Seriously debating buying a car
 

So I'm seriously thinking about ditching my Blazer as my DD (no, not getting rid of it all together, just not using it as much). I'm spending upwards of $50/week in gas just going back and forth to work. I can't believe how unbelievably terrible these beasts are on gas.
Anyway, I'm thinking about picking up a cheap car just for going back and forth to work in to save myself some money. I'm not sure if it will work out or not. I've got to crunch some numbers and find out what it's going to cost for insurance for another vehicle on my plan and whether it will work out to be cheaper then what i'm paying in gas right now.
Maybe it's just because it's the winter and heating costs are killing me...I dunno, but I hate having to spend the amount of money I do on gas every week. It's just unreal.

You have to determine how much money a different vehicle will realistically save you. I would do that before settling on a particular vehicle. So if you plan on picking up another vehicle that gets double the fuel mileage, you would be saving $25/week. This would be $1300/year in fuel alone. The payback period would be the cost of the more efficient vehicle divided by the cost savings. You just have to be realistic about the fuel mileage of the "new" vehicle.

Another thing to weigh in on your decision should be maintenance that may be required on said vehicle. Buying used, it is quite difficult to tell how well someone kept up on the maintenance. So that could end up costing you more as well. This would cut into the $1300, and lengthen your payback period.

Yup...all factors in my decision. I have to figure out whether it will cost me less to get another car based on extra insurance cost vs. fuel savings. The cost of maintenance is also a factor, but I'm thinking something along the lines of a cavalier or something where parts are extremely cheap. Gotta do some serious number crunching lol.

I forgot about the insurance aspect (mainly because I spend $80/year for the K5), but that will lengthen your payback period as well.

I hear you on the gas. I just keep think I have my Camaro and bike for the mileage in the summer. Pretty much everything to think about has been said by Kyle. The only thing I would add is do you really want to give up your 4 wheel drive? I know that I could easily get a beater that got better gas mileage for the winter, but I bought the blazer for this purpose, DD and 4X4 so I'll suck it up for the 4-5 bad months every year.

damn it! the K.Y.L.E. units are not only super knowledgeable, but incredibly convincing in their logic!! GM, you have outdone yourself!

You could always throw caution to the wind and buy a total beater 86 accord, 91 metro, 88 fiesta or the like for <$500. so long as it survives 20 weeks (almost 5 months) you break even. anything past that is gravy :p

just drive the living piss out of it. change no fluids, use sh*t gas, run the tire's bald, keep a half dozen trees in the car to give it a strawberry vanilla new car pine black ice smell. the worse you dog a car like that the longer it lasts. if you show it any mercy it will die. and the best part is, when you realize it is absolute CRAP and you hate it, you can dump it on some other chump for the same price (assuming it still runs)


but i'd listen to kyle. he's a robot :icon_twocents:

My dad bought a neon to save on gas and mileage on his truck, it's worked out in the long run but that was after 2 years of running it

I ran a 95 mercury tracer that we sold a bit back after i bought the blazer...

Thing got about 30-35 easy, but it only had like a 8.9 gallon tank....

Worked out great, saved about 30 bucks a fill up on gas (from a 1 ton van) and only paid 1000 for it from the one owner, put about 20k miles on it in about 5 years, with half of that being driving 5 minutes to and from school. I drove the piss outta that car and it still kept tickin... except the time I exceeded the speed limit and it messed up the throttle body, but 20 bucks later and a little cleaning... and it ran some more...

Worst part about the littler cars... they tend to have 13in tires, which are now more expensive because they are "rare"

Side note... a protential buyer called my mom about the car, and complained because it had a donut on the back (it was missing a hubcap)... ignorant people.... the donut would be bigger lol

i miss my shat box. my 88 isuzu imark was everything $300 worth of car should be. down to sthe shoe goo used to cap the broken brake line :d ah memories

my tracer had a cracked windshield for the last year and a half I was driving it....

Also before I took my fiancee out on our first date, she told me not to bring my car.. .LOLZ....

Had a hose clamped exhaust that rattled like hell above 3000rpm, along with some dry wall screws ground the sub system....lol the memories....

that's it!?!

when i work a full week (not that often lately) i start with a full can on Monday morning, and by Friday on the way home, i've gone through another 1/2 to 5/8 of a tank. (almost 600K).

and that's why i've gotta get my Jetta fixed (damn injection pump).

but i'm pretty sure Alex is gonna be using his truck to comute on the really crappy days sport_drew.

yeah, but in your day gas was so expensive because not enough of your dinosaur pals had decomposed to goo yet ;)

Alex! buy my truck :)
but you would get less gas mileage, but for a damn beast!

