The Eco boost is often in he heavy and bigger crew cabs, and loaded with 20+ rims. Plus were people driving for economy or expedience.

The 3.8 and 4.2 are old tech V6's. The engine that is top of the list is the 3.7. It is fords newish dohc base engine for the F150, and Mustang. In the Mustang people can get 30. With the F150 23 mpg. So I should be above the F150 as my truck is lighter with lighter running gear. Plus being smaller with similar aero dynamics.

 

I'm currently looking at a 1993 F250 4x4 7.3 with 245,000 miles. Not sure what transmission it has. Anyone have an estimate what mpg it would get? It's been hard to find a reliable number. I understand its hard to get quite right with little information

 

I'd be expecting 13-17, depending on speed and how much diesel it leaks <_<.

 

^^^^ Depends on cab/bed type, transmission, diff ratio, tire size/type, and more than anything else, driver's right foot. A manual driven conservatively should get you 18-ish on the highway.

 

Just doing some quick estimations in my head here, but it would be cheaper to drive a diesel car/sedan that gets 45-50mpg to see your son, but STILL have the IDI truck and pay $30-$60 a month for off-site parking to keep it there and drive it when you have to haul gravel or something.

With fuel prices the way they are now (thanks...Obama?), you can have your cake and eat it too. The diesel car would literally pay for the truck in the long run.

 

That is exactly what i do. I have a 98 Jetta TDI (in hindsight, i should have gotten a 97 so that I don't have to smog it every two years in CA), and a 88 E250 7.3 IDI. Best of both worlds. I drive the Jetta pretty much everywhere, and use the van for camping, hauling, family trips, road trips, and helping friends.

Get a 96 or 97 Jetta or Passat TDI wagon with a stick if you can have only one vehicle. the wagon will give you a lot more storage, almost like a small truck. And it'll give you 40 mpg minimum. My Jetta regularly gets 44mpg.

Crazy, but look what just popped up in Socal: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv...863330896.html

 

i just got this today;


1998 honda civic ex
D16Y8 - 1.6 litre 16-Valve, SOHC VTEC
auto trans
MPG: 30 city / 35 highway
Curb weight: 2,504 to 2,511 lbs
Fuel tank capacity: 11.9 gal
Horsepower: 127 HP

runs and drives good.


now im a ricer?!

 

Unless you drive a ridiculous amount of miles I don't think MPG makes a big difference. 20 MPG is about teh point of diminishing returns, anything over 30 MPG is trivial. Do some cost per mile calcs and figure out how much difference it'll make. If considering a second car as an econobox figure in additional road tax and insurance costs and see if the fuel savings even offset it.

In my case at current prices driving 11,000 miles in the past year with my IDI (no overdrive) cost about $2000 in fuel. That's with no overdrive, so I expect that to get cheaper with a ZF5. Say I get a 30 MPG econobox and can use that to replace 3/4 of the miles I drive my IDI. Econobox costs $508.75 in fuel for 8250 miles, + $500/yr insurance + $75/yr for road tax for a total cost of $1083.75. This saves me $1500/yr in fuel for the IDI for a net savings of $416.25/yr.

That's not including cost of the car amortized over expected useful life or maintenance. Say I paid $2000 for a nice 30 MPG econobox and it cost me $200/yr in maintenance. Figure 10 year useful life before. That's another $400/yr in amortized cost and maintenance for an actual savings of $16.25/yr by having a second 30 MPG car vs just the IDI at ~14 MPG... Assuming the econobox doesn't need anything major.

My space and time to store and maintain an econobox is worth more than $16.25/yr. It's totally random that my example worked out to be almost net neutral cost/savings for a second vehicle, but I think $2k purchase and $200/yr for 10 years are reasonable numbers and the insurance and road tax is accurate for NJ.

What I hate is taht the government enforces this liability insurance of the vehicle not teh driver nonsense. I cant' drive more than one at a time so whatever my liability risk is cannot logically be multiplied by the number of vehicles I own. In a free market the liability portion of the policy might be tied to the driver in which case there would be a $516.75 annual savings in this example. Not huge, but starting to get meaningful. We all know that'll never happen though, so the reality is for those of us that need a truck for work/hobbies/whatever a second more fuel efficient vehicle does nto save as much money as most people seem to think. Just saying, crunch the numbers if your reasoning for adding to the fleet is saving money.

Anyhow, low to mid teens is reasonable without overdrive, with a ZF5 and 3.55:1 gears I think about 20 MPG is what you can reasonably expect to get out of an IDI truck. I don't think SC/SC/CC makes much difference nor does 2wd vs 4wd. You're talking small amounts of weight. Crunch some numbers to determine lifetime savings of a regular cab vs crew cab or a 2wd vs 4wd and weigh that against the added utility and waht you value that at.

