My last daily was a Hyundai Accent which was a good little car, averaged over 30mpg and insurance was cheap. Sold it and was driving my F150 tow vehicle which was ok since my commute is an easy 15mi, but I was putting to many miles on the truck with other trips. It is a 14 and the replacement cost put me in sticker shock. Now Im driving an Mazda RX8 which can't pass a gas station without stopping. Makes the F150 look like economy car but its fun.
Yes but you also have maintenance on the car, insurance and all the other stuff on top of the initial cost. If you spend a few grand on a second vehicle and carry insurance it will take quite a bit of time to recoup all of that cost. At some point it would be beneficial but it would take some time to get there. Keeping the cost of the second car low is very key to how it all washes out.Originally Posted by artcarney_agr
http://calcnexus.com/fuel-cost-calcu...mpg2=30&calc=1
I’ve done the commuter car a few times. They seldom pay for theirselves. The time I was commuting 240 miles a day a few times a week...maybe? I tried the small chit boxes and 100% agree on something larger. It’s not like the commuter vehicle doesn’t need routine maintenance, insurance, etc...and it’s not like your tow vehicle won’t just because it’s just sitting.
I finally gave gave up and just put the miles on my truck. Your money, but there are lots of articles out there that agree financially a second car isn’t the best option.
80 miles a day isn’t anything at all especially if it’s highway miles. I drive a Honda Civic that I bought used in 2014 with 37k miles, to me that’s brand new. In the 4 years that I’ve had it I’ve put on 140,000 miles and I’ve never had to take my car into a shop for repair other than normal maintenance like oil changes. Ive also only replaced the tires and breaks once in that time. My commute is 130miles a day and have seen a few 400mile days depending of field work. Although 99% of my drive is highway with minimal to no traffic so the engine is barely working at all.
Even though my car now has over 177,000 on it, I still get 42-43mpg during the summer and 38-39 during the winter
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
Initial purchase price, routine maintenance, tires and insurance on a second vehicle pays for a lot of gas in primary vehicle. Throw in unscheduled repairs and it takes years to break even when buying a smaller car in your situation. At least from outside looking in.
Last edited by Mark Perry; 06-13-2018 at 04:07 PM.
Do what works for your situation, what someone else thinks doesn't matter, they have nothing invested but to tell you what will work for you, unless of course you truly wanted the advice of the answers you get to decide what's best for you. I have found that this forum is all knowing what will work for someone else in all matters of life!!
Gotta factor in depreciation on the truck with all these break even discussions. If he keeps it for 3 years, that's 60k miles on that truck (assuming 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year). That difference in the value on the truck will go a long way in paying for whatever he gets. Add in the gas savings, insurance will probably be a wash as he'll be able to move to a lower yearly mileage on the truck and the car should be very cheap to insure, tires will be way cheaper on the car even ignoring the fact that it's likely they'll last longer than on a Tundra, etc. It's not farfetched at all to think that it's worth it.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
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Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I've found that it works well if it will allow you to keep the truck longer. If after 5 years, you will still trade that truck in no matter the mileage, then no, probably not going to help. But, if you keep the truck twice as long (due to 1/2 the miles/wear and tear), then it definitely makes sense.
The tires and routine maintenance aren't increased expenditures - the truck would need an oil change every x number of miles, same with tires, etc. Only thing is, you are doing them to the truck fewer times, and transferring the remaining ones to the car. Furthermore, the ones on the car are usually significantly cheaper. Set of 4 good quality tires for a Civic are like $280. Set of 4 good tires for a Tundra has to be close to $850. Oil change - 4 quarts for a Civic, 8 for a Tundra, same mileage between changes.
The only things that are true additional costs are purchase price, insurance and registration.
And, I've used the 3rd vehicle to cut rental car coverage off my insurance. With my USAA coverage, it was like $35/month saved to cut that off both mine and my wife's car, and a rental car isn't necessary when I've got a 3rd vehicle.
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Who is John Galt?
Sounds like it works out good for you.
I've had a small car and truck for the past 30 years.
It just plan works for me
1. there's a backup
2. I get paid mileage on the small cars so I make money
3. it's easier to park a small car
4. I can leave the boat hooked up most of the year
I'm on my 3rd Focus (they have all been sticks)
Working in the domestic car business, I'm not sure what I'm buying next
For you,
The Toyotas would be a good fit, and you can't go wrong with a Honda
The Hyundai's have a great war. And there getting better with every model
Yeah Toyota’s never break they don’t even need the 30 service bays and 25 techs they have at every dealer lol
Been doing it for years, Honda Civic every time. Bought the one I have now for 4K and have saved 60K worth of miles on my truck so far and still expect another 100K out of it. Not to mention the extra 15+ mpg, savings easily covers maint and ins. My last truck made 160K miles in 16 years
My truck will spend weeks, months never unhooked from the boat
You guys are describing some of the reasons I now drive a Ridgeline. It does all the “truck stuff” I’ve asked of it the past 15 months, gets 27 MPG on the road ALL the time, not just one time LOL. it’s averaged a solid 20.5 MPG over the 21,000 miles I’ve owned it, 17-18 MPG pulling my RT188. Now if I had a 20’ glass boat I’d want something bigger to tow with. I get that. I’ve pulled all kinds of stuff at it’s 5K limit but not all the time, and not out of state. I’d pull my 2800 pound RT to Alaska with it.
