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When buying a new car.. I think people are placing way too much emphasis on MPG! Like seriously i'm sure things like interior quality, comfort, design, reliability and performance are much more important than MPG!
The difference in MPG between most cars is negligible at best and in the real world the MPG is all over the place..
If i drive a V8 and keep it in good condition and also keep it below 2000rpm for 90% of the time then i will probably get better MPG than a small 4-banger revving its guts out..
If we were having a MPG contest i'd put my money on my Toyota Yaris 4 banger over your V8 automobile .
Over the life of a car a substantial saving can be had from a car that gets 30-50mpg as opposed to a car that gets 15-25mpg, may not be important to some but its important to me.
If i drive a V8 and keep it in good condition and also keep it below 2000rpm for 90% of the time then i will probably get better MPG than a small 4-banger revving its guts out..
Yet you talk about real world conditions....?
You talk about MPG's as if its the only thing people look at. Not for nothing but a lot of people will not buy a new car if they don't like the looks of it.
If we were having a MPG contest i'd put my money on my Toyota Yaris 4 banger over your V8 vehicle.
Considering a fill up once a week over the life of a car a substantial saving can be had from a car that gets 30-50mpg as opposed to a car that gets 15-25mpg, may not be important to some but its important to me.
I would hate to hit anything bigger than a large dog in a Yaris and not get totaled. Yes you get high mpg's but safety and comfort most times are more important. I have rented these small cars and after a 100 miles plus I was numb and almost deaf from road noise. Was not even close to being worth the saving of gas.
I'll stick to my 2011 F150 4x4 that gets 23 mpg on hi way and 17 in city. I live on a limited income and still manage to live comfortably without the sacrifice of safty and comfort!!!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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When driving 10,000 miles a year, at current gas prices of $3.50, the difference between 18mpg and 36 mpg adds up to $81/month more in gas expense. For many people it's worth that to have more metal around them, comfort, and power. For me, it's the best of both worlds. I have an older 33 mpg little beater that I use to drive the few miles to the Park & Ride to catch my bus to work, and at home a 15 mpg 4x4 truck for other driving, hauling
and trips.
lol, why do people ALWAYS assume that higher MPG = less comfort and safety? It may be true in some cases, but it's ALSO true that bigger vehicles with more comfort have been known to be much less safe ~ can't tell you have many SUV's I've seen on their roofs but I CAN tell you the number of cars, it's zero. 'Safety' starts in the brain. As a motorcyclist, there used to be an aversion towards Volvos. They were known to cause a LOT of accidents, or at least be involved in them. The general understanding was that bad drivers who KNEW they were bad drivers and likely to be in/cause an accident chose that brand because it was "safe". Then it moved on to mini-vans, and today it's the SUV/recreational truck driver that fills that roll. If those people would pay attention to the act of Driving (instead of cell phones, passengers, radio, CB, etc...) and actively try to develop some driving skills, they would never BE in an accident or need that "safety". I know that I've only been in 2 accidents. One was my own stupid teen-age self driving into a road sign in a small foreign car... busted the headlight and bent some sheet-metal. The other was hitting a deer at highway speeds in a Renault (cheap French-made 4-banger).... bent sheet metal (fender and hood), no other damage. Small doe NOT mean less safe.
Now Comfort.... looking at the average American today, anyone can see that most people need WAY more physical space for their "self". Guess what, lose weight, get smaller, smaller vehicles become comfortable. And I'm not talking the need to be a toothpick, I'm 6'4" and ~250lbs and have NO issues driving smaller cars. The Germans seem to do it best when it comes to legroom though, so my Porsche 951 and VW Jetta, while small on the outside, offer AMPLE room inside. Both are "all day long" comfortable too. I have, without complaint, sat in the Jetta for the full 800 mile tank without stopping, filled up and hit a couple more hundred miles before stopping for the night. Was fresh enough to do it again the next day. The Porsche was even More comfortable, but I never had reason to drive it more than ~500 miles in a stretch (damn thing returned ~30mpg too, even for a turbo sports car).
My yearly driving average for just ONE of my 4 vehicles is 23,000/year. That's an average over the past 9 years... how much money have I "saved" by driving a vehicle that's returned a lifetime 48.7mpg average?
Fuel economy is important to me. I DO have a 4x4 truck, but it's averaged 2,400 miles a year since 2003 when I bought the Jetta. Fuel RANGE is important to me too... I have issues anytime I drive something that can't go 600 miles to a tank. Comfort is Very important to me because I spend a LOT of time driving... and safety, well, I'm a motorcyclist... safety is 99% mental. You are as safe as you make yourself. I'm confident that should a txting SOB in a truck run a stop and t-bone me, I'd walk away.
If i drive a V8 and keep it in good condition and also keep it below 2000rpm for 90% of the time then i will probably get better MPG than a small 4-banger revving its guts out..
oh not sure on that one. Our s2000 could touch 31mpg's if we drove it easy, and if we didnt (played with it in vtec and ran the r's where the motor sang so sweetly) we'd still avg 25-28. Yes some 8's can hit #'s like that when driving softly; just saying if a 4 or 6 is built to rev, it can have some effeciency while running in that hi rpm range.
I would hate to hit anything bigger than a large dog in a Yaris and not get totaled. Yes you get high mpg's but safety and comfort most times are more important. I have rented these small cars and after a 100 miles plus I was numb and almost deaf from road noise. Was not even close to being worth the saving of gas.
I'll stick to my 2011 F150 4x4 that gets 23 mpg on hi way and 17 in city. I live on a limited income and still manage to live comfortably without the sacrifice of safty and comfort!!!
The Yaris is quite a sturdy vehicle and will have no trouble in most accidents when it comes to protecting the occupants, it also has the advantage of being much more manoueverable than a large pickup truck so it may avoid an accident all together it also stops faster.
Ive driven my Yaris from Montreal to Florida 3X and one cross country venture Montreal to Vancouver loaded with wife and two kids and and no one has ever experienced the discomfort or problems with noise you seem to have been subjected to.As for economy i usually fill the tank 8-9 gallons even though it holds 11, as yet i.ve never paid more than $50 and i average 400 mpt
My FIL had a Silverado pickup that i'd occasionally have the misfortune to drive, it was like driving a large wallowing barge that felt like it would tip over in any kind of quick turn,In snow it was positively scary as its rear end continually wanted to spin out, on its frequent fillups it would eat $80 just for a bit better than half a tank of gas,
BM to each his own,you like em big i like em economical and small.
Aint she beautiful? http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...1/DSC00030.jpg
When its time to buy a new car for me its all about make, looks, suitability, does this car say something about who I am, etc... Once I have narrowed it down to a certain make and look then it comes down to mpgs.
I agree that too much emphasis is placed on MPG's..ever look at 80% of the cars being sold these days?? They are bland and boring without any character at all to them...why? because people are more concerned with MPG's than anything else. I cant drive something I dont find visibly appealing. In the end, MPG is important but I cant just go buy a car because of it. I have a 2012 Passat TDI that gets upward of 50mpg on the highway and I also have a 2008 Expedition that gets maybe 17mpg on the highway. I love them both.
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