Driving Costs

Driving Costs

I've noticed that in spite of gas prices here that are beginning to hit $4 per gallon, people are still driving behemoths--with people driving from Boise to McCall in motor homes, and SUVs towing boats and trailers.

So I started to do the math to figure out how much it would save to buy a high mileage vehicle to drive in the ten months of the year when we don't have a couple feet of snow.

Our Trailblazer gets about 18 mpg by using the cruise control at freeway speed. Figure 1200 miles per month, so 67 gallons. Even at $5 per gallon, that's $333 per month.

A Toyota Prius might get 45 mpg. That's about 27 gallons. At $5 per gallon, that's $133 per month.

Okay, $200 per month difference in gasoline is pretty substantial--but it won't make the payments on the Prius, and for us, there are at least two months of the year (and sometimes three months of the year) where we have to have a four wheel drive to get in and out. Even a high mileage AWD or 4WD (like a Subaru or Suzuki SX4) doesn't get good enough gas mileage to pay for the capital costs. Even people that don't need a 4WD can't justify replacing an existing car unless gas gets a lot higher than $5 per gallon, or unless they drive 2000 miles a month.

There is one and only strategy that works--drive less. I have already reached the point where I seldom make trips to buy anything for ScopeRoller except in an emergency. I don't drive down to Interstate Plastics to buy stock; the $8 shipping charge to have UPS deliver it is cheaper than driving.

I look forward to seeing electric vehicles that ordinary people can afford to buy.