Best thing I've bought for my Taco

So, your truck is garage jewelry? I know a lot of harley riders that do the same. Shame to spend all that money and be afraid to use a truck for what it was meant to be used for. But, to each his own.

 

My truck is costing me about $400 a month on gas, I am thinking of picking up a hooptie.

 

my led guages!

 

Judging by the vehicles you have listed in your signature, yes the Tacoma should be your daily driver, but not for us po' folk

I do use it for what its meant for, but 30k is a lot of money(to me) to spend on something to tear up on trails and in the mud. And in four years when its paid off, it'll hopefully still be like new.

 

I hear ya. But guess what? That $400 ain't coming down anytime soon, and good chance it will be $500 next year. So what you are going to keep the truck locked up in the garage and drive your hooptie around all year?!

 

my thoughts exactly.... altough i have 37??? miles on mine now I bought it w/6021 on it in 07 so you see how far i drive & couldnt imagine being w/out all my fishing/hunting crap cause you just never know when the itch will hit

 

I have a 2007 Corolla S and a 2007 Tacoma...guess what I drive 30 miles to get to work?



the mutha fawking taco!

 

So you're driving what, about 2000 miles a month on avg?

Consider the savings based on that 2k/mth, for example.

Taco @ 17 MPG = 118 gal * $3.50/gal = $412/mth
Hooptie at 30 MPG = 67 gal * $3.50/gal = $233/mth

But that's just the absolute difference between the two being driven 2k miles/mth. Since you will split time with both, you have to factor that into the calc. Let's assume you would drive the hooptie 2/3 of the time and the Taco 1/3 of the time.

Taco @ 680 miles @ 17 MPG = 40 gal * $3.50/gal = $154/mth
Hooptie @ 1320 miles at 30 MPG = 44 gal * $3.50/gal = $140/mth

Your Taco + hooptie monthly fuel cost would be $294 vs Taco only at $412, so the monthly savings in fuel would be $117/mth or about $1400/yr.

But you're still not done. Now subtract the costs of owning a 2nd car. Payments, property taxes, tag renewal, insurance. There are many local factors to get too specific there. But in the end, your hooptie has to save you more than it's cost.

I hope I got those calcs right. If I missed something, call me out on it.

My point is, don't think that just getting a 30mpg car will make all the difference. It may not save you much at all. A buddy who was driving a Tundra a long ways was thinking of a beater Geo Metro. We ran the numbers through a complex spreadsheet. For him, the savings wasn't enough to justify the pain of rolling around in a Metro while his truck just sat parked.

 

My truck was doing the same, I picked up a bus route and surprisingly enjoy relaxing and reading or working .... or snoozing on the commute. I have to drive 10 miles to the station, but that's better than 80 round trip every day.

 

The issue for me isnt fuel, I couldnt care less about gas prices....my thing is having my truck sit in a bad area of town, worrying about the weather, or hail damage, having to wash it EVERY weekend because it's covered in dust, and the possibility of someone backing into it trying to park their rig.

And if you've followed the thread by the guy with the hail damaged truck.....no way I could deal with that. I don't care if it does cost more to have a second vehicle, I know my Taco is safe, and I wont have to have my roof sawed off and replaced. That's just how I am about my vehicles......and I really couldn't give a shit what other people think about the hooptie. Its paid for, costs me an extra $10/month for insurance, and I cant imagine taxes would be more than $20/year....oh and I dont mind playin chicken with assholes in traffic

 

my hoopty. just for gas savings.

 

the taco IS by bad weather vehicle. sunny dry days are reserved for my 08 Mustang Bullitt

 

Well, if you're driving an '08 DC 4x4, you may want to reconsider your daily driver, lol

http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2008/Toyota/TACOMA-PICKUP-DOUBLE-CAB-V6/Base-4WD/Standard-Equipment

http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2008...-MT-AT/Coupe-2D-Bullitt-GT/Standard-Equipment

The Mustang includes all available options, and the Taco, I just selected the SR5 package

 

Let me get this straight , you guys don't like the mileage from your Tacoma , so you own , insure , maintain , fuel two vehicles instead ?

 

You mean you don't? It's way more cost effective that way

 

this is the united states not B.C. last i checked your insurance numbers are insane

anyhow, i considered the second vehicle thing myself but cant justify it with insurance ... 22 mpg hwy if i slow down is fine for me

 

I think the point oz was trying to make is if you add up the cost of a 2nd car, add in maintenance and other costs (insurance, registration, etc) to keep it on the road, is this really saving money? Even at $5 per gallon, the difference would be a whole lot of gallons saved to offset the 2nd car investment.

 

X2

 

35 bucks a month to insure and register my second vehicle makes it worth it to me. Plus my second vehicle is way more fun than the taco.

 

Truer words were never spoken.