Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I am in the market for a vehicle that gets mid 30's average MPG and can still be useful for my paddling and biking habits. Most likely a hatchback of some sort?? Does anyone have any suggestions? I am not looking for a brand new car. But, something fairly new that fits these standards. This is obviously not going to be a good creeking vehicle. But I just have to travel to far these days to work and to paddle. And with the price of gas, this is my only option.

Many Thanks, Terry DeMoe

I have owned a 05 toyota corolla that i bought at 40k miles and drove till 120k, other then brakes and tire nothing was replaced/broken. i recently traded it in for a 2009 corolla with 60k miles and i love it. good solid cars if you take care of them. right now with my rack on top and a bike rack on my trunk i get around 35mpg. with my SOT kayak on top and my bike on the back i still get around 31mpg and manage to get them both on there at the same time :) hope this helps, if you are set on a hatchback look at a toyota matrix , its a corolla with a hatch

Subaru forester

what kind of mileage does a forester get? i figured it would be lower due to being AWD

I had an older Honda Accord station wagon (1990's) that was a great shuttle vehicle except for its low clearance. At 200k and acquiring newer accord, I sold it. I still see it every so often around town, but no kayak or bike on the roof rack.

For cross country (not city) driving, a small sedan like a civic or corolla are the only thing that will get that kind of mileage. If you can find an old diesel (VW or something like that), then that is a slam dunk. A small diesel sedan in decent repair will get you 35+ mpg even with a boat on the roof, but hard to find, especially used, these days.

Shep

I have a 2006 Forester with a manual transmission and I pretty consistently get 27mpg on road trips. It's significantly less in town and/or if I'm driving violently and/or if there are boats on top.

It's been a good all-around vehicle. The ground clearance isn't awesome but it's no worse than anything else in that group of small sport/utility vehicles. When I bought it I absolutely required that I be able to fit four Sterilite bins (my choice for cave gear at the time) in the back, and that I be able to sleep back there with my then-seven-year-old daughter. It's big enough to feel substantial, but small enough to be able to control well. The combination of low center of gravity (thank you, Boxer engine) and all wheel drive is really nice. I don't mind driving in snow and ice and gravel and rain and general yuckiness. And with a bike rack on the back and these ridiculous wide bars on the top, we can have all sorts of fun.

It's not the answer to the original poster's question - the Forester does NOT get more than 30mpg, EVER - but since someone else posted it as a suggestion I thought I'd respond.

I was looking a while back and ran across this site.

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/08/sup ... 1978-1981/

It got me pretty pumped for some old school rides. I was in Salt Lake at the time and found quite a few (including some sweet VW diesel rabbits with roof racks already) for less than $1000 bucks. Not to mention all of these are simple enough for me to turn wrenches on. No OBD here!

Mitch

Civic, elantra, corolla, focus sedans are decent options and most will let you squeeze a playboat inside with seats folded down. I also thought about HHR which has a lot more room inside and gets 30+ and can find used rides for not much. I ended up with focus because of more creature comforts like sync.

Nissan juke. Small suv, but decent horsepower and mpg in the 30's. And I'm going to remind you, it's an suv

I have no definitive answers, but a few observations and things to think about.

I like the looks of the Juke suggested above, it seems to be very similar to the Subaru only with slightly less interior space, but in return you get much less overhang in the front (or better angle of approach, if you want the technical term). I don't know how long those have been out or what luck you would have finding a used one at a reasonable price.

Subaru - my wife loves hers. I'll frequently ask to borrow it when there is snow on the ground; the AWD is fantastic for that kind of driving. Why did I say "she loves it" instead of "I love it"? Because I don't care for the significant overhang in the front which limits the value of your ground clearance, and I think the mpg is disappointing. She gets a little over 25 mpg in mixed driving; and it can drop to slightly over 20 mpg if we put two canoes on top and drive 65 to 70. By slowing down to 55, I can get 20 mpg in my Dodge Diesel, so to me anything getting just above 20 mpg is not impressive for a small car.

Toyota Corolla - I've got one, its a very good car. I get about 35 mpg overall, when new I could get 40 at 70 mph, but now with over 100k it is noticably lower. I'm sure I would drop to low 30's or high 20's with racks, so get ones that are quickly removable if you have a mix of work commuting with weekend play. I chose the Corolla over several similar sized cars largely because it was rated to tow about 1800 lbs, while some of the others said "not rated to tow". So it gives me an option to tow a small trailer when I need more capacity that the car is capable of. Tow rating also implies a drive train with a little bit of design margin, which I like.

Toyota Matrix - It is what I sometimes wish I had gotten. Its a hatchback Corolla as someone already said, I would be able to carry any play boat and some creek boats inside, and you only give up about 2 mpg. But if you compared a Corolla carrying a play boat on racks, to a Matrix with the boat inside, I bet the Matrix would win on mpg. I haven't researched it much, but my understanding was that the Pontiac Vibe was really a joint venture with Toyota, and essentially the same care as the Matrix. With Pontiac no longer in business, you would probably find killer deals on a used Vibe.

General category - any used 2WD "mini" pick-up truck. Mileage will probably be mid-20's, maybe high 20's possibly if you milk it just a little bit, but ground clearance for weekend adventures is going to blow any car out of the water, and it will almost certainly be rated for towing small trailers. By staying with 2WD, you keep it cheaper and get better mpg. Throw in a come-along and some high-strength, low-stretch synthetic rope of the type they use on winches, and you'll be ready for some pretty sketchy roads.

Kia Soul - It has one of those "love it or hate it" looks, but the asking price for a new one is in the same ball park as many used vehicles. Ground clearance is a bit limited, but there is minimal overhang at the ends. Big enough inside for any play boat or most creek boats, or a bicycle or two, and a VERY flat and long roofline, which will be great when racks are needed for carrying things like a tandem canoe, longer touring kayak, or more bikes than you care to fit inside. Worth looking at if you have time to shop around a bit.

Ford Escape; Ford Transit van - I really don't know why we haven't seen more of these at the river. I know folks who have gotten incredible service out of the Ford Explorer series; and we should tip our hats to Ford for being the American Car company that DIDN'T need a "bail out" to stay in business. There should be good ones to be found in the used market.

My wife and I are saving for a VW Jetta Wagon TDI with a Yakima Rack and Roll trailer. The trailer drops the toys in the slipstream and the TDI get's upper 40's.

A few years ago a friend and I headed up to DC for a weekend of training and paddling on the Potomac. With two slalom boats on top, we did everything wrong for getting good mpg. We drove 80+ the entire way and went up through Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland from Charlotte, NC. On the way home we filled up and he was pissing and moaning about the horrible gas milage...43mpg.

I used a Ford Escape for years. It had luggage racks on top so I got some Yakima attachments to tie down firmly. Made many a long trip no problems. Easy loading and unloading. I got a cheap futon mattress and folded the seat down and slept in it. No tent set up and bring on the rain. It was front wheel drive and I would take it almost anywhere a 4WD would go for floating purposes. 6 cyl. and got about 25 mpg. Good all around rig for floating.

Here is an AWD small suv that gets 30+MPG city and hwy for under $20K. Can find others if you are willing to travel. I have no afifliation with the seller.

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale ... 3830&Log=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;