Here we go again, $4.00/gallon diesel?

UTfball68 said:
I figured up that when I compare driving my 79 Bronco back and forth to Winston (50 miles each way) vs. driving the new mustang, I save so much coin in fuel, it's basically like I'm making a $100/month payment on the Mustang, and that number will get smaller as gas prices go up. And that doesn't even include cost to keep the Bronco roadworthy...and insurance was a wash. So it was damn near logical to buy a new car to save on gas in my case.
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I'm guessing you weren't an econ major. I agree it would be cheaper to drive the Mustang. Insurance is a wash? Do you carry full coverage on your Bronco?Kudos to your car salesperson for a job (snow) well done. I'd be shopping for a Japanese shitbox that got good milage for about 1500-2000 , pay cash and carry liability only, if I was really trying to pinch pennies.
I'm no Econ major either, I keep on driving my S500 @20mpg (on the highway with a tail wind) but it's payed for,liability only and has 347,000 miles on it, I've gotten my moneys worth.
 
BIGWOODY said:
I'm guessing you weren't an econ major. I agree it would be cheaper to drive the Mustang. Insurance is a wash? Do you carry full coverage on your Bronco?Kudos to your car salesperson for a job (snow) well done. I'd be shopping for a Japanese shitbox that got good milage for about 1500-2000 , pay cash and carry liability only, if I was really trying to pinch pennies.
I'm no Econ major either, I keep on driving my S500 @20mpg (on the highway with a tail wind) but it's payed for,liability only and has 347,000 miles on it, I've gotten my moneys worth.
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Actually, I was a Finance and accounting major with a minor in international business, and am currently a financial analyst for an aerospace company in Winston, prior to that, I was a financial accountant for food Lion, and a public accountant for Dixon Hughes before that. So...I do know how to crunch a number or two. Does that make my credentials up to snuff?


Simple math...it was costing me $600/month (in fuel alone, not to mention upkeep) to drive my 79 Bronco back and forth to winston every day. Now, the Mustang costs me $300/month. So that right there is a savings of $300 in fuel alone. Couple that with the discounts I received, it's actually only costing me $100/month more to drive a brand new Mustang everyday than my 79 Bronco.


I get your point about driving an econo shit box, I've done that...but that's the beauty of disposable income. Purchasing the Mustang wasn't just about fuel savings, it was about getting something my ass wouldn't have hang over a fender every weekend to keep it running, yet still have something pretty cool, and still get good mpg's, and still have a little bit of power. Now if one of the rigs in my sig goes down, I don't give a rats ass because they're not my primary mode of tansportation.


Edit...you did get me on the insurance thing though...there's a $12/month difference, but I figured that to be negligible...but that probably just comes from being an inexperienced 25 year old kid, that can't handle numbers:rolleyes:
 
^^^I never said I was saving money. I said the fuel savings between my 79 Bronco and my new Mustang was essentially like making a $100/month payment on the new car.
 
Sounds like a whole bunch of justification to me! In 5 years you'll change your mind about mustangs and start driving shit-box imports again. :flipoff2:
 
cltdba said:
Sounds like a whole bunch of justification to me! In 5 years you'll change your mind about mustangs and start driving shit-box imports again. :flipoff2:
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Well it definitely does make it an easier pill to swallow...but like I said earlier, isn't that what disposable income is for????? I was simply making an observation and comparison on the cost of ownership between the two vehicles.
 
BIGWOODY said:
Meh....what do you care...you never go anywhere except back and forth to work.....:flipoff2:
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I was at DPG last w/e. Where were you?:flipoff2:

Oh, and the real kicker is the Dodge is my DD for dropping David off at daycare since a carseat and a 2-door Hoe don't mix. I also lost my carpool when I became my kids chaeufer to daycare.
 
BIGWOODY said:
Now..doesn't it feel good to be honest with yourself without all that salesman speak?:lol:
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I guess I'm confused where the salesman has anything to do with it? I was paying 600/month in fuel. I am now paying 300. That's a savings of $300/month in fuel. My current payment is $396/month...plus the extra cost of insurance, which is $12 more than the Bronco. To me, that means cost of ownership for the Mustang is $108 more a month. I made the decision to purchase something new under warranty, so my fat ass wouldn't be the one hanging over the fender, the salesman didn't make that call. I made the choice to get a car with the creature comforts I deemed necessary, not the salesman. In the end, I could have gone econo shit box, but that would put me in a scenario I didn't wanna be in (again my choice and not some salesman's). Instead, I went with something brand new, with 305hp and gets me a consistent 32mpgs on the highway (28mpg's mixed with my typical 75% highway 25% city) for only an additional $108 a month. Plus it offers me the opportunity to wrench as a hobby, rather than wrench so I can get to work. To me, if your finances can handle it, that's a no brainer.
 
Whoa... you drive 100 miles a day?
 
UTfball68 said:
I guess I'm confused where the salesman has anything to do with it? I was paying 600/month in fuel. I am now paying 300. That's a savings of $300/month in fuel. My current payment is $396/month...plus the extra cost of insurance, which is $12 more than the Bronco. To me, that means cost of ownership for the Mustang is $108 more a month. I made the decision to purchase something new under warranty, so my fat ass wouldn't be the one hanging over the fender, the salesman didn't make that call. I made the choice to get a car with the creature comforts I deemed necessary, not the salesman. In the end, I could have gone econo shit box, but that would put me in a scenario I didn't wanna be in (again my choice and not some salesman's). Instead, I went with something brand new, with 305hp and gets me a consistent 32mpgs on the highway (28mpg's mixed with my typical 75% highway 25% city) for only an additional $108 a month. Plus it offers me the opportunity to wrench as a hobby, rather than wrench so I can get to work. To me, if your finances can handle it, that's a no brainer.
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I agree.....you're right, I know nothing.
 
saf-t scissors said:
Whoa... you drive 100 miles a day?
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^^^Driveway to parking lot, it's actually 99.8 miles round trip...then factor in lunch commute, dinner commute, and miscellaneous commuting and I put between 120-130 miles a day on that car.


BIGWOODY said:
I agree.....you're right, I know nothing.
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That's not what I was aiming for man. And I didn't mean to get into this discussion. My original comment was only to point out the difference in cost of ownership was $108 between 2 of my rigs and I was pleased with that.
 
UTfball68 said:
Driveway to parking lot, it's actually 99.8 miles round trip...then factor in lunch commute, dinner commute, and miscellaneous commuting and I put between 120-130 miles a day on that car.
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Yeah, I get it.

Somebody said earlier in the thread that they were being 'held hostage' by the oil companies, b/c they were having to pay $120 to fill the tank. Taking your mileage numbers and comparing an 18mpg diesel truck with a 50mpg diesel VW... you'd use 105 fewer gallons of diesel per month.... saving somewhere around $400. That easily covers a car payment and insurance. You could probably actually *save* money if you did it right.

Bottom line is people make choices, and those choices determine their exposure to various risks. If you choose to DD a 7000# truck, you're going to end up with a high sensitivity to fuel prices.
 
BRUISER said:
US just needs to start drilling :)
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cltdba said:
Would drilling here in the US really save us that much?
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Just who do think would do the drilling? It would be big oil. It would not affect the price much if at all.

cltdba said:
Could we drill and refine it as cheaply as they do "over there?"
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The answer to that is no. The Yorktown refinery was recently closed. Why because they could buy oil from India that is already refined for less money than they could buy the crude.

Why the Indian Gov't subsidieses the oil industry. I wonder how much money they get from the US? And how much of that goes to the subsidies? We need to stop giving money to other country's and look out for our own. Especially when we are this much in debt.
 
