Looking into a new compact car.

[Bennyt]

Many of the new Hondas (less than 5 years old) are GDI. With a quick search of a Honda Fit forum among other models, you’ll find quite a few people complaining about their GDI engines having issues with bad valves and injectors. The “earth dream” technology engines are particularly notorious.

I’ll reiterate, it’s not a problem particular to Hondas, but all makes with GDI engines...BMW, Mini, Honda, Kia, GM. It’s across the board. All of these companies also make reliable stuff, I’d just steer clear of their models with GDI and stick with MPFI. My post was in reference to the newer stuff as the title of the post was getting “a new compact car”

Your ‘old beater’ Honda and the ‘lean burn’ Hondas into the early 2000s were great cars. However, with cars getting safer(heavier) and demanding higher average MPG for the make, they’re having to do things like GDI.

I own one GDI car and it is a pain in the ass. Its a fun and very quick little car but still a PITA. It's a 2009 HHR SS. 2.0 Turbo that makes 270hp in low boost(16psi) and 330 hp at 23psi from the dealer. The car shocks everyone as they don't know about the turbo SS models and the amount of power they have.

You have to run "Top Tier" fuels in GDI cars or the intake valves get gummed up very easily. The turbo of course also necessitates Premium. I also run GDI cleaner before every oil change.

My neighbor has a GDI KIA and he was using gas from the local Frys/ Kroger/ Safeway, etc and he said he was using a lot of oil. I talked to him about the "Top Tier" fuels and he said after he switched to Costco "Top Tier" about 75% of his oil consumption issue went away. He hasn't yet done the GDI cleaner. Most people don't even know about the GDI issues. 3 Years ago I had to special order cleaner, now the local parts stores stock it.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I own one GDI car and it is a pain in the ass. Its a fun and very quick little car but still a PITA. It's a 2009 HHR SS. 2.0 Turbo that makes 270hp in low boost(16psi) and 330 hp at 23psi from the dealer. The car shocks everyone as they don't know about the turbo SS models and the amount of power they have.

You have to run "Top Tier" fuels in GDI cars or the intake valves get gummed up very easily. The turbo of course also necessitates Premium. I also run GDI cleaner before every oil change.

My neighbor has a GDI KIA and he was using gas from the local Frys/ Kroger/ Safeway, etc and he said he was using a lot of oil. I talked to him about the "Top Tier" fuels and he said after he switched to Costco "Top Tier" about 75% of his oil consumption issue went away. He hasn't yet done the GDI cleaner. Most people don't even know about the GDI issues. 3 Years ago I had to special order cleaner, now the local parts stores stock it.

Yep, we only use top tier gas, oils rated well by the NOACK oil volatility index and use the CRC GDI cleaning kit. PITA

 

[77 K20]

Yeah, been doing some research and came to same conclusion. Think I'm going to do back to original idea and find me a 2002-2003 Jetta TDI wagon 5 speed manual. I know several people that had the wagon setup and consitantly can get mid 50's for mpg, something about gearing and aerodynamics. I could get close to that with my '98 4 door, around 52 if I drove like a sane person. If I went faster than 64mph then would drop to 46mpg. Didn't like the cloth interior so swapped with a vr6 for leather, then koni's all around and what a difference. Maintenance is a must with a TDI though, timing belt and water pump every 45k period, I used a synth blend change every 2500, never had a problem other than window regulators.

The ALH TDI was the best one by far. I had a 2000 Golf with the manual trans (automatic had problems and sucked down power and fuel efficiency).

Previous owner kept a fuel log of every fillup. He encouraged me to do the same and I did. At 140,000 miles or so the fuel mileage dropped down to 42-43 mpg. The original fuel injectors are said to wear out around then. New injectors are relatively cheap, and have a MUCH better spray pattern. This bumped up the mileage to around 48 mpg and I had more power, but was lacking at the upper RPMs (that aren't that high to begin with).

The EGR on them likes to clog up the intake. So I had the intake removed (it was about 70% plugged with oily carbon) and at the same time had a Malone tune done with Dynamic EGR. This only runs the EGR when it is very cold. Helps warm up the engine faster. The warmer the engine gets the less the EGR duty cycle is. When the engine is warm then the EGR isn't used at all.

After the tune and intake cleaning it was so FUN to drive. About that time I was driving back and forth to California from Montana every 3-4 weeks for work. At speeds of 80 mph for a good part of the trip I averaged 52-53 mpg. Best tank ever at a lower speed was 58 mpg.

Winter time driving back and forth to work was typically 42-44. Winter blend fuel and they aren't that efficient until they warm up- and that takes a while. Even with a proper working thermostat I learned on the TDIforums that it is best to buy some pipe insulation and block off the upper and lower grilles. Helps quite a bit but often still wouldn't get all the way up to normal operating temp.

