So I've had Wentworth for a solid six months, and financially, I could not be happier. The car is actually worth more by several thousand dollars than when I purchased it thanks to rising gas prices, even though I've driven it 7,000 miles. Everything's running smoothly, no costs in terms of repairs, and about $20 spent on changing the oil myself. Now here's the really cool part:
I've saved $857 in the last six months on gas alone. Check out the spreadsheet (edit: note that as of publishing I had saved $857. This spreadsheet will automatically update to provide the most recent figures).
There's a notable increase in gas savings the higher the cost of a gallon of gas, check it out in the last three months of the spreadsheet when prices skyrocketed.
And this is where I'd like to address a classic hybrid concern...
"But Mike, your battery is old technology, and will last a couple years at most. I hear it costs $5000 to replace, so your savings mean nothing."
This is adorable and all, the problem is that you might've heard that on TV somewhere by a talking head, and it is wholly untrue. Naturally, the fear of high costs and pricey repairs stick well with the public, but in reality, if it even does ever fail, the Prius hybrid battery typically lasts north of 150,000 miles. Recent failures I've read about on PriusChat have been closer to 200k miles, and a Vancouver taxi reported replacing theirs at 300,000 miles. So driving 15,000 miles a year, I'm really not concerned about a possible repair seven or eight years from now.
Even if there is early failure, reported prices at PriusChat for a refurbished battery shipped and installed come in under $2000. With literally millions of Prii on the road today as hybrids settle more into the mainstream, this price has nowhere to go but down. If this happens at 200k miles, you're paying a penny a mile. Hardly a concern, especially given I'll save that much in gas money after about 14 months of ownership.
Stop worrying about the battery, everyone - remember, your single biggest cost when owning a vehicle is gas, pure and simple. If you keep a vehicle for a reasonable life, it's quite possible you'll pay more in gas than what you paid for the car over that period of time.
Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Lazy (Wo)Man's Instant Higher Mileage Solution
So you might've had a heart attack over the weekend when you were driving by the gas station and realized that prices popped up by $0.15 to $0.20 or so. Sure, $3.30 in Little Rhody, but you can make yourself feel better by remembering that Europeans are paying around $8 a gallon...
Luckily, as gas prices increased 5% from one day to the next, you can decrease your gas consumption by a similar number without much work.
Your tires. They're filled with air, and they need to be. Underinflated tires give you worse handling, significantly more wear and tear on the tires causing early and pricey replacement, and of course steal easily obtainable mpgs from you. If you haven't checked them recently, you're likely below the recommended tire pressure since a. admit it, you may not have felt like checking ("I don't even know how!"), and b. it's winter, so your psi will naturally decrease with the colder temperatures.
To find the pressure in psi (pounds per square inch) to which your tires should be inflated, check the chart likely stuck on the inside of your driver's side door. If not there, check the owner's manual.
Rather than give a step by step, here's a convenient write up at eHow.com. If you don't have a tire gauge, you can buy one for $5 at your local hardware store (oh, go support the little guy!). Gas stations are starting to charge for air, so try to find one that doesn't.
Also, it is possible to inflate your tires slightly beyond the recommended pressure. Firstly, realize this is at your own risk. Secondly, the previous statement is largely because I imagine I have to say that. Thirdly, realize that is a safe practice that can improve handling and increase mpgs by a small but noteworthy percentage. You will feel an ever-so-slightly harsher ride, but I can assure you it's nothing anyone would even notice unless you pointed it out.
On my Prius, the factory recommendation is 35 psi front and 33 rear (there's more weight in the front of the Prius), and I have mine at 41 front and 39 rear. This is standard for many Prius drivers, and is not a personal experiment by any means. The max sidewall listed is 44 psi on this particular tire. It is important to never exceed this number (even though they are designed and produced to withstand it), since any gains beyond a slight extra inflation provide little boost to your mileage, and there is the extreme danger (not just inconvenience, mind you, but real danger) that could arise if your tire ever blew out.
