Quote:
Originally Posted by P-hack
I like the nice simple truck, but the fuel costs over 38 years... Keep in mind that due to inflation, $1 in 1976 is like $4.15 today. So if gas was $0.59/gal that is like $2.50 today.
I'd recon $2.25 is a fair comparative average price since 1976 (eyeballing the chart below), and 10mpg (probably a little generous) over 300k miles is like a total of $70k spent in fuel in 2014 dollars. He could have bought 52 ~$1000 ~40mpg econoboxes and still broke even (1.3 econoboxes/year) on the fuel savings...
granted the used econobox selection wasn't what it is today, just saying, don't ignore the long term costs of crappy mpg.
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Very good point.
Since creating my vehicle cost of ownership spreadsheet yesterday, I have been very surprised to learn that fuel cost is the second most expensive part of vehicle ownership behind depreciation (unless you buy an old car, in which case fuel is the most expensive cost). Spending more on a newer car can actually save money in the long run while providing more comfort, safety, luxury, and amenity.
Click the link in my signature to download the spreadsheet and compare vehicles for yourself.