Friday April 7, 2006

More gasoline stuff.

Quote from Forbes magazine:
"Assuming a price of $2.20 per gallon and driving 15,000 miles per year, the difference in fuel cost between a car that gets 20 mpg and one that gets 30 mpg is $550 annually. If your car doesn't match the way you use it, consider getting another one if the replacement cost pencils out."

OK, let's makes this more realistic. The Gladiator gets approx 14mpg. The Voyager gets 25mpg. The Ford Escape hybrid gets an EPA rating of 36mpg. I drive close to 20,000 miles/year. Todays unleaded gas price is $2.66.

Cost of fuel to drive Gladiator $3812
Cost of fuel to drive Voyager $2224
Cost of Fuel to drive Escape $1482

So, if I can find a Ford Escape for $2330 I would start saving money after the first year. Wait a minute, a Ford Escape hybrid costs HOW MUCH? Base MSRP is $27,515. Configured similarly to the Gladiator would cost closer to $28,000. I haven't even considered dealer prep yet.

OK, so let's get realistic. I could probably pick up an old Geo Metro that gets 40+mpg for $1500. That would work. For $3000 I could get an old Metro and a motorcycle. One for winter and one for summer. That would work for commuting.

But I want to take a family trip to CA this summer. A realistic guess would put the average fuel cost at $3.00 (I would bet higher in CA by then). 2200 miles each way; plus we need to visit rellys, plus seeing sites, etc. Shall we say roughly 6,000 round trip? In the Gladiator? How does $1300 fuel costs sound?

Guess I need to start saving some pennies.