Gas Mileage - Why????

The biggest savings I have while deployed is fuel costs. ALL of my vehicles are paid for, and I don't think it'll ever change. The cringe of a payment stopped me from buying a nice bike last year. Usually i drive ~30k miles per year, at a 17mpg highway/city ave. (I have alot of in town driving)and $3 per gallon, it's about $5300 per year in gas!!


If i walk everywhere, or ride a bicycle ............
 
Leslie's Honda 35 MPG
My Oldsmobubble 30 MPG
Ford Van about 9 MPG

Van only tows once or twice a month

No car payment, but would concider if I found a 12V Cummins

Only a few times in last 5 years have I spent more for repairs than a car payment would be.

I drive 98 miles a day for work
Leslie drives about 60

Town is 30 mile round trip
Closest store is 4
 
upnover said:
...Only a few times in last 5 years have I spent more for repairs than a car payment would be.
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See that is the part people miss.

if you buy a used vehicle, yes you will have to do repairs once in a while.. but usually most of those repairs cost less then a car payment on a NEW RIDE.

even buying tires on most car is less then some car payments no a days..

but I will say this.. if you go out and BUY a NEW "lets say truck" that you plan on paying off and keeping for the next 10 to 20 years or more.. I would say ok I understand your logic in a car payment.. but if you flip cars every 2 or 3 years you are just throwing money away
 
Its not always just about the bottom line.

The ONLY way to encourage gas prices to go down is to buy less gas. Period. Do that any way you want, walk more, ride a bike, more efficient DD car/truck, WVO, propane, E85... Personally I'd much rather have my $$ in an extra vehicle than in the pockets of the gas man, but hey why not encourage $5 a gallon?

To me, every one of those is a worthwhile endeavor, not because of some hippie enviro-ideals, but because ANYTHING that draws money away from gas stations helps the cause of driving down gas prices.

If pump prices ever fall, you "gas mileage, WHY!?!" people will have everyone but yourselves to thank.


Oh, and x5million on the cash and carry for anything that's not real estate...
 
Just to jump back in.
We owe on 1 thing, our home. And the balance is less than my anual income on that.

I have a sister who is a pharamacist (and hell her brother can't even spell it w/o google) and her hubby is a PE. Both make 6figure salaries. Yet they wonder how we can go out to eat whenever we want, or take vacations or do as we please with the kids, etc.

Its funny, when you dont have a 3k/month house payment and 1300/month in car payments, suddenyl your money goes farther....

Its scary that as a nation we owe more than our annual income, hell actually we owe more than 5x our annual income and that includes the billionaires....Im just hoping to be standing there with cash when the deals start popping up...
 
New Car $30000
Interest rate 7.25%
Term 6 years
Payment $515
Total cost of car, principal and interest $37085
Value of car after 6 years $9-12k
Great investment.
 
SkyHiK5 said:
Just to jump back in.
We owe on 1 thing, our home. And the balance is less than my anual income on that.
.
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That is awesome

I only have small amount on wifes Grand Cherokee, house payment, and college loans..

no credit cards, etc.. once i get rid of her car payments then down to 2 items.. that is they i want to keep it until I can get rid of those..

my original goal was to be debt free at 30 but since i missed that I am aiming for 40 now..and I am pretty sure I can manage that..
 
BRUISER said:
my original goal was to be debt free at 30 but since i missed that I am aiming for 40 now..and I am pretty sure I can manage that..
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I was debt free when I got married & want to be again @ 40-45.

No payments is awesome.....I've done the new truck gig twice & do not miss the money-drains @ all.

The wife has an '04 WJ we bought @ a great price & short loan.....she'll always have a dependable, newish car (she doens't see the fun in laying in the grass on the side of I-85 poking your shifter back up into the cab:shaking:like I do).

I have friends building some nice-a$$ homes, but a $1200-$2000 a month payment scares the chit out of me. When I was out in chemo, we would've been bankrupt livin' that large.

Our modest house & vehicles saved our financial asses.

To each their own.

Now if I could kick this 4wd habit I'd be set!:rolleyes:
 
i bought a bike back in oct to ride to class and help out with gas. i have spent less than $100 in maintinance since then, and the bike has consistently gotten 50mpg. my f250 gets about 10-13 around town, and the samurai gets about 20. i dont think that the better gas mileage on the bike will pay for itself any time soon, but i was faced with having to buy a $500 parking spot here at school and suddenly that $1600 bike was looking a lot better. i still ride it to work and to class every day no matter how cold it is and it sucks, but i think its worth it. putting $8 a week in gas in the bike is a whole lot better than $8 a day in the ford. my 2c
 
Archdukeferdinand said:
Its not always just about the bottom line...
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Thank you.

As long as it keeps me from buying from the man (whoever that man may be) it's worth it to me.

Sure...it takes me hours on hours to gather and process WVO when I could spend that time working and making money to buy diesel...

And that payment on the motorcycle could be spent for diesel on the tow rig for transportation...but it gets around 38mpg and it's bitchin' fun...

Sure...I look like queer-bait driving a bright blue TDI Beetle...but at 42mpg...I could be pink for all I care...

It may end up costing me more (money, time, ego) in the end...but I have more selection of fun toys and I'm still damning some man (prolly one that doesn't like me anyway) somewhere...

But I guess we're still just hippies...
 
Hell, all my classmates can't believe the days I ride my motorcycle to class... it was 19 degrees this morning... Even then, it as only 5 minutes worth of being frozen to not have to pay for parking...