Laugh at the ugly trucklet all you want, IMO most driving the big trucks would get along fine with a mid sized, especially if you need a commuter.
These new mid sized trucklets seem to get great mpg. I’m reading the V6 GM’s are right there as well. Trading for MPG isn’t smart either. Been there done that as well.
Im keeping this one another year or so then I’m going to try and decide if I miss the FS enough to go back. Right now I flip flop. I’ll know the first time I strap the grand baby in the back with her stuff this fall. If it’s cramped I’ll go back to a FS.
$8K buys a lot of gas for the Tundra. Then there is insurance, maintenance and all the other associated costs of owning a vehicle. Buying a second vehicle to save money on gas does not always work out. You need to calculate the true cost of owning a second vehicle and compare that to the real savings on gas from not driving your truck full time. You won't erase all of your gas bill for the truck, just the portion where you drive the car in stead. If you get 15 mpg in your truck, and assuming a national average of $2.54 for a gallon of regular gas, that 80 mile round trip costs you about $13.50. If you double your gas mileage, it will cost you $6.75 with a like savings. If you pay $8k for a commuter car that's 1185 round trips just to break even on the purchase price. That is almost 95,000 miles and about 4.5 years of driving it to work every day. Are you going to keep your Tundra that long? If not, then the potential savings just got much worse as now you have another car payment. Going to be some oil changes, new tires and new brakes in there as well. All increasing the cost of ownership and there for extending the time it will take to recoup the cost of the car. Of course, there is less maintenance on the truck now so that balances out some of it and if you can do better than double the gas mileage it helps as well. And, if you drive it more than just to commute to work you will save more as well.
FWIW, I can set the cruise at 65 on flat interstate in my 2018 4x4 Sierra and average 25 mpg according to the info center. I've gotten about the same setting it at 55 on back roads.
Last edited by berudd; 06-13-2018 at 05:27 PM.
Bruce
2019 20 TRX Patriot
Mercury 250 ProXS Fourstroke
HDS 12 Live - Console
HDS 9 Live - Bow
I’m a big guy and have a 2012 Toyota Camry. Plenty of room and I get about 28-29 mpg overall, and about 33-34 on highway. Very happy with it.
Volkswagen Jetta I have a 2005 diesel gets 40 mpg going on 350,000 handles nicely in winter for a car highly recommend if you can find one after the emissions deal they've went through recently people are grabbing them up fast.
We recently were in NYC, and so many taxi cabs in service there were Prius'. If they will hold up to Manhattan roads and traffic, they are really worth a look into.
We just hit 17k miles on a completely new generation 2018 Camry Hybrid. So far, it has been percect.And gets 52 mpg in town and 48 mpg @ 80 mph. It is quiet, very smooth and surprisingly quick by any standards. And it would be a great car for anyone driving high miles.
The old nickel style batteries may eventually go out on any hybrid vehicle at 150-200k miles. The cars may only have a few bad batteries out of maybe 80 small batteries linked. Instead of paying $3300 for a full new battery pack, just replace the few bad batteries with used (and tested) batteries and keep on the road.
I had a Acura 3.2 tl. It was a solid work car decent gas Milage I drive 100 miles round trip everyday and enjoy leaving my truck hooked up to the boat. I hit a deer in the Acura so I got a ext cab Tacoma pre runner the gas milage isnt great but I like having a truck over car if I need to pull a utility trailer or put something in the bed. the truck has over 200k miles on it and still rolling strong
Bullet 21xrs & xdc
My mom had a delta 88 with that motor and I was impressed with the mpgs. Great car also.
All sheep are eventually led to slaughter
Back several years ago I bought a little Kia Rio, put about 60,000 on it driving about 70 miles round trip a day most of the time 6 days a week. Give it to my son and bought a new one, with the special they had going had about 9000.00 in it. Gas went to 4 bucks a gallon and I do believe it payed for its self in savings. I bought a new one in 13 and still got it, really don’t need it any more since retirement 18 months ago but just kind of hate to let it go. They aren’t fast by any means but gets about 35 mph and very reliable, I would not hesitate to buy one of these to comute with.
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