I'll trade you trucks Dbrown843. lol

Before I bought my Blazer I rocked a 94 Toyota Tercel and that was the best car ever. I tossed around the thought of selling it but Im glad I didn't. When I drove the blazer as a DD I had to fill up about every 3 days... needless to say the Tercel is back on the roads!

Even if you spend a little extra cash to get a commuter, it feels good to not fill up so often, just my .02

Ive been driving a Cavalier and ive been loving it. Im a pretty big guy but it still is surprisingly roomy. Bought it 2 years ago totaled. Put 600$ into it and haven't had a problem yet.

I HATE Cavaliers/Sunfires. I think they are built like crap and are junk cars...but honestly it's just about the only car that will last a decent amount of time and only costs a few hundred $$.
And Drew, I don't have 4x4 right now (hasn't worked since I bought the truck) and I've never had an issue with getting stuck yet, so I don't see not having 4x4 being an issue. I only ever got stuck once in my driving career with my FWD civic. It was because I was being an idiot and chose not to shovel my driveway.
Dan, I would love to buy your truck. Unforunately I don't think it's in my price range lol

And my overall plan was to pick up a few hundred $$ cavy as a beater or something, and drive the piss out of it. I can barely have fun in my Blazer now because if I spin the tires I burn a 1/4 tank of gas lol.

Chris, $50 a week may not sound bad...but on my salary with only 1 income and being a home owner it's tough, especially in the winter with oil costs. I'm probably just freaking out cause of my latest oil bill lol...trying to find ways to save money. Anytime I have to spend a lot of money like this I tend to try and find ways to cut back. I'm still going to look into getting a car, but the more I think about the 1 time expenses I'll incur for buying one the more I don't think I'll do it. The taxes alone and registration will be enough for me to say screw it. Tax time is coming up too, so I have to start planning for my large tax bill which will be coming in a few months...hmmm. So many factors to weigh in.


BTW - I did a quick (rough) calculation this morning, and if I did it right I'm only getting about 11.5mpg. I travel roughly 30km (~18mi) round trip to work. I put about 60L in last Thurs the 21st. I travelled 297KM to that fill up. So thats 185mi to about 16 gallons. That's about 11.5mpg with very rough calculations. That's crazy bad.

11.5 = a problem....

you may have some components going bad on you man :(

yeah unless youre holding it to the floor the entire way to work (or else have a 454 swap you didnt tell us about) then 11.5 is way less that you should be getting

that would be a tastey swap right there...

not ideal for MPGs tho lol

definately something wrong.... i get 17-18mpg and i don't drive it like a grandpa either. My friend drives a turbo'd civic and that freakin thing still get 35mpg if he drives it respectfully.

oh no you didn't!lol. There not that bad. If you end up getting one. Stay away from the 2.4L. Its a quick engine but a bitch to work on. Trust me, nothing but headaches. If your looking for mpg. I would go with a 2.2L OHV or 2200. Really on the slow side, but gets great gas mileage, easy as hell to work on and parts are dirt cheap. I had a 2.2 in my first fire and couldnt believe how cheap and easy it was to maintain. Cant beat $20 for a water pump, $60 alternator or even $18 rotors. Or the fact it got 35 mpg in the city.


And the blazer getting 11mpg is bad. Def need to look into that. I get 16mpg with 200lb wheels on it. Looks like its time for a tune up.

I was thinking 11mpg is a bit low. I had never actually sat down and tried to figure out my mpgs before. This is definitely the worst it's been though. I found I went through this tank quicker then any before. I'm definitely going to look into it. I guess I'll put the money I would put towards a car into trying to squeeze more mpgs out of the truck. I planned on this being a maintenance year for the truck anyway. Thanks for the info all.

And Luis, if I did get a cavy the 2.2 is the only one I'd want. Those engines are pretty much indestructable from what I've seen. I really do hate cavy's though. They are cheap and ugly and junk, but you can't really complain with $12 rotors and $8 pads lol.

Sunfires and Cavys are pretty dependable if you get the 2.2. My wife had one for 7 years and it still ran great when i sold it. If you run across a 2.4L twin cam that needs a water pump offer them atleast $500.00 less than what they are asking, b/c it is a R.P.I.T.A. I changed one they suck. Parts are expensive for the 2.4l also.