Hell, I've been riding a Rebel 250 for the last week, and it gets 2x the mileage that my 1100 Shadow does... I drive the cars as little as possible.... My "New" car had 24K put on it in a year by myself... After that, I woke up and realized the car would be worthless as a vehicle in the 4.5 years it would take to pay it off... After owning it for 4 years, it only has 49K on it now... It will be paid off by the time I graduate and i can put that $$ towards my student loans...
 
jrraw23 said:
Holy crap . . . . I've owned my Z71 for 6 years now and havnt quite hit 50,000 yet :lol:
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That's b/c it's spent cumulative time 4+ of those years not driveable... :driver:
 
And with 40s, or 44s, or whatever is on it this month, I am sure the mileage is off by about 30%.
 
jrraw23 said:
Holy crap . . . . I've owned my Z71 for 6 years now and havnt quite hit 50,000 yet :lol:
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What has more revolutions on that, the tires or the rathchets?

Bought my/wife's Yukon in 04 with 19k it now has 223k :rolleyes:

I dont drive at all.
 
uglyjeepoffroad said:
I just laugh at those who buy another car to save money. I thought my wife was the only one that could save money by buying something.
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I dunno, my $800 250 motorcycle (avg 67 mpg) paid for itself a couple of times over commuting over the past year... It is more than 5x as fuel efficient as my jeep.

As for the financial shrewdness, don't forget that a vehicle is an asset. Last I checked, gas was simply money out of pocket. More hippie-talk, I guess.
 
Ridgerunner said:
A asset is something that makes you money. unless you rent your car for more than is cost you to opperate it is not a asset
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Huh? You can sell a car, good luck selling your gas receipts. A car with a lower operating cost or higher resale value makes it a better investment.

Assets:
a. items of ownership convertible into cash; total resources of a person or business, as cash, notes and accounts receivable, securities, inventories, goodwill, fixtures, MACHINERY, or real estate (opposed to liabilities).

above is the first definition of asset at dictionary.com... A vehicle is a piece of owned property that you can liquefy should the need be (you fall on hard times). You can easily let a house get in bad shape and lose money on it, its still an asset. But thanks.:rolleyes:
 
Archdukeferdinand said:
Huh? You can sell a car, good luck selling your gas receipts. A car with a lower operating cost or higher resale value makes it a better investment.
Assets:
a. items of ownership convertible into cash; total resources of a person or business, as cash, notes and accounts receivable, securities, inventories, goodwill, fixtures, MACHINERY, or real estate (opposed to liabilities).
above is the first definition of asset at dictionary.com... A vehicle is a piece of owned property that you can liquefy should the need be (you fall on hard times). You can easily let a house get in bad shape and lose money on it, its still an asset. But thanks.:rolleyes:
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And there in lies a critical use of the word CONNOTATION.
You have quoted the literal definition of the word asset.
The discussion has been around the economic or financial definition.

Look at it this way, every day you keep a car it loses value. So every day you own the car your net worth decreases ALL OTHER FACTORS BEING HELD CONSTANT. No one is going to tell you not to drive a neew car if thats what you want to do, just please do not try to convince anyone it is a good economic decision.

Of course a $30k truck has higher resale VALUE than a $500 beater.

HOWEVER a $30k truck may return 15k after 5years, while there is a good chance that $500 beater can still bring $500.

So as a % of investment the $500 beater is a MUCH better "investment" (actually a hedge, as unless we are talking classics none of these are escalating or appreciating assets.)
 
Before I finished paying off the Jeep I knew I would need another car.
A) the Jeep was going to be lifted, and on the trail so I knew it was bound to break here and there
B)I had enough cash not to worry about payments...

I was spending way to much on gas, So I chose the car over a tow truck, I figured I can always use dad's truck (although I hate having to do that) and the money I was saving on gas I could get a truck in a few years...

That dream is gone... now that money is being saved for a house... maybe when I am 40 I can afford it then
 
SkyHiK5 said:
No one is going to tell you not to drive a neew car if thats what you want to do, just please do not try to convince anyone it is a good economic decision.
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Woah, I'm not talking about new vehicles... That's about the dumbest investment you could make. I don't remember the last time anyone in my family bought a new car.

Let me see if I can state this simply enough again because you guys seem to be dead set against there being any argument for having multiple vehicles or "saving money by buying something"

WIth a gas guzzler DD your only option is to put extra $$ in your gas tank, with a second, more efficient vehicle, yes you put extra $$ into your vehicle, but you have a piece of saleable property to show for it. If you are cheap (like me) you won't buy anything that has much value to lose.

Take my example, I own a (roughly) $4000 11 year old jeep and last year bought an $800 motorcycle. The motorcycle has more than paid for itself just in gas and I can resell the bike for about what I paid for it at any time... Hence my comment that at least by buying a second vehicle you get an asset out of it. But whether or not I get my money out of it or sell it for $1 its STILL an asset because its something I can sell, whether I made money or lost money on it.

Think about it this way: If you get in trouble with the IRS and have to pay a bunch of taxes, they'll hold an auction. They'll sell your vehicles, gold, property, heavy machinery, tools, etc... Those are ALL legally defined as being your assets. There are even companies that specialize in asset liquidation...
 
Archdukeferdinand said:
last year bought an $800 motorcycle. The motorcycle has more than paid for itself just in gas and I can resell the bike for about what I paid for it at any time...
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Yep, just bought the Girlfriend a 97 250 Rebel for $650, I know i can sell it at any time for the $$ i have in it... I paid $0 for the 1100 Shadow that I ride... Traded a 95 Jeep Wrangler to SHINTON for it, and I had less than $500 in the Jeep... You can have vehicular assets that pay off when sold, but you have to watch what you buy and know when to sell... I've never lost $$ on a vehicle minus the 04 Mitsu I bought new...
 
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