A quick google indicates towing is not recommended with the Yaris. I'm not 100% sure on that since the European Yaris is rated to tow small loads, but I would be very careful about towing with a car not rated for it.

If you want to spend some money, the Ford Escape Hybrid will get the same gas mileage, tow 1000 lbs (conservatively rated due to the transmission, not the frame or suspension) and is a lot more car than the Yaris. Definitely an easier transition from the Cherokee. - Bad news - waiting list.

The Yaris is actually pretty roomy and comfortable for five adults but don't expect it to hold their bags too. The 3-door is not great for kids in carseats, natch, but is very flexible with the split rear seat. Great little runabout, half the cost of a Prius, not rated for towing in the US I think. Maybe a very light trailer.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

Gee, Bio-D, you actually use a vehicle for hauling stuff and going off-road like on logging trails?  Man, you probably already exactly what you're looking for!  Fixing it could be several grand but buying new costs what - maybe 20 to 30 grand over 5 years?

And think about it, your old Cherokee will end up somewhere, like in a used car lot, a junkyard, or in Mexico.  Now you have TWO vehicles to deal with, twice the global warming and pollution stuff.

I know, when you get a little older and busier you don't have time to rebuild cars and swap out short-blocks, suspensions, and whatnot.  I haven't rebuild a car in years, although the older Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Datsun (my favorite) went forever, maybe a half million miles on each.  

But environmentally speaking, when you buy a new vehicle you've inherited as the pollution that went into making it.  /sam

Onward through the fog

Well, as an Escape hybrid owner, I can only say don't knock it until you've driven one. But since you probably don't want to spend that much, some other ideas.

If you really want towing capability I'd look for something a little bigger than a Yaris. Used is a good idea if you don't put a lot of miles on. Think about minivans. More room, better mpg than the Jeep. If you don't need to haul the family along, think about a 4 cylinder Ford Ranger pickup. Surprisingly good gas mileage and real hauling capacity.

KenG wrote: Used is a good idea if you don't put a lot of miles on.

Ditto, as long as you can find a tow hitch for an older Yaris. The only economic reason to prefer new over used is if you are planning on putting on substantially-more mileage than the new-vehicle fleet average of 15,000 miles per year. (My personal cutoff would be something like 20,000+ miles per year.) Used cars can be purchased online on eBay, Auto-Trader, etc.

By the way, you can put a hitch on a Chevy Aveo, and it is a far better value than a Toyota Yaris (especially considering the fact that Toyota's quality ratings have been dropping like rocks).

From the junkyard.  The labor to fix the intricate mess in the steering column is why it cost 900 bucks to fix.

Faced with a similar problem on a GM vehicle, I bought a 100 dollar replacement steering column.  It installed in a couple of hours, of my inexpensive repair time.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

Would you please comment on what you consider to be good mileage?  

Top mileage I have seen for a pickup in the US is about 26 mpg.  Sorry, but I don't consider this good.  

I might be waiting a long time, but I don't consider anything under 40 mpg as being good.  

We really need to be pushing higher standards.  Which means getting rid of a lot of weight we are moving around needlessly.  What ever happened to the idea of simplicity?  There is a tremendous amount of crappola built into modern vehicles, much in the name of luxury.  Who needs all this crap?  

The Ranger is rated at 21/26 under the new EPA ratings. That is very close to a lot of small cars such as the VW Beetle or the Honda Civic 2.0 liter. Wanting to get 40 mpg in a vehicle that has ground clearance and will haul a ton of cargo will have you waiting for a long time (or driving a diesel).

A quick look at the EPA website shows no non-hybrids that get 40 mpg highway and only about 7 small cars that get at least 35 mpg. The proposed 35 mpg (combined) CAFE requirement will rule out every non-hybrid non-diesel car now on the market.

A friend kept her car going for at least a year past its useful life by performing Reiki on it to get it started.

Could work, you never know until you try.

It sounds like you just need a small but capable car. Since you don't drive it that often, it doesn't make sense to get a hybrid; a new-to-you car will have a lesser environmental impact than a new hybrid.

Don't get something bigger (forget the Escape!)---as soon as you do, you will rearrange your life so that you "need" a bigger (less efficient) car. It's one of the reasons I haven't gotten a car yet.

The Ranger is rated at 21/26 under the new EPA ratings. That is very close to a lot of small cars such as the VW Beetle or the Honda Civic 2.0 liter. Wanting to get 40 mpg in a vehicle that has ground clearance and will haul a ton of cargo will have you waiting for a long time (or driving a diesel).

That the Honda Civic or the Beetle are getting this lousy of mileage reinforces my point about vehicle weight.  The potential gains of small are often lost with all the unnecessary weight.  

You will not be hauling literally a ton of cargo in your 4 cylinder Ranger.  

What about the option of renting a bigger vehicle when you really need to haul a ton of cargo and driving a very fuel efficient vehicle when you don't?  The dollars saved while driving the very fuel efficient vehicle would more than pay to rent only when that option was needed.  

