OK here’s the deal - we have one car right now (a 2005 PT Cruiser) and we are going to get another one. We don’t want/can’t afford another car payment and so we are planning to buy a used car for $3000 or less. We’re having a baby in about a month, so it would really be good to have another car. My husband commutes about 30 miles roundtrip per day. I work from home. My thought about another car was a good-on-gas, 10-year-old Honda or Toyota or the like. My husband would commute in that one, and the baby and I would use the PT Cruiser. I don’t know what mileage the PT Cruiser gets – I think about 20 mpg. My husband’s idea, I have found out, is a diesel truck! Like a Ford F150 or 250 or something. He wants something to haul stuff if necessary (ONCE a year we take a vacation that would require some sort of rented camper/tent trailer), carry bicycles with ease, etc. I don’t know, I think he just wants a truck. He also doesn’t like the smaller Honda/Toyota option because they are not as safe in accidents…but usually the kid will be in the larger car…sigh…(It seems ridiculous to me. We would be the classic people who have a huge vehicle for no real reason.) I know diesel is very expensive, but I thought maybe the difference in fuel economy would make up for it. With a quick look around, it looks like, sure, the fuel economy for a diesel truck is better than for a gas truck, but much worse than any gas car. What do you think?
In the middle of our forceful discussion about it, he asked me, “Why don’t you ask those Dope people?” So here I am.
If there’s no reason to have a large truck (like, say, you’re hauling large things on a day to day basis) then it’s a terrible idea. The Ford F-150 is a complete fuel pig and IMHO, if you don’t have the money to make another car payment you’ll really feel the burden of a truck like that.
This site seems to have the fuel economy ranging between 7.5 and 13 mpg on one of those. Assuming $4 a gallon for diesel and a 30 mile round trip commute you’re looking at around…$16 to $25 a day in fuel. :eek:
The F-150 doesn’t come in diesel. Diesel trucks start at 3/4 ton sizes.
We have three; two Dodges and a Ford. One is my work truck, and the other two are our personal trucks which we each brought to the relationship. The mileage ranges from about 18 mpg in the heavy work truck, to a good 24 on the highway in my personal Dodge, which I have several aftermarket modifications on.
If you don’t need a truck, there isn’t much point to buying one. Tires are expensive, parts are expensive, parking’s challenging sometimes, and people ask you to help them move.
If you’re going to buy a decent-sized truck anyway, a diesel is the way to go. I get better mileage pulling a trailer in one of my diesels than I did on the highway in my half-ton that they replaced. I just put $125 in the tank of the heavy one, but that will last me a couple of weeks. We routinely haul trailers and lots of weight, so trucks make sense for us, but if we bought another car, it would be a small one for commuting or a bike.
You can always rent one on the yearly occasion that you need one.
Where the OP lives, diesel is closer to $4.60-$4.75.
For the overall savings you’d have in getting a more economical vehicle, you could easily rent a motorhome with its own engine, rather than something that needs to be towed for your annual vacation. There are some significant pluses and minuses to this to consider, naturally.
Just for giggles, I looked up RV rental rates, and the price difference is surprising - $860 a week for a 25’ travel trailer or $1,000 a week for a 26’ Class C RV. (Probably built on something like a Ford E350 van.)
Rough numbers: The 30 MPG gas car will cost about $1700 a year for gas and the 10 MPG diesel truck will clobber you at $5600 a year for fuel, assuming $4.20 a gallon for gas and $4.70 for diesel and 12,000 miles a year - a price difference of $3,900! With that savings, you could fly first class instead of go camping!
I fully understand wanting a big truck. It’s a deeply ingrained Guy Thing. But it’s just not sensible unless you need towing or hauling capacity on a regular basis.
Yeah, definitely do the fuel-cost math on this one. (In addition to the usual financing and operation math.) And do the fuel-cost math at $4/gallon, $5/gallon, and $6/gallon. Who knows what might happen?
Personally, I would stay far away from such a large vehicle unless I needed its capabilities and owning it was cheaper than renting one when I needed it. A fashion truck–one bought for image, not capability–is not a good idea these days unless you can truly afford it.
I would NOT buy the diesel truck. I would NOT buy a full-sized truck unless I was getting it for $1000 or less and was only going to drive it a couple times a year. Notice that I didn’t say use it for hauling a couple times a year, I said I wouldn’t even start it but a couple times a year. I wouldn’t even buy a little pickup truck unless I needed one frequently; cars get better gas mileage with the same drivetrain. I have a 4-cylinder pickup truck, but it only gets about 22 mpg and I’m really easy on the throttle: I can get the same gas mileage out of my '85 LTD with a V8. A little truck does everything I need from it: hauling my nephew’s motorcycle for him, furniture for my sister, free firewood I got just for hauling it away, etc. There are farmers all over the place out here, and at least a third of the pickups I see are Rangers, S-10’s, Tacomas and the like. One neighbor has a full-sized GMC, but he uses it to haul a 2-horse trailer. The next neighbor up the road drives an '85 Ranger that he picked up for $800; it’s as reliable as a rock.
Thank you for that input. Ack, it really looks like a terrible idea. We could just have a car payment instead of paying for the fuel. I read the thread to him and he said, “You make a lot of sense” but I think that is his way of dismissing the conversation for now…I think he’ll come around after he mourns the idea of the truck.
From a practicality standpoint, a lot of people who own pickup trucks should instead have a reasonably economical car and a utility trailer for hauling stuff. (Or rent the trailer on the few occasions it’s needed.)
Look, dude to dude I totally understand his want of a truck. If this were 10 years ago I’d be tooling around in one towing a 25’ bass boat behind me. I still want that truck, but that was then and this is now, and right now trucks are just silly unless you can write that gas off your taxes. Why do you think that all those Hollywood celebs ride around in Escalades? Low gas milage is the new excess of the rich.
I put a trailer hitch on every car I own. For the occassions I need to haul something like a sheet of plywood or refrigerator the trailer is much more practical than giving up 38 mpg for the other 364 days of the year. And a compact car is more comfortable for 4 adults than a half cab truck. I also haul bikes on a bike rack that fits my trailer hitch (square receiver type).
Right now, a small truck, if it’s in any kind of shape, is in high demand (at least in my locale). Most of the automakers discontinued them or turned them into midsized about five years ago and haven’t tooled up to start manufacturing them again yet. I’ve had offers out of the blue for my '03 S-10.
To repeat what everyone else has said, the bigger trucks are a waste of fuel unless you have an everyday need for them. You’d be better off with an economy car with payments.
Has the OP’s better half ever owned a truck? If he has, he knows the pros and cons firsthand. If not…
I thought trucks were cool and then I got one, a little Toyota. I really didn’t like the ride for more than a commute to work…I’d feel every bump in the road. And I hated not having a trunk…if you go shopping, everything has to go in the cab every time you stop to go into another store, and there was little useful room behind the seats.
People upgrade to a better suspension, maybe something more like a sport ute for a better ride. But wasn’t part of the rationale to save money? They add a topper on the back so they can store things there. Again, the rationale about saving money? In some ways, you can make it more car-like, but the better solution would be to buy a car in the first place.
Sure but you can tow things…I didn’t have anything to tow but even if I did, I wouldn’t be towing it every weekend or anything. As stated, you can haul a LOT of stuff in the bed, but you can’t secure it without paying more. Gimme a trunk any day.
And with diesel costing what it does, nah. And you can’t seat more than two—maybe a child seat in the middle, but it gets cramped in there fast.
In the best of all worlds you’d rent the truck for a couple weeks and see what you think. I know the bigger ones ride better etc. but although I think trucks are cool, that Toyota taught me once and for all that I’m not a truck kinda guy.
Here’s something to think about:
Just the oil alone (not labor) now costs over $30 per oil change for my F350 Powerstroke. That engine takes 3 Gallons of oil per change.
Diesel is coming down - it’s close to the price of premium out here, and the increased fuel efficiency make it reasonable if you need a big truck. Otherwise, rent one when you really need it.
If you’re hauling large things on a daily basis, you might want a real truck instead of an F150.
2006 F350 (dually, crew cab) diesel, unloaded, reasonably flat highway average 75 mph, gets 18 mpg. Moderately loaded ('93 F250) thousand bucks worth of stuff from Costco with ice, **full **crossbed toolbox, 3 suitcases, plus miscellaneous parts, and large tools) AC on, reasonably flat highway average 75 mph, gets just under 14 mpg.
The aforementioned ‘93 f250 (460/7.5 whatever the diesel version is. Not my truck, I hate it, rarely acknowledge its existence.) gets 14 mpg uphill, downhill and sideways, loaded or empty. The fucking thing will not die.
That’s the thing with diesels. They don’t die. They are NOT cheaper in the short term, but after 15 years, figuring purchase price, maintenance, repairs, insurance and interest, they can be cost effective.
Depending on your lifestyle, a truck might be a good second vehicle, or a waste of money and parking space. If a truck fits your needs, then diesel is the way to go. If a truck doesn’t, or if you don’t keep your cars for a loooong time, then it wouldn’t be a wise acquisition.
So here I am.