I have tried the commenter car route twice. Both times it didn't save me a dime over a 3 year period each. Time you figure in insurance, Maintaince, tags, ect. Only thing it did was save miles on my trucks.
Chris
Well darn it.... I agree with DP...aka Chris. I haven't done the commuter car thing but you have to put a whole lot of miles to really justify it. BTW Chris, I've read many of your posts. One misunderstood thing I think is, the newer 1/2 tow capacities have gotten to the same limits as where the older one tons used to be. The one tons have gotten high too. Don't quote me but aren't the dodge one ton capacity at 27000 lbs? And newer 1/2 ton trucks are generally around the 10000 lbs mark. If you look back 5,10 and 20 years ago, the numbers were way lower. My point, when dp says the Eco boost is as good as a one ton, he MAY actually be right. BUT given the way the capacities rose over the years, its not fair to compare a mid 90s one ton to a new half ton. The capacities are almost close. BTW Chris you could lay off the brand bashing a little bit! Lol Popcorn anyone?
I'm not sure how sane anyone can be if they believe Ford didn't partake on any of the bailout funds that were thrown around lol
I heard/read that ford restructured 2007 just before the "crash". Was it luck or good forecasting, who knows. But ford could easily have been in the same boat.
And to those who hate the dodge or gm for the bailouts, just try and imagine the economy without both those companies and the massive spin off business.
To the OP, sorry for the hijacked tread. I followed it closely at first, I have the same concern about fuel consumption.
Ford took nearly six billion dollars of bailout money in 09, but they didn't use it to stay afloat and restructure their business model.
In total, Treasury spent $51.03 billion in GM bailouts, but it wound up only costing $10.4 billion.
Although we're way off topic from the original post, here's a little something I picked up from Government Bailout of Ford GM Chrysler and the Auto Industry
Note the last line in the paragraph. But I'm sure there will be a rebuttal here.
"Ford's Bailout Proposal
Ford requested a $9 billion line-of-credit from the government, and a $5 billion loan from the Energy Department. It pledged to accelerate development of both hybrid and battery-powered vehicles, retool plants to increase production of smaller cars, close dealerships, and sell Volvo. Ford is in better shape than the other two because it had already mortgaged its assets in 2006 to raise $24.5 billion. Although Ford didn't need, and didn't receive any funds, it also didn't want its competition to get the upper hand thanks to the government bailout."

2012 F-350. 6.7 diesel, 38000 miles. Over 95 % of this miles are unloaded/no trailer and my average commute one way is 19 miles with few stops and almost no traffic in the morning since its so early. I've been getting 20-22 mpg for the last 7000 miles. Overall since mile one about 19 which includes about 1500 miles towing.
<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=388827"/>
What speed do you drive generally? Would you consider yourself a fuel miser type of driver or just average with no major regard for fuel consumption.
Reason I ask is I'm impressed with your mileage.
And here I am averaging 12-14 mpg with my 2007 mark Lt. That's mixed very light towing a 5x10 wedge nose cargo trailer, city and highway driving. Mileage actually goes down in winter due to cold and more idling. I think its time to change trucks.
I once asked two guys with identical Suburbans what they got for mpg. The first said, "18mpg" the second said "Best ever on highway 18, 12-15 around town."First, you need to know that men will lie about three things:
Their *** life.
Their hunting dogs.
Their MPG.
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