How much did you previously spend on gas?

[Griff]

I used to drive a pickup truck to and from work. It got 17-18 mpg. It has a 19 gallon fill-up from the warning light. I would need to fill the tank three times every 2 weeks.  At $3.60/gallon, that equated to $5335.20/year :doh:  (3*26*19*$3.60) {26 is the amount of 2 week periods in a year}.

 

I have had my car for 4 weeks and have gone through, approximately, $80 worth of gas (including the dealer's). (13)4 week periods in a year is $1040.00.

 

 I charge my vehicle 6 days a week at a cost of $0.988/day. This equates to $308.256 ($0.988*6 day*52 weeks).

 

The total together is $1348.256. I expect to save $3986.944 each year. Even more if the price of gas goes up. :rockon:  :woohoo:

 

How about you?

Edited July 15, 2013 at 02:41 AM by Griff

[shaggy314]

I had a monthly budget of $130 for gas for my 1993 Integra. I got her new and put all but 150 of the 220,000 miles on her. See the fuelly below. Lately I had been getting 33 MPG or so.

 

Still don't know what the Energi will do, we are closing in on 6 weeks and still haven't put gas in... I had budgeted $25/month and say $30 to the electricity?

[Russael]

Those are some nice numbers.  Mine aren't anywhere near as impressive.  Round trip to the office is 5.2 miles, and I used to drive a 2001 Ford Focus which got about 24MPG city in the summer (about 20 in the winter).  I'd refuel maybe once every 3rd week or so and it typically cost 40 dollars to put about 10 gallons in the thing.  Just the fact that I haven't been to the gas station in 7+ weeks (actually... haven't used a drop of gas period) makes me happier than the savings themselves.

 

Savings over the Expedition (if I chose to drive that to and from work) gets about 12mpg city (10 in the winter) so it literally cost 4 bucks every round trip to work.  Now, it costs me about 25 cents.  I did do some upgrades to the beast and now I'm getting highway fuel economy in the city (about 16MPG).  I still want to get an economy programmer and a cat-back exhaust system to improve those numbers even further... but then I'm looking at another grand to invest.  Thing only gets driven about 2000 miles a year now.

[Griff]

I actually guesstimated the numbers before I bought the Energi. I had to figure out if the savings in fuel could offset (somewhat) the car payment. Between the tax credits and the gas savings, my first year is free! After that, my truck is paid off. Then, for the life of my loan, the gas savings subtracted from the monthly payment is still less than what I paid for my truck. And my car was more expensive! After the loan, I'll just be getting my money back (theoretically). Awww yeahhhhh!!! :banvictory:

[Nherring]

With 4000 miles on the car, I'm beginning to get some good numbers that appear to be consistent from week to week.

 

For the past 5 years I drove an Altima hybrid on average about 600 miles per week and 32 miles per gallon - 34 in the summer and 31 in the winter. So I ended up buying 18.75 gallons per week.

 

With the energy, I'm driving the same mileage but the gas bill is much smaller. I'm getting about 950 miles per 13.3 gallons of gas . So et's compare.

 

Before - 18.75x52 x$3.60 =$3,510 annually.

 

Today using the same average weekly mile count; 436.8 gallons x $3.60=$1,572.48 that's a 55.2% reduction. Or a net savings of $165 per month.

 

There are signs this is getting better. This week my daily trip used about .1 gallons better then last week. My hyper-miling skills seem to be improving. By the way, if you've followed my earlier posts, you know I have free l2 charging at work. So I need to add let's say $360 in electrons to my overall cost.

[dlb92]

My wife has a horse business and drove her RAM 1500 all around (like 20,000 miles a year).  I didn't want to wear out a $38,000 truck so fast and It has 60,000 miles on it already so now its parked and covered and she's driving my civic with 150,000 miles on it everywhere.  We'll use the truck only when we need to haul hay or  a trailer.  Now I am driving the energi.

 

Ram = 17 mpg

Civic = 34 mpg

 

I work 15 miles from home and I am able to get to work and back on no gas with the energi.  I have my horses 17 miles from my house and I can plug-in when i get there so I use no gas.  It costs me 75 cents in electricity to charge the energi battery fully (9.7 cents/kwh).

 

Including energy costs I save $1000/yr over the civic and cut my wife's gas expense in half so we are saving a total of $3000+/year.

 

Now this is what I call a true investment--in 10 years including inflation the gas savings will pay for the cost of the car.

 

EDIT:

Granted I could have bought another cheap Civic and saved another $30,000 but whats the fun in that?  Now I have my first true luxury car. What other luxury car pays for itself?

