driving a 4.6L range rover as a comuter car is killing me, first guy to give me decent coin can have it, I'll buy myslef a nice tracker or sidekick.  It's going to hurt not having giant tires, but maybe a bit oversized ones will be good enough.  Both my 2door and 4door had 33x12.5sx15s, I'll try to limit it to 30"max, it's going to be hard. As an interesting sidenot, my 95 16V 2door did 175ikm/h with plenty of pedal left, was all stock. 

I need this truck for ultimate economy so what would be my best choice, pre/after 98?

i like the 99+ grand vitaras, but tha fulltime locked hubs have to go.  4doors are required, dont want my dog stuck gettign in.  She is big.  is there a big change in 4banger to 6banger economy?

I have a 2002 four door Grand Vitara V-6 auto.  It gets about 17MPG in town, and 21-23 on the highway.  My GF has a 99 Tracker 2-door, soft top, 5 - Speed it gets pretty much the same mileage.

I briefly owned 2 99+ 2 doors with the 2.0.  Both of them got about 24 mpg.  My older 1.6 8 valves get about the same in commuting duty. 

http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/technical-discussion-beginner-repair/what-economy-(mpg)-are-you-getting-mpg-poll-added!/

yes, but most guys lift with mud tires, I'd build it to be the ultimate economy car it can be.  yes, I know it's an oxymoron

I had to do the same thing, I had a 50 mile commute each way.  I have a 94 tracker with the 8V and 90,000 at the time.  I put in a K&V filter, high emission plug wires, and a 2" magna flow from the cat back.  I have a 1.5" lift and run 30X8.5 Firestone Destination AT tires.  All said and done I average 27 MPG.  Thats with a pretty even mix of city/hwy.