The Titan has been parked!

[TriKKy]

Originally Posted by helomech

I really lucked out, I got a home loan for 29 years at 2.6% interest. It was the only good thing that came from hurricanne Rita, and Katrina. It really doesn't pay for me to pay off my loan early.

It doesn't generally pay anyway.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...tMortgage.aspx

[Steamguy]

Another data point... Monday I picked up a new Sentra for less than a Smart would cost in our area. ($15,050 out the door, you can't even look at a Smart for less than $17,000) The Sentra is safe and stable on the highway plus fun and safe to drive on our country roads (where the F-150 drivers don't pay attention to the fact that there's a center line). And it should see a fairly consistent 33+MPG, or about 2.4 times the mileage the Titan gets.

With gas nearly $4/gallon here today, that means the Sentra all but pays for itself on my daily and weekend driving. My spreadsheet says that it will cost us about $50/month to own at $3.50/gallon gas.

The Titan is now parked and we'll save it for trailer-towing and 'country-type' work like fixing the fences. My wife will borrow the Sentra when she needs to go driving around all day. So the benefits also include getting longer life out of the Pathfinder plus the Titan.

[Tiggrrr]

I won't go into the whole financing argument here. There are a lot of different opinions. Just do what you are able to do, don't over-extend yourself, and keep putting some away for the future. Some of the best debt advice I ever heard was to look at all of your debts, find the one you are paying the most interest on and double (or more) your payment on that debt while making minimum payments on the rest. Once that one is paid off, go to your 2nd highest interest, etc, etc. You should consider the mortgage outside of this equation since the interest is deductible, etc.

As for my vehicles, I'm in a very unique situation for me. As of last week, all of our vehicles are fully paid off! (and none of it came out of mortgages, though some came out of equity from a house sale)


Here is my favorite commuter (in good weather):



A list of the vehicles (all paid off):

'06 Titan CC SE 4x4.
'06 Nissan Altima 2.5 (my bad weather commuter)
'07 Suzuki M109r motorcycle. (The '109' stands for 109 cubic inch! Fun machine!!)

Toys (paid off):
'06 Kawasaki Bayou 250 ATV
'03 Arctic Cat 400 4x4 ATV
'94 Wilderness 24' camp trailer
'92 Arctic Cat Panther snowmobile
'90 Polaris 650 SKS snowmobile

[HudsonValleyTitan]

Originally Posted by Steamguy

Another data point... Monday I picked up a new Sentra for less than a Smart would cost in our area. ($15,050 out the door, you can't even look at a Smart for less than $17,000) The Sentra is safe and stable on the highway plus fun and safe to drive on our country roads (where the F-150 drivers don't pay attention to the fact that there's a center line). And it should see a fairly consistent 33+MPG, or about 2.4 times the mileage the Titan gets.

With gas nearly $4/gallon here today, that means the Sentra all but pays for itself on my daily and weekend driving. My spreadsheet says that it will cost us about $50/month to own at $3.50/gallon gas.

The Titan is now parked and we'll save it for trailer-towing and 'country-type' work like fixing the fences. My wife will borrow the Sentra when she needs to go driving around all day. So the benefits also include getting longer life out of the Pathfinder plus the Titan.

At $15,050, you'll be driving it for many years before you even break even on gas. When I bought my Bug, it was more because I hated throwing money at the big oil compaines. Otherwise I could have just used the 7 or so grand I paid for it on gas for the truck.

[Tiggrrr]

I drive 90+ miles / day commuting, so a savings could be realized a lot faster, along with saving the wear and tear on my truck and putting that on a cheaper car.

[Jeep07]

I drive mine everyday. It's nice to have e85 and have a company to write the fuel off against.

[FLfinfan]

Heard on a Orlando radio channel this morning that some gas staions somewhere in the area (Orlando? USA?) have already converted over to E85 or something different than regular gas and it is not listed on the pump anywhere. I also heard that it will significantly shorten the life of some cars internal engine structures or equipment like fuel injectors. I do not think it was a joke, one of the DJ's was really complaining about their car potentially being messed up down the road.

[HudsonValleyTitan]

Originally Posted by FLfinfan

Heard on a Orlando radio channel this morning that some gas staions somewhere in the area (Orlando? USA?) have already converted over to E85 or something different than regular gas and it is not listed on the pump anywhere. I also heard that it will significantly shorten the life of some cars internal engine structures or equipment like fuel injectors. I do not think it was a joke, one of the DJ's was really complaining about their car potentially being messed up down the road.

