Looking to get a new car.

[Sanctified]

I am currently looking to get a new car in '08 and the major feature I need is great gas mileage. Something that runs on BioDiesel also gets a big plus

The following are the 3 cars I am currently looking at:

Smart fortwo CDI Hybrid - Diesel Hybrid that supposedly gets 81 mpg, also this car has not been released yet.
http://www.smartusa.com/index.html

Volkswagen Rabbit TDI - Not out yet but they say it will probably get 44 mpg

Toyota Prius - Which gets 55 MPG
http://www.toyota.com/prius/index.html?s_van=GM_TN_HYBRID_PRIUS

[FogerRox]

1. 3 good choices

[globalvillage]

2. I'm looking, too

My last four cars have been Jaguars. *sigh*

Time for a switch. I just don't see anything I like.

http://www.caranddriver.com/carbodystyles/hybrid/

[question everything]

3. The Consumer Reports cars issue

has a graph of repair and reliability. VW is the worst, Toyota is the best.

We are looking at Toyota Highlander after 25 years of Volvo wagons (two of them).

The new Volvos do not have as much cargo capacity as the old ones.

[TommyO]

4. I take Consumer Reports, but their putting VW at the bottom

goes along with the JD Powers results as well.

It's a shame, because VW has some very appealing cars, just a wee bit expensive, and not as reliable as they should be.

[AlCzervik]

5. i just bought a new beetle convertible and i love it, so far so good, no it's not

a tdi, it's a 150hp 5 cylinder. This is the first german car i've ever owned, everything up until now has been a Japanese sedan or 2 door and while the vw took some getting used to---reverse is on the wrong side for example it is the about the funnest car i've owned.

[TommyO]

6. I have a 2000 Passat, 1.8l turbo engine

I love the car, and have had only one major problem with it (and it was a doozy involving the timing belt tensioner, timing belt, and valve damage). I know what you mean about reverse being in the "wrong" place compared to some other cars, not only that, but you have to push down on the shifter to be able to get into reverse.

[AlCzervik]

7. the pushing down to get it into reverse--in my case thats probably a good

safety feature, i'm still getting used to it. It always reminds me of the scene in Caddy shack with Judge smails and Ty Webb--"You put that steering wheel back over here where it belongs!"
:o

[TommyO]

8. This is my second VW, and I'm very used to pushing it down, the wrong way!

I admire you for buying a manual transmission, there are far too few of us around these days.

BTW, I did a long drive over the Memorial Day weekend from Bethlehem, PA to Chicago, IL, and then up to Erie, PA before heading home. I was driving into the wind on the way out which cut my MPGs in Indiana and Illinois, but still managed to average 31.7 MPG for the entire trip, the return trip was over 33 MPG for the bulk of the trip.

[AlCzervik]

9. i'll keep driving cars with manual transmissions until i'm physically unable to do so

i read something in my local paper not too long ago that said manuals make up only 4% of US cars sales--can you believe that? Very sad and pretty soon we're only going to have about 3 brands that still offer them. Toyota did away with the manual for the Rav4 and the camry this year. I've had one automatic transmission in 23 years of driving and that was my very first car.

[TommyO]

10. I've had three automatics

The first one was OK, but that was before I started driving a stick - the next automatics were out of necessity, but were not my favorite cars.