In reply to ClemSparks:
Your 323 is a great engine donor for a GLC.
Add a miata trans to it an it's an organ donor for any small RWD car. You already know how it runs and everything about the engine.
I'll give you an Opel Kadett shell if you want to come up and get it just to see it done. Let me know if you want sedan, coupe, or wagon.
I've been wrestling with this for a while, and finally settled on a 240sx, though the passenger requirement was not as critical for me
Maybe I missed someone already mentioning them, but what about the BRZ/FR-S twins?
Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to ClemSparks: Just out of curiosity, I had looked up a few of these cars that "easily" get 30+ in this thread and several of them are rated around 25 mpg highway.
I'm right there with you Otto. I hear lots of lore about what gets great mileage. I put not so much stock in most of those claims. Pretty much, the BMW318Ti and the diesel stuff might be accurate in this thread so far. 
Oh...and the less-than-a-decade-old stuff
Clem
I always did better than the old EPA umbers, myself, and the new numbers just make me shake my head. I'm not sure I could drive badly enough to only get the new numbers.
Honestly, i think it really depends on the car. Ive run into cars that were hard to hit the epa numbers, and cars that blew past them by almost 10 mpg.
For example, i've never been able to hit the epa 28hwy number in my Magnum in 30k miles of driving it( i get low 26 max). Or my Insight, for that matter, is rated 60 hwy and i rarely break 50, although i KNOW that's because of where i live (hills). So in that case hills make the EPA number unrealistic. But, on my old mazda 3, which iirc was rated 33 hwy, it would do 37 regularly and i got 42 once. I got 33mpg out of my 90 dodge caravan and i doubt it was rated higher than 25.
concerning MPG, and the EPA estimates. The AE86 was rated 26 city and 31highway. When I owned my coupe, I was able to average a tick over 30 mpg on an 800 mile loop in, and around the state of Oregon. My wife currently owns an AE86 hatchback, and she regularly gets an average of 28 mpg - her commute is 15min along back roads.
In reply to oldeskewltoy: Well as soon as you guys decide to sell, Clem will fly out and take it off your hands for a couple bills, ha ha. I realize that this is a thread strictly about "what car" but it is hard for me to pay 8k for a 25 year old Toyota.
jrw1621 wrote: I have wished for years that there was a taller 5th gear swappable into the Miata. I think that would be perfect if I could get my '90 Miata's 1.6L to rev at 2,100 rpm at 65 mph. This would take some of the spirit out of the top end but for me, much of the driving was in 2nd gear in parking lots for 50 second intervals.
you didn't look hard enough. There is and has been done by several people. The NA FC Rx-7 5th gear from 87-91 swaps into the Miata trans giving a .75:1 ratio. See solomiata.com
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