MPG does really mean something, it also makes a tremendous difference how many miles per year youd drive. For me, I put on 6-7k per year on the truck, whether I get 12 mpg or 15 mpg it makes less than a $250 difference over the year at todays gas prices. For some one putting on 30k a year, it'll sure add up after a while and I don't blame them one bit for try to eak out ever last little bit.

DFord79, I can and have made that equation work of driving a car to work instead of a truck. I bought my lumina used for $4,500 it costs less then $200/ year to insure, registration is less then 100 bones and a years worth of maintenence will cost me well less then $750 but we'll use it since I probably end up with atleast one big repair. I put 25k a year on my car. The car makes on average 27 mpg, my truck averages 13mpg. This is fuguring all hwy since I drive 75 miles a day to work and back and it's all hwy. My truck would cost me $4,425 just in fuel per year let alone maintence that would cost at least twice what my car runs me. My car would cost me $2,130 in fuel. In fuel alone I save just about $2,300 per year, I figure I should get about 250k out of the car so for me, that equals about 7 years of life (it had 75k on it when I bought it). so 7x2,300 gives me a grand total of $16,100. Minus out $200 per year for ins, $100 per year for reg, minus out the 4,500 I paid for it and say I average $750 per year for maintenence. That total is $11,850 so I still have $4250 that I saved. I don't need a new truck every 6 years, so I save an additional $25k ($35 truck minus a decent car for when this ones wore out) and I didn't even figure what I saved over buying car tires instead of truck tires, and stuff like that. So in the end not only am I money ahead, I also can own a 3rd vehicle which is sure nice if I have a flat (like I do today) or some type of problem, I don't need to be in any hurry to get it fixed because I'll always have something to drive. In the end I'll get rid of my truck more because I I want a new one then becuase it's wore out. It'll also have a higher residual value since it'll be low mileage, no that I am concerned about it, but it adds to the formula.

Obviously this won't pan out if your gonna go out an buy $35k cars brand new, but it works quite well buying used ones and running them untill there shot. This is the 3rd car I've done this with, my last one let go at 285k miles and the engine still ran strong, the trany let go and it wan't worth replacing, I was far enough ahead I just went out and got another. JFYI, the last one was a buick and it was a whole lot nicer to drive down the hwy than my truck! The lumina is about a horse a peice, nothing fancy but it gets the job done. Vehicles are just tools, use them untill there shot and get rid of em!

 

A couple of factors to consider in owning 2 vehicles (truck and good MPG car) versus just the truck:

1. Safety: the truck is much safer in an accident than the car. Can't put a dollar figure on that but it is worth a lot to me.

2. Time: it takes more time to keep 2 vehicles maintained than 1. Add up the extra hours for scheduled/unscheduled maintenance and taking the vehicle for annual state inspection, time spent purchasing, licensing, etc. I would guess 10 hours minimum per year, at XX$/hr (what's your time worth).

Just some extra factors to consider when trying to make a decision.

 

MPG is important in that my old f350 gas engine used to give me 14mpg average and now my diesel gives me the same in the city and I now buy 4 tanks of fuel a month instead of the 8 or more I did with my gas engine.
I have four handicap kids and we have wheel chairs and walkers and a large cap and all the other stuff that handicap stuff I carry. My one girl is medically fragile and she loves the heated seats and climate control air and my one kid is so tall that the crewcab gives him leg room. Do I drive my truck as a car?; no more like a cargo van and I use it and I don't hesitate to stomp on the fuel pedal if needed and I still get good mileage and yes when You drop 50-75 dollars at the pump you want to get as much mileage as you can out of that tank. I don't know anyone who has so much money that they could care less if fuel costs $1.00 or $100 a gallon. Most of us have a limited amount of money to spend for fuel and if we have to put more in fuel then someplace else and then something else gets short changed.
Do I look for my truck to get better mileage it would be nice but I like the room in my truck and moving almost 8000 pounds takes fuel and I want to use as little as possible to get it done with as much power as I can. I have gotten as much as 20 mpg on a trip and as little as 12 mpg will moving around the city so I am very happy with my big super duty F250 with 10,000 pound package the same as my old F350 would haul.
I drive a ford because I have found no other truck that will haul as much as I load in my truck with as much power or long life to equal my ford and if ford can build a great truck to meet my needs my next one will be another ford if not it will be built by someone else (Freightliner, Peterbuilt, Kenworth or maybe International) When you spend $60,000 for a pickup why not buy something bigger for another $30,000 that most likely you can't beat to death. Ha Ha
The most I would ever need to haul is 30,000 pounds so I don't need a really big truck but a pickup is getting small and I don't move that with the new one but that is what the next one will have to move and mileage will be in the 6-8mpg range and that is good for that weight.
Mileage is all based on what you are moving and how many gallons it takes to get from one place to the next and thinking that you can get 30mpg with any real full size truck is just not going to happen as the weight of the vehicle plus people plus what ever else you haul. when I am fully loaded I am close to 9000 pounds so I look for mileage in the teens when traveling and usually get 18-20mpg on trips and that is doing 70mph with the air on. I am more then happy with that as the old truck got 14 with the old truck.
just my 3 cents

 

My DD sits in front of the house and has been relegated to extra car.I enjoy driving the truck so much,it has become my commute vehicle(15 mile each way).

