[KITT222]

Greetings all.

I am currently doing some serious math comparing my dads truck, which gets 10mpg on a 22 gallon tank (I know, I know. Terrible. Even HE knows it's terrible) with a 12 gallon tank hypothetical car which gets 25mpg (trying to keep it reasonable for him. 25mpg is realistic for any car) to try and scare him into getting a better car. So at $4/$5 per gallon, and if the hypothetical car costs $3000, how long will it take to pay itself off. I would try and do all the math right now, but my mind is foggy, and I know if I don't ask now, I will forget and procrastinate. So far, I have figured out that at $5/gal my dads truck will go 2 miles/dollar, and the car will go 12 miles/dollar, and, going further, the car will cost 2.5 times less than the truck to fill up.

Correct me if I am wrong please, and give me a hand too. We are trying to save money to help pay off our house for our inevitable move to California within a few years. If you can help put it into an economic context to help him understand how much money he'll save long and short term if he buys a $3000 economy car. I understand insurance will be a factor, but I will try to factor that in myself.

BTW he used to drive more highway miles than anything, but since he started working from home he rarely drives on the highway, so the current numbers are probably significantly lower.

Thank you all! Happy hypermiling!