I drive about 100 miles a day. I bought a 94 Nissan Pickup that gets about 24 MPG. Living in the Northwest were we get bad winters, I would rather drive the Nissan on slick roads. The Dodge is very front end heavy. Put 500 punds of weight in the back and it does o.k. I guess I would rather put a windsheild in the Nissan in the winter months, slide it into a ditch or hit a deer and save the Ram for the nice weather months.

 

Me too!!!

 

Must be a 2WD with the 4 cylinder, I had a 95 4x4 and no matter how well I drove it couldnt break 17...POS!!!

 

I bought a cheap Hyundai Accent just for commuting, easy to park and dont have to worry about it. Also when you figure the price of 13 or 14 in tires and other wear items plus fuel it seems worth it to me and the wife likes it for shopping which means she's not taking my truck to the lots.

 

I bought my truck so I could watch it sit in the driveway. I like making payments on it and not using it. Add in the cost of a prius, now i have even more expenses.

 

Uhhhh, I'm gonna assume your joking.

 

Yea, Im kidding. Just curious why someone would buy a $35000 truck to use it once a year and get a car for the rest of the time. I drive a truck for the utility it offers over a car, not for gas mileage.

 

I know for me, I bought my truck when diesel prices were $1.65/gallon. At that price, it was reasonable to keep driving it and filling it. Diesel prices shot to over $5.00/gallon in my neck of the woods, and are currently at $3.50/gallon where Im at, and thats why I have a cheap car.
Scott

 

So you bought the truck for mileage and not the utility. Wouldnt it have been a better choice to buy the car instead of the truck from the beginning since mpg were more important? Gas prices are going to go back up in the future sometime again.

 

Man you guys are brutal. Who cares why someone bought the truck!
This'll blow your mind. I drive a 1/2 ton Ford for "utility work", hauling, towing, working, etc. The Dodge is my wife's truck, it's a garage queen, gets put away every night, and the biggest thing it hauls is 4 kids to school....25mi one way! And it's her 2nd 3/4 ton diesel. 1st one didn't even have to haul kids to school! The trailers that it pulls could be towed behind a Honda.
I bought it because I wanted to....and could! No other practical reasons.
Kinda fun when she smokes out the rest of the soccer moms leaving the school!

 

There once was a time when I could spend most or all of my money on my vehicles. Now, wife and kids and mortgage and bills and, and, and, and........ So, you spend where it's needed. For me, it's not cost effctive to drive the truck on errands where the bed is not required, or to use the truck to commute 50 miles a day, everyday. That said, if my wife is using the commuter, my choices are to drive the truck or the minivan which both get the same mileage. I drive the truck.

My $1800 car has now become an asset rather than a liability since it has paid for itself in fuel savings over the last couple of years. It's all about the money.

 

I have a second car. Ran across a good cash deal on a pretty low mile 03 Accord EX-L Coupe and was doing a lot of sales calls all around houston. My area is now within 20 miles of where I work and my job is 10 minutes away from my apartment now though.

I probably shouldn't have bought the car. I think I was figuring in 25000 miles a year and the car was well worth it. But I figure I can stretch out the miles on the accord and sell it for a couple grand less than I bought it for which will extend the life of my truck a bit. I might end up paying the truck off a little early and keep buying cars and keep the truck parked except for when I need it. I think my next one will be a TDI jetta wagon, I'm in love with them.




Gotta fix the door lock actuator on the pass side, windshield, buff it, get some door dings popped out, tires (cheap for this car!), and I'm gonna put in better speakers and sirius.

 

I made a spreadsheet. I'm figuring I save about $12 a month having the Honda as a daily driver/work car.


Gas Savings for Accord.pdf



I'm figuring in Tires for the Dodge at $1,160 and for the Honda at $500. They both will last 40,000 miles a set in my math. I also figure in doing all my own Maintenance.

The cost of the car includes some items added to it like stereo, fixing some stuff on it as well, and sales tax.


I don't add back in the less depreciation on my truck. If I only put 7000 miles a year on it I figure I won't have to buy a new truck for 20 years if not more. 60K on the clock right now and I think this truck is good for 200K if I keep it out of the weather.

 

I looked at buying a commuter car back when I had my Titan. At 13-14 mpg the Titan was expensive to drive 30-40K annually. The numbers were there to make it worthwhile if I were driving 30K per year, any less than that and it was a loser. The wife's Accord lease was behind on the mileage so I started driving it on highway work trips. It made a big difference in my fuel costs and I didn't get the additional car.

I ended up getting rid of the Titan and replacing it with the CTD. The additional 3-5 mpg of the CTD made a difference in the monthly fuel bills. My driving for work has tapered off substantially with my new employer, down to about 15K annually. She replaced the Accord with the Jetta TDI in April, and I have continued my practice of using her car for highway trips.

I couldn't see having the payment on the truck and not driving it daily. I may feel different if my job changes or when the truck is paid off.

 

Cant base the decision just on mpg,my 97 4x4 4runner gets 17-20 and my 06 Dodge CTD gets 17-20.My 4runner is a beater,dont care what it looks like,dings, dents even a fairly decend accident,as long as it gets me to work reliably.I use the 4runner for other things but if I were to use the Dodge and got into an accident,without a second vehicle I could be without transportation,I can also send my truck in for repairs and have a back up,tha tis how I think of it.Also lower manitainence,lower cost of maintainence,fuel prices here are the same.For me it makes perfect sense