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Originally Posted by Christ
If only this were true....
Regarding mods paying for themselves, yes, a boat tail, in time, will pay for itself. It depends on your build technique as to how long.
Most new vehicles do not justify themselves in cost. Why would you ask that?
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I wasn't questioning new vehicles... just hybrids. Hybrids are a marketing scam. Compare the cost of the hybrid option on any vehicle that can be had with or without it... I did it a couple of years ago on a toyota highlander, and you'll never recover the $6500 up front cost (not to mention the additional interest on your loan, and added sales tax) of the hybrid option with fuel savings... you'll never even get close to break-even before you have to replace the batteries, no matter how long you keep the car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christ
Why not ask basjoos how many times his $400 or so worth of mods has paid for itself compared to EPA ratings for his car?
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I doubt that. He mentions in
this post that he spent over 250 hours modding the car. Assuming an hourly shop rate of $50 (it's a cheap shop), that's still $12,500 in labor charges. And knowing how hotrodders like to tweak, I suspect he's seriously underestimated the amount of time he's spent on that boattail. The point being, that he did it to achieve a goal, which was to raise his mpg and lower his OPERATING costs, not so much to save costs in an absolute sense. And that's no dig against him - on the contrary, that's classic gearhead logic and I admire his dedication to his vision.
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Originally Posted by Christ
Why not ask Darin if his FireFly EV conversion on a beer budget has paid for itself in fuel costs for the miles he's used it?
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Same argument.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christ
If you learn to do things in a fiscally responsible way, they can be made to pay for themselves in very short order.
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Some things, yes, but major mods like a boattail, no, not when you include R&D time. The only time something like that would pay off in real world terms would be if there were a commercially available kit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christ
Also remember that even though one mod may not have a fast payoff time, most of the mods that you'll find are supportive of further modding, so the payoff percentage increases with more mods, to a given extent.
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You know, there are two types of modders - those that have money to throw at the car and those that don't. If you have two guys, one who spent tens of thousands of dollars to make his car run 12's in the quarter mile, say, and you have another guy who only spent a couple of thousand to make an identical car run 12's, if you factor in the hours each guy spent tweaking and adjusting to get his car to that level, the guy with the fewer parts almost always ends up investing more in terms of time and effort than the other guy spent in dollars on his car. Yet the one that commands the most respect from other racers is the guy who used his noodle, rather than his wallet, to go fast.
Guys like Basjoos and Darin are classic gearheads. And that's a good thing. They and others like them are the innovators, the ones that the other 99% of people emulate.