Dark Day... selling the Altima
 

Well, gas hit $1.399/liter here in Saskatchewan... my last fill was $70.00 and that was at $1.349... so I have decided to sell my 1998 Altima. I was really excited to be getting the 30-33 mpg over the past few months but I can no longer afford to lose out on additional mpg's.

I am actively looking for a Jetta or Golf TDI... hopefully I can sell my Altima for around the same I will pay for the used VW. 80% of my driving is highway and I need something for a family with trunk space. My projected budget is >$10000 CDN, any other suggestions. I cannot understand how Gas Companies that posted a 4-8 billion profit for their 1st quarter can continue to price gouge.

WHEN WILL IT END???

Just make sure to run the numbers. The VWs do get great mileage, but with diesel costing more atm its hard to come out ahead financially. Let us know what you find out.

What kind of mileage you looking to get. Run the numbers low 30's with room for improvement is pretty good. You can buy a lot of gas for 10 grand. At least for now.

Alright I have been thinking about this all night and this is what I got:

I am looking for a price swap. With the higher prices of cars here in Canada I figure I can get $7500-8000 for my Altima (98, only 117,000km, flawless mech and some minor body issues consistent with the year of the car). So if I can acquire the TDI for the same price (I would be paying cash, no financing needed), that takes us to fuel.

Currently on my Alt I am getting 31-33 mpg with 80/20 highway to city driving. That puts me here:

Km Driven: 700
Liters of fuel: 54
Price of gas: $1.399

TOTAL PRICE PER FILL: $75.55

Based on estimates with the TDI:

KM driven: 1000
Liters of fuel: 50
Price of diesel: $1.429

TOTAL PRICE PER FILL: $71.45

Thoughts??? I also found this data as well, from the EPA site, and keep in mind these are estimates:

Annual Fuel Cost*

Altima - $2636

Jetta - $1850

You should expect the diesel/gas spread to increase over the winter months.

True enough... I guess I really need to determine if the extra 300-400 km would be worth the difference.

I am also weighing additional aero mods to increase the Alt's mpg. I am currently pricing lowering the car 2-3" and adding front grill blocks as well as full moon hub caps.

Are those US or Imperial miles per gallon figures? (So your altima gets about 13 - 14k/l?) My Yaris cost me around 11500 brand new, and takes me 450 miles on 10 gallons US if I drive correctly. That should be 724 kilometers on 38 liters, for about 19.1 k/l. Your altima costs $9.71 per 100 kilometers, the Yaris would cost $7.15, the TDI would cost $7.10. Depending on your driving and the continued cost of fuel, I'm not sure the TDI would be your best option, since you might be able to get a Yaris that is under warranty (or some other gasoline powered car with like mileage)

All my figures are in Km... here are conversions (Gas seems so much cheaper in the USA... I used Minot gas prices as that is my closest US destination):

Altima

Miles Driven: 435
Gallons of fuel: 14.3
Price of gas: $4.14/gallon

TOTAL PRICE PER FILL: $59.20

Based on estimates with the TDI:

Miles driven: 621.4
Gallons of fuel: 13.2
Price of diesel: $4.69

TOTAL PRICE PER FILL: $61.91

Again I believe there is some variance due to the pricing difference between US and CDN gas/diesel prices. In CDN mileage as well we calculate l/100km not straight Liters per KM as mpg.

I am also looking at the 00-02 Corolla, as it seems to hit near 40 mpg, and would be in the price range I am looking at.

If you really want to determine the correct decision to make based solely on the financial numbers, you will need to determine the TCO, total cost of ownership, and a reasonable period in time common to both cars. When I recently went about the process myself, I used a basis of 5 years, a three year loan period, two years of ownership, and then another reevaluation (keep the car, replace it, etc.). You will need to determine average life span of the vehicles involved, average fuel consumption for your typical annual usage, insurance costs, regular maintenance costs, the cost of wearables/consumables, registration fees, taxes, future costs of fuel, NPV of the money you would be able to save ($1 now might be worth $10 later), and value at the end of the period to account for depreciation. Total that up for any car you are considering to see which is the best deal. Don't forget there may be additional fees on the new(er) car due to registration fees, sale fees, etc. and there will be interest if you finance anything. For me, the spreadsheet was huge when I was done, and it wouldn't be applicable to anyone else. An interesting note: For me, via this method I was able to determine that a Prius would cost me more than a Yaris in the long run despite fuel efficiency differences. Don't forget to run one to see what would happen if you instead boosted the economy of your current car via mods, and include the cost of those mods.

Category 98 Altima 00 Jetta TDI 01 Corolla
Plates $890.00 $984.00 $974.00
Annual Fuel $3544.00 $2241.00 $2710.00

This seems to speak volumes thus far. I did this on the EPA site and customized the fuel consumption based on driving 28000 km/year, based on 80/20 highway to city. This is also based on current gas prices here in Sask.

I am still working on the other costs...