 

PeteC, I'll completely agree with you about time, theres no doubt about it. To my benifit I enjoy doing my own maintence. I go out to the shop, crank up the heat, turn on a race on the TV or crank up the CD Player, grab a cold one and do the job at hand. For me I don't see it as a big deal but for others it could be a hassel. That brings up another good point, short of front end work or suspension, I can pretty much do any repairs or maintenence myslef, this also saves on the overall bill and thats why $750 per year is gods plenty for my maintenence budget. I do have the benifit of putting stuff off untill I have time since I can drive the other if one is down for service.

Saftey wise it's really horse a peice. My truck is high center of gravity with a much greater chance of rolling over, it's also much tougher to control (considering Icy roads) vs. any of my cars. In a collision the truck would probably fair better but but thats not saying it's really any safer, just less costly to repair. It would entirely depend on the cause of the accident, and how things transpire from there but to say one is safer than the other is pretty tough to do.

 

best one to date shadow!!!!!

 

I love driving my truck. My first vehicle was a truck (56 F-100). I tried being without a truck once because my (then) wife decided we did not need a truck. I was miserable. Wife left and I got a truck.

MPG is a small concern. Smiles per gallon count also.

 

I think there is a great deal of psychological value for people in getting better mileage.

Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too. Being able to have an 8000lb truck that can do what a super-duty does AND get as good of mileage as you can makes people feel better.

But yeah, in the grand scheme of things if people want to save money, there are SOOOOO many better ways to do it than finding a way to get a couple MPG more per gallon. However if you can get better mileage via mods or behaviors without sacrificing utility or spending more on the mod than the gain it only makes sense to do so.

 

Women and trucks are both expensive to have around. But at least trucks don't complain .

 

I've been daily driving my F250s for ten years. When I started, I had a short commute and used the truck as a truck often. Now, I put 25K miles a year on the truck and only use it as a truck once a month. Switching to one of my cars will save me about $150/month is fuel costs. To that end, I'm doing some work on one of the cars to make it more fun to daily drive. I've got a spare CD deck, an amp and some speakers laying around for tunes. A few tune-up parts to ensure all is good and I'll drive the car for a while. A friend will get the A/C working for another $150. The truck will just rest and I can always drive it when I want to.

I agree that a lot of folks don't think it through when they make the leap to a different ride. I already own the car and the truck with no payments on either. So my only costs are fuel, registration and insurance. And I'm not sacrificing anything by not driving the truck every day.

 

I can't say MPG was a big factor for me, either. These are commercial vehicles designed to do hard work. They are expensive to operate and don't handle the way cars do. I knew that going in. For me, life without a truck is unimaginable. It's my automotive version of a Leatherman tool...you always need it least once a day for something.

There is some value to tracking MPG as an indicator of engine performance, though. A sudden drop in MPG might indicate that there is a problem developing. The main reason I keep logs on all that stuff is for business purposes. MPG is an easy calculation to throw onto a side column, and I'm a data junkie.

 

Some of us drive our trucks because we have to. A car or even a small truck can't go the places I go and haul and/or pull the loads that I haul on a daily basis. My truck is something I can't do my work without it, so mileage is not going to stop me from driving it. I'm not going to whine about the mileage I get (unless it's low enough to suspect something's wrong that I need help diagnosing), but I am interested in getting the most mpg I can get, and I see nothing wrong with discussing possible ways of doing that... And yes, if I could find another truck that would do the same things at a noticeably lower operating cost, I'd buy it.

 

That's about the smartest thing I've heard yet on the subject. I can't believe this is even a question. I want to go as far as I can on a tank of fuel and not have to re-mortgage my house to do it. I have to laugh at anyone that says they don't care about mileage. Just because we drive 7,200 lb +/- trucks, doesn't mean we have to turn a blind eye to mileage. I want more power, but if I can do it cheaper I'd like to. It doesn't mean I want to drive a popcorn popper.
For those of you that really don't care, OPEC thanks you for your support.

 

LOL. I agree with you there.