@Ndungu : Steve and Josiah have raised good points. For economy tests, look for urban stop-go cycles that the manufacturer uses to rate it. Some economy driving tips on autos: Never floor the throttle, maintain engine revs as low as possible as the gears change based on road resistance. If you have a turbo engine, maintain revs below 2500rpm as the turbo picks at these revs and more fuel is injected to prevent meltdown. On highways, keep average speed at around 105kms, this gives 5 gear 2000rpm on most. If you have twin turbo, economy is not an option. Steve mentioned about Subaru GT/B. The B stands for Bilstein which means the suspensions were uprated by Bilstein Company. Thus such a car out of the showrrom is already GT standards.

 

AWD cars consume more than FWD or RWD ones and maintainence is more. Look for a vehicle that allows disengagment of the setup. I tested a Nissan X Trail, lovely car it is and I think the best in its SUV class, has this electronic option. I particularly liked the Xtrail over Rav 4 because it is the only SUV that has 4 disc brakes, and X Trail has what other no car I've seen so far. In the dashboard, there are two slotted panels and you can drop your tin can drink like Red bull, tusker etc into them and switch on the AC. It will cool the drinks for you..... Tyres sizes are important and affect fuel economy. bigger tyres less economy and more wear/tear on ball joints, suspensions.

 

Fitting those nasty oversize spacers to raise the car is another bad thing, affect the centre of gravity of the car. On softer suspensions, create more body roll and dangerious. I see some toyota saloons looking like 4WD cars but the life of such is not more than 3 years before they become. Finally, if looking for extreme power, find 100 octane fuel ( wilson airport or rally people ) but dont push the engine as competition specs. I can tell you I've created a punch pack using 100 octane with 114 Nitro octane booster and the valves gave up in less than 2000kms of engine life. Its great but comes at a cost. If you want extreme power, start with an extreme engine that was designed to be pushed.

 

Rgds.