I’ve been looking at marketplace for a small car with good gas mileage that I can get cheap. I don’t mind doing work to it like replacing a clutch or dealing with a head gasket or engine replacement. The trouble I’m having in my area ( Midwest United States) is that either mileage is well into the 200k range, price is unrealistic so I won’t bother trying to reason with them, the car is more of a headache than it’s worth (Chevy Cruze) or there’s more than one issue like transmission problem plus body damage. I could go up in price under $10k but I don’t see the up side in spending that much to get better gas mileage unless the car can go at least another 5-10 years.


Not Japanese cars.
The answer is always Toyota Corolla.
I actually did just contact the $750 Corolla. It has 221k and needs an engine.
The problem with that is sellers are asking high prices for high mileage vehicles near me. I might as well double my budget and buy a Prius or Honda insight.