Luckily, as gas prices increased 5% from one day to the next, you can decrease your gas consumption by a similar number without much work.
Your tires. They're filled with air, and they need to be. Underinflated tires give you worse handling, significantly more wear and tear on the tires causing early and pricey replacement, and of course steal easily obtainable mpgs from you. If you haven't checked them recently, you're likely below the recommended tire pressure since a. admit it, you may not have felt like checking ("I don't even know how!"), and b. it's winter, so your psi will naturally decrease with the colder temperatures.
To find the pressure in psi (pounds per square inch) to which your tires should be inflated, check the chart likely stuck on the inside of your driver's side door. If not there, check the owner's manual.
Rather than give a step by step, here's a convenient write up at eHow.com. If you don't have a tire gauge, you can buy one for $5 at your local hardware store (oh, go support the little guy!). Gas stations are starting to charge for air, so try to find one that doesn't.
Also, it is possible to inflate your tires slightly beyond the recommended pressure. Firstly, realize this is at your own risk. Secondly, the previous statement is largely because I imagine I have to say that. Thirdly, realize that is a safe practice that can improve handling and increase mpgs by a small but noteworthy percentage. You will feel an ever-so-slightly harsher ride, but I can assure you it's nothing anyone would even notice unless you pointed it out.
On my Prius, the factory recommendation is 35 psi front and 33 rear (there's more weight in the front of the Prius), and I have mine at 41 front and 39 rear. This is standard for many Prius drivers, and is not a personal experiment by any means. The max sidewall listed is 44 psi on this particular tire. It is important to never exceed this number (even though they are designed and produced to withstand it), since any gains beyond a slight extra inflation provide little boost to your mileage, and there is the extreme danger (not just inconvenience, mind you, but real danger) that could arise if your tire ever blew out.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Everytime you take a short trip, a kitten dies. And you lose a lot of money.
So you love cruising around town. It's quality fun, no doubt, especially in the warmer weather, driving around, radio blasting Billy Joel (or Creed, or Lady Gaga, or Stravinsky - whatever floats your boat). Nothing like jumping around from store to store during the week, going to the gas station to get gas, heading to the grocery store several times a week to pick up a meal for the evening, or driving down the street to drop something off to a friend cause it's quick and easy.
The zooming around town for every little errand is part of the American culture that stemmed from years and years of gas costing less than water (sort of like wine to the French). The thing is, the prices are creeping up once again, slowly but surely, and these habits from the days of sub-dollar gas prices are costing us.
The general rule is this:
Do not take short trips in your car(!).
Cars get their worst possible mileage in the first five to ten minutes of driving. In the winter, this time is prolonged and the mileage becomes atrocious during the warmup phase. To stop for errands, wait until your car is fully warmed up, and then stop for whatever you need on the way home instead of just after leaving the house. Go for broke on those grocery trips, get what you need for a week. Driving your car three miles on a cold engine, especially in winter, will absolutely kill your mileage. Even in my Prius, I know from my house to the grocery store from a cold start gets me about 20 mpg. If you think you're safe with a 25 mpg average EPA rating car, you're probably getting 10-15 mpg during the first few minutes of cold weather (sitting at the stop light is 0 mpg, by the way!).
Let's do some actual calculations. Let's say you can get 30 mpg in your vehicle (very generous, the US average is below this). You expect to go 240 miles between fillups for a grand total of 8 gallons. My most recent gas price of $3.18/gallon would give us $25.44 for a fillup. Let's assume 1,200 miles a month for a total of five fillups in a given month, for a total of $127.20.
Now let's say that you drive a mere 30 out of those 240 miles on short-distance trips - to the grocery store, etc. At 15 mpg your mileage will instantly drop to 26.66 mpg for the entire tank of gas. You've lost over 11.1% of your mileage, and you're paying 12.5% more at the pump. That monthly gas bill jumps to $143.10.
