Who wants to try to calculate the cost / benefit of parking their Excursion and saving it for special occasions and picking up a little used economy car?

I figure that a knee jerk response to rising fuel prices is to dump their great trucks and buy new economy cars. Similar to what people do in the stock market - buy at the top and panic and sell at the bottom. Sometimes, what they should have done is diversify, buy bonds so that as one falls the other rises.

The irony here is that the truck that's sold off cheap usually stays on the road and keeps burning fuel - maybe even more (i.e. if you get a used Excursion cheap enough, you won't care about the price of gas - you'll use it as a daily driver. The guy that sold it cheap somewhat screwed himself by creating a new competitor for the gas he's about to buy.)

And, environmentally speaking, it's better to take it off the road, minimize it's use, and cut gasoline/diesel demand and emissions that way.

Unfortunately, here we're talking are big depreciating assets - but then - so is any little thing you might replace it with. Is the alternative of keeping one's Excursion and buying a second used economy car at all sensible?

I imagine that, say a 2005 Excursion, will normally depreciate by about $2,000/yr and falling. Lately though you can knock another $5,000 off due to the fuel price panic selling. So the question is - does it make sense to spend that $5,000 on some small car in the hope that gas prices will decline and restore some of that $5,000 panic sales loss?

My qustion is, what does one do to hedge their position to get the best of both worlds rather than taking a hit on the sale of their Excursion and then taking another hit on the purchase of a new economy car (which will probably depreciate by another $5,000 in the first year)...

 

Part of this depends on your want vs. need for the truck.

For me, my truck is my winter daily driver (I need 4x4 in the winter), as well as use for towing/hauling. So in the winter, it gets miles put on it pretty quickly (I put 10,000 miles on it over winter), but now I am driving my fun car since the weather is nicer. The Excursion has gotten maybe 150 miles on it in the past month. At 150 miles, the only way I'd really care about its mileage is if it got 1 mpg.

To me, having two vehicles is nice because I tend to fix my own, and as such that means I don't have to rush to get jobs finished usually. However, I do not save a dime by having a second vehicle. It is a toy in my case, nothing more. No matter how I work the numbers, I think about 95% of people who buy an economy car to "save money" are fooling themselves, and are spending just as much if not more, nevermind the hassle of having a third car to register, insure, and maintain.

Figure out what exactly it is that you actually need, and how much you care about gas prices. Then make your choice. Dereck has it worse than any of us with the UK gas prices!

 

I too use my Ex in the Winter and for towing. Most of the year my daily driver...and MPG champ....is a '03 Cobra. The current tank of gas is averaging just under 20MPG. A lot of highway miles on this tank...usually average about 17 which I think is reasonable for a 400HP vehicle.

I too thought about getting a higher MPG vehicle, but I don't want to part with what I have...so the added insurance, vehicle cost, etc would never really pay in gas savings.

Plus...I simply don;t want to drive a Prius, etc. Ick.

 

I bought a work car a month after I purchased my EX, I knew the day I bought my EX, I was going to do that. Originally doing it because my concern is the fact that Ex's are not made anymore, I did it to keep the miles off of it. Keeping my Ex is #1 concern. We are a camping family and it's what we all look forward to. Don't get me wrong, I really like the EX, but I know not to rack up unnecessary miles on it back and forth to work. I bought a 98 Civic with 104,000 for $4500. 37mpg. I now have 150,000 on it and still going strong. I think the liability insurance is $155 a year. Cost it out and I think it was the right decision. I live in Ohio and you would be pleasantly surprised to see how well the Civic handles the snow too. I'm not bagging on Ford Motors, I think it is fantastic that I pull my 7000 lbs camper and get 7 to 8 mpg. That's a whole lot of vehicle the Ford Ex is moving down the road to get what I feel is pretty good mpg's. I think keeping the commuting miles off of them is the most important thing. Like Joe says, just my $ .02
Good Luck

 

You dont have to buy a brand new econo car. I just picked up a 2001 nissan sentra 104k for $3500 bucks. I am getting about 32mpg right now and the ins is only 280.00 a year. I drive 60-75 miles a day. Gas in the X was costing me nearly $375.00 a month, now it costs me $120.00 maybe...thats a real cash savings of about $250.00 per month.

