ttcc

I am pretty sure many owners out there have the same question as I do, whether or not it makes financial sense to own 2 cars with this high price of oil.

I have a 08 RX 350 and I use it to commute to work for 60 miles a day round trip. Currently I have accumulated abt 16K miles on it since I purchased it in Oct 07. My thought is, does it make sense to purchase a gas saver just for daily commute for work and use the RX for weekends?

Am I able to recoup the amount I save on gas and apply that towards the new car payment?

Btw, I am in San Francisco Bay Area, CA, where gas price is above national average..

*The one I think I would like to note is that, with my current situation, the more I drive the RX, the sooner I need to get it to the dealership for the expensive services.


I value all of your input. Thank you.

salimshah

buying new is not a good financial decision.

Second, your commute distance is too much. Work from home, share a ride or even moving closer to work (switch home or job) should be considered.

For long distance hybrid may be bad too.

Salim

tfischer

Check the new and used car prices, determine the miles per gallon, add in the local (current and projected) price of gas, and then crank up a spreadsheet; you will have an answer for your situation, and not a bunch of generalizations from individuals in circumstances not similar to your own.

ecount00

so if your question was if you should figure it out yourself, now you know.

agree with salimshah, sort of. buying a new car, let alone 2 isn't a saavy financial move no matter the price of oil. anything that loses value over it's life, often almost 50% of value in the first 2 years, is an expense not an investment. Or perhaps viewed as a necessity. But other than buying a basic car, we buy them because we enjoy the convenience and comfort. So like any convience, it's a personal choice as to whether it worth it. You can do the math but when you think about the cash you spend to buy a gas saver, including the interest on the loan if you borrow, wear/tear and maintenance expenses, depreciation (as you know, if things change and you decide to sell it in x years you'll see you've lost a lot of the value), insurance etc. i bet it would take a LOOOONG time to save that back even if gas was $5 a gallon.

here is the 'sort of' part. as for the 60 mile commute. i understood that to be round trip. i have to say that doesnt sound too bad to me. i know a lot of people that would like that setup and IMO not nearly a big enough problem to make a major life change around.

tfischer

I think he's right; even without detailed computations, it looks difficult to justify a new car purchase to increase MPG for a 60 mile commute.

One other note, with respect to the RX 400h, that car is tuned for performance, not MPG; it's best MPG is in city (low speed) driving. On the highway, it's not using the electric components much, so there is not much difference in gas usage. Also, the gas engine kicks in much sooner than in a Prius, for example, which is tuned for MPG. Finally, almost everyone who has done the numbers agrees that it takes many years for the gas savings to justify the extra costs of the hybrid vehicle.

jfelbab

A 60 mile commute in your RX likely equates to about 3 gallons of gas. With gas at about $4.25 a gallon in your area (estimate) that's around $3,000 a year in fuel costs assuming you get some vacation and holidays.

Can you see any possible way to purchase another car, say a Prius that gets twice your gas mileage, which would initially cost around $25,000, to cut your gas consumption maybe by half? Remembering that you will have to insure this vehicle, service it, emission testing, etc.. Your RX will require service at least every 6 months regardless of mileage so you won't save all that much there either.

If you live in the Bay area is there a reason your can't take mass transit or work from home a few days a week? How about a 4/10 work week option?

sportsfan8

Don't panic. Keep driving the RX. 60 miles round trip isn't that bad. Cut down on some other expenses. Buying new makes sense if you plan on keeping the car until the wheels fall off.

I know people who wanted to save money and bought a 2nd car as a beater and ended up having to put more money into that car for maintenance. How ironic.

salimshah

Going from 20 ~ 30 mpg, you will save roughly $100 in gas expense in a month.

Now consider, the cost of ownership. New vehicles depreciate $500~750 a month, + insurance + maint + taxes.

If you need to purchase the 2nd vehicle for other reasons, that would be different (Even less pollution/waste is good reason), but counting pennies, it is a no brainer.

Salim

Chpsk8

I think in the case of the RX it's hard to make a significant enough improvement in MPG with a different car to justify the purchase.
Personally I have a situation that works in a sense. I have a Dodge Ram that gets 12mpg and I also have a Mini Cooper S that gets 33mpg. I didn't buy the Mini to save gas, but more as a toy. This year once I did the math I discovered that if I park the truck and drive the Mini I am saving a little over $200 a month in gas. Really makes sense for me to park the truck!
It doesn't make sense to sell the truck though since I'll take a pretty bug hit on the price. Albeit both the Mini and Truck are paid for...

