Commuting

[3Ts]

I have to have my truck for occasional use. Let's see, a second vehicle that I could fit into would cost around $35k. at $2.50/gal that is 14,000 gallons of fuel. That equals 266,000 miles. and that does not take into account taxes, insurance, registration, titles, etc. I can drive the truck for less than it costs to buy a second vehicle.

 

[4570Man]

There's used vehicles for a lot less than 35 grand.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

We drive wife's small car to/around town and to do short errands and such. Anything over about 50-60 miles round trip, we drive the F150. The little car is just not comfortable for longer trips or for driving on the interstate, but it's good for getting around tight spaces in town.

 

[aczlan]

It amazes me the number of people driving full size trucks, some 4x4, every day to work and back. When I first moved to my current house I drove a 4 cylinder Ford Ranger and was getting about 25 mpg. I then went to a 6 cylinder F150 in the early 2000's and was getting about 21 mpg. When the price of gas jumped to over 3$ I switched to a small car, a Hyundai Accent and get about 33-35 mpg. I've put over 190,000 on that little Accent and have saved a ton of money on gasoline, maintenance, and depreciation. I still keep a full size truck for occasional use but I probably put less than 1000 miles per year on it.

Does anyone else drive small cars anymore? I really don't see many on the road in our area. It's mostly trucks and suv's. I'm sure the sales numbers reflect that too.

Kevin

With fuel at $2.54/gallon and driving 10,000 miles per year, if you spend more than $2032/year on insurance and maintenance for your "commuter car", you are losing money driving a car that gets 50MPG vs one that gets 10MPG.
With fuel at $2.54/gallon and driving 20,000 miles per year, if you spend more than $1524/year on insurance and maintenance for your "commuter car", you are losing money driving a car that gets 50MPG vs one that gets 20MPG.

MPG	Miles/year	Gallons/year	$/Gallon	$/year
10	10000	1,000	$ 2.54	$ 2,540
15	10000	667	$ 2.54	$ 1,693
20	10000	500	$ 2.54	$ 1,270
25	10000	400	$ 2.54	$ 1,016
30	10000	333	$ 2.54	$ 847
35	10000	286	$ 2.54	$ 726
40	10000	250	$ 2.54	$ 635
45	10000	222	$ 2.54	$ 564
50	10000	200	$ 2.54	$ 508

Aaron Z

 

[WilliamBos]

There's used vehicles for a lot less than 35 grand.

The Civic i quoted the payment on is only $21,000 plus taxes (13%) and financing. After the used POS I traded in on my Ram, wont buy used again.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I'm driving my F150 Super Crew all day, every day... period. Who wants to T bone a squirrel and have the air bag engage ???:confused3:

 

[Katahdin]

My daily driver is a Jeep TJ, I can get both a small form-factor and lousy gas mileage! LOL.

I do like the maneuverability and ease of parking in the Jeep. If I had a longer commute, I'd consider a front-wheel drive car in the 40 mpg fuel economy range.

 

[4570Man]

Adding in maintaining on a second vehicle isn't exactly fair. Maintenance is mostly dependent on mileage and you'd spend less on your other vehicle. I've made several pro second vehicle post. With that said I drive a truck.

 

[charlton289]

I Have a Nissan rogue AWD which my wife drives back and forth to work my other vehicle is a 01 Dodge Durango 2 WD with the 5.9 in it. I was driving that back and forth to work till my prostate cancer forced me to quit my job I was driving about 60 miles round trip for work but if we go anywhere we take the Nissan. It definitely gets better mileage than Durango but the Durango is a better ride comfort but we do what we have to do to get by. But if it wasn't for the Lord Jesus who knows where we we would be.

 

[Streetcar]

I have to have my truck for occasional use. Let's see, a second vehicle that I could fit into would cost around $35k. at $2.50/gal that is 14,000 gallons of fuel. That equals 266,000 miles. and that does not take into account taxes, insurance, registration, titles, etc. I can drive the truck for less than it costs to buy a second vehicle.

I have coworker 450lb and 5-10 height drive a Honda Civic.

 

[coobie]

I guess the wife and are are screwed for gas mileage.Here is our line up 2016 ram 2500 with 6.4 hemi engine=15-16 mpg,s 2006 ford f150 5.4 triton motor= 15 mpg,s 2008 ford taurus=24mpg city/higway.Ordering a 2018 dodge challenger SRT 392 hemi engine spring 2018 bet that mileage will suck also..

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Around here a crossover head on crash 9 times out of 10 involving a compact car results in one or more fatalities. The compact cars loose every time.

David

 

[ericm979]

I also commute by bicycle but not as often as I'd like:

View attachment 533143

You commute on a TT bike? That's hard core.

Bike commuting is great if it fits your circumstances. Even when dealing with traffic I'd arrive at work feeling less stressed than if I'd driven. Next best is a motorcycle. In the past I've commuted in a full sized truck but I'd rather take a car if I'm not on two wheels. More comfortable and more fun to drive on the mountain road part of the commute.

 

[RobS]

You commute on a TT bike? That's hard core.

Bike commuting is great if it fits your circumstances. Even when dealing with traffic I'd arrive at work feeling less stressed than if I'd driven. Next best is a motorcycle. In the past I've commuted in a full sized truck but I'd rather take a car if I'm not on two wheels. More comfortable and more fun to drive on the mountain road part of the commute.

The only pic I could find quickly. I have ridden it to work but it's hardly my first choice!

I ride back roads to work but I do wish there were more "backer" roads!

