Cost of operating an SUV

[nadinbrzezinski]

so I was channel surfing today... looking for NEWS... when they had this talking head on the air

He mentioned an interesting piece of data....

If you bought a 25K SUV at the beginning of the year, between the cost of fuel to keep that thing running, and maintenance and insurance, you are looking at 100K \ year to operate.

Well, we have a light truck parked, mostly and I have seen my finances improve after I got a bike and started using it to go to any near places, while hubby takes the car.... so there might be something to it. I still think that 100K is a little too much, but it explains why they are NOT selling in ways that our observations could not...

I wonder if we will be able to sell that truck when the time comes to get a second hybrid

[dysfunctional press]

1. i didn't realize that all suv's get the same exact gas mileage...

i guess you learn something new every day.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I figure he is talking average

that said, I can tell you, we have gone down in spending 70 for a tank of gas that last four weeks, instead of a tank that last one week

I know he is high, but it does point out that yes, indeed there is a problem in operating an SUV

By the way by my math that is 1250 a year that we may save, assuming gas stays constant

[seriousstan]

11. Your math is questionable at best.

Would you care to itemize the 100K?

Try 50K.

25k?

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Try 10K, look at post 9

[seriousstan]

14. I think even that is high. $4 gas, 10/mpg, 15,000 yr. = $6000 ....40 MPG? = $1600

The truth is somewhere in between. In this calculation you must remember the baseline is not zero. 40MPG still cost $1600 in gas.


I thought I was being very generous and realistic in the numbers I used.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Ok... I did not take into account average mileage

that said, the cost to operate these vehicles is becoming prohibitive for many owners

[dysfunctional press]

15. some suv's get MUCH better mileage than many cars on the road

does he ever mention that?

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Of course not, and there are some older cars

that approach my hybrid... aka my dad's twenty + 325I, which runs at four miles under my Civic... (that tells volumes) but maintaining that sucker IS pricey.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. Almost certainly...

....an order of magnitude too high.

[Kutjara]

3. I'm no fan of SUVs, but $100k per year seems really high.

A $25k SUV is something like a Toyota RAV4 or Honda CRV. I doubt if maintenance on one of these vehicles would cost more, in a normal year, than the price of and oil change, oil filter and some brake pads. Insurance is probably a grand or so (depending on where you live). Gas would cost about another $3-4k.

Can't see where the rest of the $100k is coming from.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I figured it is high, but it does explain why they are not selling

and the little high is by orders of magnitude

But lets do the math, shall we?

3,360 in gas for the year... assuming 70 dollar \ tank, it will go higher, but lets assume constant

1000 maintenance

1200 insurance

That comes to

5,560 to operate

In a slighty older vehicle, you may need to add another thousand for things like timing belts

That is 6,660

And the cost of gas is not going to stay at that range.

So lets give this guy a benefit of the doubt and think it was only 10,000 to operate... it still is a pretty chunk of money

[Kutjara]

13. But isn't the only real difference in cost between an SUV and a...

..."normal" car the cost of gas? Maintenance and insurance would cost roughly the same for a CRV as for, say, a similarly priced Honda Accord.

So the additional cost of the SUV comes down to it's poorer fuel economy. Using my CRV example, Honda quotes 20/27 mpg for the CRV, as against 22/31 mpg for the Accord (both models with the 2.4 liter, 4 cyl engine). Based on these figures, there really isn't a huge case for buying an Accord over a CRV.

Of course, when we start talking about real gas guzzling SUVs and trucks with big engines and single digit mpg, the story changes somewhat.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. And I think he was going for that average

Now if you want to compare a Prius and the worst offender....

:-)

It is still NOT 100K

Benefit of the doubt, 10K.... and I am being generous here

Though we will see how far it goes

[gristy]

4. 100K per year? No way.

Gas is just $5,400/yr at 10 m/gal and 12,000 miles. Interest on that 25K, if you had invested it rather than buy the SUV, would be no more than $1250/yr.

[hendo]

6. 100k is ridiculous

Back when I drove my Jeep all the time I was living off 10k a year. There is no way that the 100k is correct, even after current gas prices are taken into account.

[seriousstan]

7. I have a retirement package I would like to talk to you about.

100K?

:rofl:

[lancer78]

8. You must mean

$10K a year. That makes more sense then $100K a year.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. It does, just did the math on post 9

I think he made a mistake and added a zero... still it was a piece of data that had me going HMMM