6 passengar sedans- cost of gas

[jdgarza_tx]

Hello, it's been a while since I've been to the site, my old ranger is still ticking (literally = 2.9l) and as i set out to look for answers to my question, I figured if anyone would know the guru's at the Ranger station could certainly shed some light.

Since I'm not looking to spend big bucks on an SUV with these high gas prices, and since my family is growing. I have been looking to see if there are any shops that can convert a 5 passenger car, 08 yota camry, into a 6 passenger car. I wouldn't attempt this on my own since I simply don't have the capacity to do this but I can't seem to find any info on this.

Would I need to replace the steering column? The whole tranny or can I simply move the shifter on these newer transmissions?

MPG on cars is just much more practical and I don't need all the head room SUVs have to offer, not to mention they can't touch the efficiency of cars. I live close to the Gulf, so hurricanes usually inflate our gas prices down here pretty bad and I'm sure by the end of the year we'll be paying $5/gallon.

Well, I don't mean to be off the ranger topic, but I figured someone here could shed some light......

TIA,

-JD

 

[Red Ranger]

Have you looked into a 6 passenger car? The Grand Marquis should get in the mid to lower 20's for gas mileage. It might be better and cheaper than converting a car with bucket seats and console to a bench and column shifter. I see that you don't want a SUV, but how about one of those crossover vehicles?

 

[ZMan]

My Buick Park Avenue seats 6, maybe I could squeeze 7, and gets 24 mpg (with just me in it)..

The shifter on your yota is cable operated though, but good luck getting a column shifter for it, unless you want to custom fab something. Maybe you could adapt a dash shifter from some other new car..