Can people not do math anymore?

[Arminius]

Hahaha! I love this thread. I deal with these types of people every day. The people I work with buy cars for some of the same stupid reasons mentioned by you guys, above. I know people who will drive across town to eat at a cheaper restaurant and save $4. Even my mother-in-law keeps a second refrigerator running year round so that she can save $2 per month on meat by buying it in bulk.

[LostCause]

This is a good thread. It kind of makes me want to evaluate every money saving technique I use.

I considered buying a laserjet to replace my inkjet since the cost per sheet is notoriously lower. For a new printer at $99, even when considering toner refill/rebuilt cartridges, it would have taken 16,000 pages to break even. If I had considered a used printer or sold the old one, the break even point would be much lower at the cost of greater risk.

I stayed put. Going through the numbers makes me wish I would have bought wisely in the first place...

Any other experiences?

- LostCause

[SirKeats]

aren't y'all forgetting the hobby factor? while the initial motivation may have been savings on gas... spending money in an attempt to achieve marginal results is sort of the definition of a hobby (especially when it comes to cars) no? just look at the folks who dump tons of cash into their rocket-cars. rarely will they ever be able to take advantage of their performance equipment... but they do it because they enjoy the hobby of it.

same can be said of ecomodding.

jmho though.

[Daox]

Thats a good point SirKeats. I think a lot of us here are a bit more willing to throw down money to get better mileage and that money may never come back in the form of cash. However, it is still paying for other things like reducing dependance on foreign oil sources and helping out the environment. Money isn't the only motivation for some of us.

However, I'd still agree that a lot of people make bad decisions simply because they don't think it out.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Daox

Thats a good point SirKeats. I think a lot of us here are a bit more willing to throw down money to get better mileage and that money may never come back in the form of cash. However, it is still paying for other things like reducing dependance on foreign oil sources and helping out the environment. Money isn't the only motivation for some of us.

.

I am willing to throw down some money to improve FE but not enormous amounts. If I was to do that I would just go out and buy a more effcient car.I have done other things to be more "green".

I have gotten my mom to start recyling, we started 3 months ago and every week we put out 3 large bins of recyclables plus two or three milk crates full of them. I've gotten a family of 5 down to one bag of trash from 4-5 a week. Plus all of the lights are now CFL's and we leave the windows open more.

[i_am_socket]

I see vehicle swapping here at work, but the kind of swap depends on where they're parked.

The execs and sales guys park at the entrance and they seem to have gone from Mercedes and BMW SUVs and Cadillacs to Audi coups and Lexus sedans. Some real money saving happening there

The rest of us park behind the warehouse and loading docks. I see far fewer Jeeps and pickups and more compact and midsize cars. One of the guys on my bowling team gave his ailing 90's grand prix to one of our mechanics to replace his 2 ton pickup as a commuter car and picked up a Hyundai for himself.

I know quite a few people who would drive 30 minutes to save $0.10 and no, they can't do math.

[cfg83]

SirKeats -

Originally Posted by SirKeats

aren't y'all forgetting the hobby factor? while the initial motivation may have been savings on gas... spending money in an attempt to achieve marginal results is sort of the definition of a hobby (especially when it comes to cars) no? just look at the folks who dump tons of cash into their rocket-cars. rarely will they ever be able to take advantage of their performance equipment... but they do it because they enjoy the hobby of it.

same can be said of ecomodding.

jmho though.

That's my POV egg-zactly. I have turned my nightmare commute into a hobby.

My friend was telling me how he wanted to drop $4,000 on a Turbo. That would gain him what, 2+ seconds on the 0-60? Me no care. Him speed caveman. Me MPG caveman.

We like to take turns making each other's eyes glaze over when it comes to our car interests, .

CarloSW2

[trikkonceptz]

Since gas hit $3.00 a gallon I gave up my original hobby, building show cars, for this one, saving gas.

I must say, it isn't until now that I realized that I dumped nearly $40K into a $15K car for what? I have the title of 3rd best xB in the country as per Scion. A title ... Now don't get me wrong, getting there was fun, but it was money flushed away into a vehicle that I am going to be burried in.

Whereas now I am investing money into the Vibe, by far not as much and it is saving me tangible amounts of money. Even my wife enjoys this new hobby because of the savings and who knows, if I blabber my mouth off to enough people I may one day use the gathered knowledge here to develop a job that will definately pay the bills ... BOOYA !!

But still I caught my wife asking me why don't we sell the V8 SUV for a new Camry Hybrid or Prius. I responded with; Because they cost $8K more than what we paid for this vehicle when it was new ... Reality quickly sunk in ..

[cfg83]

trikkonceptz -

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

...

Whereas now I am investing money into the Vibe, by far not as much and it is saving me tangible amounts of money. Even my wife enjoys this new hobby because of the savings and who knows, if I blabber my mouth off to enough people I may one day use the gathered knowledge here to develop a job that will definately pay the bills ... BOOYA !!

...

I think all of the aero-mods cross over into performance and/or trucker MPG savings. Real mods, not the ricer-bling ones, will serve you well down the line.

CarloSW2

[lovemysan]

Originally Posted by LostCause

This is a good thread. It kind of makes me want to evaluate every money saving technique I use.

I considered buying a laserjet to replace my inkjet since the cost per sheet is notoriously lower. For a new printer at $99, even when considering toner refill/rebuilt cartridges, it would have taken 16,000 pages to break even. If I had considered a used printer or sold the old one, the break even point would be much lower at the cost of greater risk.

I stayed put. Going through the numbers makes me wish I would have bought wisely in the first place...

Any other experiences?

- LostCause

Get one out of the trash that works. I road my bike/trailer around on large item day until I found one that looked good and took it home. It worked but sadly it needed a $30 part to work well. I chucked it but forgot to save the cartridge for office printer