[E. Haskell]

Ok, I'm assuming the average potential full-size SUV buyer cross shops V6 crossovers (Rav 4/VUE/Escape etc) or V6 sedans (Accord/Malibu/Camry) now that gas is $4/gallon.

I also believe the average person drives 13500 miles per year and keeps a vehicle 5 years.

Tahoe = 16 mpg
V6 crossover/sedan = 22 or less

Now lets do the math:

((13500 x 5 years)/16 mpg) x $4/gallon = $16,875
((13,500 x 5 years)/22 mpg) x $4/gallon = $12,272

= $4,603 more to drive the full size SUV over 5 years time

Compared to when gas was $3/gallon, it now cost an additional $1,100 to drive a full size SUV ($4603 vs $3500).

BUT WAIT. Demand for SUVs has dropped and you can probably get an additional $3k knocked off a big SUV. Thus, the price gap between driving a smaller V6 crossover/sedan is now LESS than it was at $3/gallon.

......not to mention, the Tahoe/Yukon/Expedition can seat 8-9, tow and is probably safer in a wreck.

Feel free to show me the errors in my thinking.

 

[wildgoosechase]

Precisely. The economics are even stronger if you own an SUV and are considering trading down for mpg. I looked into trading in my Tahoe but for it to make sense I would have to trade it in for something that got 40 mpg and cost no more than $100/month for financing and insurance. Uh, good luck finding it

 

[I-Love-Pontiac]

I blame the media beating it into everyone's brain. "When will Detroit stop making all these GAS GUZZLERZZZ"? When people stop buying them you retards.

 

[roteague]

I think you are right. Most people only think about today and react accordingly.

 

[AndrewGS]

That's still almost $77 per month in savings, nevermind the lower purchase price. Yes, if you need to take the family and the boat to the lake there's no substitute for the Tahoe/Suburban, but if you never tow more than a couple thousand pounds or carry more than 4-5 people I'm sure you could find a nice use for that $77 every month.

My mother gave up her Durango that averaged 12MPG and got a new Torrent that averages 19MPG (she drives like a bat out of hell). She puts roughly 15,000 miles a year on her vehicle. At $4/gal. over five years that's a $9,210.75 or $153.51/mo. savings.

 

[NfamousZ24]

That's still almost $77 per month in savings, nevermind the lower purchase price. Yes, if you need to take the family and the boat to the lake there's no substitute for the Tahoe/Suburban, but if you never tow more than a couple thousand pounds or carry more than 4-5 people I'm sure you could find a nice use for that $77 every month.

My mother gave up her Durango that averaged 12MPG and got a new Torrent that averages 19MPG (she drives like a bat out of hell). She puts roughly 15,000 miles a year on her vehicle. At $4/gal. over five years that's a $9,210.75 or $153.51/mo. savings.

Substitute TB/Envoy to replace the Tahoe/Burb :

Tell your mom to lay off the pedal. I hate when people complain about their gas milage and they race to the red light. I am not easy on the pedal but geez I still get an average of 16-18mpg in my TB or Envoy. In Long Highway trips I get 20 mpg in the Envoy and 22mpg in the TB.

 

[Generous Motors]

Isn't Honda right now advertising the Pilot as getting 23 MPG.....what so great about that??? A car based POS that cramps in 5 and only gets 23, so these boneheads are trading in their "gas guzzlers" that they never needed in the first place to get a 500 a month payment along with insurance and plates. Barnium said it best......there is a sucker born every minute.

 

[AndrewGS]

Substitute TB/Envoy to replace the Tahoe/Burb :

Tell your mom to lay off the pedal. I hate when people complain about their gas milage and they race to the red light. I am not easy on the pedal but geez I still get an average of 16-18mpg in my TB or Envoy. In Long Highway trips I get 20 mpg in the Envoy and 22mpg in the TB.

I'm the same way. I can easily get 19MPG out of my Silverado in normal driving, but that means no hard starts, keeping it in the torque peak so the engine can do it's job and staying at 65MPH or slower.

I can't figure out the people constantly passing me by at 80MPH on the highway and shooting from a stop. I'll spend an extra 10 minutes enjoying my car to save some coin.

 

[solman98]

Well the Tahoe will have to be babied to average 16mpg and the V6 sedan will get 22 if you drive it hard, so if that's babied also, mid 20's is easy. Plus the highway trip will be close to 30mpg.

That's a "if" gas stays at a lowly $4/gallon also.

The Tahoe will cost sometimes double what the sedan will cost and probably have higher insurance rates depending on your company and your rates. I know my 06 HHR was only $5/month higher than the 96 Silverado Ext Cab it replaced. And my mileage was 16 in the truck with a light foot on my daily commute and 26 in the HHR with the same travel. No trips included, won't even be close.

There was a wreck this past week where a TB ran a red light and was hit by a older Accord, the Accord driver walked away, the TB driver was killed as the TB flipped. SO safety is a mute point as no two accidents are the same.

Most "crossovers" get no better mileage for the most part than an SUV, so comparing that is like comparing a granny smith apple to a just another apple.

You want to buy an SUV you only need to justify it to yourself. But to try and ralionalize it as being "cheaper" to own, please.