What is it about oil that turns everybody into goddamn Socialists?
 
saf-t scissors said:
What is it about oil that turns everybody into goddamn Socialists?
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I think it's based on prices they were used to. I'm sure we have guys here that remember when gas was a quarter. And now, by God it's not like the good old days they remember, hell I'm sure they were saying that when gas was .50/gal. Well, I didn't know the world of gas at only a quarter, I got used to it at about $1.50-2.00. Now kids getting their licenses today, will be used to $3+ gas, because they don't know any better, so that will be the acceptable rate, and the same will be the case if gas ever hits $10/gal. With all that rambling said, I dunno why most folks can't see that historical costs adjusted for inflation and devaluation of the dollar, has kept fuel prices par for the course. But the complaint I do understand is the one where part of your budget balloons to double (possibly) what it was 6 months earlier. I think it's the quick hits (under a year) that are the true issue. Folks feel entitled to get what they've always gotten, and when they're told they're gonna get less, or need to adjust they're budget, they get cranky. And when you've already cut so far back, or living at the edge of your finances, like so many people do, it makes it difficult to cope. I'm sure you were well aware of all of that, but that's my take anyway.
 
I always love the argument "we should drill more locally, then we could keep it."

People seem to forget 2 important things.
1 - the people doing the drilling get to "keep" the oil and sell it. And guess who is doing the drilling? The oil company. It's not "the U.S.". It's still just a company. Whose goal is to make money.
2 - it's still sold on the same open market just like oil that "came" from the Middle East, Brazil, or Canada.

So it's not like "we" (meaning US citizens) will suddenly get a huge discount on oil b/c it happened to come from our backdoor. It's still going to be sold to us at market value by the same people selling it now.
The only way it would make a huge difference is if "we" (meaning the government) suddenly got in the business of drilling for, refining, and sitributing oil itself, from our own supplies. But, how many people would be in support of "government run oil"?
 
Yeah, Dave... except that you're forgetting about transport costs. The oil extracted in the US, Canada, and Mexico, is mainly refined and consumed in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Most of the fuel we use in the US comes from Canada... not the Middle East. But actual, current supplies and future prospective supplies factor in to the current costs of oil. If people perceive scarcity, it drives up the cost. If the president says "we're going to see to it that gas costs $8/gallon in the US", prices will go up in anticipation of the policies that would cause that price increase.
 
UTfball68 said:
I think it's based on prices they were used to. I'm sure we have guys here that remember when gas was a quarter. And now, by God it's not like the good old days they remember, hell I'm sure they were saying that when gas was .50/gal. Well, I didn't know the world of gas at only a quarter, I got used to it at about $1.50-2.00. Now kids getting their licenses today, will be used to $3+ gas, because they don't know any better, so that will be the acceptable rate, and the same will be the case if gas ever hits $10/gal. With all that rambling said, I dunno why most folks can't see that historical costs adjusted for inflation and devaluation of the dollar, has kept fuel prices par for the course. But the complaint I do understand is the one where part of your budget balloons to double (possibly) what it was 6 months earlier. I think it's the quick hits (under a year) that are the true issue. Folks feel entitled to get what they've always gotten, and when they're told they're gonna get less, or need to adjust they're budget, they get cranky. And when you've already cut so far back, or living at the edge of your finances, like so many people do, it makes it difficult to cope. I'm sure you were well aware of all of that, but that's my take anyway.
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Good points, but when gas prices double over a short period of time, and I essentially haven't gotten a raise in almost 4 yrs, it doesn't 'feel' right even though adjusted for inflation it may be equal or whatever.
 
drkelly said:
Good points, but when gas prices double over a short period of time, and I essentially haven't gotten a raise in almost 4 yrs, it doesn't 'feel' right even though adjusted for inflation it may be equal or whatever.
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Agreed 100%...and that's why I said this:

ME
But the complaint I do understand is the one where part of your budget balloons to double (possibly) what it was 6 months earlier. I think it's the quick hits (under a year) that are the true issue
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Even if you are good with money, it's tough to readjust your budget for those quick hits.
 
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