its alot of reading i know, but trust me you'll feel better about your 10mpg once you realize how long the savings take to pay off that new prius thats est 30mpg. (just a made up number)

trust me, i feel alot better about my 11.04 mpg now. =)

I originally posted this on http://www.amazon.com/tag/automotive...x24CTDBP16P2XL

heres the deal... Diesel is a BY-PRODUCT of Gas, Yet it still costs more for Diesel, why? $$$$$$$ Common sense, if you will pay, they will play.

On top of that I also read somewhere that your $20,000 prius, will take you anywhere from 10-15 YEARS to see any real benefit from your original purchase, lets see here, you pay $20,000 for the car, then lets say your local tax is 7% thats $70 per $1,000 x 20= $1,400 in taxes, + lets say a 3% dealer fee which is $30 per $1,000 x 20= $600, with taxes and dealer fees alone your now at $22,000 then lets say a new tag costs $225(current here in fl for new tag, never owned a tag) then $75 registration(also current rate in fl) $225 + $75= $300 to drive the thing, now youre at $22,300 then you pay for the weight of the vehicle lets say it weighs 2,000 lbs. and thats another $10 or so now youre at $22,310, and youre financing it, of course you owe $2,310 at the time of purchase, and your financed for 4 years at 6.5% APR on $20,000, with $500/mo payments,

your first year interest is $1,300, you owe $21,300 when you drive the car off the lot, lets assume you make your payments on time, exactly $500/mo, $500/mo x 12 mos.= $6,000/year,

ok second year rolls around you now owe $15,300 x 6.5% = $994.50, $994.50 + $15,300 = $16,294.50

ok, third year $10,294.50 x 6.5% = $669.15, $10,294.50 + $669.15 = $10,963.65,

at the begining of the fourth year you now owe $4,963.65 x 6.5% = $322.64, $322.64 + $4,963.65= $4,996.29 (now your payments drop) $4,996.29 / 12mos. = $416.36/mo for the last year,

which brings your prius to a grand total of $25,596.29.

How long do you think it will take for the fuel savings to pay off $25,596.29? lets see... we'll figure this at $2.50/gal, on a 10gal tank, at 30mpg, and we'll say the vehicle stays in perfect running condition, exactly as the epa tested it.(not likely to happen but for this it will), you bought it with 0 miles on it(again not likely to happen for in this case it does)and we'll say 12,000 miles/yr. here goes.... 1st year 12,000 miles. $2.50 x 10= $25.00 per tank 10gal x 30 mpg = 300mpt(miles per tank), 12,000 / 300 =40 times you filled up. 40 x $25= $1,000/year in fuel. you do the rest, i gave you all the numbers, now you just do some math.

now for my paid off vehicle that gets 10mpg on a 26gal tank costs me $65 to fill up,
and 260miles/tank 12,000miles driven a year. 12,000 / 260 = ~46 fill ups a year 46 x $65= $2,990/ year. you paid $25,596.29, to save $1,990/ year?



Now the million dollar question how many years will it take that savings to pay off?
$25,596.29 / $1,990 = 12.862457286432160804020100502513, or ~12.9 years to pay for itself.
now lets see here $2,990(my fill up cost a year) x 12.9yrs = $38,571.

Sure I could save that money, but you know, im not gonna go buy some
$20,000 hybrid, just because of gas prices. I pay my bills, I'll drive what I like, and what I know won't get totaled in what should've been a fender bender.


Now I know someone is gonna say but you figured at a 26gal tank, and not a 10. well silence...
both tanks $25 to fill up
10gal/ea.

Prius = tank A
Mine = tank B

MPG's
A=30mpg
B=10mpg

Distance
A=300miles
B=100miles

# Fill ups/yr.
A=40 times
B=120 times

ok here goes.
you already know tank A costs $1,000/yr in gas,
so tank B $25 x 120= $3,000/yr
for a savings of $2,000/yr

$25,596.29 for the prius. $25,596.29 / $2,000= 12.798145 or ~12.8 yrs

Still takes over 10 years to actually see a benefit from purchasing a prius.


Don't you feel better now?
I DO.
If you dont think my math is right, do it yourself, i gave you all the numbers. =)

No, im not a math genious, I'm just capable of doing simple calculations. As should any educated person should be.(no pun intended)



*NOTE* I do accept/support research for other sources of energy, but I just see no point in rushing out to buy a $20K vehicle just to save on a little gas now. When it's gonna take longer than you'll own the vehicle to actually see any benefit from it.

 

I try to explain this **** to people constantly who think somehow it's more practical to go out and buy something new because it's "more efficient".

I like the way you said it better.

 

Yea you lost me about 1/2 way throw but I think I get the point. 12.9 years to pay off the car for fuel? Oh anyone looking at getting on the battery's are 4,000 a pice dealer price. The dude who fixes my truck told me that. They have a customer that has one and she wanted to know the cost of a new one. 4k at dealer price so I bet by the time it finds its way into your car you are looking at 6k or so.

 

4x45.9: the first 1/2 is about the financing portion of buying the car, and i know theres about a million fees that i didnt include into the final price, as those vary from dealer to dealer.

and the second 1/2 is about the actual benefit of saving money on gas now, vs. the overall cost of the vehicle.

cereal killer, youre right some people are just dimwits. i dont care if i get 8mpg im not gonna buy a new vehicle just to save on a little gas.

which actually reminds me of a song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpfj_pmv3W8

 

side note love that song so much truth in the words first time seeing the video though thanks.

i work hard for my money i will stay with my truck it is my 8 years old 235,999 mile getting 10mpg beast of a truck.

 

i work at a auto shop and we had a couple with matching prius come in( both light blue haha) they were 2003 and a 2001( i think 2001) with like 45k and one had 61k and the bats went to **** opn them both. the grand total for them was just about 14000 for them both.. yeah a battery for my 2001 dodge ram 2500 is 100 bucks... so yeah i'll drive a gas guzzling 9mpg truck any day over a car that cost 7 grand to fix

 

Yep I said 4k at dealer price and they had 10 in stock. Tells you how "good" they are.

 

Don't forget that sticking with older vehicles is less global impact when it comes to materials and resources needed for production.

 

plus 10 mpg is flooring it and stopping at a sign every block i average around 15 in the city and close to 22 on the highway in my 98 318. I had some hippie lady pull up next to me in a prius and tell me that i was destroying the planet, (smoked the tires) at the next light i told her that her battery would hurt the planet more than if i did that at every light every day for another 100k miles, which is a little bit of a stretch but the prius batteries have an estimated half life of something like 200 years so pretty much they have no idea how long it will take to break down that battery.

 

I am constantly looking for ways to decrease my mileage...