 

[likearock00]

I own a full size truck and get around 18 mpg mixed. I don't "baby" it and go 75-80 on the highway. I don't like to see the gas prices this high, but it's not that much to me. I used to fill up my truck for 60-65. Now it's 70-75. It's not a huge deal and I don't understand the people that act like fuel is just killing them. If you are that strapped for cash you should be riding a bike!

If Americans didn't overextend themselves and live off credit cards we could deal with rising fuel costs alot better!

 

[solman98]

If Americans didn't overextend themselves and live off credit cards we could deal with rising fuel costs alot better!

That is a big one there.

I didn't consider the 16 I got with my truck bad, this was only to/from work usually. Highway I could squeeze 20-21 if I ran the speed limit (70 locally). Since it wasn't stock, I felt ok with the results.

But then some low life stole it.

 

[Tone]

Assuming the numbers are right, the logic only works if you plan to own the vehicle over a long time. The lower initial price is very likely to be reflected in a lower selling price if the vehicle is traded in a few years.

Since depreciation is one of the highest costs of new vehicle ownership, this could easily boost the cost of the full-size SUV when it comes time to trade in.

Wild cards here are the price of fuel in four to five years. If it keeps going up, the full size SUV will probably depreciate even faster. But, if this is a bubble and the price of gas drops (and stays down for a while, which seems a bit unlikely) in that period, you might actually do pretty well.

 

[MonteCarloSS86]

Assuming the numbers are right, the logic only works if you plan to own the vehicle over a long time. The lower initial price is very likely to be reflected in a lower selling price if the vehicle is traded in a few years.

Since depreciation is one of the highest costs of new vehicle ownership, this could easily boost the cost of the full-size SUV when it comes time to trade in.

Wild cards here are the price of fuel in four to five years. If it keeps going up, the full size SUV will probably depreciate even faster. But, if this is a bubble and the price of gas drops (and stays down for a while, which seems a bit unlikely) in that period, you might actually do pretty well.

That, and the fuel costs are still more expensive, especially if you bought the SUV at full price instead of that smaller V6-powered vehicle which is what most of these people who are in trouble did.

If so many Americans didn't try living outside of their means this fuel cost increase wouldn't be nearly as big of a problem for quite a few people.

 

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

22 mpg on a sedan even a big one with V6 is indicative of idiot driver at the wheel... we aren't talking about 1973 Fleetwoods here.

 

[FenwickHockey65]

Unfortunately, this logic won't work on the feeble and easily manipulated minds of America. No matter how much you tell them that SUVs aren't as bad as they think, they won't believe you.

 

[MonteCarloSS86]

Unfortunately, this logic won't work on the feeble and easily manipulated minds of America. No matter how much you tell them that SUVs aren't as bad as they think, they won't believe you.

You're missing the point, gas is extremely expensive compared to what it was at the height of the SUV's popularity and SUV's typically get poor fuel economy. It's still extremely expensive to operate a large SUV!

 

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Unfortunately, this logic won't work on the feeble and easily manipulated minds of America. No matter how much you tell them that SUVs aren't as bad as they think, they won't believe you.

The feeble, easily manipulated minds that are glancing at their SUV in the driveway as we speak?

 

[Michael_S]

E. Haskell:

1. Many people who buy the big SUVs live in the suburbs, so they do a lot more than 13,500 miles of driving per year. I've driven over 20,000 miles per year since 2001 because I was one of the idiots that moved to the suburbs without considering how much my commute would cost when gas hit $4 per gallon. ( )

2. You're assuming the price of gas stays the same. A big reason for the drop in resale value of SUVs is the assumption, which is not too crazy, that the price will keep going up. If gas hits $6.00 per gallon, the value of that Tahoe LTZ you kept is going to be even worse than it is now.

3. Less expensive vehicles are cheaper to insure.

4. Many people making the change are trading in their SUV for a four-cylinder family sedan. Most four cylinder family sedans these days have a 0-60 mph time between 8 and 9.5 seconds, which is on par with the base Tahoe, Expedition, Durango, and Sequoia models. Even if you stay with a V6 family sedan, many average much better than 22 miles per gallon.

5. If the price of gas stays high and the economy stays poor, people may keep their vehicle for much longer than 5 years.

So rework your scenario with these assumptions:
Going from Tahoe to Malibu 4-cylinder.
Drive 20,000 miles per year for 8 years.
Price of gas increases an average of $0.25 per year.
Tahoe 16 mpg
Malibu 25 mpg

20,000/16 mpg = 1250 gallons per year. Cost is $5000 the first year, $5312.50 the second up to $7500 the 8th, total cost in fuel = $51,250.
20,000/25 mpg = 800 gallons per year. Cost is $3200 the first year, $3400 the second, up to $4800 the 8th, total cost in fuel = $32,800.

The cost savings between the two would be $18,450, which pays for most of the following vehicle. On top of that the trade-in value of a 25 mpg family vehicle at a time when gas is $6 per gallon will be far higher than the trade-in value of a 16 mpg family vehicle.

 

[vcs2600]

How many people took a bath trading in a perfectly good sedan for a show-the-neighbors SUV in the first place?

Its not like consumers just started being irrational yesterday ... the auto market would barely exist if people didn't make emotional purchases.

 

[symdon]

NO not worth it