Stu,
As long as you don't get a ton of snow (like Maine BC varies a lot), or live on a dirt road, you may want to consider a Prius. With my 2010 we could drive from Portland, ME to Quebec City and burn roughly 10.5 gallons, for up and back, or just $25.00 to drive over 530 miles.... Last trip up there we averaged slightly under 51MPG. They drive beautifully and even if you're a lead foot you can easily average 42 MPG. The idea these are slow is only due to the knuckle-heads who drive them. In sport mode it is pretty damp zippy and they feel like a much, much heavier car to drive. If you do get snow you would definitely need snow rated tires (NOT all season).
The only reason I am not driving one today is because it required me to have two vehicles, a truck and the Prius. I was unable to drive it up to our ski place as we are on a dirt road, the driveway is also dirt and my daughter races and the car was just too low to the ground for most ski area parking lots.. I ripped the lower valence off it three times trying to treat it like my truck..
I loved that stupid little car, bought it for the technology, but even at 50 MPG +/- the financials don't make sense, for the fuel savings I was getting, when I really still needed two vehicles. These cars are also as reliable as it gets..... You can pick one up with over 100K for very, very short money then drive it another 300k....
As long as you don't get a ton of snow (like Maine BC varies a lot), or live on a dirt road, you may want to consider a Prius. With my 2010 we could drive from Portland, ME to Quebec City and burn roughly 10.5 gallons, for up and back, or just $25.00 to drive over 530 miles.... Last trip up there we averaged slightly under 51MPG. They drive beautifully and even if you're a lead foot you can easily average 42 MPG. The idea these are slow is only due to the knuckle-heads who drive them. In sport mode it is pretty damp zippy and they feel like a much, much heavier car to drive. If you do get snow you would definitely need snow rated tires (NOT all season).
The only reason I am not driving one today is because it required me to have two vehicles, a truck and the Prius. I was unable to drive it up to our ski place as we are on a dirt road, the driveway is also dirt and my daughter races and the car was just too low to the ground for most ski area parking lots.. I ripped the lower valence off it three times trying to treat it like my truck..
I loved that stupid little car, bought it for the technology, but even at 50 MPG +/- the financials don't make sense, for the fuel savings I was getting, when I really still needed two vehicles. These cars are also as reliable as it gets..... You can pick one up with over 100K for very, very short money then drive it another 300k....
KG, I hear you. We have a bit of a flip of that one: moved from SF to B.C. Almost same distance from house to boat. Canadian gas prices are $1.40+ per LITRE. Do the math. I'm trying to figure out how to levitate to the boat instead of driving.