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What kind of gas mileage do you get?

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AtomSmasher:

--- Quote from: danny_galaga on April 30, 2008, 11:45:11 pm --- therefore a loan really puts the cost of a new car vs old in a different light. where someone gets a loan for a car (new OR old) there is no debate. you will pay through the nose.

--- End quote ---
Unless your like me and get a $0 down 0% interest loan  ;D

danny_galaga:

--- Quote from: Wade on April 30, 2008, 10:22:03 am ---  A few of you have been extremely lucky, most people have not, or breakdowns are not a problem for your lifestyle, family, or job.  Two of my breakdowns left me quite a distance from home.  There's no dirt cheap or quick way to recover from that.  Taking a day off work, if necessary, is another several hundred dollars.  It only takes one or two of these incidents before it's to your benefit to have a new car. 


--- End quote ---

it's not luck. i'm not being glib, but really it's a talent. you (and many others) don't seem to have it. part of that clearly is a lack of time or inclination to maintain an older car properly. fair enough. some of it is just a lack of that special repoir you develop with a car. i believe paige has the talent and so do i. i drove my last beater for about ten years. i had a beater that wasnt so great (a triumph saloon) and it had some weird transmission problems- those mofos have SIX universal joints! but i honed my talents on that car so that i now have quite a good sense of how a car is going to fair. when i test drove my VW, i knew it could last the distance. you always bear in mind that things are going to break on an older car, part of the talent is knowing what kind of things and avoiding them if possible- tip for would be beater buyers: avoid cars with power steering!

danny_galaga:

--- Quote from: AtomSmasher on May 01, 2008, 12:02:25 am ---
--- Quote from: danny_galaga on April 30, 2008, 11:45:11 pm --- therefore a loan really puts the cost of a new car vs old in a different light. where someone gets a loan for a car (new OR old) there is no debate. you will pay through the nose.

--- End quote ---
Unless your like me and get a $0 down 0% interest loan  ;D

--- End quote ---

theres always someone, isnt there  ;D

patrickl:

--- Quote from: danny_galaga on May 01, 2008, 12:04:39 am ---it's not luck. i'm not being glib, but really it's a talent. you (and many others) don't seem to have it. part of that clearly is a lack of time or inclination to maintain an older car properly.
--- End quote ---
It's more if you enjoy doing it. I was forced to maintain my old junker too, but I really rather have my weekends off and not waste them on tinkering with an old car.

It's really just a matter of trading in free time, a superior ride, high reliability and a quantum leap in safety for a 30% savings.

Let's do the Yaris calculation properly:
Driving a new Yaris for 10 years
   93,75    depreciation (15000 divided in half twice makes a return of 3750. Loss in value divided by 120)
   32,81    insurance (full for the first 5 and I took half for the last 5)
   80,00    gas
   43,00    reg
   20,00    maint (40 a month for the last 5 years)
= 269,56 total a month

Driving a new Yaris for 5 years
  156,25    depreciation (15000 divided in half and divided by 48)
   43,75    insurance
   80,00    gas
   43,00    registration
     0,00   maintenance
= 323,00 total a month

I didn't use realistic maintenance figures since you don't do so either.

To redo your cars costs I will correct the depreciation down a bit and add the registration.
 13   depreciation
 12,5   insurance
 120   gas
 43   registration
 40   maintenance
228,5 total per month  (which is 85% of driving new for 10 years and 70% of driving new for 5 years)

You would save $4500 over 5 years against driving new and  $5000 over 10 years against "driving a new car for 10 years".

The only way you stay near the 30% saving (compared to driving new) is by claiming ridiculously low maintenance costs (mostly because you value your own time at $0) and by claiming that a 15 year old car has practically the same value as a 10 year old car (which in reality is not going to be true in most cases). On the other hand a Yaris is probably a lot smaller than your car so that's not a fair comparison either.

danny_galaga:
well, ive come half way at least  ;D  i factored in $500 a year maintainence on my car. i bet though if i set up a special bank account for that maintainence, depositing $500 a year into it, by year 5 i would still have something left in it. so i think i was over-estimating the cost of maintainence for my car if anything. i agree with paige on depreciation too. once you get to a certain age in a car, the depreciation is a lot less comparably. in the case of some cars like VW's, since they are perenial favourites, the price doesnt go lower but can even climb (not ahead of inflation of course, but still).  i think youre estimate for $40/month for last 5 years is fine. that would cover a timing belt and a few bits and pieces. could even come out less...however i didnt add the extra charges you get slugged when you buy a new car since i dont know exactly what they are. for the yaris, it would probably bring it to around $16000.

maintainance costs really are zero if you do it yourself. thats the beauty of it. think of it this way- if you change a lightbulb in your house,  you have saved $25 because you didn't call a handyman. but who would call a handyman to change a lightbulb if they can do it themselves? if the microswitches in your sanwa joystick are stuffed and you replaced them yourself, you can say youve saved $50 because you didnt take it to some technician.  i can also say i saved $764/month with MY car because i didnt buy YOUR car!

theres a saying i picked up from a cartoon panel i saw as a kid. in it you see a wife busily making a dress, pins in her mouth, hunched over a sewing machine. the husband is in the foreground reading the paper. he says "where's the savings? if you didn't make it, i wasn't going to buy it!"  ;D

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