I am experiencing something that I think a lot of people do and don't realize it. Last year I needed to purchase a vehicle that my 86 year old mother could get in and out of. All I owned was a pickup truck. A short bed single cab Ford F150, a 2005 model bought in 2004. I loved the truck but my mom could not climb up in it even though it was at stock height.
I looked around a while and finally decided to purchase a Mustang. I had always wanted one and never let myself buy one because they were not practical enough. I decided to toss practicality to the wind and get one anyway. My mother would be able to get in and out of it without much problem and I could get better gas mileage.
I bought a V-6 with a manual 5 speed transmission. On average, in town and some highway driving, I get 22.5 mpg. I bought a cold air intake and chip flasher and have it set up to use premium fuel. I got some nice added power with those items and a GT muffler I installed.
I ran the numbers and what I found is a $46.00 deficit each month. The pickup got about 15 mpg regularly and ran the regular unleaded at about $2.80 a gal. I drive an average of 375 miles a week. That works out to a fuel expense of $70.00. The Mustang ended up with a fuel expense of $51.66 using premium at $3.10 a gal. The difference in fuel expense is $18.34 a week or $73.36 a month.
If you factor in the other primary expenses on both vehicles, payments: car costs $100.00 more a month, and insurance: car insurance is $20.00 more a month, the result is that it is costing me $46.64 more a month to drive the Mustang.
The car is a lot more fun to drive than the truck was. The truck was nice and comfortable and actually rode better than the Mustang. One thing is clear though, even though the Mustang gets a lot better gas mileage, there is a lot more expense to owning a vehicle than just gas mileage.
Word.
Mark