Quote:
Originally Posted by SCQTT
I'll play.
I use to drive 80 miles a day round trip and had a girlfriend that lived 600 miles away. (I moved)
I now work at home and no longer have a girlfriend. Sorta turning feral.
64 miles a day times 250 working days (excludes weekends and 11 additional days)
As a baseline we'll just use your commuting miles. Obviously you'll drive more, but you drive about 16,000 miles per year just getting yourself to work.
Let's just assume gas is $2.50 a gallon
In the Escape you use about 941 gallons, about $2,350 or $195.00 a month.
Let's say you buy something very pedestrian (hybrid) that gets 45 MPG
You would use 355 gallons per year, about $890 per year or $74 per month.
These are the two extremes you will probably not get better than $74 per month or worse than $195 per month.
The difference between the best and the worst is $4.03 a day, probably a cup of coffee.
The difference is $121 a month or $1,452 per year. Certainly NOT enough to justify buying a new car unless you NEED to buy one. Is the Escape worn out? Is the Escape $121 more useful or more fun than something like a Prius?
Now let's take the 86 and say you were able to get 27 out of it. That is 571 gallons per year or $1,428 per year, $119.00 a month. Of course you need premium so lets say $2.80 a gallon so about $1,600 or $133.00 a month.
It is hard to justify making a change unless it is already time for a new car.
When people consider these things they often forget there is a bare minimum they are going to use unless they change homes or jobs. in your case about 16,000 miles per year.
The cheapest thing you can do is probably a Prius at about $75.00 on month.
You could have a bunch more fun driving something like an 86 for about $60.00 more a month, or just keep on driving the Escape for $120 more a month than the Prius or $62 more a month than the 86.
My previous daily drivers were Corollas, on average they got great MPG, about 38. At 16K miles per year I used about $1050 in cheap (2.50) gas.
Let's say I get 27 in my 86. That is $1,660 a year using expensive (2.80) gas.
Not considering the initial cost of the car or the maintenance the 86 will cost me $50 a month more than the boring Corolla.
My 86 is worth $1.70 a day extra compared to the Corolla, but your math may be different.
When you drive an 86 all the cool dudes give you free beer and all women show you their boobs....so right off the bat it is totally worth it.
|
See now you're hitting the nail on the head. What I have doesn't get great mileage but when you factor in the premium gas for the 86 I'd only be saving about 20 bucks a month by some of my calculations. Enter the 2016 mazda 3 where the 2.0 can get almost 40 mpg and the 2.5 gets a little less. I figured with that i'd be paying about 80 a month in gas! Compared to what I'm paying now that's huge. Problem is I LOVE to drive. I want something that handles great. I was shooting for a nb miata but that all fell through. It also suffers from the same problem as the 86 in this scenerio. It gets better mpg than what I currently drive but the premium fuel almost cancels out the benefits. On one hand I have the fantasy of driving a "real" car (2 door, front engine, rwd) but then I'm met with the reality of the costs of gas and the practical side says maybe you should get the 3 instead. They say it has the best handling in its class. Whatever I get will have a manual trans, I CANNOT drive auto anymore. I have dreams of shifting gears I miss it so bad. Plus I have to factor in the fact that while I can sorta afford premium gas atm, in the next year or two I may be in a situation where I'm not making as much money. This would make the 3 much more important. Oh, but that car... it's such a cool car, and part of me just says screw it, buy it and enjoy and eff the money.