Not sure it makes sense for us to have 3 vehicles...

Hey everyone I’ve run into a little bit of a issue. I love my 15 tundra and I drive it daily. I recently changed jobs and am now having to drive 65 miles a day for 5-6 days a week. Plus driving to kids events etc i am burning through a tank of fuel every 3 days. It’s costing a bunch of money. $80 a tank. I’m debating whether or not to pick up a used corolla or something like that. Just not sure that it makes sense to have 3 vehicles.
My wife has a 21 Highlander and I don’t want to take that from her as she waited for a long time to get that vehicle.
All of our vehicles are paid for as well. Part of me says just drive the truck but I know there is going to come a point in time where I’m going to need to replace it and I’m not excited about blowing $50-60k for a new truck.
My truck currently has 122k miles on it.
What do you all think ? Any ideas?

 

I will also say that it does not help my truck is lifted on 295’s.

 

How old are the kids? Third car can be handed down to one of the kids when they hit driving age.

Personally I'd get a gas saver if it was me driving that much. Save the truck for truck stuff and around town driving.

 

At 122K, your truck is just now getting broken in. You don't have anything to worry about. These trucks are damn near bulletproof. Drive it and have fun with it.

 

I bought GTI earlier this year because I ran into the same problem you have. I was spending bout $200 per week on gas, on the plus side its cheaper to drive and it keeps the wear and tear of the truck.

 

Spend money to save money…

Or save money and spend less money…

How cheap of a hoopty are you willing to gamble on? How important it is that you not be broken down on the side of the road? How much money and time does maintenance cost you (are you able and willing to do all your own repairs and maintenance? How long do you expect to be commuting 60 miles a day?

Two tanks a week at $80 a gallon is $8000 a year in fuel (assuming you take two weeks off). If your new hoopty gets double the mileage, that’s $4000 a year in fuel. Triple the mileage and you pay $2700 a year (rounded number) but most hoopties won’t do that u less you hyper-mile yourself into hopeless despondency... So we’ll assume double the mileage.

You have to buy a car for 4K or less to break even in a year if you don’t have to put money in to repairs or refurbishment. BUT, you now have to pay insurance and registration on the new vehicle AND sales tax. And you still need to drive the tundra every week, so add at least $1700 to your break even figure. So now we’re at 17 months to break even if you want to gamble on a cheapie.

Spend up to 8k on a hoopty and your break even point is 34 months. But you don’t get much more for your money for 8k than 4K right now. So bump it up to 12k hoping to get something with fewer or same miles on it as your tundra and hopefully better reliability and less chance of major repairs. Now we’re at 51 months. Over four years to break even- still assuming no major maintenance or repairs are needed in that 4+ years.

Is that worth it to you?

What about changing back to a stock tire size and wheel combo? Will that gain you 20% in mileage? That’s would save you $1600 a year in fuel. Would pay for itself the first year, then get you $5200 over the 51 months.

Not trying to be snarky or push you one way or another, just mulling over some numbers.

 

I have a 62 mile round trip for work 5 days a week. If my wife don’t need her car, I’ll take her 08 Corolla. Her car hit the 200 thousand mile mark about a month ago. 35 mpg vs 14 mpg is a no brainer. On a side note, I’d rather drive the tundra than her car. The car sits to low to the ground.

 

I also have a long commute to work.
I purchased a Hyundai Hybrid and am loving 50 plus mpg and $30 fill ups. But the way I rack up miles, the car will have little value in short order. So, I'm in the get a cheap car for the commute camp.
Also from experience ... A few years ago, I moved to a larger, untowable offshore boat and didn't see the sense in keeping my 2011 Tundra.
The saying, "You don't know how much you use your truck until you sell your truck" really hit home.
I was fortunate to find a reasonably priced, SUPER clean, low mile 2018 TRD Sport Crewmax, and this one is going no where.
Point being, think long and hard before you move on from your Tundra, and if you decide to sell, think about it some more.

 

The points I was going to make about adding up the costs carefully have been adequately covered.

I commute in a car but I owned that car before I bought the truck and never got around to selling it. It's also not a Toyota and not worth much. So in my case it currently makes sense but I have a herd time believing that I would come out ahead in the long run if I was buying another car to daily.

 

Why I have a CX5 as a daily…

 

One of the best ‘mods’ I did for my truck was buying a ‘08 Yaris beater to daily. Thing has been so cheap to drive, almost bombproof and keeps city miles off a much more expensive vehicle.

 

My 17 Tundra has 30k miles. My 21 rav4 has 27k miles. Rav gets roughly double mpg’s as truck. With gas costs the last couple of years I can’t imagine 64 miles a day (my commute) in the truck. 6 more months to retirement.
I say find a beater to rack up the miles, drive it till it dies.

