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Buying a new car to save on gas?
Lankysean
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So right now I have a 2007 Chevy Cobalt coupe that doesn't get great milage, 21.6MPG is it's life long average. I don't really drive it too much, the car only has 34,000 miles on it right now and most of those miles are city. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to get a new high milage non-hybrid car, something like a Ford Fiesta. I'm a little torn though, while I think a new car will help save money now and in the future I'm wondering if it'll make more sense to just wait for EV's to be more popular and cheaper. I'm not looking at any current hybrid cars because they cost a lot more then the cars I'm looking at and they don't get much better milage then well designed gas only cars.
So, my 2 basic choices are:
1: Keep my car and deal with the low MPG's I'm currently getting and get an EV when they are cheaper. Thinking something like a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt which technically is a hybrid but can run on electricity only for 40 miles or so and I never drive that far in a day.
2: Get a new, high milage gas powered car (like a Ford Fiesta or Mazda 2).
Keep in mind, if I buy a new car now I probably won't be able to afford another one for at least 5-10 years. I'll let the debate rage!
So, my 2 basic choices are:
1: Keep my car and deal with the low MPG's I'm currently getting and get an EV when they are cheaper. Thinking something like a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt which technically is a hybrid but can run on electricity only for 40 miles or so and I never drive that far in a day.
2: Get a new, high milage gas powered car (like a Ford Fiesta or Mazda 2).
Keep in mind, if I buy a new car now I probably won't be able to afford another one for at least 5-10 years. I'll let the debate rage!
Lankysean on
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Now cut that in half (assuming double the mpg) and divide the cost of a new car from it.
How long will it take you to actually save any money from buying a new car?
It probably isn't worth it if your current car is running.
1) How much do you owe on your current car? Are you upside down in the loan? I'd hope not after approximately 4 years.
2) How many miles do you drive in a year? At the moment it sounds like less than 10,000 miles per year.
3) What do you use your vehicle for? A cobalt, even the coupe, will be much more practical than the fiesta. There is far less cargo/passenger space in the fiesta, but it could be a much better city car if that's what you use it for.
With the answers to those questions, You should be able to figure out the cost of driving your cobalt for a few more years and the cost of selling it and purchasing a fiesta/whatever and that should make it a much easier choice for you.
For the kind of driving you're doing, no gasoline-powered car is going to get very good mileage - that Ford Fiesta you're looking at only gets 29 MPG in the city. And if you're only driving 8000-9000 miles per year, the simple reality is that hybrid and electric vehicles are still so expensive that you will not ever save enough on gas to recoup the cost of buying one.
The calculation is actually pretty simple.
Imagine that gas is $4 a gallon and you plan to drive both the car you have and a new car 100,000 miles.
Chevy Cobalt - 100,000 Miles / 21.6MPG = 4630 Gallons of gas.
*** Gas cost total = $18,520
Assume that your new car gest 35 MPG
New Car - 100,000 Miles / 35MPG = 2857 Gallons of gas
*** Gas cost total = $11,428
Difference = $7092
So, you have to spend LESS than 7k on obtaining a new car in order to break even.
This obviously doesn't take into account reliability of the Cobalt vs. a new car or maintenance costs, or differing insurance costs. But it still shows that getting a new car to boost gas mileage isn't always a good idea.
ALSO, why is your cobalt only getting 21 mpg? That thing is rated 27 city, you can probably baby it up to 25 mpg.
Before you think about buying a new car to save gas, drive like a grandma and see if you can bump that mileage. If you can't get that MPG higher, get it checked out, or take all the bricks out of your trunk.
Hell, the Cobalt, especially the two door, is considered to already be a "gas saver."
Factor that with the questions that wmelon provided.
I don't owe any money on the Cobalt, never did actually. If I sold it today it's worth about $7300 private part according to KBB. I would pay for the new car cash, I have the extra cash laying around so thats not the issue.
I currently only drive a few miles to and from work, maybe 7 round trip. I'm going to be driving more soon when I get back into school, probably about 20-30 in a day 6 days a week. I do not need cargo space or 4 seats in my car, 99% of the time I'm in my car alone with no cargo. I know gas is pretty cheap compared to europe where they are paying up to $8/gallon which... yikes.