Edited August 9, 2013 at 03:46 AM by dlb92

[47Minutes]

I am counting the days to when I reduce my 46 mile round trip commute (with no recharge) with a 12 mile round trip commute.  I was already down to about $60/month in gas from my 2010 FFH that was around $130/month.  Now I went ahead and changed my September budget to have a line just for my wife's Volvo XC90 (18mpg).  The better news is her commute will be about 3 miles round trip so her $60 every 4-5 days will be of greater savings than I'm going to see in the Energi.

 

I am sad to see my old electric plan expire with the move.  I had $0.06 kWh and have had to sell my soul back to the devil (TXU) at $0.89.  Still, that's just under $0.70 to fully charge and I shouldn't be charging a depleted battery every day.

 

I'm practically giddy!

[dlb92]

Why didn't you give her your 2010 FFH and sell the volvo then you would save even more, lol

 

My wife was driving a 2010 dodge ram hemi and she got my 2005 civic with 147,000 miles on it lol.

[47Minutes]

Why didn't you give her your 2010 FFH and sell the volvo then you would save even more, lol

 

My wife was driving a 2010 dodge ram hemi and she got my 2005 civic with 147,000 miles on it lol.

 

She never liked that 2010 FFH.  We got her the Volvo after her Escape was totaled in a very minor crash.  It became all about the feeling of "safety".  And she has that in the XC90 tank from 2006.  She likes the Energi better than the 2010 but I don't think she's going to give up the feeling of being "BIG" on the road.

 

~Happy wife, happy life~

Edited August 13, 2013 at 03:55 PM by 47Minutes

[dlb92]

Well you could console her by telling her the energi weighs almost as much as her XC90, lol

[Russael]

I work with someone who also feels he must drive a tank to be safe on the roadways.  He currently rolls around in a Hummer H3 and has about a 20 mile commute to the office, but then he always complains about how much money he spends in gas every week (somewhere around 70).  I told him to get a mid-size car and the instant answer was, "No way!"  Well, there's no such thing as a fuel efficient large SUV, so you either drive around thinking you're more safe, or spend the money in gas.  His girlfriend also drives a large SAAB SUV, so there goes even more money in gas.  I just smile, nod my head in understanding, and reinforce the fact that my work commute is now 25 cents for 11 miles.

 

Thing is, most new cars nowadays are insanely safe.  Even small cars such as the Ford Fiesta is probably safer than my beast.  I wouldn't roll around in a smart car unless it was on surface streets only... wrecks on the expressway could make that flat in an instant.  Any vehicle that has a 4 or 5 star crash test rating will keep you safe, since all cars are tested the same way.  Oddly enough, size usually doesn't seem to matter.

[Griff]

I work with someone who also feels he must drive a tank to be safe on the roadways.  He currently rolls around in a Hummer H3 and has about a 20 mile commute to the office, but then he always complains about how much money he spends in gas every week (somewhere around 70).  I told him to get a mid-size car and the instant answer was, "No way!"  Well, there's no such thing as a fuel efficient large SUV, so you either drive around thinking you're more safe, or spend the money in gas.  His girlfriend also drives a large SAAB SUV, so there goes even more money in gas.  I just smile, nod my head in understanding, and reinforce the fact that my work commute is now 25 cents for 11 miles.

 

Thing is, most new cars nowadays are insanely safe.  Even small cars such as the Ford Fiesta is probably safer than my beast.  I wouldn't roll around in a smart car unless it was on surface streets only... wrecks on the expressway could make that flat in an instant.  Any vehicle that has a 4 or 5 star crash test rating will keep you safe, since all cars are tested the same way.  Oddly enough, size usually doesn't seem to matter.

I wonder if he is concerned with crashing into other large vehicles. That's when having a large SUV can make the difference between minor injuries and death. Ive seen my fair share of cars vs tractor trailers. The cars never tie, let alone win.

[Russael]

He's just concerned about accidents in general...  There's a VFW hall kitty-cornered from the office that has a huge tank out front.  He says he'd drive that if he could. :)  He does have 2 young kids so his need for protection is heightened by a lot.  He's also paranoid about other people driving if he's a passenger... he very much prefers to be in control, and I can relate to that since I'm similar.  There's a handful of people I don't mind riding with, but then there's people like my mom who turns completely around to look at someone in the back seat while driving to talk to them or ask a question.  That turns my stomach in knots.  Lord knows how she's never been in an accident that she caused.  And I have another friend who drives everywhere like it was the Indianapolis 500... don't like riding with him either.

[JeffPrice]

I'm using so little gas these days that my fuel points at Fry Grocery store added up to over 300 which meant I got $.30 a gallon off for gas today bringing the price down to $3.09.9.

[dlb92]

I use so little gas that the 5% cash back on gasoline months from Chase credit card mean nothing to me anymore

[murphy]

I've used about 3 gallons since April.

