Dollars and Cents

[YarisOwnersDad]

I see lots of posts about MPG, but hardly anyone translates that into the amount of money spent on gas and puts a dollar figure on it.

I have owned my Yaris sedan since 4/13/09, and I have kept track of every single gallon of gas that I have put in it from the very first time I filled it up. The car was brand new when I bought it, and the dealer filled it up for me when I took delivery.

Starting with the first time I filled it myself, I have put a total of 251.652 gallons of gas in it over a distance of 9618.3 miles, for an overall average MPG of 38.22. The spreadsheet that I created keeps track of the total cost of each fill-up, and that works out to $605.25.

I added a column to my spreadsheet that calculates how many gallons of gas it would have taken and what the fill-up would have cost me if I still had the Cobalt and was still getting 28 MPG. That works out to $827.30, so I have saved $222.05 in the six months that I have owned the Yaris.

Tom

[TinyGiant]

i should figure out mine, i've been keeping track since first fill up. we were getting about 18mpg with the jeep

[bronsin]

I use www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do
I bought my Yaris on 4/19/09 but only have 2800 miles so far...

[AmyV]

I am sorry to say that I haven't been keeping track... but last winter in CA it cost be about $18 to fill my tank, versus the $25 or so it would take in my mini-truck that I drove before! So, just over the winters out here, I save about $7 every week! SCORE!!!

And summer gas is always more expensive than winter gas. I don't even want to think about what I was spending to fill up that mini-truck every week during the summer!!

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by AmyV

I am sorry to say that I haven't been keeping track... but last winter in CA it cost be about $18 to fill my tank, versus the $25 or so it would take in my mini-truck that I drove before! So, just over the winters out here, I save about $7 every week! SCORE!!!

And summer gas is always more expensive than winter gas. I don't even want to think about what I was spending to fill up that mini-truck every week during the summer!!

Well I think you HAVE been keeping track of the $$$!

[nemelek]

I don't keep that kind of records, however, when gas was $4/gallon I used to calculate how much each mile would cost me. It was a little over 10 cents/mile. Now it is 5.6 cents/mile. Pulling our trailer when the diesel was $4.5/gallon each mile cost 39 cents/mile.

Some day I would like to figure the "true" cost of ownership. The purchase price + gas + maintenance + insurance + license fees - the sales price (or trade in value) divided by the miles driven.

The cost of transportation is not cheap. To me gas milage isn't the only factor to look at.

GREAT job of record keeping.

[bronsin]

Well I wrote the check for my ECHO in November 2000 for $13,100. I just sold it for $4500 after 8 1/2 years and 45,000 miles. (what a BUY that person got!) So the car itself was $8600 or about $1000 a year. Pretty happy with that!

[talnlnky]

when I first returned from japan I was borrowing an 86 chevy scottsdale small block v8. Thing got 12mpg. I did as little driving as I possibly could with it. I paid around $100 a month in gas. In the yaris I instantly drove more, and had a payment of $276 a month. I probably ended up paying roughly $330-350 a month... So if you look at it that way... I lost roughly 250 a month. Though I gained a much easier/reliable/ and more fun to drive car.

if you look at it the other way though.... insurance for the yaris wasn't much more than it was for the truck, and it gets 3 to 4x the gas mileage.

Cost savings might not be that significant... but the quality of life is higher, as i'm allowed/afforded more opportunities to live life (outside of my house/town).


this summer I found a new driving route that saves me $2.72 a week, or about $126 over the course of a year when gas is calculated at $3/gal. The route is 2.3miles shorter, roughly the same time to travel, and I get roughly 6 mpg greater on the trip.

[advocate]

Tom your numbers are interesting and put a real value on the effects of hypermiling and yaris owning. I like it. I hope others have similar numbers they can post.

[Sodium Duck]

My first year of ownership:
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22454

And the spreadsheet I created to make it all:
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9527

It's changed a lot over the course of the year. And for this next year, I'm ditching the graph, I just don't need it. I'm only keeping track of the barebones stuff. I also use it to keep track of when my next oil change is due, air filter, cabin filter, etc.

Already started a new file for this new year with 2 fillups in it. (I bought my Yaris in November '08)

A piece of the spreadsheet:

[Henry G.]

