My mom had two Corvairs and a Pinto. And look who's still alive lol
You don't drive Detroit iron, it drives you
When I started driving, I think gas was like....$1.08...somewhere around there. I thought it was expensive back then because I only worked part time. I'd love to get those prices now! Oh well, my 06 Chevy Malibu is awesome and gets like 21 mpg after driving in the city for a couple months (I don't take long trips too often and we don't have freeways in Lubbock). On the Highway I get about 31. Coupled with the fact that I rarely drive except to the gym since I work from home, I only fill up once every 2-3 weeks.
My best scenario would be having that Nova again, but having a Prius or something as a daily driver. I'll tell you what I don't miss though, is not having air conditioning, power windows, power steering, and especially power brakes.