[dlb92]

I got kind of ripped off, my wife had to drive the car to work and then to go get it detailed and windows tinted the first day I got it and then the window tinting people ran the AC full blast while they were tinting and of course drained the battery and didn't charge it back up.. so I was down to 3/4 a tank before I even really got the car.

 

I still have a little less than 3/4 of a tank though and I've gone 640 miles in 14 days.

[Griff]

Well, it's safe to say this car gets a lot better mileage when you are conservative. I just filled up my gas tank and the distance-til-empty reading is 695 miles with an empty big battery. I guess it takes into account your driving style and estimates your projected hybrid distance. I am averaging 1100 miles between fill ups. Charging at home costs pennies and occasional charging at work is free. I used to spend $233 to go that distance. It now costs me $65 in gas and electricity (thank you, kill-a-watt). I expect it to only get better as the engine gets broken in. Have I said how much I love this car!!??

 

Some folks say that the cost of a PHEV takes several (7-8) years to recover the cost over a gas-only vehicle. Ladies and gentleman, I am here to say they couldn't be more wrong. If you average 60-70 miles roundtrip (5 days/week), can get the occasional charge at each destination, and drive conservatively, that money will be made back in less than 5 years. If you charge every time at both destinations, it'll take even less than that.  If you keep the car past that, it's just money in your pocket.

[dlb92]

I've found it's hard to get a good distance-til-empty reading unless you are driving longer distances than 2-3 miles with gas.  If you only go a mile or two on gas usually you have to accelerate or something and the gas MPG drops to like 20 and it lowers your overall estimate.  Maybe I'm not doing something right, any tips would be appreciated or maybe when I fill up for the first time the estimate will "correct" itself.  It seems when i drive 2 miles on gas my estimated range drops 5-7 miles which is kind of irritating.

 

On another note after the federal tax rebate I will have paid $36.5k for this car.  I went to the Ford.com website and a fully loaded *gasoline* version of the fusion equal to mine costs about $3,000 more if I were to pay full price.

Edited August 24, 2013 at 01:28 PM by dlb92

[Griff]

Well, after driving 6 miles and then charging the empty big battery, it is showing a grand total of 709 miles. Let's see what happens after the 75 mile roundtrip today. Now that I drive like a well-aged senior citizen, I have a tendency to reap more miles than should be allowed. With all the positives about this vehicle, I'm betting the increase in safe driving habits is one few owners expected. I know I sure didn't.

[dlb92]

I feel the same way.

 

If I drove the car today and never charged it up again I will have 1397 miles on it before I have to fill up.

 

Considering I have over half a tank of gas left at this rate I will have close to 5000 miles before I fill up for the first time.

 

What does the gas cap look like I've never looked inside?

Edited August 30, 2013 at 03:58 AM by dlb92

[ChuckJ]

 

On another note after the federal tax rebate I will have paid $36.5k for this car.  I went to the Ford.com website and a fully loaded *gasoline* version of the fusion equal to mine costs about $3,000 more if I were to pay full price.

It's funny how people focus on paying for the whole car with the gas savings.  I like the smooth, quite ride bonus!!!  (but I'm not elated with the trunk space).

 

ChuckJ

Edited September 14, 2013 at 04:53 PM by ChuckJ

[Fat Fusion]

I have been budgeting $400 to $500 a month for fuel for the last few years with a 30 miles each way commute.  I either drove my Boss 302 or my Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 Diesel 6-Speed manual.  Of course I can go through $150 in gas in a day at the track with the Boss 302!!!  Both vehicles would get a bout 17 MPG on the way to work and back.  I'm hoping for a serious reduction in fuel costs to help offset this new car payment.  I am starting a new job at a big high tech company in Silicon Valley so I'm hopeful I can plug in at work, which would be awesome.  My commute is going to be about 24 miles each way.

[Griff]

I have been budgeting $400 to $500 a month for fuel for the last few years with a 30 miles each way commute.  I either drove my Boss 302 or my Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 Diesel 6-Speed manual.  Of course I can go through $150 in gas in a day at the track with the Boss 302!!!  Both vehicles would get a bout 17 MPG on the way to work and back.  I'm hoping for a serious reduction in fuel costs to help offset this new car payment.  I am starting a new job at a big high tech company in Silicon Valley so I'm hopeful I can plug in at work, which would be awesome.  My commute is going to be about 24 miles each way.

If you drive efficiently and can charge at work, your gas cost will be approximately $0.00 :victory: . Your electric cost will vary, but don't expect to spend anywhere near what you spent on gas. I spend about $25/month for the electric portion of my driving.  $25/month vs  $500/month. How's that for offsetting your car payment?

[Fat Fusion]

Thanks Griff!  Here's to hoping I can plug in at work.   :waiting: