Struggling to buy a gas guzzling Titan

[Titanoholic]

For the past 9 months I have been waiting to buy a 05’ Titan. I love everything about the truck except for the gas mileage. I know that if a buy a truck, a really can’t complain about 15 mpg on average. But I also cannot ignore the fact that oil prices are sky rocketing to over $50 a barrel and some analyst say $100 a barrel could be possible in the near future. It would suck to dish out over a $100 dollars to fill up your tank and even worse, knowing you will have to do it again in 400 miles. For me, a truck is ideal for my lifestyle and I would have to make some big sacrifices if I settle for anything but a truck. The closest thing to a truck would be a SUV. The 2005 Toyota highlander hybrid is supposed to get an average of 27.6 mpg and even better, the new hybrid accord is supposed to get 33 mpg on average. Not too bad for a 255hp car. Anyways, it a tough pill to swallow knowing I am about to drop $40,000 on a truck and at LEAST another $40,000 on gas assuming gas prices average $3 a gallon over the next 15 years and I put 200,000 miles on the truck. In addition, what if I buy the truck and for some reason or another gas prices shoot to 4 dollars a gallon…now I am stuck with a gas guzzling truck that nobody would want to buy unless I practically gave it away.

So what am I getting to? When I purchase a vehicle I plan to keep it for at least 200,000 mile or 12-15 years. Before I spend a “truck” load of money on a new vehicle, I have to feel good about my long term investment. I am sold on every aspect of the Titan but the future price to fuel this beast kind of scares me. Just four years ago a barrel of oil was less than 10 bucks, now we are at 50 bucks a barrel and still climbing. I really respect a lot of opinions here on Titantalk, so I am here to get your input on this dilemma. Should I just say what the hell life is short and potentially spend over a $100 grand to purchase/fuel the Titan which brings a HUGE smile to my face or should a live for tomorrow and look into a tree hugging hybrid SUV or car which still might be fun to drive, but wouldn’t bring the “HUGE” smile to my face and in addition sacrifice my lifestyle a little?

[Markus]

I'm looking to buy pretty soon too. I gotta admit, I've had similar thoughts lately. Nevertheless, I'm leaning to the "life is short, enjoy what you drive" philosophy.

Something to think about..... We have a perfectly good nissan sentra that gets great gas milage. You would think that we would routinely use this vehicle because it makes more sense economically, right? Well guess what.......it never gets driven. Why? because our truck has more room, its more comfortable, it's safer, dad likes to drive it, kids like riding in it, and it is incredibly versitile for what we do (haul junk, wood, wet dogs, camper, etc.) In other words, there is a lot more to a good vehicle than being inexpensive to own. For me, it's the right vehicle even if gas prices go up, technology improves, and the titan depreciates into the toilet.

[Derodeo]

Well in my case, I've decided to wait until Nissan or Toyota offer their light trucks with either a turbo-diesel engine (like what everyone in the world can buy except we in North America) or a hybrid-electric. I think that a turbo diesel would offer better initial savings than a hybrid but either choice would be way more appealing than a big gas motor with oil prices reaching new records almost every day. Currently I drive a GM truck on propane 95% of time - it costs me approximately 1/2 the cost of gas.

[cardesigner]

It's like flying Business class or sitting in the middle row in economy class. You get what you want to pay for.

Mileage used to be a concern, now I don't even think about it, I just fill up and go. The comfort, space, safety and utility more than make up for the extra few $$ for gas.

[Titan4x4Aggie]

GM is coming out with a hybrid of the 5.3 L engine...

[azxr]

If you are worrying about gas mileage, then perhaps a truck is not for you. None of the big trucks really get that great of a mileage. I think that is the nature of the beast. I traded in a Ranger for the Titan and the Ranger only got between 18 and 22. So even the smaller trucks are not great.

