Gas prices are so high so let me spend $7k on a Geo instead

Ben Ruset

Ben Ruset

Administrator
Site Administrator
Oct 12, 2004
7,618
1,873
Monmouth County
www.benruset.com
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/20/geo.metro/index.html

First this person was going to drop $22k on a Prius. Then she decided to spend $7300 on a used 96 three cylinder Metro.

At $4/gal that's 1875 gallons of gas. Her current car, an Element, gets 28MPG. This Geo cost her the equivalent of driving 51100 miles. Not to mention she has to insure the Geo, pay for repairs, and gas for it.

Do high gas prices make people stupid?
 
tugwake

tugwake

Scout
Sep 15, 2008
62
0
Yes

Absolutely, Ben. In my opinion, a Metro is about the worst car anyone could drive! The County I worked for purchased them for the Inspectors and they stayed in the shop or on the side of the road more than the old cars they were replacing. Besides dragging your hiney on the ground, I'd be terrified someone on the road wouldn't notice a car that small and run over them.

I had a Fiat years ago and remember a semi almost driving over me. Ever since then, I'm a truck or SUV person! It's a pain that gas prices are so high but we've gone through this before.
 
C

chemicalcraig

Scout
Mar 10, 2008
54
0
bruset said:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/20/geo.metro/index.html

First this person was going to drop $22k on a Prius. Then she decided to spend $7300 on a used 96 three cylinder Metro.

At $4/gal that's 1875 gallons of gas. Her current car, an Element, gets 28MPG. This Geo cost her the equivalent of driving 51100 miles. Not to mention she has to insure the Geo, pay for repairs, and gas for it.

Do high gas prices make people stupid?
Click to expand...

Unless their lease was up, or it was time to get a new car, that decision to throw down 7 grand doesn't make very good economic sense. Now, if it were time for a new car and she had 7 grand to spend, I'd say go for the cleaner option. That doesn't necessarily mean the most fuel efficient, though. A newer car will, in general burn 10 gallons in a cleaner fashion than an older car will burn 1 gallon. There are many factors to consider.
That's why I avoid the whole thing and ride a bike.
 
omega

omega

Explorer
Jan 23, 2003
150
0
64
Manchester Twp. NJ
www.losttownsvideo.com
$7300 for a 96 Geo?? yikes! even without the price of gas where it is I don't know if that makes sense.

I'd love to find a Hybrid minivan for the family. haven't seen anyone make one yet. 4 kids and their stuff just about fit in the Grand Caravan and its whopping 18 mpg around town. Fortunately that one's paid off my car is still financed.

For work It's a Focus ZX3, I need to carry video gear, lights, tripod etc etc so it does me well, and 32 mpg combined. Would like it to do better, but I need room. I commute 70miles round trip per day so its two tanks a week. When I got it in '04 it cost me $16 to fill the tank, now its $33, wish my salary had doubled in 4 years. Now if I could just get them to let me work from home..:lol: which ain't gonna happen.
 
tugwake

tugwake

Scout
Sep 15, 2008
62
0
RednekF350 said:
Fiat = Fix It Again Tony
Click to expand...
:rofl:

Have you heard these, Rednek?

FORD- F'ed Over Rebuilt Dodge
CHEVROLET-Constantly Having Every Vehicle Recalled Over Lousy Engineering Techniques

I won't say the PONTIAC one. Not nice. And by the way, I own one of the cars I mentioned so this is all in fun. No disrespect intended.
 
Sue Gremlin

Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
1,279
236
61
Vicksburg, Michigan
We just bought a new car for this exact purpose. My husband is an independent computer fix-it guy who spends a LOT of time on the road. He has a Jeep Wrangler with a 2" lift and big knobby tires. You can see the problem this presents. It gets about 12 miles to the gallon, no kidding. So he was filling the tank 3x a week at a cost of $60 a shot. Something had to give.
So we bought an 05 Scion Xa for his business. It is like a skateboard with a windshield, and it gets 38 miles to the gallon and costs $30 to fill up. BIG difference.

I feel better about us using less gas, too. :)
 
MarkBNJ

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
How big is the tank in that Rubi? I'm running about $50-ish to fill from 1/4 or less. I didn't think the Wranglers were that bad on mileage.

The FJ is not good at all. 4L V6 + slabs of metal facing the wind == sluurp.
 
MarkBNJ

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
I love the truck, and the way it handles, so much (even a year later) that I will keep driving it to the point where the kids are getting hungry :).

But yeah, it's a pig and a half. Nice power/torque curve, though!
 
RednekF350

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,959
3,122
Pestletown, N.J.
I have a 39 gal. single tank on my F-350 crew.
At $4.49 per for diesel right now.... lets see, according to my gozintas, that's $175.11 per tank!
Ouch!

As it turns out though, my F-350 diesel gets 20-21 mpg and my F-350 gasser gets 16-17 mpg.
If you do the math, the operating cost per mile is exactly the same.
Up until just a few weeks ago, the diesel was actually doing a tad better with dollars per mile.

I am now riding the Harley to work a few days per week and that gets 40 mpg+/-.
:)
 
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