I'd still be driving it if it wasn't for that college kid that slid into me with his trailblazer and knocked me off the road into a tree.

 

[Crispy]

I briefly owned a 2000 Jetta with the TDI but it had an auto...and valve body issues. Two reman valve bodies later I sold it. I did drop larger injectors and tune into it. Would get 40-42 mpg and the tune helped it get up hill. I'm glad I got rid of it though.

 

[Corvette Ed]

For the ultimate cheap mileage beater, honestly can't beat an old geo metro. I've got a 94 and a 96, 3 doors, 1.slow L 3 cylinder, 5 speed, 96 has obdII so hooked an ultragauge up to it and has air bags, just putting to work and back going slow I get 43 with that one, hypermile it on the hwy can bump it to 49. The older ones get better and the XFI got the best. Had a 92 XFI that being conservative, routinely got 54 mpg with it.

I’ve got a 99 Chevy metro 3 cyl 5 speed. I get 47 mpg combined driving.I’ve heard claims of up to 57 mpg on the highway but I’ve never used mine for any long trips,so I can’t confirm this,but I find this hard to believe.It is slow and cheap.

 

[Skidmark97]

That Chevy spark sounds like a good deal for new a one with a warranty and might not be bad, I would go over the reviews real good and see what common issues there are I agree the Kia and Hyundai are gaining ground and they seem to do well for a lot of people and you get a lot of car for the money, I used to do a lot driving in my job and over the last 30 years I drove 3 Honda civics and never had one ever break down or have a issue, I drove 2 Nissan frontiers and put about 150,000 on each one, no issues ever and a tundra and tacoma ,no issues , My wife drove a dodge intrepid we bought new and the trans went out 2 times in 5 years and we had a Ford taurus she drove for about 40,000 and then traded because of one issue after the next. For me and my family we have had the best luck with the big 3, Toyota, Honda and Nissan , but I have friends who have drove Ford's ,Chevy's and dodges with great success and never maintain them and they had better luck then I did doing meticulous maintaince. I recently decided I wanted another car to run for parts and general driving and decided on another Honda Civic, I looked for about a month and finally found a 2012 one owner civic with 44,000 miles never wrecked and all the maintaince records for 6500 dollars so was happy to find a low mileage civic in like new condition for about 30 percent of what a new one would cost ,it should last me for a long time I hope. so maybe look for a low mileage used vehicle that's a good deal, there are a lot available, but it takes time and patience to find a good one .

 

[1977shortbed]

I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a rice burner!

CHEVY#1

 

[75Monza]

I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a rice burner!

CHEVY#1

While I am a diehard Chevy guy for life, I am also a cheap bastard...in order to save money for my Chevy projects, drive slow, cheap piles with awesome MPG when I can. My metro for instance while slow as hell, driving it as a work car runs me 7 gallons of gas a week vs my Dodge Ram using 30 gallons of diesel a week same trip.

 

[1977shortbed]

While I am a diehard Chevy guy for life, I am also a cheap bastard...in order to save money for my Chevy projects, drive slow, cheap piles with awesome MPG when I can. My metro for instance while slow as hell, driving it as a work car runs me 7 gallons of gas a week vs my Dodge Ram using 30 gallons of diesel a week same trip.

I like your user name. I'm actually building a 75 Monza 2+2. I bought the car a few years ago but still need to install the engine and trans. I have a 350 for the car and have the original Saginaw 4-speed.

 

[75Monza]

I like your user name. I'm actually building a 75 Monza 2+2. I bought the car a few years ago but still need to install the engine and trans. I have a 350 for the car and have the original Saginaw 4-speed.

My stable includes 2 '75 Monza Towne coupes california editions with the factory 350 and one is a 4 speed, and a '76 Monza Towne coupe cali edition with the 305 v8, all factory, with tilt and a/c in all 3. As I'm sure you know, anything upwards of 200RWhp on these babies causes a lot of work reinforcing the body with sub-frame connectors, upgrading to 5 lug, and at minimum doing something about the 7.5" in the back. Although, in our case, '75 still came with extreme sub-par 6.5"...can drop a 7.5" from '76 up in easy though. I am working on building an 8.8" from a mercury mountaineer with 3.55 gears, door code D5 gets you what you need. Then just have to cut off the old perches and weld on new, also will need a mount for the torque arm..Spohn racing has a nice one with a driveshaft hoop.

 

[Frankenchevy]

1975 Chevy Monza 2+2 V8


https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/chico-1975-chevy-monza-22-v8/7266126777.html