Now I can do the numbers and I know it will take me nearly 3 years or longer to break even and get my initial $3500.00 back but there are other benefits that I am realizing from having the other car. We do alot of camping so it is really nice to be able to hook the trailer up to the TV the week before so that on Friday afternoon I can just pull out. Also when I return from a trip I no longer have to worry about unhooking the trailer, I just leave it hooked up ready for the next trip unless I know I will need it during the week. Also I get to keep all of those miles off of my X, it is an 04 with 60k and if I had continued driving it daily it would be over 100k in 2 years. Not saying 100K is alot of mileage on the truck but 70K is certainly better in my book.

Rc

 

I agree with all of your great postings. I have to admit that I too have toyed with the idea of a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle but I don't see it as a wise decision for myself. First, thankfully my X is paid for and I bought it used with someone else paying the huge chunk of up front depreciation. I don't drive a rediculous amount every month, so the fuel savings of a smaller vehicle won't even begin to offset the additional cost of insurance and the depreciation of yet another vehicle. Plus, at 6'7" 280# I just can't physically or comfortably fit in or safely operate some of the smaller vehicles and this is frankly my biggest factor for driving the X.

I am being more careful with how I drive and I try to plan my trips more wisely. The Excursion is absolutely one of the most comfortable vehicles I've owned and I plan on keeping it for a long time.

As to Matt's comments about the Prius, I know of a Prius that was in a pretty bad accident about two years ago. The occupants were trapped in the vehicle and the emergency services folks wouldn't use the Jaws of Life on the vehicle because they were unable to disconnect the propulsion battery. It took them about 45 extra minutes to extracate the folks from the car. Maybe this was a rare case, but this really happened.

Also, a hybrid's advantages seem to be as an in-town commuter vehicle with stop and start driving. The battery supplies the starting torque that would ordinarily be supplied by putting extra gasoline into the engine. The opposite is true in highway driving. The Toyota Corolla, which is the basic platform for the Prius, gets better mileage on the highway than its hybrid cousin.

With the new government fuel standards that were just passed, I think we'll not recognize the vehicles that will be produced in 5 years. I think I read somewhere that we're roughly at the world's halfway point in oil reserves with approximately 60 years left. It does certainly make good sense to conserve what energy resources are left.

Our home has hydronic baseboard heat and I'm contemplating adding solar panels to save on natural gas prices in the winter. That will also help me keep fueling the Excursion!

 

We are fortunate to have 3 cars in our family with 2 drivers. Each car has a specific function if you will.

The Ex...snow and tow duty. What other SUV can roll down the road (ANY ROAD IN THE US BTW) at 17,000#'s SAFELY and get 7-10 mpgs? (8.3 average in 5000 miles last year!!!)

The Mini-Van...with two daughters and their friends...having a 6 passenger 6 cylinder min-van is a must...gets ~18mpg in EXTREME city driving and ~26 straight highway

The MINI...an all around BLAST to drive. Great in-town commuter. 4 seater (my girls are small) and gets 27mpg in EXTREME city driving and 38 straight highway.

Will I EVER recover money spent on the MINI?...not likely...but I can now run back and forth to the lake for fishing (50 miles each way) and burn ~3 gallons of fuel in the mini and the wife can drive around town in the mini-van and not get 8mpg that the Ex gets...

The Ex is INCREDIBLE at what she does...DRIVE US ALL OVER THE COUNTRY (and I mean ALL OVER)...but she hasn't been driven since March...I'll drive her this weekend when I pull the TT out of the winter storage barn...but then she will sit until we camp in May...

While the numbers can be diced and sliced many different ways to argue one side or the other...if you have the means to get a fuel efficient vehicle...you are more likely (at least I am) to actually NOT think about trips as much as I did with the Ex...the EXTREME city driving I did with the Ex was HORRIBLE on the tank...so I simply didn't go places...which is okay.

BUT...for us...getting the MINI is a FUN car to tool around in...it handles exceptionally, is peppy and gets good MPGs...

This decision is really a personal one...

But my opinion is really that NO 3/4 ton vehicle...no matter WHAT motor...is a fuel efficient commuter vehicle...if your situation requires hauling or towing and moving a family at the same time...there is simply NO BETTER CHOICE (IMO)...but to try and justify that the Ex is a fuel sipper...well...she isn't...but I also understand that this is the one and only date for the dance...so you got's to dance with the one you brung...and that's okay too...

