Day: July 2, 2008

Buck’s post on his family’s decision about which car to drive highlighted a question many people are asking. He and his wife chose wisely, according to an amazing web site everyone should use: www.fueleconomy.gov. Among other things, the site allows you to compare two vehicles side by side and see how much you can expect to spend on fuel.

To use Buck’s example, he will probably get 31 mpg city and 39 highway with his 1994 Suzuki Swift, for a combined total of 34 mpg — exactly what he reported. His 1999 Isuzu Rodeo, on the other hand, will likely only get 18 mpg in city driving and 22 on the road, for an average of 20 mpg. But the comparisons don’t stop there.

It will cost Buck & Co. $3 to drive the Suzuki 25 miles because it will use .74 gallons of gas. That will add up to an annual fuel cost of $1,799, based on average miles. The Isuzu, however, will cost $5.10 to drive 25 miles and will burn 1.25 gallons of gas, for an annual cost of $3,060. Huge difference!

We’re not done yet. At the end of 12 months, the Suzuki will have used 10.1 barrels of oil while the Isuzu will burn up 17.1 barrels. Finally, the carbon footprint on the Suzuki, on a scale of 3.5 to 16.2, is only 5.4. The Isuzu? A much bigger 9.2.

If you’re trying to figure out whether trading your gas guzzler will make sense, use this site. You’ll keep from miscalculating something that could cost you mucho dinero down the line.

And Buck, one more thing. No matter which car you choose, install a K&N air filter. I did, and I’m now getting one extra trip to Jacksonville on a tank of gas. And while I’m sure you wouldn’t want a trip to J-ville, period, it’s a big help to me.

I don’t drive much. I either ride a bike or walk to work, and confine my driving mostly to one day on the weekend when we run errands, do the grocery shopping and go to brunch at Burger Bob’s.

But we are a two-car family, though my wife also mostly walks or rides to work. The car that we use for getting around and hauling everything from furniture to garden supplies and kayaks is a white 1999 Isuzu Rodeo. The other is a white 1994 Suzuki Swift, which has fallen into disrepair due to neglect and disuse.

Although we were considering buying a new hybrid, with a kid in college and one about to start, it seemed prudent to rehabilitate Swifty and use it as our main vehicle for getting around town. The thing only has 48,000 miles on it, but the exterior is looking pretty bad from the ravages of the South Florida climate, falling mangoes and hurricanes. The interior, however, is like new.

So we took it down to the corner gas station to have it fixed up, and Kathy went online to try and locate some parts we need, like the antenna that was lost in Hurricane Wilma. Fixing Swifty up ain’t cheap — it cost us about $900 to put on new tires, belts, brake pads, change all the filters, etc. And we’re going to have it painted so we’re not embarrassed to drive it.

It’s fun to drive, with its zippy little four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual transmission. And it gets more than 30 miles per gallon around town, 35 on the highway.

The interesting thing is we have come to find that Swifty has gained value while we couldn’t give the Rodeo away if we wanted to. Indeed, the guy at the gas station put it inside the bay and locked it up at night, leaving much higher-priced SUVs parked in the unfenced lot, because, he said, Swifty was more likely to get stolen.

In searching for parts online, we came across an advert for the same car, same year, but with 150,000 miles on it listed for $2,195. That may not sound like much, but when I bought the car 14 years ago, it only cost $7,400, and the Blue Book value is just $700. I found another listing for $10,000, but those were Australian dollars and the car had been “customized” by someone with more money than taste or sense.

Kathy’s co-worker wants to buy it. Our pizza delivery guy wants to buy it. Our Haitian mechanic wants to buy it and send it to Haiti where he says it’s the preferred vehicle of car dealers.

But I think we’re going to keep old Swifty. I have a feeling that as the price of gas rises, so will the value of our 14-year-old subcompact hatchback.