Comments on: Why I Won’t Trade in My Gas Guzzler for a Gas Miser Car

By: Tyler W

Tyler W — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:27:21 +0000

My 1989 Honda civic Hatchback gets about 40-50 MPG thank’s to the dual Point injection system, bought the car for 800$.

By: Mikkeli

Mikkeli — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:14:48 +0000

Paul is surely the freshest new oracle

By: David

David — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:04:34 +0000

I’m not most people.The Pacifica gets pretty good gas mileage for its size and capabilities. You called it a gas guzzler. A gas guzzler would be a SUV or car that gets 10-12 mpg. To achieve better gas mileage do not press the pedal down hardly when acclerating. At a stop easy off the line. I can get 22 city and 25 hw. This only comes out to twice as suck as the Prius, if the Prius get 50mpg. Not 4 times the amount. Your exaggerating!

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:02:08 +0000

Revised – paid off for 15 years.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:00:31 +0000

My 1991 Nissan Sentra gets 40 MPG and has been paid off for over 20 years. Yes, I’ve maintained it well for all of those years (tires, brakes, one radiator, axles, rear struts); however, it has almost 300k miles on it and is still running strong.

By: xshanex

xshanex — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:10:19 +0000

to get in on this fairly late….

I also agree that hybrids aren’t always the answer. I would buy a toyota yaris over a prius to save $10k and get similar gas mileage. I have a moderate gas guzzler in my toyota tacoma that gets about 19mpg in mixed driving. I’ll be driving it for several more years until I buy something more economical if I have a long commute. My reasoning is as following

A. I needed a truck to haul my motorcycles, trailers, and to move cross-country

B. I need to be able to drive in poor weather due to being on call and working a job that needs 24/7 coverage so if its snows or is flooded I still need to go to work. Most smaller AWD wagons and sedans aren’t exactly fuel misers. Realistically I could expect around 25 mpg in mixed driving

C. I frankly don’t drive that much so my impact isn’t that heavy. A coworker of mine has a Prius which is a great choice but drives 80 miles round trip everyday just for work! He uses a lot more gas than me! I know I’m not the only one that isn’t putting 15-20k miles on their rides every year. I ride my motorcycles which get 40-55mpg part of the time the 7 miles to work and the rest of the time I drive my truck. I average between 8-10k miles a year at most including a few road trips.

D. I will be buying a cheap lightly used honda civic or toyota yaris or similar car when/if I have a longer commute or just need to drive more. If I was already moved and was looking at vehicles I would be buying a new economy car and an older truck for the times when I would need it

By: Fred H

Fred H — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:54:42 +0000

You could also consider trading in your gas guzzler for a different SUV that gets better milage. For example, the Ford Escape Hybrid, which has an EPA rating of 34 city, 30 highway. A good starting point for finding fuel efficient alternatives is http://www.fueleconomy.gov

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:52:21 +0000

qseep in post 13 makes a good point.

Just because buying a fuel-efficient vehicle isn’t your favourite option for now, doesn’t mean that it won’t be in the future! Circumstances change, and hopefully you’ll be able to choose something that’s better for the environment and everyone’s health later on in life. Hopefully then it will be worth it even if you have to pay a little extra.

By: Shadox

Shadox — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 02:12:38 +0000

We also own a minivan and there is no way around the gas guzzlers if you have three small kids.

Our other car is an old Geo Prizm 1997, that gets about 30 miles to the gallon.

By: Fred H

Fred H — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:04:43 +0000

I apologize for my sarcastic comment no. 15 from October 25.
You made an honest mistake buying a gas guzzler, and you made an honest effort to find a better solution. You should be commended for your open mindedness in considering alternatives, and sharing your thoughts with us. Sorry.

However, you might consider redoing some of your calculations, because you have made some false assumptions.
You assumed that it would have no resale value when you calculated how long it would take to pay for itself. But the Prius has a relatively high resale value, so you can subtract the resale value from your buying price to arrive at a faster pay back period.
You assume that you would have to keep it at least thirteen years, but because of its high resale value, you could sell it sooner, and recover its residual value.
You assume that nobody knows what type of maintenance costs you would pay on a hybrid after thirteen years and 300,000 plus miles. But the Prius has been around for ten years and there are quite a few with high miles, and yes, some over 300,000. So if there were any special problems, they would certainly have started to show up by now. The eight year guarantee and the good reliability statistics speak for themselves. The regular maintenance costs are not more than a typical comparable non-hybrid, and most probably less than your Pacifica.