So I've been posting this on a few forums to get some opinions out there, so I'd like to see what you guys think:
I frequent a hunting forum in addition to this one, and made a post concerning fullsize trucks. I'm somewhat of a lone man out over there driving a Toyota, since a lot of them drive the big three, however, I was curious as to what their stance was on this issue. You can see my thread here:
Fullsize Truck Question...an odd one.
Basically, I'm wondering...what's this DRIVE to want to own a fullsize (especially outdoorsman). I'm counting myself in that one as well. I do love my 05 Tacoma, but in all reality, I wanted a fullsize truck, but gas mileage was the only deal breaker, but is that really a good enough reason? Wondering WHY I feel I would rather have one though...can't figure it out except for the size issue (and no I don't have a self-confidence issue
).
Oh, check some of the mpg figures being thrown out by some of the posters...24mpg in the new chevys? Don't think so...
It's funny, I really have contemplated getting a fullsize, and I've crunched numbers, and tonight I did it again...it's actually kind of crazy:
Assuming I drive ~12,000 miles a year which is normal
Driving a fullsize averaging 16mpg (think that's reasonable?)
Driving my tacoma averaging 19mpg (that's about what I get now in the warm temps...in the winter it was 18, but I assume the fullsize would drop as well).
So with that 12,000 miles, I would be using:
750 gallons of gas with the fullsize
631.5 gallons of gas with my tacoma
At $4.00/gallon (not there yet here...it's about $3.39), annual fuel cost:
$3000 for the fullsize
$2526 for the tacoma
Difference of $474 a yr.
Spread over 12 months, that's $39.50 a month. So roughly the cost of my cell phone bill. So, really the mileage difference isn't a matter of life and death really. $474 a year is a decent chunk, but in the end, not a ton.
Thoughts?