I'm not sure whats up with the low milage I'm pulling on my cobalt, I'm not terrible rough on it and I just put new tires on there. I had thought about getting a cold are intake and an XFE exhaust which, according to some fuel economy forums, can bump my economy by 12-15% for a modest price but gave up when it got too cold to do the work myself.
Its good to see the numbers out in front of me, really make the decision easy. I'll hold onto the cobalt, throw some cash at it to bring up the milage until the EV's come down in price.
Good call.
But I want to stress driving style over putting parts into the car to increase mileage.
It might be hard considering the really short distances to get your MPG up, but try to be as gentle as possible whenever you accelerate. Also try to not speed up when headed to a red light, etc.....
Back when I was paying close to $5 a gallon for gas and driving 100 miles a day, I was getting the neon to average 32 mpg. Now that gas is a little cheaper and I don't drive as much, I have a little more fun in the car and i'm still averaging about 26. So driving style can have a HUGE swing on economy performance.
If you're going to get a car to save money, switch to a ten-year-old Toyota Corolla, or something like that; something you don't need full coverage on, that gets great gas mileage.
The best money you can throw at it will be for good basic maintenance.
I see, I had no idea warm up time had such an impact. I'm also going to try and be a little more ginger on the throttle when I can, but my ride each day is pretty hectic. I drive 2 miles threw town and the hop on the highway for a half mile. It's hard not to accelerate when you need to jump on the highway for 30 seconds... which, since i work at the mall, is the only way to get there.
I actually have a 1990 Honda CRX that I'm restoring that, before the motor swap it got around 35mpg around town... not sure what it'll do when I get the new motor running. I suppose I could turn it into a daily driver to save on gas after I get it running... in any case, I'm going to hang on to the Cobalt for the time being. I do like the idea of a EV down the road so I'll keep my eye open.
There are seriously no side streets that can sub for a half mile of freeway?
This could be the worst commute of all time.
Your best bet would be to learn to drive your current car more efficiently. A real time MPG gauge ( or even a cheap vacuum gauge) will tell you how to change your driving style.
Nope, the mall is in between 2 highways that run parallel to each other and the closest on ramp is 1/2 mile away where I get on. So... it's pretty lame. I could get on closer to my house but then I'd have to drive an extra few miles on the highway and not sure that's good for the milage either.
It's not the Base model with the 2.0L engine, or the XFE (high milage one) with the 1.8L... it's the 2.2L. The car actually has a real time MPG thing, never used it because I just keep it on the "distance till empty" setting. I tell you what, I'm about to head into work so I'll kick on the MPG gauge and see how high i can get it on my way there and back.
An 07 cobalt shows an EPA estimate of 22 MPG city, 34 highway, and an expected 25mpg combined. So you're getting below the lowest estimated by the government.
An 11 fiesta shows 28city, 37 hwy and 32 combined. So you could probably expect high 20s with your current driving style - not mid 30s or even 40s.
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Well, highway driving is generally easier on your fuel consumption because it's more constant speed with less stopping and starting -- which is why highway mileage numbers are generally higher. Of course depending on the traffic involved, it may or may not actually work out this way, but you should give it a try for a week or so and calculate your mileage.
Yeah, your commute sort of limits things. When I drive my truck to work, which is about 6 miles each way, stop-and-go, I get ~12 MPG (compared to ~21 on the highway). And that's while driving very gingerly.
You could get one of these, they're not that expensive. 43 mile range!
I would agree with this. $10,000 is pretty close to where you need to be, so in 3-4 years you should be getting a net positive, and doing good for the environment at the same time.
Only way that seems doable would be to pick up a used car instead of a newer car. Seems like I'm better off saving up to get an EV some day.
That is a net savings of, let's just say, 4 gallons per month. That is like 15 dollars. 180 dollars saved in a year by driving extremely gingerly and focusing on it. It's money saved, so if you think it is worth it then go for it, but I think people really exaggerate the money they spend on gas in their head.
If you do want to save on gas though, I would recommend buying a used older model that can get 30+ MPG. I drive 480 miles in a week, so it was pretty obvious to me to trade out my old car for a more fuel efficient one.
Yeah, I'm going to be keeping my Cobalt I think, I'm pretty sure waiting for the EV's to drop in price is probably the best way to go.