"Dumping gas hog may not save you money"

[Glenn]

As has been posted many times on the net - selling your MM to save gas is not cost effective in the long run. This article explains the details.

http://www.bankrate.com/att/news/DrDon/20080623_gas_guzzler_savings_a 1.asp


Glenn :burnout:

[Bradley G]

Good, Then I'm keeping mine.:)

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

That's why I kept mine, AND bought a $1500 30 mpg car for commuting. I win. You can't use any more HP than the commuter car has in the NoVa area traffic in the morning anyway. You can barely get up to the speed limit if you're lucky. Anything other than buying an mpg-efficient clunker like I did, is going to have too long of a pay back period to make it worth while. Plus I don't have to worry about the MM getting dents this way.

[Glenn]

Funny, I also bought an old 1994 Saturn SC with the DOHC engine for $2,000. It has over 120,000 miles on it and it runs great. My son uses it to drive 100 miles a day to Atlanta to work before he goes into the Navy OCS program this summer. He gets 24-25 MPG.

Glenn

[jdando]

Good, Then I'm keeping mine.:)

If you are keeping yours I will keep mine :)

[Bluerauder]

You can't use any more HP than the commuter car has in the NoVa area traffic in the morning anyway. You can barely get up to the speed limit if you're lucky.

You aren't trying hard enough. ;)

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Glen, my pos saturn is a 93 DOHC w/ 76,000 miles on it. It is getting 25 mpg city w/ heavy stop and go as I get to the Woodrow Wilson bridge. Should be an easy 30 on the highway. The MM would be getting about 15 mpg in this traffic. The DOHC Saturn does 0-60 in 8.6 seconds, which is barely slower than a CVPI. I do about 70-75 in a 50 out here in MD before I start hitting the bridge backup. Dually trucks are passing me at that speed too. But that fast moving traffic is only out on 210 (Indian head highway) whils't I'm out in the boonies.

[Ms. Denmark]

If you are keeping yours I will keep mine :)
Then I will too.;)

[ctrlraven]

Dang do we all have Saturns or what? lol my MM isn't going anywhere, I would rather pay out the butt and enjoy myself then be bored without it.

I have a 1995 SL2 DOHC, it's been getting about 31mpg with bad rings. Machine shop that put it together a while back finally admitted they may have done something wrong so out comes the engine again. Even though I never really drove it cause it's a roller skate on wheels but I did my around town running in it.

[whd507]

one of my customers scored a 1997 TownCar, 20-25 mixed,(traffic rarely comes to a complete standstill) and 25-30 fwy.

$1500

it needed a battery and a tuneup.

cars that are perceived as gas guzzlers are cheap.

BTW I'm keeping my MM too...

I scored a rust-free 68 F-250 texas truck here for $450.

I need a shop.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

raven, yeah they are a roller skate on wheels. It is such a **** box car but my wife likes saturns so that's what she wanted. The 1.9 had no oil drain back holes for the oil control ring pack, so the rings would varnish and stick and they burn a lot of oil. The will go 300-400k easy though, burning a ton of oil as they go. There are a few glimpses of good ideas on the car -- external spin on automatic transmission filter and the transmission has a drain plug -- fantastic idea. The DOHC cars also have variable assist speed sensitive steering. For a cheap exconomy car in the early 90s, thats pretty high tech. Other than that, it's plastic and everything rattles

[ctrlraven]

Yeah I agree, when I got mine after I graduated I had planned on turning it into a auto cross car and maybe doing some entry level SCCA racing with it.

1995 Saturn DOHC put out 126hp/126tq, at that time for a small displacement motor is has decent power and being made of plastic the power to weight ratio was very good.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

WOT it gets up and goes pretty good for a piece of crap. The problem w/ the 4 spd auto is that it is programmed to get into 4th and lock the TC up by 30 mph, and all the HP is above 5000 rpms, so it feels like a total slug unless you floor it. I imagine this car w/ a stick shift would be a lot more fun to drive.

[Joe Walsh]

Everyone is talking about your Saturn...what about URANUS?

:D

Seriously...I am considering a used Ranger pickup with the 2.3L 4 banger and a 5 speed.
I need a small truck for hauling lawn and garden goodies plus my canoe, kayak & Mtn. bikes.
I want a 5 speed because I know that the 2.3L will be a dog but at least I can power shift the 5 speed and bark the tires when I hit second gear!..:burn:
Anybody know what kind of mpg a 2.3L Ranger 2wd could knock down on the highway???...25, 26, 27, 28mpg? :dunno:

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

A 1990 Ranger 2wd, 5 spd manual. 2.5 4 cyl is rated at 20 city, 24 highway

A 1988 Ranger 2wd 2.3L, 5 spd, is rated at 21 city, 26 highway.

These are from fueleconomy.gov

America is going to turn into europe, w/ the average car being a 90 hp piece of crap, in short order if this gas price stuff keeps going on. I am not looking forward to becoming another land of old econoboxes.

[modular46]

You aren't trying hard enough. ;)

It's like I keep telling my wife, "That's why my right foot's bigger than my left foot!"

[djbruce26]

Glen, my pos saturn is a 93 DOHC w/ 76,000 miles on it. It is getting 25 mpg city w/ heavy stop and go as I get to the Woodrow Wilson bridge. Should be an easy 30 on the highway. The MM would be getting about 15 mpg in this traffic. The DOHC Saturn does 0-60 in 8.6 seconds, which is barely slower than a CVPI. I do about 70-75 in a 50 out here in MD before I start hitting the bridge backup. Dually trucks are passing me at that speed too. But that fast moving traffic is only out on 210 (Indian head highway) whils't I'm out in the boonies.

