datsun40146 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I am now in need of another good DD. I have to have great gas mileage as I will be going back and forth from Lexington to Bowling green. Which is about a 3 hour drive. My budget is about 6 thousand give or take a bit. Both cars will be manual shift. The Mazda gets about 30 mpg with a 2.0 liter and has four doors only, and a slightly better interior. While the Toyota gets around 40 with a 1.5, can be either a 2 door or four door, but I have heard it can be unstable on the highway. The Mazda looks ALOT better than the Echo IMHO but I think the upkeep on the Toyota will be allot less and out of 250+ reviews on carsurvey.org I couldn‘t find one bad one. I can afford both cars with similar mileage and the same year, i.e. 2003. So if given the choice which would you choose and why. If you have ANY input as to which car is better, please share. If your friend's brother's cousin owned either car and has something to say; be it positive or negative, please chime in. Thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I just got a 93 SE-R Sentra for $750. It's fun as hell to drive and gave me 27 mpg city last fillup. Going from Flagstaff to Phoenix (which is a lot of high speed down hill sort of driving) I hit 39 mpg!!! 140 miles flat highway with the rest city netted me 32 mpg! The A/C doesn't work but man I love the mileage. Car sounds sick too with the blown exhaust at 7500 rpm. Get something fun, like an old GTS Corolla or something, that's my opinion. Mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZDrifter Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 My dad has a 2004 protege. I have personally driven this car and its actually pretty fun. Gets good gas mileage and isnt slow enough to kill you. The only down fall is the seats are definitly not comfortable...My butt is hurtin after 30 min. Other then that good commuter, he drives it everyday 45min to work and back, so maybe Im used to the comfy seats in my Z. hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboboost Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Protege > Echo in my opinion. Although I couldn't agree more about buying an older RWD import like an AE86 or something of the like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_racer1999 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 between the 2, PROTEGE my DD is a '96 infiniti I30 i picked up for 6K civics are nice and last quite a while.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbk240z Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Protege, hands down! While the echo is very economical gaswise, it is just butt ugly, IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 My Mom had a protege. It was an older model, but even though it had a good sized engine with a good HP rating it always felt slow and heavy. She didn't have the best luck with it either. Only went a little over 100K miles. I have always had good luck with Toyotas. The last 3 vehicles I have bought have been toyotas, so maybe I am biased. You need to drive both cars and see which one you like that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwik240z Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 My wife had a protoge for many years. best little car we ever owned. 13 years and it never needed more then new brakes, timing belt, muffler and oil changes. it was a 92 that we bought new with a 1.8liter. fun to drive too. the new ones seem even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_racer1999 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 GET A STICK. otherwise it will eventually feel like a slug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Go with the Protege. It handles fairly well, is very reliable, much more stable than the Echo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dat240zg Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 ditto on the protege. The first new car that I ever bought was a 2000 Protege ES and it was great. I didn't have any complaints about it and never a lick of trouble. My wife and I traded it in on a new '02 Protege5 and we kept that till last summer. After we traded that car in, the dealer kept it as their loaner and we just recently saw it at the back of the lot, totaled. A lady was driving it and went left of center and hit another car head on. Crushed the front end, but the passenger compartment didn't deform at all, both doors opened and the driver and her passenger were able to walk away. Great little car! Bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Are the corrolla's in the running? Nice cars, if you don't mind the lack of foot room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 +1 Protege'. Echo's are dependable and cheap to drive, but there is nothing fun or enjoyable about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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