 

[aczlan]

The only pic I could find quickly. I have ridden it to work but it's hardly my first choice!
I ride back roads to work but I do wish there were more "backer" roads!

I have considered it, there is even a shower at work but the roads are too busy for me to be comfortable riding early in the morning.

Aaron Z

 

[NoTrespassing]

With fuel at $2.54/gallon and driving 10,000 miles per year, if you spend more than $2032/year on insurance and maintenance for your "commuter car", you are losing money driving a car that gets 50MPG vs one that gets 10MPG.
With fuel at $2.54/gallon and driving 20,000 miles per year, if you spend more than $1524/year on insurance and maintenance for your "commuter car", you are losing money driving a car that gets 50MPG vs one that gets 20MPG.

MPG	Miles/year	Gallons/year	$/Gallon	$/year
10	10000	1,000	$ 2.54	$ 2,540
15	10000	667	$ 2.54	$ 1,693
20	10000	500	$ 2.54	$ 1,270
25	10000	400	$ 2.54	$ 1,016
30	10000	333	$ 2.54	$ 847
35	10000	286	$ 2.54	$ 726
40	10000	250	$ 2.54	$ 635
45	10000	222	$ 2.54	$ 564
50	10000	200	$ 2.54	$ 508

Aaron Z

Nice table but it's missing the increased depreciation and added maintenance of the more expensive vehicle.

Insurance on the Accent is about $150 per year, I only carry liability/comprehensive. When I added it to the policy the truck insurance went down (multi-car), so it's actually less than that.

I average 19,000 miles per year on the Accent. It cost $12,500 new + $1000 tax/title so $13,500 in 2008. I don't have every sales receipt for gas that I've run through it but I would guess it averages out to close to $3 per gallon. 191,000/33mpg = 5788 gallons x 3 = $17363 in gas. Truck gets less than 18 mpg these days. 10,611 gallons x 3 = $31,833 minus $17,363 = $14,470 gasoline savings.

Maintenance on the Accent has been very inexpensive. 2 timing belts, 2 wheel bearings, plugs, tires, oil changes, and a couple other minor things. I figure I'm doing far less maintenance on the F150 driving @ about 1000 miles per year so anything I didn't have to spend on the truck because of mileage savings should be subtracted from the car maintenance.

I still think I'm ahead. Even tires are way less expensive.


I completely understand people like to drive trucks. To each their own, it's America after all.

Kevin

 

[oosik]

I have owned many Ford pickups since I graduated from college in 1965. Of course, I've always lived out in the pucker weeds since I graduated from college. For the last 35+ years I've been living here and my "car" has always been a Jeep and I've always had a Ford pickup for hauling and doing the heavy work.

For all sorts of reasons - a small compact car just won't work for me out here. You can display all sorts of graphs, stats and costs - if I don't have the vehicles to get the job done out here - then I will slowly fade away.

Your small cars, your charts, your graphs and all the associated costs probably work just fine when you are going "asphalt to asphalt".

However, its a totally different story when you have to move round bales of hay all day or muck out the feed lot and move all the crap to the fields.

Had a city dude come out to see me a couple years ago. When he drove into the yard and got out of his car - I could see he was overly concerned. He had to drive thru a couple two or three fresh steaming piles that were on the driveway and had got some on his car. He was finally somewhat relieved when I drug out the garden hose and we washed it off. He had a short memory - wonder what he did after his visit and he went back down the same driveway.

 

[JJZ 109]

You can display all sorts of graphs, stats and costs - if I don't have the vehicles to get the job done out here - then I will slowly fade away.

Your small cars, your charts, your graphs and all the associated costs probably work just fine when you are going "asphalt to asphalt".

I understand that 78% of all statistics are made up on the spot! :laughing:
My daily ride is a new F250 Crew Cab. My summer toy is a 2007 Mustang GT that I bought new in 2006. The wife and I also rack up a few miles on motorcycles every summer. I've had several "3rd vehicles" in my life. Mostly to save miles and maintenance on my trucks, which I usually get new every 2-3 years.
Did I gain any financial advantage at trade time by doing that? Maybe a tiny bit but probably nothing noteworthy. But I never cared to analyze it that deeply. I do what makes me happy and what I can afford at that point in time.
To justify what I do to anyone else on these forums or in person really isn't a priority for me. I just turned 55. I'll do what makes me happy. Never wanted to be the richest guy in the cemetery anyway!

 

[Tomtint]

I drive a lot .. back when diesel hit 4.85 pg .. I had 3 diesels ... it sucked paying thousands every month for fuel. A while back we went from a Ford E150 van V8 that got 14-15 mpg to a Ford Transit connect for the fuel mileage (22-24 mpg) .. nice van for what it was but really really small. Switched to diesel Sprinter vans ( 24/25 mpg ) and I could put the old transit inside it if I had too. It is not uncommon for us to do 200-300 miles a day, I'm much more comfortable in a larger vehicle.

 

[two_bit_score]

It’s all about personal preference and individual situations. Nothing fits everyone’s situation the same.

My 2011 Chev 2500 long bed truck is not comfortable to drive in city traffic. When I have to go to Austin I don’t take it if possible. That is almost always a trip for the car. The Yukon XL is in the middle. It’s not too bad but the car is easier.

Going to Houston, it depends on what and where in Houston. Some trips the truck is preferred. But, not downtown. San Antonio is the same thing. A lot of times I need the truck on a drive into San Antonio. Often, I don’t want to be stuck in it driving to the top floor of the Bexar County parking garage and parking in those tight spaces. The car is better.

I feel blessed that I have choices and options. I also feel blessed that I have a need for choices and options.

TBS