Gas prices hit everyone.My friends are b@#$#@$g also,and they drive cars and vans.
It hits us EX's owners a bit more ,but we drive a bit bigger trucks.LOL

 

Wow now I dont feel so wierd. I have only put about 10,000 miles on my truck in the past 2 years, and I dont hardly drive it but to tow my Jeep around to go wheeling. My 2 cents are buy a 30mpg DD and save the truck for playing

 

My trucks going on 5 YO w/32.5k on the clock and its my DD. Want to buy something else, well a third vehicle for me, but right now its hard to justify with the mileage I drive. Gas just keeps a rising though. Wait until the winter comes, $4.75gal for heating oil. Glad I heat with coal.

 

There are no "cheap" 30mpg cars anymore. The cheap car that was $800 a year ago is now $2,800 (plus it still needs all the work done it did when it was $800). It doesn't make sense to spend that much on a car because of gas prices.

Sure it sucks filling up the truck, but $3k worth of gas will last me a long time. Even if I drive a lot!

If I drive around a lot (then instead of to work and home), it's about $100 a week. If I take that $3k for gas instead of a car, I could get 30 months (2.5 years) of "free" gas.

I would need to drive that car for almost 3 years to make up for NOT driving the truck, and that doesn't include any work a cheap beater needs (shocks, brakes, ball joints, tires, etc., PLUS the extra insurance).

Yes, I would be able to get better mpg, and that would cut into some of the "3 years of ownership", but it doesn't make sense to waste that money on another car just because of gas prices.

If I wanted a Mustang, Camaro, Bike, or cheap DD - then get one. Don't get one because of gas prices. If you say you HAD to buy a car (or bike) because of prices, you're an idiot - like those people who trade their $14k truck in for $7k to buy a $20k BRAND NEW CAR for gas prices. Now, you spend $400 a month for a car payment, instead of spending $400 a month in gas. There really isn't much of a difference. You're still out $400.

Sure, you are getting better mpg... but the cost of ownership over what you had will take a lot of years. It doesn't make sense, unless you plan on owning that "new" car for 10 years.

Sorry for the rant.

 

I think you all just bought the wrong piece of equipment for the job.........

 

I'll be driving mine 4000+ miles in the next few weeks....towing a 9000 pound camper and all the crap my family can stuff in there. I'm contributing to global warming, the energy crisis and whatever else you can think of, but we're only here for a short time so I'm going to try and have some fun!

 

I bought a $200 Geo 3 years ago as my commuter. 40 miles round trip to work. Cost me $450 to get it road worthy (clutch, axles and tires) since then I have spent a total of $1300 on the car in maint. over 3 years. So my basic cost is $1500. Driving 13K miles a year in my 250 would cost me about $4300 at $4 a gallon. Cost in the Geo is $1625 for an annual savings of $2708 per year or $8100 over 3 years. Even if I spent $10K for a car that got 32 mpg, I'd still recoup most of the aquisition cost in 3 years and that assumes fuel prices stay where they are.

I understand what you're trying to say, but with fuel priced where it is, a cheap car can make sense for a lot of people.

 

If your only spending a hundred dollars a week on fuel then a 30 mpg DD is probably not going to help. I live in Lansing MI and know alot of people that drive to Detriot and back everyday that can be 150 miles just getting to work 750 miles a week. at 10 mile to the gallon were talkin over $300 a week just to get back and forth to work. This type of situation is were the daily driver pays for itself really quickly.

 

I don't see much impact on the price of gas on I-95 here in MD. They are still driving 75 mph & several are in the 80-90 mph range (estimated). The trucks however, have slowed to 65-70.

There was a painter in my evening class that didn't care what the price was as he just passed it on to the customer. The same was true about the type of paint, if the customer wanted Pratt & Lambert, they paid for it.

My van & travel trailer stay parked as the Civic gets 35mpg.

 

Thanks for putting a smile on my face this morning.

I'm on vacation this week. Think I'll wax the BEAST that lives in my garage, swim in my cheap "4 foot deep above ground pool.", have a weiner roast or 2, watch alot of tv, drink a few beers & basically do anything but drive...

DRILL HERE...DRILL NOW...!!!

TAKE ALL THE OIL FROM IRAQ... & BLOW UP ANYONE THAT DON'T LIKE IT...

DRILL ALASKA & OFFSHORE, NOW...

DRILL IN THE MIDDLE OF MY POOL IF THERE'S OIL DOWN THERE.

HIRE "JED CLAMPET" TO START "SHOOT'N AT SOME FOOD."

BUILD MORE NUKE PLANTS & INVEST IN SOLAR & WIND & BATTERY POWER TOO...

DO IT ALL...!!! NOW...!!!

 

I bought a Harley Davidson Ultra last year and it gets 40 mph on E-10 fuel. My F-350 Super duty V-10 gets 12-13 mpg on the same E-10, and my Crown Vic gets 22 mpg again E-10. So every day I get up and go out to the garage and try and decide what to drive today. Do I want to save fuel & be close to nature? stay dry in a rain storm? or haul and tow?

If you look at it purely at miles per gallon, if you drive the SD 15,000 miles per year, and get 12 mpg, that means you burn 1250 gallons of gas. So if gas goes up $2.00/gallon from when you bought it, that is only $2500 extra in fuel costs per year or .17 cents per mile more... And if you tried to sell that rig you'd take a significant depreciation loss due to the V-10 and it's bad rap for fuel usage, and finally, what are you going to replace it with that will meet your needs any cheaper? That is the bottom line folks. It delivers the work that we all demand, and so it is best to work around the negatives of fuel costs and keep it for what it is designed for==work.
Buy yourself a Harley Davidson!

 

Good words, 4wd...

My Taurus has 130,000 miles on it & very soon I'm going to buy a "green car" that get's great mileage. My BEAST V-10 will never be sold. I love it.

(The mileage I wrote was wrong. "a typo"... It just turned 16,000 miles((not 6,000)) & I've owned it for 3 years.

Lot's of good comments here. Oh,,, by the way, I just paid $300 for a gas grill & 3 weeks later I seen it on sale for $235. -----> Par for the course, "for ol' Port City"...
~
~
~

 

See, that's what I don't understand. Why are you going to buy a "green car"? Is there something wrong with your Taurus? If you were to buy a green car, I'm guessing you're looking at spending $20k. Why? Just say you want a new(er) car.

But I don't get that. Why spend so much money to "go green"? It blows my mind. It's not really going green either. It's not like electric cars grow on trees. There are plants that are built and pollute to make these cars. The batteries in the cars don't just turn into plants when you're done driving the car. There are no "green" cars. Just ones that use less gas.

I would LOVE to have someone compare the TOTAL amount of pollutants my tuck does vs a hybrid during it's life cycle. This includes making the tools to build the truck. The parts to build it, and how parts can be used after wards.

Sure, my truck sucks the gas. But I'm betting the over all cost from my truck vs a "green" car is about the same.

 

99 Taurus has a ton of miles on it & I want a car that gets good mileage. I mis-spoke when I said green.

I really don't care if they have to cut a forest down to make it...

I just want more money in my wallet after leaving the gas pumps....

Maybe I'll get a red car.

Thanks for caring...