do around 10,000KM a year so the body will likely rust away before the engine dies. The Metro (the Firefly or Swift in Canada) was at the top of the list but due to heavy salt use here in the winter all the ones I saw were not in great shape.
All the Hondas and Toyotas available seamed overpriced older and with a significantly higher mileage than the Accent I eventually brought, it many cases the government MPG numbers were no better.
The Accent has a mixed reputation but Hyundai seam to be improving, on the plus side is, low resale price (if your buying and planning on keeping), decent MPG and a solid drive chain (avoid the automatic) on the minus side is a less than stellar crash rating and poor paint on the early ones, not the best MPG.
I ended up with a 03 Accent with 87,000 Km on it, 5 speed with the 1.5L 12 valve engine (one of the last before 1.6L became standard).
So far after 2 weeks, this is a great car quite, and great performance after an under powered Ranger, I have never had to floor it, a common occurrence with the Ranger and our hilly terrain, most of the time cruising I am barely touching the gas, to my surprise the first tank came in at 16.87Km/L 40MPG (hope I got that conversion right) this may not be accurate as it?s the first time I have filled it but at least shows there are no major problems. Accent owners seam to fit into 2 categories those that get great mileage and those that get really bad mileage.
So far all I have done is increase the tire pressure to there max. rated pressure, a Scangauge is on the wish list, it would be nice to consistently beat the EPA rating.
Thanks to all the great tips on this site I?m on the way.
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