75-80mph gas mileage

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by Kuripot

*************,

I want something designed to travel at 75-80 mph because that is the speed at which I spend most of my time driving. "how long are your highway drives?"
I drive about 100 miles per day, 5 days per week. When I say cruiser, that doesn't mean BIG. It just means designed for traveling at highway speeds (75mph +) while getting decent mileage.

As far as "Also it can't hurt to learn how to work on your car"
I've worked on my own cars for 30 years. Changing the final drive ratio on an Accent is much more than I want to tackle.

Aside from your car revving high at those speeds, what exactly makes you think your accent can't handle cruising at those speeds? If it really is all because of it revving high, then I think the answer is just to change out the final drive. They have a short final drive in your vehicle in order to increase performance of acceleration and whatnot, but if you're cruising most of the time, like you indicated, then I see no reason an accent can't cruise at 80mph for a long time assuming it had the appropriate gear ratio. There are plenty of people who cruise in a Civic CX/VX on the highway at those speeds no issue and those vehicles are a bit less powerful in the HP area and have much taller final drives than the vanilla Civics of that era or your accent.

[DRW]

Speaking of final drives, how about a Chevy Cobalt XFE? The XFE version is aimed at better fuel economy, aka 'xtra FE' It comes with a taller final drive, low rolling resistance tires, and a tweaked ecu. If you can find one used it might be within your price range. They came out approx 2 years ago, so prices might not be near 10k yet.

[Ford Man]

I've got as high as 42 MPG in my '97 Escort wagon (2.0L 5 speed) on the highway with the C/C set 70-75 MPH with the A/C going and have got as high as 49.85 MPG in it with the C/C set at 55 and the A/C off. If you could find a good used Escort with low mileage it could probably be bought for under $4000. even if it's one of the last year models made which I think was '03. I've also got an '02 Escort (2.0L automatic with O/D) that my son drives most of the time that will get 40 mpg on the highway at 55-65 MPH and about 31-33 MPG driving it on shorter trips of less than 20 miles at 50-55 MPH. I bought it almost 2 years ago with about 80K miles on it for $2000.

[LarryJ]

I've been looking into a VW turbo diesel, either a golf or jetta. they're rate in the 40s. last forever from what i've read. If I find one that I like, I'll be selling my VX. the VX gets great mpgs and I love driving it on the 55mph parkways, but it's not for long distance driving. more than an hour in it is all i can stand.

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by LarryJ

I've been looking into a VW turbo diesel, either a golf or jetta. they're rate in the 40s. last forever from what i've read. If I find one that I like, I'll be selling my VX. the VX gets great mpgs and I love driving it on the 55mph parkways, but it's not for long distance driving. more than an hour in it is all i can stand.

What is wrong with an hour of driving? Also you're getting pretty low MPG for that car, you should be getting in the 50s unless you're driving it really hard.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by *************

What is wrong with an hour of driving? Also you're getting pretty low MPG for that car, you should be getting in the 50s unless you're driving it really hard.

I suppose it might depend on the shape of the car and his body. One person may be able to go for hours in a VX (or even a Geo) and be perfectly fine. Someone else (for example, me), much over an hour at a time folded into a little car and it's time to get out and stretch for a few minutes.

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by JoeBob

I suppose it might depend on the shape of the car and his body. One person may be able to go for hours in a VX (or even a Geo) and be perfectly fine. Someone else (for example, me), much over an hour at a time folded into a little car and it's time to get out and stretch for a few minutes.

Well I do agree that can be an issue and is for me in my Civic, however the issue isn't with the size of the vehicle, but the seat itself. My Civic has a huge amount of headroom however the seat in it is too small for me and consequently is uncomfortable for me. The solution is to get another seat, not another car...

[theholycow]

For me, as I've mentioned in other threads, I can't spend too long in a car if it's too narrow or the armrests are at the wrong height/position. After a half hour in a Grand Am or Focus my elbows and knees hurt from pushing against the hard plastic. It was a big surprise when I sat in my VW and fit correctly, I was not expecting any small cars to deliver the layout that I need.

For that, the solution is custom interior work or (if that's impossible/unfeasible) get another car.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

custom interior work (depending on the depth of it) can be as much as a new car and in some cases even more.

[theholycow]

Heheh...by "custom interior work" I was thinking of removing the door panel and installing a piece of wood for an armrest....but even that is likely not to work if the door is just too close to the driver.