Post by
AZhitman »
https://forums.nicoclub.com/azhitman-u113.html
Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:05 am
The economics of fuel economy simply don't add up. It's a sales and marketing ploy that plays on the segment of the population who don't math very well.
Let's break it down. Becky drives a '14 Xterra Pro-4x 6MT with 120k miles. We got it at 23k miles, IIRC. but that's not relevant. It gets 18 mpg (for sake of argument; she's got a light foot). Assuming $3.78 per gallon for 87 octane, and carrying on.
If I trade it in on a new 2.5 Premium Alty ($32,500 MSRP), and let's say that car gets "up to 27 city / 37 highway", so we'll call it 32mpg in mixed driving. We could get $18k in trade, so let's just fantasize that a dealer lets the Alty go for $15k and our Xterra. (we all know after TTL and other BS, it's a lot higher). Factor in higher insurance and higher costs of annual registration and you have another $1500 in costs for the Alty).
But let's JUST use the price difference for now. $15k buys 3,968 gallons of fuel. At 18mpg, she'll drive 71,500 miles (basically, taking the X to the end of its useful lifespan for a commuter). That additional $1500 buys 397 more gallons of fuel, or another 7150 miles (78,643 miles). At 200k, we'd probably sell it on the open market and pull $12k cash.
Keeping and maintaining a functional older vehicle, even if it gets poor MPG (such as the Pathy / Xterra) is always the fiscally intelligent choice. Marketing and hype don't play nice with math and statistics. It's simply car salesman voodoo and we've been guzzling it for decades.
Buy a different car because you want it, but don't parade it about as a fiscally smart move. When you have the means (which we all do), drive what you WANT and let the talking heads wring their hands over fuel prices to a less-intelligent audience.