Perhaps you can get a second vehicle that is more fuel efficient and use the Titan occasionally. I have three other vehicles that get from 27 MPG up. BTW, my Titan is a KC SE 4X4 with big tow and I get 15 to 16 MPG. Not really that much worse than my Ranger and it is a "whole" lot more fun.

[TriKKy]

Well, it is an incredibly personal choice that no one here can really sell you one. I am not worried about oil hitting $100/barrel in the near future...ie the next 5-6 years. After 5-6 years the Truck wont be worth THAT much anyway, and I plan to drive it past 5 years if I can anyway. I will address hybrid technology at that point but not now. For now, hybrid still worries me and I really don't think it is that helpful on cars LIKE the Accord. My V6 w/240HP pure gas engine got 35-36MPG on the highway and the hybrids are rated to get 37MPG on the highway....wtf is that...(granted my Accord was much better than the 30MPG rating that they have). So let's take the Accord as an example of how much Hybrid will save you...difference is supposed to be 7MPG. Multiply that by the current 17gallon tank and you get 119 more miles or (119/30=) 4 gallons of extra gas per tank; Filling up 4X/month * 12 months = 192 gallons *$2/gal = $384 per year that the hybrid accord would save you in gas. For me, this is just not even close to as good as it should be and I think it will get MUCH better with time. What is scary is that if you do that same calculation given MY accord getting 35MPG it would only save $108 in extra gas!

I went from my Accord getting 35MPG on the highway to this, getting 18MPG on the highway. However mixed driving it 15MPG vs 25MPG...so not exactly half.

I was prepared to spend 2x as much as I was spending on the Accord so what used to be ~$100/month is now ~$200/month. Even if gas doubles it will suck, but wont break the bank. I am only 25 and pretty much am having fun without responsibilities while I still can.

So the biggest question I would ask myself in your position is: can I afford to keep gas in the truck even at $2/gallon? If you are really nervous about oil hitting $100/barrel ask yourself if you can afford $4/gallon. Do you NEED the utility of that the truck provides or is it mostly just because of the "smile." Then you need to ask yourself....how much is the smile worth? How many smiles would having the Titan take away in the rest of your life? Can you still go on vacation? I am paying $200 more per month over my Honda and took a loss on selling it private party for the "smile."

I think if you answer all of these ?'s honestly you will find your answer.

[Elbo]

A lot of truck and SUV owners, seem to pretend that gas prices don't matter. But it does start affecting more and more owners at some point. It hurts the manufacturers who have lowered the price of the trucks, with incentives and discounts to try to get them to sell. Which in turn hurts resell value.

I hope that gas prices don't remain high or rise more. Who knows what will happen. $100 a barrel being the average seems far fetched at least any time soon.

I imagine the car companies are going to shift away quickly from the big horsepower war, and focus on fuel economy. Amazing fuel economy can be generated from the new style Diesel engines. Now Nissan just needs to come out with the first Diesel Hybrid that gets 50mpg.

My neighbor is spending over $400 a month for his Denali just in fuel cost. Which starts to beg the question.. Would he perhaps be better off buying a second car, perhaps a used Sentra... He might actually save money... I mean if you can afford it you can afford it.. But you may have to start cutting back elsewhere in your lifestyle to afford the gas...

[IMADOGMAN]

You could just use your Titan to commute to your "other" job too...You know, the one that you took to support your habit....

[gedunk]

We dumped the wife's money pit Suburban about 4 months ago. It was getting roughly 12 stinking miles to the gallon in the city and it was costing $60 per week and a half to fill up at that time (31 gallon tank). We were actually spending more on a monthly basis when you include gas, payment, and insurance than we spend on our 3 year old home. Plus, the money pit Suburban was depreciating while the "lower cost" home goes up in value. Go figure.

[37L1]

There are always choices. I could have waited and not bought my Titan the month it came out (12/03), gotten the rebate and below dealer's invoice price.

But then I would not have had the 6-8 months of driving a unique, totally brand new, no one else for miles has, a$$ kicking, kick in the butt to drive, totally awesome feeling, truck. I swear i still smile when I look at it, grin when I drive it and laugh out loud when I get on it, muhahhahaha!

