No more cheap gas, did you buy your fuel-sipper?

In reply to The0retical:

Can you post a link to that graphic? I would love to share it with my Mother in Law...Who keeps harping SWMBO and I should both be driving new Civics because they get "so many good MPGs"...

In reply to ManhattanM (fka NY535iManual):

To grab the link for any picture you can right click it and open in new tab (long touch and select 'view image'for mobile devices). Grab the address from the browser's address bar.

Linky

Dave wrote:

drdisque wrote:

Dave wrote: I've got a Mazda 2 so I'll all set. Of course that is balanced out by the wife's F150.

Unless you drive the Mazda2 on the highway - just did a long road trip with a cargo carrier on top for the stroller (since it takes up the entire trunk). averaged about 25 mpg at 75 mpg. It's an automatic (wife's car) and wouldn't hold 4th on any sort of upward slope due to all the aero drag. Of course it was fine at 70 mph, but driving that slow on open highway just seemed dreadful.

Mine is a 5spd but it is still geared pretty short. Mine is 95% in city driving. I sure wouldn't want to put a cargo carrier on top. I can even feel the performance drop each time you add a passenger!

I actually really like how it looks with the crossbars and the carrier on top. Of course the carrier (even though I got the shortest one that would fit the stroller) is still too long to keep the rear hatch from fully opening. Ours is 95% city driving too and that's why we're keeping it for the time being (as long as the car seat still fits in the back seat - our infant seat currently barely fits).

My daily drivers are either the CRX Si or the turbo Miata. They're good for 33 and 28 mpg average over the last couple of years. And they're completely paid for. I guess I'm good.

mazdeuce wrote: In reply to Bobzilla: I had my Mazda2 when gas was over $4. I saved enough each month on gas over my truck to make the payment. It was kind of cool to do the math.

I like playing those numbers. It's kept us from buying something new and shiny a few times because we were telling ourselves it would save us money.

What's really fun is doing long term cost comparisons. I did htat with the Turd (2000 Accent) to the truck when the wife was driving 100 miles per day. That car AVERAGED 40mpg doing that drive where the truck was averaging 18. At the time gas was ~$3 per gallon. Do that for a few years and it makes a helluva big savings.

I broke down the cost per mile that car gave us including purchase, maintenance and insurance costs and it was something like 6 cents per mile.

In reply to EastCoastMojo:

Thanks! I would honestly never have figured that out in a million years. Now I can post something in the "Today I Learned" thread, AND win an argument with my MIL using maths!! (Well, a win is admittedly pretty unlikely...)

A 10% increase isn't nearly enough to get our economy rolling. We need 50% to get the drills running, and 100% to be really profitable.

I own a fuel sipper, but the annual difference in fuel consumption between that and my Silverado won't buy the insurance for the car, even with $1.50 per liter gas.

Keith Tanner wrote: And they're completely paid for. I guess I'm good.

This here is a biggie for us as well. HAven't had a car payment in almost 3 years.

My Fiesta runs 38-42 mpg.

No wonder it is the best selling car in the UK.

Note: I'm in upstate NY.

Streetwiseguy wrote: I own a fuel sipper, but the annual difference in fuel consumption between that and my Silverado won't buy the insurance for the car, even with $1.50 per liter gas.

As the math points out, you likely don't drive much. For those of us that do, it is a large difference. Especially when you buy used. THat $4k we spent on her Rio has been paid for and then some compared to the fuel she would use in the truck. It paid for itself by year 2, year 3 it's paid for all of it's maintenance and insurance, year 4 was money in the pocket.

Yep. For me, its about 15,000 km a year, with around 18mpg (imp) to about 30 mpg. I know that's not really a sipper, but its close... Plates and insurance are around a kilobuck. If I factor in another vehicles worth of tires and depreciation, it gets worse.

I still drive the fuel sipper, because I hate driving trucks around the city.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Yep. For me, its about 15,000 km a year, with around 18mpg (imp) to about 30 mpg. I know that's not really a sipper, but its close... Plates and insurance are around a kilobuck. If I factor in another vehicles worth of tires and depreciation, it gets worse. I still drive the fuel sipper, because I hate driving trucks around the city.

So you're looking at ~$600 in fuel savings for another car per year. What's funny.... our 3rd car (the truck) sees more miles than you put on total. lol It's averaged 9800 miles a year since we got it. Wife's car sees 25k, and mine around 20k.

