Do you care about fuel mileage when purchasing large vehicles?
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Short answer, no. Longer answer: it doesn't matter what the fuel economy is because my commute is 5 miles lot-to-lot. My wife's commute is 1.5 miles lot-to-lot. We have to think about which vehicle has not been driven on a longer trip and take it when a "long" trip is needed in our day-to-day.
If I ever have to drive 60-70 miles a day again, then the fuel economy will matter, or we could get an EV as a 3rd vehicle similar to when we owned a Jeep Wrangler and Honda Pilot as our primary vehicles.
If I ever have to drive 60-70 miles a day again, then the fuel economy will matter, or we could get an EV as a 3rd vehicle similar to when we owned a Jeep Wrangler and Honda Pilot as our primary vehicles.
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While there are so many positives of having a larger vehicle, we see a lot of people choosing options with better fuel economy. With gas prices so high, many people are choosing hybrids or options with better fuel economy,
Perhaps a bit different from an F150/Ram Pickup or other BOF vehicle, but I very much cared about efficiency when I got my 2016 Touareg TDI last January. Yes - where I live, diesel is 25-50 cents more than premium, so any savings are lost to increased cost of fuel. but the increased efficiency is within 5% +/- of the net-cost difference between the two fuels, so it costs the same to drive per mile, you just get more mileage out of a tank with the TDI. I have gotten 33 mpg hand calc'd 100% highway which is good for 800+ mile range which is pretty nice.
Fortunately I can delete when warranty is up so efficiency, reliability, and power will only go up at that point, and hopefully diesel prices will return to somewhat closer to "normal" - i'd even take the same cost as premium, since that's what i always ran on my cars before the Touareg anyway.
Fortunately I can delete when warranty is up so efficiency, reliability, and power will only go up at that point, and hopefully diesel prices will return to somewhat closer to "normal" - i'd even take the same cost as premium, since that's what i always ran on my cars before the Touareg anyway.
When I was shopping F150s a couple years ago I wanted the 2.7T because of the mix of decent fuel economy when unloaded and power/torque for the type of towing I do (light car on an open flatbed).
When the 5.0 that I ended up purchasing came up for sale, I took a look at my wants for better fuel economy and asked if made a huge difference given my expected usage rate of 5-7k per year. I decided given that, the lower purchase price of that particular example outweighed the FE benefits of the 2.7T. Given that I’ve done 10k miles in it since and the 5.0 hasn’t been that bad on average - 17 MPG - I’m not that upset that I didn’t go with the 2.7T. Besides, there’s less to worry about long term with the 5.0, which is a plus.
When the 5.0 that I ended up purchasing came up for sale, I took a look at my wants for better fuel economy and asked if made a huge difference given my expected usage rate of 5-7k per year. I decided given that, the lower purchase price of that particular example outweighed the FE benefits of the 2.7T. Given that I’ve done 10k miles in it since and the 5.0 hasn’t been that bad on average - 17 MPG - I’m not that upset that I didn’t go with the 2.7T. Besides, there’s less to worry about long term with the 5.0, which is a plus.
Not really a consideration for the V8's I've purchased (Chevy SS, and Lexus GX460), nor for the wife's incoming Audi SQ8. All three of those were limited use vehicles and not something I'm doing a long daily commute with. For that, I use the Tesla MYP to offset my carbon credits!
90 VW Corrado, 96 BMW 318ti, 03 VW GTI 20th, 21 Jeep Gladiator, 21 Jeep Wrangler
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I depends. When we bought our Jeeps we had zero concern about MPGs because of the capability that we wanted those vehicles to do.
Now for our daily driver we do take that into consideration. That is why we have multiple cars for multiple jobs. For hitting the trail and camping we have the Jeeps. For driving to work or around town we have the GTI or 318ti.
If we had to have one car to do all the things that we want to do it would probably have the MPGs somewhere in the middle of those extremes. So around 22-23 mpg for a one car does all and likely some sort of PHEV if one existed (the Wrangler 4xe is the closest thing out there).
Now for our daily driver we do take that into consideration. That is why we have multiple cars for multiple jobs. For hitting the trail and camping we have the Jeeps. For driving to work or around town we have the GTI or 318ti.
If we had to have one car to do all the things that we want to do it would probably have the MPGs somewhere in the middle of those extremes. So around 22-23 mpg for a one car does all and likely some sort of PHEV if one existed (the Wrangler 4xe is the closest thing out there).
The truck i have to drive for work is a 2022 ram 1500 with the hemi, 4x4 crew cab. I average 19-21mph combined. I am always very impressed with this. I personally drive a mk1 cabby that averages around 26ish. So given that the truck probably weighs 3x the cabby. It leaves me more impressed
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Care.....sure
Does it always affect decision making? It is one of multiple factors considered ....and the weightings of those factors have changed massively during our phases of life, places we've lived (urban/suburban/rural US, Europe), increasing income, kids ages/sizes (I am 6'5"....so that too has changed massively over time
), etc.
Does it always affect decision making? It is one of multiple factors considered ....and the weightings of those factors have changed massively during our phases of life, places we've lived (urban/suburban/rural US, Europe), increasing income, kids ages/sizes (I am 6'5"....so that too has changed massively over time
), etc.Haha.
Mine was just horribly unreliable.
Here's an excerpt of what I was writing up for a lemon law letter.
"Between the 5 dealership visits the vehicle has been out of service while at the dealership pending service for a total of 43 days.
