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Smart Shopper True Cost to Own (TCO) - Hidden Costs of Car Ownership
157 messages, Last post on Jul 09, 2009 at 3:57 AM
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Replying to: marie5 (Jul 06, 2005 6:18 pm) I use it as a filter. If the cf isn't clean, forget it; if it is, I check the car out carefully. -Mathias |
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If you drive a lot, is it worth it to buy a 3-4 year old used car? I've been looking to buy a used car but Edmund's TCO calculation is making me reconsider. For instance, look at the TCO of the 02 Civic Si vs. the 05 Civic Si. In my zip code, the TCO are 28,187 to 31,107, but TCO assumes some average mileage per year - say 15k mi. Since maintenance costs are more closely coupled to mileage than deprecation, if I drive, say, 50k mi a year, the TCO would probably come out to be somewhat similar, and I'd be getting a new car. If the TCO for older cars was available, I'd compare vs. 5-10 year old cars, but none of the really old cars I've looked at have TCO information. The only advantage I can see is that the car would take a smaller loss in the case of an accident. Am I missing something? If this is correct, what’s the advantage of buying a 3-4 year old car?
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Replying to: funtai (Oct 24, 2005 2:30 pm) If so, forget Edmunds TCO, your best bet is a VW TDI. It's the best car for the dollar for high-speed high-mileage driving available in NA. Any extra repair you have to put into it as compared to a Civic is easily offset by fuel-cost savings. A TDI will average better than 50mpg on the highway, and has 10K mile oil change intervals. You could probably go 3 months between oil changes as opposed to a month or so with a Civic. |
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Around here, the stations are really gouging for diesel. It's about 50 cents a gallon more than regular. VW's are, by nature troublesome cars compared to Hondas. Honda calls for 10,000 mile oil changes on Civics also but I know I would never let any car I owned go that far. then the hassel of diesel...the stink etc. No thanks!
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Replying to: isellhondas (Jan 07, 2006 3:36 pm) The station next door is selling unleaded for $2.41 and diesel is $2.79 |
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And it's robbery. Diesel should be about 1/2 the price of gasoline!
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Replying to: isellhondas (Feb 02, 2006 2:29 pm) So if gas sells for $2.40 you could theoretically pay up to $3.12 a gallon for diesel and still break even. That's 72 cents more for the math challenged. However, diesels sell for more money than a gasoline engine. I'll ballpark the street price diesel premium at $4000. So using those numbers and the previous posters prices of $2.41 gas and $2.79 diesel and 50k miles per year. Also assume a compact car like a VW Jetta TDI versus a regular Jetta. 50k miles  45 mpg (diesel) ==> $3100 per year in diesel 50k miles 35 mpg (gas engine) ==> $3443 per year gas so you save about $343 a year driving the diesel however you paid a $4k premium for the diesel. So it would take you 11.6 years to break even on your diesel purchase. If you include interest carrying costs of the extra $4k for the diesel engine then if may take 20 years to break even. If you don't like my assumptions on mileage/diesel engine/fuel costs feel free to use your own and re-run them. The effect though will be that it's really hard to make a case for a diesel car based on saving dollars. For what it's worth Hybrid cars have similar economics as diesels in that the economics just don't make sense (or should I say cents).
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Replying to: jasmith52 (Feb 02, 2006 5:12 pm) 45 mpg easy in a TDI 35 mpg darn near impossible in the gas version. On a yearly average, diesel costs a little less than regular unleaded, this past year notwithstanding. The premium isn't 4000, for the Jettas anyway. Bottom line - if you drive 50k a year, a TDI is one of the best cars you can buy - and the gas Jetta one of the worst.
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Replying to: zodiac2004 (Feb 02, 2006 8:31 pm) According to the vw website the jetta tdi auto gets...35/42mpg with a blazing 100hp. I wonder What a gasoline engine with 100hp would get for MPG??
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Replying to: audia8q (Feb 03, 2006 12:54 pm) You forgot >175 lbs-ft of torque (at ~1800 rpm, no less). You put in a 100 HP engine without that kind of torque in a 3200 lb car, it wouldn't even make it out of the dealer's parking lot. |
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