When To Get a Fuel Efficient Beater (Vehicle)

At one point, Todd had a very fuel efficient little beater car that we named Squirt while we owned a gas-guzzler van for moving and getting supplies for projects at our new home. We got the car because we knew it would save on gasoline and it was much more efficient.

While driving to work last week, I saw a small little beater car for sale, with “58MPG” written on the windshield. It was visually nicer than Squirt ever was, and after paying $53 for gas for the first time since he’s owned his 2008 Kia Rondo, we have decided to determine whether or not it is “worthwhile” to purchase a small, fuel-efficient beater for Todd to drive to and from work.

Instead of doing everything by hand, I put in the information into this website (Edmunds) that will tell me how much we would save in gas by getting the new beater.

	Rondo	Beater
Price	$0 (Paid Off)	$1,500
MPG (highway)	28	58*
Avg. Cost for Gas per gallon	$4.00	$4.00

As you can see, we would save $92 in gas per month if he were to get the beater. That being said, it would take 16 months to break even on gas prices alone. This does not include the additional cost of insurance, registration and upkeep on the beater.

The question is: Should we get a beater?
For us, it doesn’t make sense to purchase another vehicle, even at 58MPG. Our goal is to drive our vehicles until they will no longer run! In the whole scheme of things, $92/month is not going to kill us. If anything, it will make us drive my car more (at 42-45MPG) when we run around on the weekends or on trips. We are also being much more careful about where we drive and how to combine trips as much as possible now that gas is nearly $4.00/gallon.

Have you thought about trading in your vehicle to get something more fuel efficient now that gas is nearing (and in some places, over!) $4.00/gallon?