In the case of the RX you'd have to look at how soon you want the investment of a smaller car to pay you back. If you are thinking of getting a $2,000 POS that gets significantly better MPG, then payback may come sooner than a new Prius. Just remember to factor in insurance and maintenance costs on the new POS.
Lots of panic in the news recently, but some stories are saying the right things.

"Don't spend thousands to save hundreds."

triplecore

How many people are in you household?

ttcc

Thanks all for your input.

In my case, I think I will keep both vehicles for a long time if i were to buy a small car while keeping the RX.

The reasons are the following:

1) If I don't keep both vehicles long enough (i.e. until they both die) I am not really saving any money.
2) Buying a smaller car means using cheaper gas (regular v.s. premium) and requires cheaper maintenace.
3) Longer life for the RX since there will be less tear and wear.
4) I would like to keep the RX since it fits my whole family (5 ppl in total) comfortably during weekend errands.

I am still unsure abt whether the above can justify purchasing a new vehicle....

Maybe like Chpsk8, I just want to get another toy while keeping the RX

Perhaps a used car just for work commute?

Lil4X

As others have said, buying a car just to save gas doesn't make economic sense. A friend recently bought a new SMART car (very nice, BTW) for his wife to commute about 60 miles per day on the freeway, and here's his real-world experience:

He works from home while his wife commutes across town. They had a Town Car and a minivan in their stable, both about 6 years old. His wife drove the van and it was getting troublesome at about 130K miles, costing roughly $250-$300/mo just to keep it repaired. At about 14 mpg on regular, it was also getting expensive to feed.

They had driven SMARTs in Europe and loved them, so they they got on the waiting list last February for one of the first in the Houston area. The car was finally delivered around the first of May for a total OTD cost of $18,500 with TT&L - about 2/3 of the cost of a new minivan.

The fuel costs stack up like this: The van would burn about $335 worth of regular gas every month, and the fuel cost for premium for the SMART is currently $135, saving him roughly $200/mo on his Exxon card. But there a few other factors that come into play. . .

Insurance cost on a new Smart versus an 6 y/o minivan is a good bit higher, and he will be making payments (with interest) for a couple more years yet, while that van had long since been paid off, repairs were starting to smother him. On the plus side, they are a pair of empty-nesters who need that Town Car only rarely for heavy-duty shopping or to carry his clients around during the day - so the Smart is beginning to replace the TC for a LOT of the routine hauling in the evenings and on weekends, replacing the function of the thirstier TC.

The bottom line is that because the van had to be replaced anyway, it's not like the new car was an avoidable expense - that $18.5K would have gone for a used minivan or something similar anyway. He would still have to insure a second car, so that's pretty much a wash too. So, given the choices, his purchase was a pretty SMART move (yes, pun intended). The jury's still out on the long-term performance and cost of the micro-car, but we'll know more in another year.

While he admits that the tiny car is not for road trips, it has a surprising amount of room for two people and shines as a commuter. Despite the cost of new car ownership, my buddy is VERY happy with his SMART . . . and I suppose that's what counts.

Grumpa72

My notes and observations

If you must, why not buy a 3-4 year old Honda Civic, base model with a/c, and get around 30-35 mpg or better? If you go with the higher performance
Civics with the V-Tec engine, then mileage drops significantly. The base car gets the best mileage of that group. The cost of that Civic will be FAR lower than the Smart and if you hit something you won't be pried out of it. Plus you will have a ton of room when compared to the Smart Car.

My wife slowed down to 60 mph on a recent 200+ mile trip in our 05 330 and got 28 mpg - calculated using miles and gallons.

Who_Me

Too often, we chase pennies with dollars. Gas costs just over a dollar per gallon more than it did a year ago. Other consumables have sky-rocketed as much or more than gas. Milk is out of sight but I haven't seen anyone putting water on their Cheerios to save money. Don't get trapped into buying a "gas saver" that might end up costing you a lot more than the gas price increase. Enjoy your RX and just consider the gas prices as something we are stuck with.