They have to let you know if it's E85. Normal vehicles can't run on it. You sure they didn't mean E10? That's what we've had here for a few years now.

[roy365]

Originally Posted by Tiggrrr

I drive 90+ miles / day commuting, so a savings could be realized a lot faster, along with saving the wear and tear on my truck and putting that on a cheaper car.

Thats what I just did! Bought me 2005 Honda S2K with only 8K miles on it! It has a 13 gal tank, and with premium it only cost me $35 to fill it up. And that lasts as long or longer than the Titan.

[Steamguy]

Originally Posted by HudsonValleyTitan

At $15,050, you'll be driving it for many years before you even break even on gas. When I bought my Bug, it was more because I hated throwing money at the big oil compaines. Otherwise I could have just used the 7 or so grand I paid for it on gas for the truck.

Well, sorta. Here's my reasoning:

Sure, I could spend that money on gas. But then I've got a truck that's worn completely out and is going to require ANOTHER 30 grand to replace in three years. And in that three years, I'll have spent all but $1, 000 on gas ALONE, let alone the PM and replacement parts like a set of front struts (which it's going to need in about another 10,000 miles). And $1200 for a set of tires, if I can't find another set of used ones for a little under $500.

So I have to drive something to work. That part is fixed. What is variable is how I get there and how much I spend doing it.

My Titan is the best pickup truck I've owned, and I've owned a LOT of cars and trucks. My wife's Pathfinder is getting a little worn around the edges, but it's still a great "car." We want very much to keep both of them, and this is the way to do it. BOTH are perfectly suited for their duties, and that just isn't going to change in the next ten years.

The real key here is that the Titan's almost paid for, and the Pathfinder doesn't owe us a cent. I am just tired of having to trade in what would be an otherwise good vehicle that just wears out periodically AND like you, I'm tired of throwing cash at big oil.

For the $50 a month net outlay, I can get decide to fewer channels on the satellite and make up that difference. Heck, I should be outside working anyway; it's better for me.

Hey, my situation isn't yours, but I hope that explains it better.

[jsethmor]

The SMART CAR: Engineering and testing continues to take place on the vehicle that will be produced for the United States. The vehicle is designed to achieve 40 city/45 highway mpg according to 2007 EPA standards and 33 city/41 highway mpg according to 2008 EPA standards. The mpg rating for all vehicles will decrease in 2008 due to new calculation methods that the EPA has adopted. These methods involve measuring mpg while taking into account real life driving conditions such as start/stop city traffic, air conditioning, heating, etc. The gas tank of the smart fortwo is 8.7 gallons.

*Fuel economy estimates were derived in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) vehicle testing procedures for model year 2008 as specified in 40 C.F.R. pts. 86 and 600 (2007). These estimates are intended for comparison between other vehicles within the same class. Individual drivers’ actual mileage will vary depending on how they drive and maintain

[SKEET]

Originally Posted by roy365

Thats what I just did! Bought me 2005 Honda S2K with only 8K miles on it! It has a 13 gal tank, and with premium it only cost me $35 to fill it up. And that lasts as long or longer than the Titan.

So you decided on the s2000.How long have you had it?

[HudsonValleyTitan]

Originally Posted by jsethmor

The SMART CAR: Engineering and testing continues to take place on the vehicle that will be produced for the United States. The vehicle is designed to achieve 40 city/45 highway mpg according to 2007 EPA standards and 33 city/41 highway mpg according to 2008 EPA standards. The mpg rating for all vehicles will decrease in 2008 due to new calculation methods that the EPA has adopted. These methods involve measuring mpg while taking into account real life driving conditions such as start/stop city traffic, air conditioning, heating, etc. The gas tank of the smart fortwo is 8.7 gallons.

*Fuel economy estimates were derived in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) vehicle testing procedures for model year 2008 as specified in 40 C.F.R. pts. 86 and 600 (2007). These estimates are intended for comparison between other vehicles within the same class. Individual drivers’ actual mileage will vary depending on how they drive and maintain

A lot of small cars get better MPG than the Smart. It's real benefit is the ability to park it damn near anywhere. Just don't pull out in front of my Titan! lol