Yea I had 230,000 on my old 2.2. thing was bullet proof. timing chain,water pump and alt were the only things replaced and all cost under $100 for parts.

I know what you mean. I replaced the head gasket a few weeks ago and had to strip the motor down to a bare block to replace it. I couldnt believe it.

hahahaha ill trade you if you got a 04-05 honda civic ex coupe.
or a cts, mazda rx8.



hahaha i will give you a great deal. ill pay for your flight here, and give it to you for 6.5 :)

sorry kid, did you need a glass of warm milk to help you get back to sleepy time?


hey brother, i'm practically in the same boat. not gonna go tossin' #'s around, but lets just say, with 2 kids, a good size mortage, and being laid off work for 7 1/2 months last year (andthis year being just as bad so far)...........if my better half didn't make good money, we'd all be living in the 'Burb right now.

and i hear ya on the home fuel costs, it was the main deciding factor when i was looking @ houses 1 1/2 years ago.

oh, they are. there's a neighbour on my Mother-in-laws street that has a '98 (?) Cavalier, and the GDT sounds more like a diesel, than the 6.2 in my 'Burb does-hell, it's almost as loud as a Power Stroke! (no joke)

Well an update on the situation...turns out the o2 sensor in my truck is bad, which is the reason for my terrible mileage. I guess I should have checked that out first...lol. It helps to talk the problem out though and get suggestions from other people.
In the end I was over reacting a bit (me!? nooo...go figure lol). I tend to try and find immediate ways to save money when i'm broke without thinking about the long term picture. Anyway, that moment has passed and I really don't see the point in getting a car. It will cost me longer in the long run.
For right now I'm happy with the Blazer. I'm thinking (very BIG maybe) about trading it for a suburban to go full sized (the Blazer is too small for me). I know its the complete opposite for mpg's, but honestly the 5.7 V8 which is in it is rated at 12-16mpg's, so its about the same as the Blazer...I can't see seeing much difference in my gas bills.
Thoughts anyone? I figure someone is going to come along and chew me out for being hypocritical and wanting to go full sized lol...lay it on me. I want honest opinions.

I had an older suburban... a 94 w/ a 5.7 in it and the damn thing sucked gas like it was its job. haha, i got like 240 on a tank and it cost like 80-90 to fill up. I get 200 miles on 40 bucks in my blazer. but I do miss all the room in my burb, that thing was absolutely gigantic and fit a ton of people in it.

It's just a matter of is the extra space worth the extra amount in gas.

You're the first person to say that lol. Everything else I've been reading and all the posts from other 5.7 owners say it gets equal or greater mileage then their Blazer. Honestly though anything around 15mpg is good with me, which is what the 5.7 is rated for. It comes down to driving habits too..

My 5.7 gets 28 mpg on the highway.


.......But it's in a Trans Am.:icon_steer:

Yeah I'm expecting in the 15mpg range. Probably less due to the age..

Yeah, I used to drive my parent's 95 suburban before I got the Blazer. I got about 13 mpg around town. On the highway it wasn't too bad. 16mpg. Okay, that sounds worse after I typed it. Lol
and it had a 42 gallon tank, but it could go weeks between fillups!

guess you never drove it much then Matt.

my '90 gas 'Burb would get almost 950km to a tank, a little less than 600 miles, or aprox 14 MPG (combined 35/65, city/highway).

that was on a 350 with over 250K kms on it. and like everything else, it was driven hard.

my '90 diesel 'Burb on the other hand...........gets a little over 1200km to a tank, or just over 750 miles under tha same conditions (that's 18 MPG) :)

sisk you could always go to the dark side*...
the ford f150 4.2L V6 got upwards of 19mpgs:icon_shrug: , at least the 4wd 5spd manuals did
(i know the "f" word again....)


*what its probably called but im a ford fan stuck with 2 chevys

Just to school and back. But it could go 540 to 600 miles between fill ups, depending on the user. I'm not gonna lie, though, I love that truck. We've had her since 2001.

sisk, what about a Tahoe same year? my dad had a 2wd 4dr with the 350 vortec and it would go anywhere and pull anything while still getting amazing mpg. when we were on the boy scout campout, he pulled the trailer(just under the 5000lb mark), the truck loaded to the gills with gear and kids, and one of those camper shell thing that goes on the roof full. he went the entire weekend on one tank of gas. just about 153 miles one way and he still had 1/4 tank when we dropped the trailer at the scout hut. i would like a 4dr 4wd tahoe z71 myself, get a mild lift with 35''s, that would be a pretty truck.