QuestForAMillion.net

I just can’t seem to get it out of my head. Ever since I wrote my article on the costs of fuel efficiency, the subject has been on my brain. It creeps in during quiet times, during my drive to and from work, whenever it feels like it really. I’ve done the math, and so have many others:

• The 15-minute tip: Time to chuck your truck? (From marketwatch.com)

• Should You Dump the SUV for a Gas Sipper? (From edmunds.com)

• Drive a little greener, save a little green (From cnn.money.com)

All the above articles talk about the financial implications of trading in a gas hog vehicle for a more fuel efficient, but more expensive ride. The article from Edmunds includes a link to a calculator that will tell you how long it takes to recoup the cost of trading vehicles. All the “experts” have come to the same conclusion I did: In most cases it is not a good financial move to trade to a more fuel efficient vehicle.

So why do I continue to ruminate over the subject? The only conclusion I can come to is that it’s not just about the financial implications. In my previous post on the subject I glossed over the non-financial aspects of such a move. But since then, I’ve thought about them a lot. I mean a whole lot. My Jeep carries an EPA pollution score of 1, the lowest possible. That means it’s dirty, spewing out loads of dangerous gases. And even though I don’t drive much, every mile I drive in a gas guzzling vehicle is that much more that this country has to rely on fossil fuels and foreign governments that hold us hostage. It’s no secret the amount of oil in the world is finite. If we haven’t started on the downhill side of oil production we’ll be there soon. What do when there isn’t any more? Cars aren’t the only thing that require oil for production. Just take plastic for example. Plastic is petroleum based. And how many medical supplies are plastic? Is there any good end to this story?

And the financial aspect really hit home with me the other day. I had a lunch date set with some friends, but I wound up having to go to the hospital in the morning for some tests. The hospital isn’t far from where we were to meet for lunch, so I figured I’d go to lunch after leaving the hospital. In a strange turn of events, I got done at the hospital extremely quickly, about an hour before I needed to meet my friends for lunch. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I just went home. And I didn’t go meet my friends for lunch later. Why? Because it would have added 50% to the cost of my lunch. We were planning on Tokyo Joe’s, which costs me about $8. The restaurant is 8 miles from my house which means that it would have taken me a gallon of gas to get there and back. At about $4/gallon my lunch just went from $8 to $12. That’s a big increase. If Tokyo Joe’s raised their prices 50% I simply wouldn’t eat there. I see my friends often enough that I couldn’t justify to myself that increased cost.

The idea of an electric vehicle has extreme appeal to me. I’m totally in love with the Chevrolet Volt. Unfortunately that won’t hit the streets for another 2 years and it should cost around $40,000. To date, it’s the cheapest projected cost for an electric vehicle, but I can’t spend $40,000 for a car. So I’ve done some research, run the numbers several more times and thought long and hard. I’m pretty sure I’m going to trade in my gas guzzling SUV for a more practical, more fuel efficient vehicle (while the SUV has a little value left). Something that will get me through the next several years until the electric car is a viable, cost-effective alternative. I’m also 95% of the car I’d like to get, though I have yet to drive it. And no, it isn’t a Mustang.