Gas prices - Should you buy another car?

[Jerryl]

Well, the economy is not doing well, and gas is not getting cheaper.
Many are wondering “Should I purchase a smaller vehicle to save money?”.

The attached spreadsheet should give you some numbers to make some intelligent decisions.
This is an Excel and required "Zip" for posting.

Even if the savings are what you would like to see, the question of comfort comes to mind. Are you willing to give up the comfort of a BIG vehicle for the savings shown?

Hope this helps someone make the right decision.

 

[Jerryl]

Forgot the file ....... Really, not my fault ....... Damn computers .....

 

[BlackMetal]

Well I don't have Excel so I can't access your file. Should just take a screen capture of it and post the picture.

But anyways, depending on how much you drive, it takes a while for the gas savings to justify the cost of a new car. You probably tried to figure this out in your spreadsheet, which I can't view lol.

I really don't mind. I drive a V6 Ford Contour daily to work, fill up once a week or sometimes I only make it 6 days on a tank. $40 right now to fill up 12 gallons. Oh well. I just cut back elsewhere rather than complain about gas. I don't go see new movies for $9.50.

 

[Grimster]

I don't go see new movies for $9.50.

Oh don't even get me started on movies. It costs a minimum of $40 and usually $50 for me, my wife, and kid to go see a movie. We always make it a point to eat before we go, and sometimes we sneak some snacks into the movie in her purse. We can eat at a nice restaurant for the same money. Insane, and they bitch and whine about people pirating movies.

As for gas, I drive about 300 miles a month, I don't give a rats ass about my MPG, I just want a car that puts a smile on my face. My wife's commute is 2 miles one way, so mpg isn't a huge issue there either. If we're making a trip somewhere, comfort is more important than MPG (to a point) sitting in a ****box econocar for 4 hours vs my wife's comfy Yukon, isn't worth the money saved.

And hell bringing my GN home 600 miles it was getting around 25 mpg on the highway, even a good crappo econo car gets what, 30-35 mpg? Hardly worth the downgrade in "fun". However, I can't say the Buick is the most comfortable of long range drivers, those seats are just not the most comfy and I'm damn tempted to put my stock seats in storage and put something a bit more comfortable in mine to be honest.

 

[Jbenn911]

Great post! I've had this discussion with my wife many times, now she can see it in black and white.....I drive very little, so MPG means nothing to me, so to speak, but she and her gas guzzling Charger do... :biggrin:

Well, the economy is not doing well, and gas is not getting cheaper.
Many are wondering “Should I purchase a smaller vehicle to save money?”.

The attached spreadsheet should give you some numbers to make some intelligent decisions.
This is an Excel and required "Zip" for posting.

Even if the savings are what you would like to see, the question of comfort comes to mind. Are you willing to give up the comfort of a BIG vehicle for the savings shown?

Hope this helps someone make the right decision.

 

[klrv6]

How???

I put in that I drive 1 mile a year. With an economy car payment of $450 I get that it will still cost me to drive my current vehicle. How? What am I missing here? Where did this .xls come from, it may be wrong.

 

[Jbenn911]

Worked fine for me, as I changed the miles driven so did the figures

 

[TurboDave]

Worked fine for me too. Use realistic figures. 1 mile a year???

 

[klrv6]

Ok,,,

I now see the "Estimated Cost Savings by going to Economy Car" is per month. Things that are left out > Tax on said vehicles (current is much cheaper) and the fact that I will have to rent a truck because I would no longer have my Suburban to pull a trailer. It's not always black and white when calculating these costs. I sold my sentra because two kids and shopping don't mix with economy cars.

 

[ACLR8R]

Thanks, that actually helped me decide that I dont need to get a more economical car. I only drive about 5k per year.

 

[Jerryl]

I now see the "Estimated Cost Savings by going to Economy Car" is per month. Things that are left out > Tax on said vehicles (current is much cheaper) and the fact that I will have to rent a truck because I would no longer have my Suburban to pull a trailer. It's not always black and white when calculating these costs. I sold my sentra because two kids and shopping don't mix with economy cars.