Them's fighting words... I don't know what CVPI you are talking about, but it's definately not a good test if they only pulled slightly faster than 8.6... I've been in both a "quick" saturn and a CVPI. The modded DOHC saturns with intake, wheels, exhaust and headers still are only slightly faster than 3.27 CVPI stock with full weight. In any case, the CVPI wasn't built for extreme speed, more for durability. Speed is why they made a marauder.

[Glenn]

VicsEvilBrother..............

Don't know my 0-60 MPH time, but my 0-60' time is 1.72 sec and 1/8 mile is 7.6 seconds. I guess my MM 0-60 is under 6 seconds??
Good question - I am going to find out. :banana2:

Glenn

[DJCV]

That's why I kept mine, AND bought a $1500 30 mpg car for commuting. I win. You can't use any more HP than the commuter car has in the NoVa area traffic in the morning anyway. You can barely get up to the speed limit if you're lucky. Anything other than buying an mpg-efficient clunker like I did, is going to have too long of a pay back period to make it worth while. Plus I don't have to worry about the MM getting dents this way.

You are so right! I commute exactly 3.8 miles door-to-door. It's great in the sense that my annual mileage is low; it's goofy in the sense that I am crawling roughly 70% of the way and have to stomp on the brakes almost immediately after gunning the car to merge into traffic.

(Believe it or not, I've been wondering lately about de-tuning my car and selling the tuner for a few bucks---primarily because, with the traffic in Northern VA, this 2-ton boat is almost too powerful/fast for most of my daily driving, and I'm constantly slowing for cars immediately in front of me.)

[Aren Jay]

When you can, you may want to consider, when they perfect it, a Plug in hybrid option for our Marauders. PIH (Plug In Hybrids) in the beginnning are slated to be good for 15 to 25 miles, up to 30 mph. During this time your Gasoline Engine will be turned off. So say you commute 50 miles and 25 is stop and go, slow. That means that if you can get 20-25 MPG for the other 25 you would ideally be getting 40-50 MPG with a Plug In Hybrid option. Better than a Saturn any day.

The second car is not as safe, generally, as out Marauders, Still uses gas which cost money, has maintainence costs, Insurance costs, intial costs even if cheap and takes up more space for parking.

Yes you can reduce the cost by only insuring minimally your Marauder and park it, but why do that?

[Glenn]

Time to bump this thread to the top again due to the number of people trying to buy their way into a more economic car - it just is not economical to do it. The ONLY exception may be buying a new car without selling your MM with a "zero" interest loan, but then one needs to calculate the cost of money that you are using to purchase the car that could have been sent on paying off loans, credit cards or buying something else that is more important. Then what happens then the price of gas falls???

http://www.bankrate.com/att/news/DrDon/20080623_gas_guzzler_savings_a 1.asp

Glenn :burnout:

[whd507]

you want to save gas? buy an electric car. you want to save money, keep the car you have, and/or buy a car that gets decent mileage but is percieved to be a gas hog and thus sells for cheap. (like a Grand Marquis/Crown Vic/ Town Car etc)

[Aren Jay]

Kido's solution is to sell the truck and buy a used car.

Get something cheap that he can pay for up front.

Get something with good gas mileage that does what he needs or just get an older cheaper truck.

Remember my living like a time travelling millionaire post. Kido can get a great old gas hog of a car for a couple grand. Pay $400 a month less, plus $50- $150 less on insurance. Have an older car and an extra $450- $550 a month in his pocket. Even with the same gas mileage. A 94 Towncar for example. In 3 years, approximate time for kido to pay off his truck, he can have $16,000 - $19,000 dollars in his bank account. plus interest. If he paid into the bank instead.

Said used car could then be traded for something else used and he will have saved more money in a few more years. By the time he is 29, he will have enough money for a house or down payment on a house and be happy healthy and financially set.

$500 a month, at 5% interest, locked away for 10 years, Kido would have 80K at 29 years old, over $150K at 35, 226K at 40, 335K at 45. Just from buying older used cars, Plus anything he makes from a job, a life, etc...

Too bad kido isn't going to do this.

[sailsmen]

Kido's solution is to sell the truck and buy a used car.

Get something cheap that he can pay for up front.

Get something with good gas mileage that does what he needs or just get an older cheaper truck.

Remember my living like a time travelling millionaire post. Kido can get a great old gas hog of a car for a couple grand. Pay $400 a month less, plus $50- $150 less on insurance. Have an older car and an extra $450- $550 a month in his pocket. Even with the same gas mileage. A 94 Towncar for example. In 3 years, approximate time for kido to pay off his truck, he can have $16,000 - $19,000 dollars in his bank account. plus interest. If he paid into the bank instead.

Said used car could then be traded for something else used and he will have saved more money in a few more years. By the time he is 29, he will have enough money for a house or down payment on a house and be happy healthy and financially set.

$500 a month, at 5% interest, locked away for 10 years, Kido would have 80K at 29 years old, over $150K at 35, 226K at 40, 335K at 45. Just from buying older used cars, Plus anything he makes from a job, a life, etc...

Too bad kido isn't going to do this.

I believe in saving and have done quite well at it. Remember you cannot take it to heaven.

Saving for a reason to spend it is good, saving to save is hoarding.

[Glenn]

Man, people need to read this article AGAIN!

http://www.bankrate.com/att/news/DrDon/20080623_gas_guzzler_savings_a 1.asp


BUMP--BUMP

Glenn :burnout:

[Aren Jay]

Building credit is great until there is a crash. Building and having money is better, then take it out at the crash and buy a car, house, etc.... CHEAP!