Need Delivery vehicle that gets decent mileage - PT Cruiser/Magnum/HHR

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they have some pretty bad blind spots that you should be aware of, especially if you have the back seats upright. The headrests in the back seat cause some rear vision issues. That is my biggest complaint about the car. It's my wife's car, and she loves it.
 
I would say PT cruiser, I had one I purchased with the timing belt gone and replaced it, and resold it for $3000, they are a beatiful car with lots of room. the rear seats are designed like those of a caravan as you can fold them down or press a button and completely remove them giving you alot of room
 

even though diesel is expensive have you considered a VW Jetta TDI station wagon? 40-50mpg..would be pretty good. or maybe a Ford Focus wagon...
 
sireland67 said:
I would go with the neon or pt with a stick shift.
My wife has had her 02 neon since it was almost new and it gets consistant 25+ mpg around town, and well over 30 on the highway.
The shame is there is nothing wrong with the car and I am about to trade it for a new Caliber with a stick shift this weekend, if they will give me a decent trade on her neon(the neon is clean with only 102,000 miles).
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I love the second gen neons, never had a problem with mine and it has 257,000 km on it or 159692 miles. around here a dealership will laugh at you if you try to trade anything with more then 130,000 km (80,778 miles) in on a new car as they can't make money off of it, which it true somewhat just easier to sell out right, your car is probably worth $2500-$3500 or it would be around my area anyway
 
I think you might want to go out and drive each of the vehicles you are thinking about. maybe even rent one for a weekend.

Wife had a 2002 gold Dream Cruiser

She loved it, I didn't care much for it.

Disappointed in the 24 mpg on the road, maybe 17-19 in town.

Hated the window switches on the dash in the center

Hated the heated seat switch on the front side of the seat and would come on if the car was running and i would need to get out

Doors open wide on the back is a great thing, but you need a lot of room to open them, what a PIA in the garage or tight parking space

did run good and handled well, except on snow and ice, think that was more due to tires since daughters didn't handle the same on the same roads and condition

Daughter still has her 2001 with about 150,000. She broke a timing belt and with the other repairs I thought should be done cost me $1,100. It had a little over 100,000 when it broke.

Wife had a HHR as a rental and I drove it. Not sure if i would like it any more than the PT. As stated in other post is the rear seats make hard to see out the back, HHR is just as bad or worse.

If I was looking and all things equal, the magnum would be the one I would look at. Not sure what the V6 Magnum mileage is, but would guess it is close to a PT, HHR is rated much higher, have no facts to back it.

View attachment DC3.jpg

wife old PT
 
challengergary said:
Okay - gas looks like it's going to hit $4 a gallon pretty soon. Now that I am back in South Florida, I find myself driving a lot more and at 12mpg my '99 Dodge Ram QC 1500 is costing me WAY too much in gas. I need something that gets better mileage but can still be loaded up with some stuff for local deliveries. Don't really need a big truck or van, just something that can lay the back seats down in to fit some material once in a while and maybe some printing to deliver to customers.

I was thinking about one of 3 vehicles - PT Cruiser, Dodge Magnum (w 6 cyl not hemi), or a Chevy HHR. Looking to spend around 5-6K (preferably less) so the Magnum may be out on that basis alone.

Any thoughts?

BTW - what is my 1999 Dodge Ram QC 1500 Sport w 105K miles, decent/average paint, a new transmission, recent 20" wheels & tires, and nice interior worth? Am I dreaming to think around 4.5K for it?
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I bought a PT for my daughter a couple of years ago. It's a 2007 and at the time it was only 2 years old and had about 50K on it. I only paid $7,000.00 for it and I haven't had any issues with it. You should be able to get one in your price range without too much trouble. By the way I bought her's from a Chrysler Dealer.
 
sireland67 said:
I would go with the neon or pt with a stick shift.
My wife has had her 02 neon since it was almost new and it gets consistant 25+ mpg around town, and well over 30 on the highway.
The shame is there is nothing wrong with the car and I am about to trade it for a new Caliber with a stick shift this weekend, if they will give me a decent trade on her neon(the neon is clean with only 102,000 miles).
Click to expand...

Well the Neon and the PT are basically the same car. I had a '99 Neon that I used for my company car. I bought it with 44,000 miles on it and I drove it until it reached 215,000 miles at which time I sold it to a friend of mine and he drove it for another year before selling it. As far as I know it's still running. I put very little into it over the time I owned it (Radiator Brakes and rotors) and the engine and trans have never been apart. Also it had the original clutch in it. I'm voting PT or Neon.
 
We had a PT once. It only got 20 to 22 mpg on it's best day.
 
