[toast0]

Would depend on the size of the engine I'd think. Old SUVs are going to have big engines and eat gas. My '78 Scout II had a 345 (5.6L?) v8 and did 12 mpg when it was running well. But if you get a smaller car with a smaller engine, you can get better mileage. My wife's '86 Civic doesn't fit the no engine electronics ideal (and it did have electronics problems that required replacing the engine control module (module sourced from a junkyard worked fine though)), but it did around 40 mpg in normal driving, 60 for cross country highway driving with A/C off. No modern safety equipment isn't great if you get in an accident, but curb weight is a lot less.

If you get an early Civic or VW Bug, you're going to get pretty good mileage as long as the engine is well adjusted.

[lazide]

The issue with smaller vehicles, if you do actually go off-road or tow things, is they get destroyed in short order with very few exceptions.

I ended up having to get a proper truck because I kept breaking suspension components in my Forester shrug.

And for all the climate sin folks, it’s to manage 90 acres of previously overgrown timberland which was a huge fire danger and would have gone up in smoke in short order otherwise.

It’s now happily sitting there sequestering far more carbon than the truck will ever release.