I was driving an SUV that averaged 17 mpg tops, so I doubled my mileage right away even when lead footed. I drive an average of 650 miles a week. At that mpg that computes to 38.24 gallons a week on the SUV, (I actually get around 35-36 on the Yaris but we will just use 34 or double the mpg to make things easy and conservative). Therefore a savings of approx 19 gallons a week, times 52 for a year equals 988 gallons a year. At $3 a gallon thats $2964 a year, divided by 12 equals $247 a month. The payment is $227, insurance and DMV adds $700 a year or $58 dollars a month for a total of $285.
So for $60 a month a get to drive a new car, that is cheaper on tires, oil and fuel, brakes and maint. Anything over $3 a gallon reduces that to almost free to drive. So after 5 years I could have paid all that money to the oil companies and worn out my otherwise very nice 4X4 SUV, or put a paid for economy/extra car in my driveway. No brainer. I have no doubts that well maintained this car will go 250K without major repairs. My only complaints is that if I get into an accident the chances of me being injured are much greater. With better tires and a sway bar this car has turned into a snappy little driver too. In bad weather I will still take the SUV or my truck for the ABS and superior road handling in bad weather. Otherwise this little bastard is doing just what I bought it for, a cheap commuter car that I dont mind spending time in 2 -2.5 hours a day.

[Woody_Woodchuck]

I’ll play next.

Used to drive a 1994 Jeep Cherokee, 18 mpg calculated. So far I have put 18,219 on the Yaris.

Gas:
Actual in Yaris: 376.6 Gallons US
Yaris at EPA average of 32.5 mpg: 560.58 Gallons US
Would have been used in the Jeep: 1,012.17 Gallons US
Savings in gas used over EPA estimate: 183.98 Gallons US
Savings in gas used over Jeep: 635.56 Gallons US

Cash:
Actual cost of gas for Yaris: $953.90 US
Cost of gas at EPA estimate of 32.5 mpg: $1,405.92 US
Cost of gas if driving the Jeep: $2,538.47 US
Savings over driving the Jeep: $1,584.57 US
Savings from hypermiling: $452.02 US

[deerebilt]

bought new 08 sedan s 5 sp. have used 644.393 gallons on 29184 mil witch avg mpg of 45.289 avg fuel cost $2.60/gal total of $1674.42. my last vehicle was a 06 chevy hhr which got 32 mpg. if drove same miles would of used 912 gl cost $2371.20...so with yaris i saved 268 gl of gas and $696

[aca72]

My numbers as of 10/10/2009...

Number of Days Owned
806

Number of Miles Driven
40855.2

Number of Gallons Consumed
1095.739

Average MPG
37.33

Average Fuel Price per Gallon
$3.049

Grand Total Fuel Cost
$3,279.14

Average Fill-up Cost
$26.93

Average Miles per Dollar
12.24

Average Fuel Cost per Mile
$0.08

[BuildCode]

Also been keeping track since day one!

Owned for:
73 days

Miles Driven(around):
2800

Average MPG:
38.4

Best MPG:
41.5

Total Spent in Gas:
$185.91

Total Spent on Maintenance:
$22.00 (Oil change and DIY cabin air filter)

Maintenance cost per mile:
$0.0079

Fuel cost per mile:
$0.0663

Projected miles driven per year:
13,890


http://www.fuelly.com/driver/fetch/yaris

[Forrest]

I used to figure out mpg but no longer do the math. Little car rocks on gas mileage and visiting the gas station less often is good enough for me.

[AmyV]

Originally Posted by Forrest

I used to figure out mpg but no longer do the math. Little car rocks on gas mileage and visiting the gas station less often is good enough for me.

That is exactly how I feel!!!

[Loren]

Hmmm... roughly...

I've put about 23000 miles on my Yaris. It averages about 38 mpg (Probably more, but I don't keep records. My low tanks are 36ish, high ones are 40-44 and occasionally more.) and the car I used to drive (a Miata) averaged about 28 mpg.

So, in the Yaris 23000/38=605 gallons at an average of about $2.50 for a cost of $1512.

In my Miata 23000/28=821 gallons for a cost of $2052.50.

Total savings due to owning a Yaris for 18 months and hypermiling most of the time = $540. Or... $30/mo. Or... 2.35 cents per mile.

Damn. I could get 33 mpg in the Yaris all day every day without even trying. If I didn't get personal satisfaction and amusement out of playing the hypermiling game, I'd surely give it up. But... but... but... I actually hit 54 mpg (no AC) on the way home from an autocross today, averaged something like 42 mpg today even with several autocross runs, and my tank mileage is still over 39 mpg!

(yeah, I'm completely glossing over the fact that I saved 216 gallons of fossil fuel... I suppose it does warrant consideration)