You'd expect it? But up to what point? 60 mpg?

 

Check this out (Electric Mitsu Evo):
http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=103174

 

1 mpg doesn't mean much at all to me. When buying a car, I have a minimum mpg in mind for city and highway milage. So unless that 1 mpg gets me over my minimum mpg threshold, it's doesn't mean much at all. A 5-7 mpg difference will get my attention though.

Dan

 

Up to a "reasonable" amount.. What exactly is reasonable? I dunno, I haven't thought of it that far. I'll simply take it as it goes.. Unless someone wants to break it down to the gritty details of cost vs benifits vs actual practicality over time, gas costs, and tech.


But for the immediate future, the GMT900's and other newer cars with sightly with their slightly better fuel economy, thru better engines, management, and trans , giving that 10% bump in mpg. I don't expect to pay more for that Its natural imporvements on what I'd expect on a new model.. Especially since competition is still fierce between car companies. Unless of course the overall market allows the price of those vehicles to jump up in price, for whatever reason (lack of supply vs demand, percieved market value, lack of competition, whatever)


As long as gas prices always keep climbing relative to cost of living, avg pay, etc... this is always going to be an issue.

 

The original point of this thread is how much extra would you pay for better mpg. Not that the average mpg of vehicles in general improves through the years. But how much would you pay to get 1mpg better in any given car.

Considering 1mpg is only a not even 4% boost to my highway mpg, which would save me maybe $60 or so a year in fuel, i wouldn't consider that worth much to me at all. If one car ghets 27 and one gets 28, i wouldn't even let that factor into my decision at all. If it was 30 and 27, still probably wouldn;t care at all, if it was 30 vs 25, i might let it cross my mind twice. Worse than 25 vs. 30 and i might start to care a bit

 

I did some quick numbers and got a yearly savings of around $80 for mostly city type driving. I'm just so suprised that here in the 5th gen section no one seems to care about 1 mpg, but in the lounge section, there are always at least 2 threads on first page about gas prices...

 

well i hate to start a fight, but gas isnt expensive... and people got to realize that everywhere else in the world has had to pay at least double what we are paying now, for a long time... and it makes me sick to hear how many people are bickering over how expensive as it is here... 3$ is still cheap...

 

...and do you know why gas is so expensive in other countries? You might want to do some research on that before you criticize people for saying gas is expensive here. It IS expensive in the US.

Gas is very heavily taxed in other coutries, which makes the price very high. We are taxed in other ways than gasoline, which keeps our gas prices lower.

Dan

 

ohh? and how much was it in the 60's?

in comparison gas prises during the 80's and 90's hardly ever increased... we were so comfortable with gas being between .90-1.30 for almost 2 decades... no inflation... no gas increase... the price of gas has gone down since the 60's still by almost 50%... and sure when gas in europe averages the equivelent to 5$ and here it was 1.19... who cares what the reasons are... there is a bit of tax here, 18cents per gallon i believe and I'm not sure if that includes sales taxs(or even if sales tax applys to gasoline)... but certainly no where near what it is else where...

if you are upset about paying 3$ what about 6$ maybe even 10$ a galon in some places? 3$ seems so slim compared to that... Personally I have no problem paying 3$ a gallon, it keeps more people off the road, and in congested Los Angeles the roads seem to have less cars on them in recent months...

 

Id like to point out that there are quite a few states in the union that have gas taxes (when combined with federal and local taxes) approaching 50%.

That means something between a dollar and a dollar-fifty a gallon, goes straight into the government coffers.

So the next time some congressman asks you what he can do to get your vote, tell him to repeal the gas taxes.

 

well supposidly those are to help our streets, but unfortunatly I dont think that is enough to repair them quick enoug...

 

okay, back to subject...

suggesting the average driver "Joe" gets 15k miles a year maybe some get 12, but lets just say 15k...
And lets say hes getting a consistant 26mpg in Car A, donno what kind of car... but hes getting 26mpg average throughout the year.

that means hes going to use 579 gallons of fuel durring that year to travel those 15k miles... at 3$ a gallon that is $1,730 a year and some change

now suggesting he gets a whole wopping 27mpg in car B, and he also drives 15k miles.

That means he is going to use 555 Galons of Fuel during that year to travel 15,000 miles. at 3$ a gallon that is $1,666 a year for fuel.

Now assuming this person is choosing between two cars, lets just say that car A is $14,999 plus the tax and liscensing, maybe so maybe $16,500 after tax, now thats here in Los Angeles, it may be different elsewhere...

lets look at a few scenarios... Scenario 1... Owner keeps car until his 3 year/36k mile warranty is up
Scenario 2 Owner keeps car for 60k miles
Scenario 3 Owner keeps car until 100k miles

in Scenario 1 both cars last for 28.8 months...
and car A will consume 1384 Gallons of Fuel, at 3$ a total of $4152 over 28.8 months of car driving. Plus the cost of the vehicle of 16,500 = $20,652 over 28.8 months, now lets not get into the negitive equity of the vehicle.

while Car B will consume 1333 Gallons, at 3$ a gallon that is 4000, this means after tax, the vehicle would only be a better puchase if it was under 16,652... now before tax that would be approximatly $15,138 Car B would have to cost less then that to be a better "investment" if you will...

In Scenario 2 both cars last 4 years... That 5 year loan is almost up...
Car A will consume 2307 gallons of fuel and at 3$ a gallon thats $6,923. plus 16,500 = $23,423 Total cost of Car A at 60k miles

Car B will consume 2222 gallons of fuel at 3$ a gallon you've got $6,666. so... in order to be cheaper then Car A, Car B must 23,423 - 6,666 = $16,757 after taxes... before taxes Car B must be cheaper than 15,233

In Scenario 3 both cars last 6.6 years after driving 100,000 miles

Car A will consume 3,846 Galons of Fuel, at 3$ a gallon $11,538 for fuel over the span of 100,000 miles... + the cost of Car A you have $28,038...

Car B will consume 3,703 Gallons of fuel, at 3$ a Gallon would total $11,111 in fuel costs over 6.6 years... in order for Car B to be the better purchase it could not exceed $16,927 after tax, now before tax Car B could not exceed 15,388.

does that answer any questions?

So lets total all this up...

for 1 mpg advantage(on these tests, other tests would be more or less dramatic), you could be willing to pay
Car A|Car B
14,999|$15,138 at 36k miles
14,999|$15,233 at 60k miles
14,999|$15,388 at 100k miles...
that should be what you are willing to pay... but it all depends on what you want...

if you bought an Echo (40mpg standard transmission), you could drive it near 100,000 miles before you even cought up to the cost of a Prius, which one is the cheaper alternative? if the answer isnt clear enough, the Echo is a better bargin... You would likely have to drive the Echo & Prius probably 300-400k miles to see any real gains in the Prius, but... would either likely last that long probably not.

 

Who cares? You're still driving a freak'n Echo. I'd rather rollerblade everywhere before driving one of those.

 

I am saying that from a financial stand point... it is more economical to buy the echo, the prius twice the cost of an Echo