Posted on 05/06/2008 5:05:53 PM PDT by Flavius
Like a lot of people, you may be watching the price at the pump soar and wondering whether it's time to dump your current, less-than-efficient SUV, truck or car.
It's tempting to simply haul your 15 miles-per-gallon vehicle down to the dealership and drive out in something that gets 30 mpg or more. But that may not be smart, at least from a financial point of view.
ADVERTISEMENT People thinking of going this route need to take several factors into account.
For starters, your gas guzzler is worth considerably less as a trade-in than it was even six months ago. By some estimates, the value of used sport utility vehicles has dropped more than 20 percent since January.
Even if your current car is paid for, you're likely to incur new monthly payments on that fuel-efficient replacement.
<>Finally, it could take years to realize actual savings at the pump when other factors are taken into consideration.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
i still drive mine
i hope everyone buys a prius
so that overall usage goes down
and i can enjoy the view over all of the little cars
I’m keeping my old trusty paid-for gas guzzler until His Goreness himself tries to drag me out of it.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Paid my truck off last month. Its like new 17k mi.
I should be happy right? :)
My Yaris gets 30 mpg combined, and with the monthly payment it’s equivalent to me buying a Tahoe at 8,000 than mine at 12,000
The smartest car to own is a used 1986-1991 Honda Civic Hatchback. I have had several (My last one got stolen) and loved them every minute.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I feel bad for people with large RV’s. I drive a honda Civic that get at least 30mpg around town, and 35-40mpg on the road.
thats easy to repair... just saying
im, rebuilding mine piece by piece
i will never buy a new car
I’m thinking of buying a SUV. The prices are good.
Want to be comfortable.
Besides, the view can sometimes be entertaining from the cab of a truck.
(hell that's prolly worth a couple mpg on its own)
My ‘07 Silverado, 5.3 V8, crewcab 4x4 gets an honest 20.8 mpg on the open road. Not sure about city driving, but I’m sure happy with it.
It is a quick fix; however, the chip that controls both back wipers and the intermittent costs a few hundred bucks, and I haven’t been able to find one at a junk yard.
My big old Tahoe gets me everywhere I want to go in any kind of weather or terrain. I can sleep in it when I’m camping & haul antiques in it for my business - plus - when the seats are all up - I can haul my whole family around in comfort. It drinks the gas - but it’s paid for. I hope to drive it until it falls apart.
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/vehicles/phoenix-suv.php
My 2005 Escape is the 4wd 2.3l 5 speed, and I get over 28mpg most weeks unless I have lots of stop and go traffic on the way to work. On a long trip with the cruise control on, I have gotten more than 30mpg. I am not sure if this is typical but I have been extremely pleased.
“i still drive mine
i hope everyone buys a prius
so that overall usage goes down
and i can enjoy the view over all of the little cars”
Compensating for something now are we??
yes snow
now sure what you fantasize about
As depressing as gas prices are, it's nice to hear about anything 'sides this miserable f'n election season.
Why is a new beetle not getting way better than that? I had an old piece of junk mazda pickup pushing 200,000 miles that got 23MPG.
I just bought a '97 FORD Contour w/ 5 speed/ 4 cyl. 36 mpg hwy. for $900 ....but I had to put on front brakes and fix stereo....... Hardly no rust.
I like that car
Fuuugly!
Waddaya do, drive it around the back yard ??
(but congrats on the payoff thing)
There is a glut of both used and new large SUV’s and trucks on the market now, due to the price of fuel. And yes, one would have to take a serious hit in the resale value over what it was a few months ago, but if gas keeps going up (who knows?), then the value of the large vehicles will just plummet further and faster.
I’m glad I don’t own one — it would be a tough call.
hopefully my next thing will be electric
A few years ago I was looking for a plain 2wd isuzu hombre with 4cylinder stickshift. I gave up after a couple months. NONE to be found...used that is.
I agree with you. I like looking down at the little cars.
A dinky little beetle only gets 25MPG on a drive with and average speed of 50MPH? That’s lousy.
My heavy AWD Legacy wagon gets 26MPG on a 8 mile run at an average speed of 35MPH. If I had that kind of highway run I would expect to be near 30MPG.