Glad it worked.
I can go back and add the taxes, but wanted to keep it reasonably simple.
The idea here is to determine your "Break Even Point" based on gas prices, or mpg, or total annual miles.

Maybe I'll add the taxes to the calcs ....... or you can add those numbers into the "maintenance cost" .

Great post! I've had this discussion with my wife many times, now she can see it in black and white.....I drive very little, so MPG means nothing to me, so to speak, but she and her gas guzzling Charger do... :biggrin:

Yeah, even at 16mpg average with the GN, AND, $400/month maintenance (DP, Alky, injectors, etc ), you can show the wife that you will still be ahead over the economy car.

 

["Turbo-T"]

One of the reasons I went from a big block Chevelle muscle car to a turbo Buick is because I wanted something that wasn't such a pig on gas.




That's not saying I don't miss my Chevelle though.

 

[klrv6]

It was realistic.

Worked fine for me too. Use realistic figures. 1 mile a year???

How else would you test if formulas are working? Set all values as the same and the results should match, right?. 1 mile a year is very realistic for my GN

Tax on vehicles in KY is calculated and paid per year. A 14K car would run around $400. Of course this sheet doesn't really address all possible scenarios, like if you sold or traded your car in. Just rough figures that would allow you to further investigate getting rid of your current vehicle. Although, "economy car" also means the possibility of giving up a fair amount of functionality just for a few MPG more. I have yet to find a vehicle that can serve the functions I ask of my Suburban and get better mileage. I'd probably buy it if I did...

 

[Jerryl]

How else would you test if formulas are working? Set all values as the same and the results should match, right?. 1 mile a year is very realistic for my GN

Tax on vehicles in KY is calculated and paid per year. A 14K car would run around $400. Of course this sheet doesn't really address all possible scenarios, like if you sold or traded your car in. Just rough figures that would allow you to further investigate getting rid of your current vehicle. Although, "economy car" also means the possibility of giving up a fair amount of functionality just for a few MPG more. I have yet to find a vehicle that can serve the functions I ask of my Suburban and get better mileage. I'd probably buy it if I did...

If you sold or traded your car, your monthly payment would be less, correct?
So instead of $400/month, you enter $100/month for the new car.

Also, if you put "One" mile in the spreadsheet, you will see less savings.
See, the benefit is based on total miles /year. In this scenario, the more miles you drive, the greater the benefit in hard $$$.
Having said that, at "1 mile", and no current car payment, you still have to the new car payment and increased insurance.

Interestingly, if you get a Hybrid and run "E-85", your cost benefit will not be as big as you may think.
So at 10 vs 40 MPG, you buy 75% less gas and it requires a 75% reduction in gas price to "break even" ($4.00 vs $1.00 / gal).
If you get there, you have the new car payment of $100, with a trade-in.......

 

[klrv6]

True

If you sold or traded your car, your monthly payment would be less, correct?
So instead of $400/month, you enter $100/month for the new car.

Trade would make the payment lower, guess selling it would have to come off the total.

I aways try to test formulas with at least a 1 or 0. Thanks for the work...

 

[Dusty Bradford]

I didn't use any excel file. With the wife driving a Tahoe and my 2500 Duramax it was a no brainer. My gas cost has risen to nearly $600 a month with her making trips with the kids everywhere and my running around different places tuning/working on cars. We kept our vehicles and got into a new Toyota Corrolla for $160 a month and paid $3500 down. You have to remember your not only saving $$$ with gas but saving your personal driver as well. Longer distances between oil changes, less wear and tear, tires etc. The Tahoe is there for any long trips where comfort is needed. It'll save well more than $200 a month in gas alone. Sure it'll take a while to recoup the down payment but it will pay for itself in a little over a year. It's already a nice change to get nearly 400 miles on 10.9 gallons of gas.

