'Stormy' 6 Weeks Ahead For Gas Prices
From CBS News:
Ever since I bought a Toyota Echo in 2001, I've been quite fond of well-built, yet inexpensive, gas-sipping cars. Recently I found myself needing something with a bit more room and four doors, so (sadly) I decided to sell the Echo — a great little car which averages 38 MPG — and just purchased a Scion xB, which reportedly gets 30-33 MPG. We'll see.
Yes, I drove and carefully considered a hybrid. But after doing the math, buying a now-$25k Toyota Prius isn't cost effective when compared to purchasing a similarly-sized Toyota Corolla (starting at $14k and getting @ 35 MPG) or my xB (@$14,500). Maybe once you own it half a decade you'll start saving money, but not before that.
Choosing the Scion was easy. After test driving a half-dozen different cars and driving from W-S to Nashville last weekend while driving a Nissan Xterra — which averaged 20 MPG on I-40 while I filled up its bottomless gas tank 3 1/2 times — I decided that I wasn't buying anything that got less than 30 MPG. Either that or from now on, I'd just fly whenever I left the state. After factoring in gas, food, and the value of time, flying is far cheaper than driving a gas guzzling car.
Expect a "very, very stormy" month to month-and-a-half for gas prices, with the pain at the pump nearing $3 a gallon on average and not backing off much over the summer, an oil price expert suggested on The Early Show Wednesday.
Ever since I bought a Toyota Echo in 2001, I've been quite fond of well-built, yet inexpensive, gas-sipping cars. Recently I found myself needing something with a bit more room and four doors, so (sadly) I decided to sell the Echo — a great little car which averages 38 MPG — and just purchased a Scion xB, which reportedly gets 30-33 MPG. We'll see.
Yes, I drove and carefully considered a hybrid. But after doing the math, buying a now-$25k Toyota Prius isn't cost effective when compared to purchasing a similarly-sized Toyota Corolla (starting at $14k and getting @ 35 MPG) or my xB (@$14,500). Maybe once you own it half a decade you'll start saving money, but not before that.
Choosing the Scion was easy. After test driving a half-dozen different cars and driving from W-S to Nashville last weekend while driving a Nissan Xterra — which averaged 20 MPG on I-40 while I filled up its bottomless gas tank 3 1/2 times — I decided that I wasn't buying anything that got less than 30 MPG. Either that or from now on, I'd just fly whenever I left the state. After factoring in gas, food, and the value of time, flying is far cheaper than driving a gas guzzling car.
posted by Strother | 10:31 PM
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