I’m hoping the prices keep falling like a rock. Then this christmas I’ll write a check for the full amount on a brand spankin new ford 2WD F150 with a V6(plain model). I almost did it last christmas. But I chickened out at the last minute because I still had some medical bills to pay off.
I put 1k on it this weekend.
But normally I use it to go to work 5 mi away
and the store 1/2 mi away
The most promising technology I have seen is the CAT, or Compressed Air Technology cars. They are already in production, and are supposed to be released this year in Europe, and later here in the U.S. You can go to youtube and do a search and find several vids about the cars. There is a website too.
They have both strictly a compressed air vehicle, which when it runs out of compressed air, is done, and they have a gas-compressed air hybrid, similar to the current gas-electric hybrids. IMHO, these are more practical than gas-electric hybrids, as there are no nasty batteries to dispose of, or to go bad, and I think the vehicles as a result, would weigh considerably less than a gas-electric hybrid.
Hehehehe. The Algore types will have a big fight on their hands if he tries to get my Tahoe.
“I didn’t have to trade anything in...
I just bought a ‘97 FORD Contour w/ 5 speed/ 4 cyl. 36 mpg hwy. for $900 ....but I had to put on front brakes and fix stereo....... Hardly no rust.
I like that car”
I want one of those. :^)
Screw it. It's only money and the kids don't need the inheritance. Besides I can save diesel by taking lots of shortcuts. There's something to be said for being able to camp in the middle of the trout stream. (:^o)
Personally, I like the new tech coming from volvo. Electric direct drive hub motors with NO GEAR REDUCTION. The electricity comes from a gasoline generator under the hood. It kinda reminds me of the diesel-electric locamotives, except with a few batteries and fancier motors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmJTsHcZMFQ&feature=related
>I feel bad for people with large RV’s. I drive a honda Civic that get at least 30mpg around town, and 35-40mpg on the road<
We sold our RV last September for a couple of thousand less than book value. I’m so glad we sold it when we did! I miss the darn thing, and I’ll miss taking it to the beach, but I don’t miss filling that 55 gallon tank at 6 or 7 mpg. From what I hear from my friend with an RV service business, you can’t give the Class A motorhomes away at present.
Typo: should read like getting 200mpg from ICE vehicle.
My kids call my bike, outfitted as it is, 'the geek mobile'.
I have always wanted an RV, so now I am glad I waited. My previous neighbor has one and it is huge, with a diesel engine. I don’t know how the mpg is on it, but I suspect it is no better than 6-7mpg. The entire industry will be hurt until one of them come up with an engine that will get 15-20mpg.
I’ve got a PAID FOR ‘98 F150 @ 18mpg also, love this old truck, has 135,000 miles, no sweat with us, we drive vehicles until about 200,000. Keep driving (changing oil) that truck, it’ll keep going and HAULING things and it’s YOURS.
Nice to see articles spouting not-so common sense these days. I was talking to a friend trying to get him to see the fallacy of selling a vehicle to gain just a few mpg—they STILL had to have one big enough for the family you see.
Thank you for feeling sorry for us. We had planned to do a little traveling with our pets (like old folks do) but now our RV is functioning nicely as a guest house. Oh well, we can go out and sit in it and pretend and it’s paid for so not much of a financial drain, as long as we don’t drive it. It is a house that drinks 5mpg going down the road.The good part is we have a little Suzuki for a “toad” and it gets good mileage.
I have a paid off 2002 Isuzu Axiom that gets 18.4 for my daily commute or 21 or so on long drives.
I drive about 450 a week. With rounding, that’s 25 gallons a week. A vehicle that gets 40mpg, like my 92 Civic, I could save about 40-50/week. At that rate, times 4.2 weeks, it’s enough to cover a 220/mo car payment.
My issue is, I hate driving the civic, and frankly, I can afford 100/week in gas. The real issue is that while I’d LOVE to buy a fuel efficient vehicle for the times when I don’t need a 4x4 and yes, where I live, you need it, my wife won’t let me spend the money. So I blow the cash and a despot gets it instead of some Japanese business man who’s into groping on the subways and puke/enema videos.
and how much does that cost to keep charged.
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