The logical approach is to have the truck/SUV for hauling and an econobox for other driving. I'd like to do that. I need the truck for heavy hauling a few times a month but my wife seldom lets me drive the hybrid. So the truck gets 6000 to 8000 miles a year. A third car won't work because the license and insurance costs so much.

Justiou - I don't think you understand us truck guys. Hauling a ton in a Ranger is not a problem. I regularly haul over a ton in my 6 cyl Dakota. Infamous episodes in my past include 1800 lbs of gravel in a Datsun with a curb weight of 2200 lbs and 3700 lbs of scrap iron in a stock F-100. When you need a truck, you really need a truck.

8000 miles a year = $1,600/year in gas, or about $800 a year in savings if you doubled the economy.  It seems insurance would be less than this.  Maybe instead of a 3rd car, you could try something like FlexCar and leave the truck at home?  Assuming you're close to a FlexCar, you can get the environmental and perhaps cost benefits of an economy car without having extra insurance, maint., and purchase costs.

My truck gets 20 mpg so the gas cost is currently about $1100/yr. There is nothing on the market (save hybrids) that could double the mileage. Insurance and license is about $900/yr. Even with another car, I would still need to drive the truck several thousand miles a year.

My feeling is we won't see great increases in mileage until we get the car weight down and that will require a market for expensive small cars or a reduction in safety standards. And there will still be a significant need for larger vehicles. Since I traded the minivan in on the Escape hybrid we've had several instances where we had to take two cars instead of one (5 passenger instead of 7 passenger). I think one of the great truisms is that things never work out as well as they looked on paper.

"Justiou - I don't think you understand us truck guys."  No, I guess not since I don't identify with my trucks, but I do know broken down trucks.  

I own a Chevy Silverado and a Ford F-250 that I use for work.  I wouldn't put a ton in either one of them.  But I do have a gooseneck trailer for the F-250 that I can haul some real loads on.  

But when I am not working I prefer to drive the Toyota Camry which gets double and triple the mileage of the two work beasts.  

My first Camry purchased in 1990 got 34 mpg on the highway.  In 17 years, other than the high mileage hybrids (there are some hybrids getting lousy mileage), the auto companies really have not improved much.  My expectations of getting 40 mpg for any future vehicles are not unrealistic.  

The latest Lovins Hypercar is almost ready for manufacturing.  100 mpg plugin hybrid.

The carbon fiber body is even ready for mass production.  Check it out on the Eco-Tech program on the Science Channel.

All that is lacking now is an auto company to mass produce and market it.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

I have a 1995 Ford Ranger with the 4 cyl and 5 speed that has over 219,000 miles and is still going strong, although some components are starting to show the need for major repairs. Even with the high mileage, I still get an average of 22 MPG for daily driving, and just this last weekend averaged 25 1/2 mpg on a trip back from visiting relatives in Alabama.

I use my truck as a daily driver, as well as for the use a truck is intended for, namely hauling stuff. Frequent building projects at home, combined with helping out on my mom's farm, along with hauling of a covered utility trailer result in my need for the hauling capacities of a truck on a regular basis.

The lack of a vehicle with the same capabilities that gets better gas mileage has forced me to admit that my best choice is to spend the money needed to keep this current truck on the road.

If someone could come out with a reasonably priced retrofit kit to make it a plug in electric, I'd be ecstatic.

with money that is almost worth something.

(re: the oft-heard claim that "The latest Lovins Hypercar is almost ready for manufacturing.  100 mpg plugin hybrid.")

Save the world: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% annually.

...you can find a Yaris hatch that has no options other than the side and side curtain airbags plus the antilock brake system, those safety features apparently will add $950 to the Yaris base price of $11,300. You might have a tough time finding one without any option packages, though.

If you look into the Fit, be aware that the Sport trim level's MSRP is $15,270 compared to the base trim level at $13,950, the latter being the version I compared to the Yaris in my previous comment. That $1,320 buys you a nicer audio system, a body kit of plastic pieces stuck on the car to make it appear more sporty (I think they look cheesy), and a few upscale features. Unfortunately, the base trim is apparently harder to find than the Sport trim.

The world is sacred, and I am part of it.

...you can find a Yaris hatch that has no options other than the side and side curtain airbags plus the antilock brake system, those safety features apparently will add $950 to the Yaris base price of $11,300. You might have a tough time finding one without any option packages, though. Here in the Greater KC area, Yarises with the side airbags and ABS options are hard to find, though maybe things are different in Seattle.  

If you look into the Fit, be aware that the Sport trim level's MSRP is $15,270 compared to the base trim level at $13,950, the latter being the version I compared to the Yaris in my previous comment. That $1,320 buys you a nicer audio system, a body kit of plastic pieces stuck on the car to make it appear more sporty (I think they look cheesy), and a few upscale features. Unfortunately, the base trim is apparently harder to find than the Sport trim.

Honda also has plans to introduce a dedicated hybrid model (instead of a hybrid version of one of their conventional cars) that will be a small family car priced under the current Prius and Civic Hybrid yet projected to go farther on a gallon of gasoline than either. No production date has been announced, though, so it may not be out for a couple years.

The world is sacred, and I am part of it.