Let's double that amount to 60 miles of short driving per 240 mile fillup. It sounds like a lot, but if you kept track for a week you would find a whole host of surprise short trips that add up. Bank, grocery store, post office, little shopping trip, gas station, dropping off something at someone's place (cause moving a couple thousand pounds of steel is reasonable to transport a piece of paper...go for your e-mail!) - it's easy to do.
With 60 of your 240 miles at 15 mpg, you now drop to 24 mpg, a drop of 20% from your original figure of 30 mpg, and you pay an whopping 25% more! For what other good or service would you pay 25% more than what you need to besides gas? The premium is enormous. You now pay $159 a month instead of the original $127. It's the equivalent of filling up your tank an entire extra time per month!
For the extra you spent, of course, that adds up into $381.60 over the course of the year. Seems better to save it than to spend it for no reason...
So what's the solution? Besides stopping only after the car is warmed up for errands and doing a lot of grocery shopping instead of a little, don't forget that bikes and your own feet get infinite miles per gallon. Walk up the street to the drugstore. Ride your bike to the post office. It's fun, more relaxing than driving, good for you, and costs you and the environment nothing.
The zooming around town for every little errand is part of the American culture that stemmed from years and years of gas costing less than water (sort of like wine to the French). The thing is, the prices are creeping up once again, slowly but surely, and these habits from the days of sub-dollar gas prices are costing us.
The general rule is this:
Do not take short trips in your car(!).
Cars get their worst possible mileage in the first five to ten minutes of driving. In the winter, this time is prolonged and the mileage becomes atrocious during the warmup phase. To stop for errands, wait until your car is fully warmed up, and then stop for whatever you need on the way home instead of just after leaving the house. Go for broke on those grocery trips, get what you need for a week. Driving your car three miles on a cold engine, especially in winter, will absolutely kill your mileage. Even in my Prius, I know from my house to the grocery store from a cold start gets me about 20 mpg. If you think you're safe with a 25 mpg average EPA rating car, you're probably getting 10-15 mpg during the first few minutes of cold weather (sitting at the stop light is 0 mpg, by the way!).
Let's do some actual calculations. Let's say you can get 30 mpg in your vehicle (very generous, the US average is below this). You expect to go 240 miles between fillups for a grand total of 8 gallons. My most recent gas price of $3.18/gallon would give us $25.44 for a fillup. Let's assume 1,200 miles a month for a total of five fillups in a given month, for a total of $127.20.
Now let's say that you drive a mere 30 out of those 240 miles on short-distance trips - to the grocery store, etc. At 15 mpg your mileage will instantly drop to 26.66 mpg for the entire tank of gas. You've lost over 11.1% of your mileage, and you're paying 12.5% more at the pump. That monthly gas bill jumps to $143.10.
Let's double that amount to 60 miles of short driving per 240 mile fillup. It sounds like a lot, but if you kept track for a week you would find a whole host of surprise short trips that add up. Bank, grocery store, post office, little shopping trip, gas station, dropping off something at someone's place (cause moving a couple thousand pounds of steel is reasonable to transport a piece of paper...go for your e-mail!) - it's easy to do.
With 60 of your 240 miles at 15 mpg, you now drop to 24 mpg, a drop of 20% from your original figure of 30 mpg, and you pay an whopping 25% more! For what other good or service would you pay 25% more than what you need to besides gas? The premium is enormous. You now pay $159 a month instead of the original $127. It's the equivalent of filling up your tank an entire extra time per month!
For the extra you spent, of course, that adds up into $381.60 over the course of the year. Seems better to save it than to spend it for no reason...
So what's the solution? Besides stopping only after the car is warmed up for errands and doing a lot of grocery shopping instead of a little, don't forget that bikes and your own feet get infinite miles per gallon. Walk up the street to the drugstore. Ride your bike to the post office. It's fun, more relaxing than driving, good for you, and costs you and the environment nothing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)