 

[DCVING 6]

My wife and I both drive around 2000 miles a month. My 30mpg sunfire was down for almost a month and I had to drive my 13mpg Tahoe, that HURT the credit card bill that month. $22 a day just to go to work and back.

We are trying to decide if it is worth it to move closer to work or not. Whatever we would save in gas is made up for in higher housing costs and taxes.

 

[faster]

For some reason my winzip won't open it.

Never the less most people don't look at the whole picture.

I bought a beautiful two tone blue, 5 year old full size conversion van (4 captains chairs and fold down into a bed, bench seat all dark blue leather a really upscale van) from a women who panicked when gas started going up 3 years ago. Big motor and 10,000 lbs towing package. She sold it to me for $5900.00 with 90K miles after she put new tires brakes and tune up into it. The van was flawless, not a scratch. She went and bought a new mini-van to save gas. My big van gets 14 city and 18 highway the new mini-van gets what 17-19 city and 25-26 higway, plus it cost 20K+, 30K to mach my interior and you have to buy collision insurance. I paid cash, did not buy collision and the difference in the insurance payments is the fuel cost difference.

I bought a 95 Cadillac Fleetwood RWD LT-1 drivetrain last year for $6000.00 with 53K miles and not a scratch form an older lady who bought it new and wanted a smaller car to save gas. At 4400 lbs it gets 16-17 city and 25-26 highway for my wife. A 50K mile used V-6 honda, toyota, nissan or any other midsize car gets 18-20 city and 28-30 highway for twice the price and half the car. Again I opt out of finance charges or collision insurance.

Florida is loaded with those LT-1 Buick Roadmaster/Cadillac Fleetwoods relatively low miles for $4-6K and they are rust free great cars. They will easily go 200K miles.

You would have to drive those smaller vehicles how many thousands of miles to get even with me? If you ever could.

If you were going to puchase a vehicle new anyway and incur all those expenses than you can consider fuel mileage.

But I find too many extraordinary deals on spectacular used cars here in Florida to consider a new car.

My dad lives in a retirement community and picks up a 2002 Grand Marquis LS garage queen, loaded and leather with 14K miles for $4800.00. How can you not take the deal and drive it till the wheels fall off. Dad and I run across
5-6 deals a year like this.

I will never buy a new car again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mikey

 

[klrv6]

Been there too.

My Sentra was only 1mpg better than my 3.8 Regal for my work comute. My Regal hits 30mpg, the Sentra would touch 31. It's a not so nice drive for the average car. Lots of lugging up hills. I now have a four door car with room in the trunk. Our Suburban is the same way, we sold our Camry to purchase it. Suburban > 20MPG highway (off the propane) and the Camry would hit 24mpg (all city). It's a sacrafice. Do you want economical or usability and safety. If all you need is something to get your butt to another destination or long highway drives, you can opt for the 4 banger. If you need any kind of utility and safety, you need to look bigger. The big body 2WD GM vehicles get great mileage for their size. There is one guy on fullsizechevy.com that knocks down 24mpg all day with his Suburban. I have only hit 25mpg off the propane and 29 and change while on the propane assist (all hwy).

 

[GNVYUS 1]

I have an 8 mpg E85 vehicle and I already knew that going in so gas prices don't bother me. If anyone had a 12 mpg gas vehicle then why would it bother you now vs before??

Buying another vehicle to me for the majority of people is not going to be worth the extra 5-10 mpg you are going to gain by doing it. If you bought a 12mpg SUV then you probably can afford the gas prices.

Here is how I look at the gas issue with my daily driver TSI Talon.
12k miles a year at 18mpg at $3 a gallon = $2000 a year in gas
12k miles a year at 18mpg at $3.5 a gallon = $2333 a year in gas

Here is my American reality check.
Starbucks $4 @ 4 times a week, 52 weeks = $832
Starbucks $4 @ 2 times a week, 52 weeks = $416

Hey, I make money back even though gas went up 50cents a gallon all year long by just changing my addition to Frappacino's.

Voted not a big deal, and am not giving up my 2 Mocha Frappacino's a week. :biggrin: