Comments on: Buying a cheap gas guzzler may backfire

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:18:03 +0000

If you’re worried about fuel shortages (rationing), you want to buy a diesel vehicle.

25 year old Mercedes diesels are cheap and still get nearly 30 mpg highway.

Why diesel?

Because it’s the only liquid fuel you can store in large (several hundred gallons even in the city) quantity safely and legally (can’t do that with gasoline – too volatile)

Home heating oil is little more than on-road diesel plus dye (to show road taxes haven’t been paid).

Buy a *new* “heating oil” tank (275 gallons), and make sure the delivery person knows to fill it full of on-road diesel, not home heating oil (”for my new generator, yeah, that’s the ticket”)

Then you have several weeks or months of fuel on hand in case of shortages.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:01:46 +0000

We’re looking at buying a Honda Pilot (20 mpg), because we have a large family (well, we will someday) and need the room. Comparing the price to a minivan that gets the same mpg, we can save a lot of money by buying an SUV. And since it will be used a kid hauler (I’m a SAHM with kids who ride the bus and walk to the park, I don’t drive much) the gas won’t be horrible (I hope not anyway!).

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:43:44 +0000

Buying one of those gas guzzlers is getting very temping. I live in a northern climate and drive between 5000 to 8000 miles a year. Comparing a newer honda civic at 17000 miles (30/40 mpg) to a used expediation 2000 with 68000 miles (14/16 mpg) what I am finding in the difference in purchase price of 10,000 dollars really isn’t enough to offset the better gas mileage of the civic. Whatever I spend in gas for the Expediation would be halved with the civic, so if I saved 1500 a year with the civic it would take me 6.5 years to recoup the savings from the gas costs. I would rather buy the better car for gas mileage, but is I can find a good car for 1/3 the cost I can’t ignore it.

By: Dwayne

Dwayne — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:51:37 +0000

If your buying the guzzler as a second car, this is the time to do it. New cars dealers have some great incentive because they can’t get rid of their allotment and used car dealers are sitting on inventory they can’t sell.

If your a multiple car family this is a great time to get the larger vehicle you couldn’t get before. Just make sure you have an economical vehicle to do the long hauls in.

By: Monika

Monika — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:41:36 +0000

I bought a new 2008 Versa last year and put in less than 500 miles a month sometimes driving it for weekly errands only to make it run. We use our Civic more often as that gives us 32-36 miles vs. the Versa’s 26-30 miles. When we need a Van we borrow from our friends. I am looking at trading this Versa for a van. The gas cost is definitely affordable for me, do you think there are people that will swap my Versa and pay a price difference for a guzzler.

By: rzrshrp

rzrshrp — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:25:52 +0000

It’s still good to buy one if 1)You won’t be driving it often or 2)You actually need it. I’ve always wanted to own a pickup truck so that I can stop paying to rent trucks like twice a year. A more industrious person could also make a little more money by doing small-hauling jobs. I’d only take it out when I need it though and use my decently efficient car for everything else.

By: Curt

Curt — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:29:39 +0000

Yes, but taking advantage of this opportunity to buy a 35k gas guzzler for 15k can also be a very good idea. For example, if you are thinking about buying a minivan and don’t drive a lot of miles, than you can get a much better deal on a large SUV. This opportunity will soon be gone as prices of materials are going up very fast. After 8-months of low prices, the supply will fall with demand and the next year large SUV’s will cost a lot more money.

Maybe even consider the current market an investment opportunity. Consider buying 10 SUV’s, storing them for one year and selling them on the market for a lot more.