 

don't forget saving ware and tare and much more expensive maintenance on your more valuable money maker hd diesel truck too.that's worth something to not needlessly rack up miles on 'em.
imho i think your backwards.you should own the econobox first.then figure if whether or not a secondary vehicle will save you money.remember you can always rent a truck when needed if you don't need to haul/tow often and or pay for delivery on items.these should be the figures you concern yourself with.not to buy the truck first,and then see if an affordable car could be worthwhile to go along with it lol.if you want a truck more than a car just because of personal preference (nothing wrong with that) your going to be paying huge amounts more per mile than if you chose a little 4 cyl car instead of course.as long as you know this and your ok with it,run 'er.

 

Wear and tear can be hard to quantify predictably. Things like tires and oil are easy because you can expect a to replace at certain mile intervals, but what about a failed vacuum pump, burnt out glow plugs? Wheel bearings, bushings, etc.? If you keep records you can ballpark expected costs over time, though with any new to you vehicle you will have an initial period of catching up on the neglect of previous owners. I just looked up my averaged monthly cost of repairs and maintenance to my IDI truck for the past year... $185/mo. This figure also includes a few minor things that are used for more than just the IDI, oil changes, antifreeze, misc small fixed on other vehicles, etc. This is a lot as I've only had it a bit over a year and am still fixing stuff the PO cut corners or put off. The 460 truck which I've owned for many years rarely bills me for anything more than oil changes.

You bring up a good point about considering the econobox the first vehicle, but it seems the OP needs a truck and already has one. Renting is an option but inconvenient and adds up quick if you use your truck regularly. I have no desire to deal with the hassle of renting a truck most weekends and after 8:00 at night a few weekdays each month. Your truck can do anything you need from a vehicle, an econobox can't. Which way to run the math depends on what a person already owns and if he needs a truck more than perhaps a few times a year that he could borrow or rent one. I've found that most times the "savings" are marginal or in the case of those who buy a new $25k+ econobox, usually with borrowed money, they'll never save a penny and have only added another expense.

 

oh you would never consider renting vs buying a pickup if you figured you'd need one most weekends.there's people who might not put a truck to use other than simply commuting for months on end (again nothing wrong with that,so long as you understand its really costing you.)
yeah i hear ya on what some consider normal.25k or more on an item that depreciates and worse,financing one....a fool and his money are soon parted.
for that kind of coin it's got to be real estate or an asset of some kind for me to part with it.not an expenditure.it makes ya wonder how some ever make any money.most people pulling those tricks though probably haven't lived debt free a day in their life's (or living it up in retirement,and rightfully so in that case.hey that's my plan too.)

 

Fixing the PO stuff and lack of maintenance isn't something I figure into my monthly operating cost. I figure it into the initial purchase investment on the vehicle. When thinking about purchasing my IDI van I figured about another $1-1.5K over the purchase price to bring it up to where I wanted it. It was in good shape, but mileage dictated it needed a new IP/injectors and I wanted to get the AC working. There are also a lot of things that I have done that were not needed, I just wanted to do them. If I didn't have the $ I didn't have to do it and it in no way affected my ability to use the vehicle.

From that point I can track monthly operating expenses. I could see how my initial IP could be considered maintenance costs, I just won't include it until I have to replace it again in 100k miles. Then I will know what it costed me per month.

And I am with HD250 on the financing thing. I have had a car payment once. I hated it and have never gone back. I like the lower insurance, registration and the ability to not put $$ into the vehicle if the budget says it isn't a good time.

 

i do the same as well Jay.i just have to nitpick on ya about this comment;
"I figure it into the initial purchase investment on the vehicle."
vehicles are not investments.investments yield a return (we hope! lol) sure without a vehicle we couldn't make a living (generally/the masses outside cities at least) but they are a part of the cost of living and not (very rarely-there are exceptions to every rule) investments.
just like you do though,i do also figure the initial cost of repairs and mods,into the initial price of the vehicle.the cost per mile will work out the same either way though.

 

Since yours are used for a business I would say that they are an investment. They produce income for you by providing a function.

In my situation, they are not an investment that pays me back financially. I could, however, argue that I do get a return from my vehicle. That would make them an investment. The real question is if I value the return I get more than the $$ I put in......a cost/benefit analysis of sorts.

But in the strictest sense of $ in and $ out, most of the time vehicles are not a good investment. You can't really sell them for what you have put into them.

Man, this could get really philosophical really quick......

 

Sooo.... build thread?