@ReignOfRaining how older are you talking there? the skyactiv mazda3 hatch circa 2012+ sounds like it'd fit the bill pretty nicely, had been able to move some pretty big stuff when i had one and fuel economy was up around 32-35mpg you do explicitly want a skyactiv model though, they're a fair bit more efficient than the other models
i might just really like the feeling of being lost it's certainly less scary then it might've been in the past, with how simple of a situation it is to fix
might be related to just how difficult it is to get lost in suburbia pick a direction and start walking, you will almost certainly end up on a recognizable street do that in a city, you'll end up in the next town over in a rural spot, that's a good way to end up wandering through a forest