The most expensive plates on all of our vehicles are on the motorcycle. I think last year they were $180. The truck is at the state minimum of $42 and the wife's car is $60.

My XJ, lifted 3 inches and on 31" m/t's, does about 18.xx mpg. 18 highway, 18 city, 18 flogging it, 18 babying it, 18 loaded to the gills, 18 empty...

Furious_E wrote: My XJ, lifted 3 inches and on 31" m/t's, does about 18.xx mpg. 18 highway, 18 city, 18 flogging it, 18 babying it, 18 loaded to the gills, 18 empty...

My 89 9C1 was the same way. I tried different things, but whether it was cruising a 110, or grannying at 55 it was 18. flog it stop light to stoplight, or baby it 18. Of course, back then gas was $1 and $10 would get you half a tank so no one cared.

Never been a factor in how I lead my life, so really not perturbed.

That said, lets see how long the agreement last. Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq and Iran are dying for cash and will have a hard time playing by the rules since in most oil producing countries, "Rules are for other people".

Ha you people with your ability to drive and concerns over fuel cost.

Everything in the fleet gets over 30MPG. The xb will probably need a battery when we get up to retrieve it at some point. I normally get driven around in a 2.4L sonata that gets low to mid 30s

Bobzilla wrote:

Furious_E wrote: My XJ, lifted 3 inches and on 31" m/t's, does about 18.xx mpg. 18 highway, 18 city, 18 flogging it, 18 babying it, 18 loaded to the gills, 18 empty...

My 89 9C1 was the same way. I tried different things, but whether it was cruising a 110, or grannying at 55 it was 18. flog it stop light to stoplight, or baby it 18. Of course, back then gas was $1 and $10 would get you half a tank so no one cared.

Mine's really only been like this since I did the lift this summer - I used to get anywhere from 20-23.5 (might have seen 24 once or twice). The one thing that will affect it is sustained speeds over 80, where mileage drops off precipitously. It's actually not awful for a boxy old 4x4 with an engine that originated sometime in the late Jurassic era, and seems to be on the upper end of what similarly equipped XJ owners report. The 5 speed and way too tall gearing definitely helps.

I've spent $592 on gas this year for my car. I wouldn't mind having a car that gets better mileage, but there is little financial incentive to make that happen.

Bobzilla wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: Yep. For me, its about 15,000 km a year, with around 18mpg (imp) to about 30 mpg. I know that's not really a sipper, but its close... Plates and insurance are around a kilobuck. If I factor in another vehicles worth of tires and depreciation, it gets worse. I still drive the fuel sipper, because I hate driving trucks around the city.

So you're looking at ~$600 in fuel savings for another car per year. What's funny.... our 3rd car (the truck) sees more miles than you put on total. lol It's averaged 9800 miles a year since we got it. Wife's car sees 25k, and mine around 20k. The most expensive plates on all of our vehicles are on the motorcycle. I think last year they were $180. The truck is at the state minimum of $42 and the wife's car is $60.

We don't have the option of opting out of any insurance. Basic plates gets you full coverage. I'd love to be able to lose the collision coverage, but that's not an option.

Didja know our lovely public insurance company decided it would be a cool idea to safety people up, so a modern 1000cc sport bike is around $2600 a year now here. Social engineering at its finest.

In reply to ProDarwin:

My worst year was almost $15K. When the tools for the job require that kind of fuel, you just suck it up and pay the bill.

We did make a change from full sized vans to smaller trucks. My personal vehicles sit for the most part. That's probably why I don't worry about it too much.

The bike is well into the 40+mpg range and the wife's car is in the high 30s so I'm not worried.

The last two fill ups I got premium under $2 per gallon, it holds about 4.5 gallons. Honestly, It would take more than $10 per gallon to make me sweat.

Daily is the miata. Its paid for and gets decent mileage.

I survived the 73-74 and 78-79 energy shortages and the 2008 meltdown price spike. Still remember gas lines, odd/even gas days, people trading in V8s for Pintos, Vegas, Chevettes etc. Best selling car in 1975 was the Toyota Corolla.

In reply to 81cpcamaro:

Motorcycles burn more gas than big block duallies. Why? I live 2 miles from work but my route home on the BMW GS takes me 45 miles

None of my cars get great mileage but my commute is just under 5 miles each way. So due to warm-up time it isn't much different if I drive the suburban or the Miata.