Early 90's Jeep Cherokee (not the Grand Cherokee) with the 4.0. Tons of room for the kids, back seat folds down, four doors, great vision, parts are dirt cheap, gets over 20 mpg on the highway easy, good power and 4wd when you need it.
 
My Caliber does the job,...34mpg, Got It for 15grand with a lifetime warrenty,...Made in US,...Had 2 order It cause I wanted No Frills,...You might want the AC down there,...
 
ramcharger said:
Early 90's Jeep Cherokee (not the Grand Cherokee) with the 4.0. Tons of room for the kids, back seat folds down, four doors, great vision, parts are dirt cheap, gets over 20 mpg on the highway easy, good power and 4wd when you need it.
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What kind of mileage do they get around town?
 
If current fuel prices are a factor, Geo Prism hatchback . The 91 Prism I use for a truck get awesome mpg. Parts for it a hard to find.
 
This isn't going to go over well, but pound for pound, cylinder for cylinder, and inch for inch, both Chrysler and Ford are at the bottom of the MPG list, except, oddly enough for the full size gas powered trucks.

If gas mileage is your main concern, of the American vehicles, the small Chevies seem to have everyone beat, of course the imports have excellent gas mileage, too.
I'm not one for FWD pullers, but most of the domestic and import 4 cylinders small SUV's will serve well as both a light delivery vehicle, and still be family friendly.

If you looking to get the best bang for the buck, you have to look past brand loyalty. Looking at PT's and HHR's is a good idea, but there is so much more out there, that doesn't sacrifice as much interior room to style as the PT's and HHR's do, and will romp all over either of them as far as MPG's are concerned.

I have a 2000 Chevy Silverado LS long bed pick up that will pull 22 MPG on the highway all day long. You need to be looking at something that get's into the 30mpg range seats 5 comfortable, and can carry so stuff for you. IMO, that's going to be a small SUV.
 
Frankie said:
This isn't going to go over well, but pound for pound, cylinder for cylinder, and inch for inch, both Chrysler and Ford are at the bottom of the MPG list, except, oddly enough for the full size gas powered trucks.

If gas mileage is your main concern, of the American vehicles, the small Chevies seem to have everyone beat, of course the imports have excellent gas mileage, too.
I'm not one for FWD pullers, but most of the domestic and import 4 cylinders small SUV's will serve well as both a light delivery vehicle, and still be family friendly.

If you looking to get the best bang for the buck, you have to look past brand loyalty. Looking at PT's and HHR's is a good idea, but there is so much more out there, that doesn't sacrifice as much interior room to style as the PT's and HHR's do, and will romp all over either of them as far as MPG's are concerned.

I have a 2000 Chevy Silverado LS long bed pick up that will pull 22 MPG on the highway all day long. You need to be looking at something that get's into the 30mpg range seats 5 comfortable, and can carry so stuff for you. IMO, that's going to be a small SUV.
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Good advice but what small SUV is in my price range? Like I said, really need to keep it under 5 grand figuring I can sell my truck for around 4 grand...
 
You would be surprised how easy a 2010 or 11 Dodge Caliber can be purchased. Under 350 per for 60 months. I went a little more for a 2011 RAV4 ( wifes new ride ). You wouldn't like its rear door design though so I wont recommend it.
 
RedFish said:
You would be surprised how easy a 2010 or 11 Dodge Caliber can be purchased. Under 350 per for 60 months. I went a little more for a 2011 RAV4 ( wifes new ride ). You wouldn't like its rear door design though so I wont recommend it.
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All true,...don't forget about the blind spots,...However It's the most economical car in the fleet,.It's the most driven in this house.
 
RedFish said:
You would be surprised how easy a 2010 or 11 Dodge Caliber can be purchased. Under 350 per for 60 months. I went a little more for a 2011 RAV4 ( wifes new ride ). You wouldn't like its rear door design though so I wont recommend it.
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I morally opposed to car payments at this point in my life. I never want to owe money on a depreciating asset/liability ever again. I aspire to a 000 credit score! (That means I owe nobody anything and never have to borrow money to buy anything - your credit score is an I Love Debt Score and my days of loving debt are OVER!)
 
We had a '02 PT Dream Cruiser replaced it with a '06 Scion XB. We considered the HHR but it was one big blind spot and not as fun to drive as the PT

The best the PT would do was 25 mpg. The XB gets 29-30 in town and 33-34 hwy and has no blind spots and is more fun to drive.

The '04-'07 XB si, '08 up XB no as it only gets PT mpg
 
Amen brother I just purchased a really nice 85 5th ave for 1500 cash with 52,*** original miles, car payments suck and I have made ALOT of them in my lifetime, never again.
 
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