What kind of vehicle do you drive? =) (mattress, limo)

[Big_Al]

Ford Focus, Volvo V50, both about 26mpg town, 30-32mpg highway. No problems on mountain roads. Highly recommended!
Summertime- Vespa PX 150, 4 speed manual, 80mpg

[AliceT]

I have a Chrysler Town & Country minivan, AWD. It gets an oil change every 3,000 miles, tire treads never lose more than 50% of their tread before getting new ones and are rotated with every other oil change. It has yet to leave me stranded anywhere.

When you take care of your car, it will take care of you - for years and years and years. I drove my first car, a Ford Falcon, for 21 years. I learned the hard way that salt on the road will eat away at the frame. If I had known that back then, might still be driving that reliable old bucket of bolts.

Rules to live by when you're afraid of a breakdown and the worst possible time:
1. Never let the gas tank go lower than half-full.
2. Keep your car well maintained and checked prior to any extended road trip
3. Everything is riding on your tires. Watch them, rotate them, replace them before you think they need to be.
4. Always have at least two sources of communication in your vehicle - cell phone and CB at the very minimum.

[x1x]

I have a 2002 Toyota Tacoma P/U with auto trans and a 4 cylinder engine and It has 25,000 miles on it, and I bought it new in 2002, I have drove it across country from Arizona to upstate NY and from there to Mississippi and back to NY and then to NJ and then to WV and back to NJ, and on all these trips it was fully loaded with all my stuff including a fiberglass cap,to the point of bottoming out when I hit rough roads or dips, And only a few times going up very steep or long upgrades did it kick down from overdrive to drive!!!!

[Hinton Bound]

I drive a 2005 F350. Gets about 18mpg, but diesel is way high right now. The best vahicle IMO is my 04 Jetta TDI. It's a diesel that gets 48MPG (3 year average), like Herd said about his, it rides well and is a solid car.

My wife has a '08 Jeep Commander Overland and loves it. I took it up the mountain in pretty bad weather, lots of crusted snow and ice on the ground/road. I couldnt break the tires loose, and I tried hard to! The Quadratrac drive was awesome. I feel comfortable having my wife drive it up and down a pretty rough mountain road. It's still new, but MPG is right at 17 with a 5.7L Hemi.
~Mark

[Big_Al]

Originally Posted by Hinton Bound

I drive a 2005 F350. Gets about 18mpg, but diesel is way high right now. The best vahicle IMO is my 04 Jetta TDI. It's a diesel that gets 48MPG (3 year average), like Herd said about his, it rides well and is a solid car.

My wife has a '08 Jeep Commander Overland and loves it. I took it up the mountain in pretty bad weather, lots of crusted snow and ice on the ground/road. I couldnt break the tires loose, and I tried hard to! The Quadratrac drive was awesome. I feel comfortable having my wife drive it up and down a pretty rough mountain road. It's still new, but MPG is right at 17 with a 5.7L Hemi.
~Mark

Well, diesel is $4 already, 70-80 cents more than a gas therefore the practicality of diesel today is questionable even with 45-50mpg. It's about the same-gas or diesel. AND(!): speaking about Jetta- u'll pay about 25k for TDI and just 16-18k for a gas version. extra 8-10 grands for 80cents off? Laaame
MPG 17mpg? c'mon, it's XXI century already. everything below 25mpg is just strange, especially if one travels long distances.
I travel about 15 miles a day, get 26mpg on average, fill out my tank about every 18 days. I burn 1/2 of a tank driving from Charleston to Winterplace on Sundays, then a little gas on weekdays and the other 1/2 of a tank the next Sunday Way to go!

[awakenthesun22]

1979 Mercedes 300D. This is the best car I've ever had despite having owned newer ones! I will drive this one until it drops and the floorboard goes out! I do routine upkeep, and have never been broken down in this car despite its age. Now I'm sold on diesel and German engineering, you can't beat the combination of the two!

[Hinton Bound]

Originally Posted by Big_Al

Well, diesel is $4 already, 70-80 cents more than a gas therefore the practicality of diesel today is questionable even with 45-50mpg. It's about the same-gas or diesel. AND(!): speaking about Jetta- u'll pay about 25k for TDI and just 16-18k for a gas version. extra 8-10 grands for 80cents off? Laaame
MPG 17mpg? c'mon, it's XXI century already. everything below 25mpg is just strange, especially if one travels long distances.
I travel about 15 miles a day, get 26mpg on average, fill out my tank about every 18 days. I burn 1/2 of a tank driving from Charleston to Winterplace on Sundays, then a little gas on weekdays and the other 1/2 of a tank the next Sunday Way to go!

The MPG to cost averaged over the 300K+ mile life of a diesel as compared to the 150K life of a gasser is significant. Fact is, a diesel last longer (much longer)than a gas car, so the extra you spend is recouped on the back side. If you'd look beyond the immediate, diesel has always been cheaper than gas. The gas companies find it easy to keep gasoline prices lower by charging more for diesel (essentially subsidizing, but hey, it's an election year). If they kept gas prices high, more people would complain. By subsidizing the gas price with an increase in diesel, less people complain. The OTR truckers are the ones paying for your cheap(er) gas. It's an election year, they want to keep the masses from rioting. Ultimately, you (we) all pay for the gas/diesel subsidation because the OTR companies just pass the increase on to the consumer.

So in short, best to do your due research before blasting off on the merits of gas over diesel. After all, if gas is so much more economical for traveling long distance, why are almost all the long-haul trucks diesel?

[snorpus]

Another factor in the diesel price suddenly being higher than the gasoline price is an EPA rule. Starting a year or so ago, diesel fuel had to have much lower sulphur content. Naturally, removing the sulphur adds to the cost.

Only diesel here is 25hp, 3 cylinder in my Massey-Ferguson. But I don't have an mpg figure for you.

[David Kennedy]

Many gasoline engines will deliver 300k + miles...Toyota, Nissan, Honda... even some Chevy motors will do that...some will do 500k...(Honda's 2.2 liter)

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by Hinton Bound

After all, if gas is so much more economical for traveling long distance, why are almost all the long-haul trucks diesel?

Mainly due to a number of efficiencies in generating torque. Gobs of which are required to haul heavy loads.

You can get great mileage from a gasser (Honda civics can go around 40mpg), but you couldn't tow a lot. Currently a full size diesel truck is not as efficient for driving (technically) unless you need to tow heavy loads. I had a Ford F-250 with a 460cu in gasser that got about 6mpg with a full load of firewood. I get 16+mpg with my Dodge diesel. That makes economical sense.