RON430

OK, another thread about buyers interests and fuel mileage. But after we got through the oil whoopdeedoo last summer, I am curious to see where everyone is thinking. I have my own thoughts so here goes.

First, I acknowledge that this is not only a performance car site but one that draws a predominantly younger crowd although you are very tolerant of us old farts. That means there is the usual skew of the study hall set who don't pay to fill the tank to put up their usual for 600hp, 12 mpg cars. But once I get passed that, I am going to be car shopping shortly and my attitudes have changed somewhat. Maybe it is seeing all the GM ads and their incessant taunting of their highway mpg that got me thinking.

I really want a car that drives better than what I have but one that does get better mileage. But, in all honesty, if I didn't jettison my 2k1 GS4 last summer to get something with better mileage, mileage is not the decider for me. Yes, I want better mileage but I can't say that mileage is any more important than any other factor I may look at. I am probably not making that clear but there are some things that I simply won't buy a car without. Like brakes for example. No brakes, I am gone. But there are a lot of factors that are just part of the equation for the purchase. And in all honesty, most of them receive pretty equal weighting from me.

So I made the scale 0 to 10 which might seem excessive but let's make 5 neutral. If you vote 5, mileage is important but not an overriding decision maker. If you vote 0 then you are really saying that you could care less about mileage. And I wouldn't be surprised if we get a lot of those. If you don't drive a lot of miles a year and if gas stays at all reasonable, it is hard to have it enter into the purchase decision. If you score it a 10, well I guess anything under 50mpg won't be on your list.

I think as I get closer to serious shopping, it occured to me that mileage isn't quite as important to me as I thought. I probably will not be shopping Lexus as I am looking for something that has more driveability. I expect my wife will stay with Lexus as reliability is a BIG issue for her. Can't blame her. While we both want to get cars with better mileage, the chances of us looking at Prius or Smart are not great.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ummm, i don't know how i should enter the poll.

when i get a car, i would consider what kind of car i need and what it is for, then i will consider if gas mileage is something i'd care or not.

for example, when we shop for our m3, we wanted a fun car, a fast / power car that can fulfill our need for speed. once we were set on that, gas mileage was not really a concern. that's why we widely looked into m3 and m5 and cls63.

but if today we are looking at a family car, one that we are going to go everywhere with it, and maybe long trips? then i'd probably take gas mileage into consideration. but i don't think it will be one of the top 3 factors

Faymester

I only care if it's obscenely bad. Keeping in mind I have a Rover and I didn't consider gas milage when we got that, when I say obscene, I mean so bad you can watch the needle go down as you cruise down a flat road. As long as the milage is better than that, I don't care.

GQD_GS4

8...MPG is very important to me. My GS400 got 16mpg with my driving, and when premium gas passed $4/gal, it played a big factor in selling my car.

Having to spend so much money on gas made me feel so inefficient, and thus I went the extreme and bought a Honda S2000: 24mpg while driving like an assassin lol.

When I bought an SUV, MPG was again a huge factor. I loved the Q7, and now the GLK...but they pale in comparison to the 27mpg i get in my RX400h. In fact, now when i fill up either car, i feel happy at the pump knowing that i am being financially efficient

RON430

It actually took me a while to figure out how I wanted to vote. I voted 6. I bought my 2k1 new and I never really intended to keep it this long but between hating car shopping with a passion and work, it just went by. I figure that can happen with my next purchase so I am looking at what gas price will be in the next year or two as well as fiver years from now. But I just went over 100K on my 8 year old car and putting on that many miles a year, I had a hard time giving fuel mileage more weighting than 6. I do expect whatever I get to get better mileage than my GS but as much as I complained and hated getting gas last summer, I just can't say that I would give fuel mileage anything other than a 6 in my totally unscientific rating.

TripleL

I like the way the poll is set up, it really made me stop and think.

I almost clicked on 5, but ended up voting 6 because although its not a 'critical' factor for me, it did also occur to me I don't want a car that gets 12MPG as you describe in your original post. So for me neutral with an emphasis on better MPG translated to a 6.

IS-SV

I'm around 6 or 7.

StiCk3

iTrader: (5)

meh im still a 5 for now, im part of that "younger crowd." give me a few years and a few more kids ill probably go up in the charts

-J-P-L-

I bought a Yaris sedan. Does that answer the question?

Seriously, when I bought it last July, yes when it was $4/gal, is was a huge factor. I turned down cars that "only" averaged around 30 mpg. That said, I bought the Yaris for many other reasons as well but having the best gas mileage of any car other than the Prius, Civic hybrid and Smart Fortwo was enough for me.

rdgdawg

Great question!! Used to be a NINE for me, now a SIX as I want performance and I have another auto (minivan) that gets decent mileage to haul family and for added space.

I still don't want to fill up every 10 minutes, so I cut mine off at 16 mpg combined as minimum, 20 hwy

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

I am not a gas miser but I at least want my rides to average at least 20 mpg on the highway. Just get behind the wheel of a Jaguar XF or BMW 535i & you will forget about your old GS fast..

RON430

535, or actually 535GT, is one of the cars I am waiting for. I like the 535 a lot but the interior in my eyes is a step down from even the second gen GS. As for the XF, my wife and I are both ex E type owners and it is going to take a lot more than one JD Power survey to get her to not break out laughing when I mention getting a Jag.

I voted 6 and am still comfortable with that. It's a bit more important than other factors but definitely no where near high enough for me to be willing to sacrifice much to get it.

Not sure the voting is all that much of a surprise for this site. I would guess that many of the new car ads touting this or that highway mileage figure isn't making much impact on us here. And that is probably the way it should be.

Mbenz528i

This is a really great poll and I am certainly interested in how everyone is voting. I voted a 0. I don't care about mpg, hence I bought a Range Rover to transport my kids in. I pick cars based on what I want, then if they have a hybrid version that does what the non-hybrid does, then I will pay the extra for that instead, BUT ONLY if it does ALL the same thing.

For Example, the GS 450h was not AWD, so I got the GS 350AWD. I could have gotten the RX and be more responsible, but I didn't care for the looks, as I wanted a GS.

Don't get me wrong, my next car could be a hybrid or electric because I like the new S400 hybrid and the Fisker Karma, but those are based more on style or the logic set forth above. The S400 because it is not much slower than the S550, but again, if I could afford the S63, I would not think twice. So there is my 0. Let me know if that is really something else.

My wife though, is an 8.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

There are not many gas stations in Manhattan. Heck, the only gas station that I know of is the Mobil on 42nd st & 11th ave. in Midtown which is quite a trip from my job here in downtown Manhattan.. Good ol' NYC traffic will not help much.. I think I made the right choices in automobile to get me from point A to point B w/o being flat bedded due to running out of gas

RON430

Mbenz528i - Man, I haven't a clue. As long as you have a rationale for your vote I don't see how it could be wrong.

It is really interesting to watch the voting. There have been those who have tried to make the case that the luxury or sport sedan buyer is not interested in mileage and while there are some votes for the lower ranking, most people are saying that fuel mileage is not unimportant, it is a considerable factor. But it doesn't necessarily overrule other decision making factors. At least for the sample size here. That by itself is pretty interesting.

I had been thinking of this poll for a while and may still not have gotten it right but it is amazing how many people are putting the fuel mileage in about the same level of importance in that new car purchase decision as I do. I am not looking to be one of the herd, but it doesn't bother me either.