Well, dog, I would say that you need a big truck and keeping a newer one is better in your case, because having a truck in for repairs is costing you money not only for repair, but in time away from working. I was speaking in terms of a general person owning a truck and only puts on 15-20K a year.

I drive a turd ford ranger (which gets chitty gas mileage by the way) and I wouldn't drive a forking car either. It was just an example to illustrate the marginality in savings (for the average Joe) of comparing one truck to another when the difference in mileage is only a couple MPG different. My personal preference is to pay for a $400 repair every now and then, than having to pay some dude $400 every month on a note. I also hate giving a dude $2,000-$3,000 in interest over a time period, when I could have saved the money over the same amount of time and came out that $2,000-$3,000 ahead.

To further drive home the message to the ?why use my money when I can use theirs crowd.? Compare the ending amount due for 15 year fixed rate home mortgage ($150,000 for a $100,000 home) to that of a typical 30 year fixed rate (around $210,000 for a $100,000 home). Is the $250 difference per month worth the loss of $60,000 over those 15 years? Not to me. (Don?t bring up the difference in taxes for a paid for house versus a being paid for house, because the added amount of money you pay for taxes in a year is always less than the amount of money you would have thrown at that mortgage.) If the average Joe would follow principles like this and invest the money that he would have paid in interest to the bank, then a lot of us could say fork you to the boss man early and quit work while they are still able to chase ducks hard (and be able to afford it!).

This thread went from a dude asking a simple question about gas mileage to a pissing match to maintenance tips to financing a home and saving for retirement.

To further drive this thread off the tracks, raise your hand if you got laid recently?