Additionally, vehicle usage/performance was either non-conforming or exhibiting a serious safety defect state, preventing use from 5/13/2021 (literally my 2nd day of ownership) to 8/21/2021 or 101 days and again from 12/10/2021 to 1/26/2022 or 48 days. Therefore, full vehicle usage/performance was non-conforming or affected by a serious safety defect for 149 days out of 260 potential days between the purchase on 5/12/2021 and the last dealership visit ending 1/26/2022."
All of this within less than 2000 miles. At that point I had had enough considering that the last failure state which left the vehicle undriveable lasted from 12/3/2021 to 1/26/2022.
The van finally went away with only 2569 miles and, as a final nail in the coffin, when we were at the Hyundai dealer doing the trade in... the Pacifica PHEV failed again, locking itself in Park unable to shift into any gear (not the 1st time it did this).
edit:
It's really really unfortunate that I had this sort of experience with the car and brand. Because I really did or even do, still love the Pacifica. It's a one of a kind being the PHEV, which fits my usage perfectly... and IMO its the best looking minivan on the market. Helped along that I got the flat non-metallic sort of battleship grey with the S appearance package.
It really was everything I wanted and needed, but the reliability issues... at this point, has killed any thought of me owning any of the CDJR vehicles.
yikes.
I've heard the stories; maybe I'm just lucky. And by "lucky," I mean (a) a VERY competent dealer service organization a couple miles from my house, and (b) it took only 5 weeks total from bringing the car in to taking it away for them to convince Chrysler I needed a new transmission, for Chrysler to source and send them a new transmission, and for them to put it in (only 3 days for that part).
And they gave me a JGC loaner for the whole time.
And that's been my only problem. (Got it back just this past Thursday.)
Yeah, I got one of the bad Si-EVT transmissions that I'm reading about. But hey, like I told myself when the Honda trans went out back in 2009: I might as well have bought a Chrysler...
yeah, that's why we bought it. Right when you did, too--April 24, 2021. Right before the world went to hell. $750 dealer cash, $5000 Chrysler cash, and then the $7500 tax credit on top of that. (And Chrysler decided I was also worthy of 0% financing.)
Plus, it's a 2021 Pinnacle--a true unicorn in the world. It has every feature Chrysler could put on it, and when the world went to hell and the chip shortage happened Chrysler started stripping every trim level down, even the Pinnacle. Here we are two years later, and they don't make my van anymore. The best you can get is one with less content.
If some numbnuts totals this van tomorrow, I won't be able to replace it. And I don't want any of the other minivans on the market. We'll move down to a Tesla Model Y. We won't really be willing to use it for road trips, but it would fit my wife's daily use case perfectly.
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TFL Truck did a few videos when Andre had an F-150 hybrid and unless I'm not remembering the various results correctly, it didn't seem to help much at all when driving like a truck (hauling, towing) instead of driven like a passenger car (empty). I suspect Toyota knows that there's not much that hybridization can do to help trucks that are working, so to speak.
Our large vehicle has to be able to road trip, so a full bev is not something I am willing to plan a road trip around.
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yeah. We're going to the beach again this summer; the van is perfect for that.
Tesla's route planner, though, says it will add an extra 90 minutes to that already long trip. And there's only one charger when we get there, and it's a huge vacation area. (And THAT charger didn't appear until a couple of years ago...)
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Not right now but if I drove at least 10k a year I might. I think for most people the total miles they drive is the key. I live in a city and probably drive around 7k a year. I thought most people were under 12k miles per year because that's what most leases have as a limit. However, I know some rural people who drive 20k~ a year. They basically have absorbed the cost of gas into their lives and only care if it goes up significantly, what I mean is the fact that they are paying ~$500 a month doesn't stand out even though that's quite a bit of money relative to their costs.
For every 100,000 miles
Gas $3.50
MPG
10mpg $35,000
15mpg $23,000
20mpg $17,500
25mpg $14,000
30mpg $11,666
MPG = Miles per US gallon
Values in USD
For every 100,000 miles
Gas $3.50
MPG
10mpg $35,000
15mpg $23,000
20mpg $17,500
25mpg $14,000
30mpg $11,666
MPG = Miles per US gallon
Values in USD
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Is it new? I've noticed that newer trucks, really last 20 years, have gotten better on the highway. EVs don't suit people who drive long distances on the highway without stopping often enough for other reasons that could then include a charge or towing. However for short distance stop and go, <100 mile daily commutes, and for those just looking for an interesting car they are great.
I saw a video with I think a Canadian fire department in a remote area that uses a Model 3 for non-emergency calls. So it's plugged in and ready to go at the fire station. If for some reason it wasn't working they have other vehicles but they are saving alot.
22 miles per $4.50 gallon of diesel vs 22 miles per $3.00 gallon of gasoline.
"miles per unit of liquid" is a nonsense calculation.
Yes and no.
If I’m looking at 2 trucks or SUVs and one tends to get way better fuel economy when checking fuelly then that’s a consideration even though I don’t expect either one to get “prius” mpgs. Example, in 2017 I chose a F150 2.7 over a tundra 5.7, why? Well cost for what I actually needed and fuel economy.
If I’m looking at 2 trucks or SUVs and one tends to get way better fuel economy when checking fuelly then that’s a consideration even though I don’t expect either one to get “prius” mpgs. Example, in 2017 I chose a F150 2.7 over a tundra 5.7, why? Well cost for what I actually needed and fuel economy.
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