[v7guy]

How much hp/tq would you consider the minimum for a daily driver? Think 2 door econobox in major city traffic, NYC, Chicago etc. The significant other and I have been looking at cars and while she's been focusing heavily on mpg I don't want to try to pass someone and step on the gas and have it make noise and continue at the same speed. I've driven a dodge neon 5 years ago that was dangerously slow.


I've been thinking along 130/130 give or take, any comments?

This post has been edited by v7guy: Jun 18 2006, 06:06 PM

[v7guy]

She commented yesterday that the corolla only gets 28 mpg and I kind of gave up in defeat then. I think we're going to be riding in my truck alot more than her new car. I'm with you slowTA, I want some metal between me and everyone else. She wants MPG, cheap and small though.

[jraskell]

She commented yesterday that the corolla only gets 28 mpg and I kind of gave up in defeat then. I think we're going to be riding in my truck alot more than her new car. I'm with you slowTA, I want some metal between me and everyone else. She wants MPG, cheap and small though.

Sit down with her and punch out some actual numbers. For example...

If you average 200 miles of driving a week.

In a car that averages 35mpg, that's 5.71 gallons of fuel a week. @ 3.00 even, that $17.14 a week spent on gas.

In a car that averages 25mpg, that's 8 gallons of fuel a week, costing you $24 a week.

So that extra 10mpg equates to just under 7 bucks a week saved, roughly 28 bucks a month, or $364 a year.

MPG, in and of itself, is too ambiguous a measurement. Convert it into a far more tangible figure, ie money coming out of your pocket and going into the tank. Base your decisions on THAT figure.

When the prices started rising a few years ago, I actually did contemplate a change in daily driver. Getting an extra 10mpg really did sound like a good switch, but when I ran the important numbers, it turned out to be a rather meager difference from my perspective. 7 bucks a week is chump change to me. I won't even start considering a change in vehicle until the difference exceeds 20 bucks a week.

And just for reference, it would require gas prices to exceed $6.60 a gallon for the price difference to hit 20 bucks a week. Basically, things are gonna have to get a LOT worse before I stop driving my TA everywhere.