How much is that worth to you?

"La-la-lala, lala, live for today."

There are no guarantees that tomorrow is going to be like today as we mostly always assume. Gas can go up, you can lose your job, terriorists can strike, you can get hurt or fall ill, you can lose the one you love, all sorts of bad $hit can happen, then again maybe not.

Lots of these "choices" can be a "once in a lifetime" thing. Try not to suck the joy out of them by always being "practical."

(a whole new philosophy I've recently developed having lived more than half a century. Believe me, I totally understand your reference point having dwelled there most of my life!)

Buy the Titan, experience the joy!!!!

[DOORSHOT]

I think you shoud ride a bus.

[Blizzard]

There is no way the world's economy can support oil at $100/barrel any time in the near future, so don't even worry about that. There is a cost of ownership factor with every vehicle and if you are worried about paying for gas buy something else. The Titan gets great gas mileage for a 5.6L V8, but the mileage sucks if you are looking for something along the mpg lines of a Toyota Echo.

If it is going to cause you restless nights, pass on a truck and get something you can live with. Stress takes years off your life, so don't stress out over something like this.

[PHOEBISIS]

I gotta agree with 37L1.You aren't going to live forever(I'm 53 so my views have changed also).
By my calculations a if there was good hybrid,or a well matched diesel it would take 150,000 miles to break even at $4/gal.Motor Trend had an article on this recently.There sources said an equivalently powered(fast) hybrid,or diesel is about 25% more efficient than a plain gasoline engined vehicle.I'm taking this to mean you will use just 75% as much gas to travel as far,or you can travel 33% further on the same amount of fuel.
If we assume the Titan averages 14 mpg,then the hybrid or diesel would get 18 mpg.At 100,000 miles the 14 mpg will have used 7142 gals,the 18 mpg 5555 gals.At $4/gal it will have saved $6350.I don't think $6350 will pay the difference between a hybrid and a regular vehicle.There will be a BIG markup on the 1st true hybrid trucks.My guess is that you will have to pay at least $10,000 more for the 1st year or two.Evidence-take a look at the Prius.They are selling-new,and lightly used-on Ebay for $25,000-$31,000(list is about $21000-$25000).They were selling for about $29000 on average during the fuel price runup,went down to about $26,500,and now are probably moving back up again.They are about equivalent to a fancy Corolla(but a little slower).You can get a hell of a Corolla for $17,000.Even if you think they are more like a Camry or Accord,you can get a loaded 4cyl of either one of them for $20,000.My point-if you can buy the gas motor version for $30,000,it will take $40000 to get the Hybrid.
GoCougsKev,what kind of Titan are you going to get for $40,000???You can get a loaded Titan LE 4X4-with everything,Nav,sunroof etc-for $34,000 or so.Adam Smith-new-nissans.com one of our new sponsors would sell a 4x2 LE CC side curtains,and Big Tow for ~$28,500-4x4 adds $3000,nav,sun about $3000 more,so what are you planning to buy??It might be smart not to dump so much $$$ into the vehicle to begin with,if you are concerned with resale.A $35000 LE and a $17000 XE will have very close to the same resale at 200,000 miles-maybe $3000 for the LE,$1500 for the SE.With the rebates on the 04's,you can get a really loaded 4X4 SE for under $30,000!!
Well,I have run on.It will take a long time to recoup(from MPG savings) the extra $10,000 a Hybrid will cost.A good Diesel should be close to the same cost as a gas truck,but it won't be.Supply and demand will price the Diesels waaay above the gas engined trucks.Luck,Charlie

[Titanoholic]

[quote=PHOEBISIS] GoCougsKev,what kind of Titan are you going to get for $40,000???

If I get a Titan, I am getting a fully loaded LE. I would get an 05', so even with $500 off, it would be close to $37000 plus a little over $3000 for sales tax and such...