Gas Prices

As we are all looking at the possiblity of $4.00/gal gasoline I found this chart showing the annual rise in gas prices over the last 6 years. It's hard to believe we were only paying a little over one dollar just six years ago.


Meanwhile we seem to be slow to the gate in replacing gas with alternative fuels, energies, and light weight cars.

Edgar and I did the math the other day to see if it would justify us to trade in the Mercedes for a SMART car which gets about 43 miles per gallon. Here's a basic of how the math stacked up.

1983 Mercedes Diesel

Annual Driven Mileage Estimate: 26,000
Current MPG: 23
Average Cost per Gallon 4.20
Annual Payments 0
Cost of Operation 4,747.82

SMART CAR

Annual Driven Mileage Estimate: 26,000
Stated MPG 43
Estimated cost per gallon 3.90
Cost of Operation 5958.14

Of course this is simple math, I didn't take into account repairs on the 1983 Mercedes, or Increase in Insurance on the SMART Car. The reason for this is because although you can say that the new car would costless to maintain that is not always true. At 26,000 miles a year all cars are expensive to maintain and factory warranties would be burned up awfull quick. I think that since we only pay $200 a year liabilit on the Mercedes and would have to pay full coverage on the SMART car it would probably wash over a 5 year period, not to mention the new taxes and registration.

So either way, I guess gas isn't too expensive. It doesn't justify even the most drastic move of changing a paid in full vehicle.