I am NOT getting rid of my Ex...just applying that tool to the right job...and that is tugging our home on wheels to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion and Arches NP before climbing a few small hills (Vail pass ~10,300' and Eisenhower ~11,200') thru the Rockies into Denver in mid-June!...again...the RIGHT tool for the RIGHT job...the Ex fits that bill PERFECTLY...

This of course is simply my $0.02!

Joe.

 

whjco says: "As to Matt's comments about the Prius, I know of a Prius that was in a pretty bad accident about two years ago. The occupants were trapped in the vehicle and the emergency services folks wouldn't use the Jaws of Life on the vehicle because they were unable to disconnect the propulsion battery. It took them about 45 extra minutes to extracate the folks from the car. Maybe this was a rare case, but this really happened."

I don't doubt this for a minute. Emergency personnel are having to be trained about these cars and how to handle an accident scene and recovery. You could under the right conditions have a vehicle with over 200 volts of electricity flowing through it.... An insurance adjuster in the northeast working for a major company was shocked and killed already while inspecting a wrecked vehicle. Yes, common sense probably was not his strong suit as I understand he did not take any precautions and had no training on these autos.

 

I chose to live near work, so I walk instead of drive for my commute.

It would be silly for me to buy a separate vehicle to drive around town in on the rare instances that I do; the Ex is overkill for that, but anything efficient at running around town would not be good at towing my 8k-lb trailer.

So I feel no guilt, and I'm keeping the Ex.

 

For the last 2 years, my home has been my office (the company I work for ran out of space, and I haven't had a sick day in those 2 years) so I don't feel bad either. I may be finally getting office space 20 miles away, but I will most likely take the motorcycle or the Subaru then anyway.

Like others have said... the X is my tow vehicle.

I just might look around for an 82 diesel rabbit and burn WVO in it.

 

If they hadn't all rusted away 20 years ago in these parts, I'd be driving a Rabbit diesel pickup to drag project-parts and children to various places around town, and get ridiculous mileage while doing so.

 

I'm with ya... all have rusted out around here too.

I still don't get the Prius craze. They might be cleaner, but I'd take 50MPG highway from a diesel Rabbit anyday. 50% less fuel burned is a better idea to me.

 

Not to mention their highway mileage isn't much better than a regular gas vehicle. If you notice the ads for them, they'll say "50MPGs", while saying a comparable gas-powered car is only 35MPGs.

However, that 50MPGs is stop-and-go, not on the highway, while the 35MPG vehicle is highway mileage, not stop-and-go.

They are great in metro urban/suburban areas. But over-the-road, uh, no.

As for me, I'll keep the '97 Cougar 4.6L when I want better mileage. Although at 11MPGs around town, it's not much better than the '01 Superduty V10

It does, however, get around 25-26MPGs on the highway. The V10 only around 16 at best.

At this point, I would save NO money if I bought an econo-box.

Next car is a Mustang anyway...

 

I'm looking for a economy car for me. I have a 22 mile (each way) commute for work and I currently drive our 01 Accord (@~29 mpgs), but the wife just running aruond int he X is killing us. She only gets about 9 mpgs in it and I got 14 when I dorve it... so can get a bit aggressive behind the wheel. She's spending as much as I am and she's only driving about 30 miles a week!

If I find something, I take it and give her the Accord back. At this point I don't care what I get, as long as it is dependable and gets good mpgs.

 

I'm seeing a slight problem with the math on this one. If she's driving 30 miles per week getting 9 mpg, figure 4 gallons. Even at $5/gallon, that's $20/week. I'm not sure how I can see you spending less than $20/week for a third car, even if you got it for free, it got 40 mpg, and had minimum coverage on the insurance when you factor in gas, registration, and repairs on it.

I see a lot of people talking about gas prices killing them, only to find out that they drive some very low number of miles and the total cost comes out to minimum. Furthermore, these same people use this as a justification to purchase another car that costs far more than they will ever save in gas costs. Not saying anything against the people on this forum, but I drive 30,000+ miles per year and I still haven't seen the numbers add up for a third car for me. Only way for me to save money overall (money does equal money, after all, regardless of what you spend it on) would be for me to get rid of my Jag and replace it with something like a Buick. But then I'd be driving a Buick instead of the Jag...