 

i agree with your post Mr ColoradoTJ. Most people never take into consideration the cost of replacement when it’s time for a new truck. I’m like you, and likely won’t keep mine past 200-250k miles. If I had a car that would push that date a lot farther out for me. I’m not looking to get rid of my truck like one of the other comments had mentioned because I do use it and I do need it I just don’t need to daily drive it. So I’m likely going to keep an eye out for a nice little car something like a civic or corolla.

 

Yeah I’ve been tracking fuel costs this month and it’s only the 8th and we have already spent $250 on gas

 

This is from the viewpoint of someone who only gets another vehicle when the current one is considered beyond practical repair or written off by some careless idiot. My viewpoint probably wouldn't suit someone who turns a vehicle over every three years because they are afraid that the paintwork might dull a shade.

So many variables to consider, not that I have to worry about them because without a truck or some other gas guzzling Transit sized vehicle I'd be hard pushed to carry out my work.
If a truck didn't factor into ability to perform work the way I'd be looking at it is that, as I am invariably the last owner of any vehicle, funds permitting, a second vehicle would extend the useful life of my truck, but I'd have the best of both worlds. Truck for heavy duty stuff, car for boring commute or when I need to park in some city/hotel car lot that has spaces the size of a pocket handkerchief or for carrying kids - dirty little beggars, how is it they can get in the dusty interior of a truck and make it look more like a trash can in 5 minutes flat.

My mind says that if I can (for example) get 6 years out of a vehicle then owning two gives me use of two for 12. Besides the saved costs in running a cheaper vehicle when possible, I'd have the added advantage of a backup when one needed work done. It's not that I can't use a car for work, there was a time when I resorted to using the wife's old 3L, leather seated, Honda Accord for a few days but I can tell you that she wasn't best pleased to see a 10' stepladder jammed in it and sticking quite a few feet beyond the open trunk, it's just not overly practical.
My brain says that I'm not actually spending more on purchasing (market fluctuations ignored), I still get 12 years of vehicular service I just end up meeting the major costs once every twelve years rather than split in half every six.

 

I would keep driving the truck and take your time to find a really nice beater from an older person for a reasonable price. It will be cheaper to beat on and maintain and will lower your maintenance cost on the Tundra, ie 4 qt oil change on beater vs 8 qt on tundra. Get super cheap liability insurance and beat the hell out of it. Plus you can give it to your kids later.

I have a 2011 matrix that gets 30 plus mpg and I do all the maintenance on it. Insurance is negligible and everything is cheap to replace on it.

I also got an insurance break one the Tundra for not driving it regularly. Of course I Ebike to work so that helps alot too.

 

All great points. And in 51 months when he breaks even, he'll have a third car for his kid that is now wanting to drive. Lots of factors other than breaking even are in play. I was looking into a second car for saving on gas and then the car market exploded. Didn't make sense anymore. But I still keep checking every now and then.

 

My wife and I (no kids) have had 3 or more reliable cars in the driveway since 2005. It would be quite difficult to go back to just 2 cars before we retire. Reason being, it's just convenient when things go wrong to have a backup ready to go.

Late for work and have a flat tire? Take the 3rd car. Battery goes dead but your schedule doesn't open up until the weekend, take the 3rd car. Tree falls on one during a storm... you get the idea. As long as both of us need reliable transportation every day, I don't plan to have any less than 3 in the driveway. Currently we lack a fuel sipper, but we do have a fun sporty car, an SUV, and a truck. So our bases are pretty well covered for most any vehicular need that arises. Plus, with regularly driving each one, the miles and maintenance are spread out between the 3. Two of them we've had for over 8 years, and the highest mileage is currently around 75,000 miles.

 

I got a 2001 corolla back in Feb 2020 (before all the crazy price surges) for 2K cash because I had quite a long commute at the time myself.



I put about 1K into it initally for maintenance stuff like changing all the fluids, tires, brakes, spark plugs, etc and its been bomb proof since. Its fun to drive this and my Tundra because theyre so different... and I often choose which one to take based on how terrible the parking would be for the truck haha. It's also nice to have a car I don't "care about" so much, stuff like letting friends/family borrow it if they need it.

I did do a couple mods... couldnt help it when I found some 2002 Corrolla S wheels on craigslist, the roof rack, and some new headlights

I say do it!

 

Pretty sure there was a member here with almost a million miles on one of those Corollas. Got rear ended on the freeway and pushed a rod through the block and the dang thing still ran.

 

Looks like it might have been @empty_lord and I might have misremembered some of the details unless there's someone else with a similar story.

 

I’d buy a well used Camry over the Corolla. Just because they ride/ drive better. The 16’ I got for my wife gets at least 34mpg. Should go 300,000 miles easy. I drove a Corolla like a 05’ it was a beast and indestructible but it was not fun to drive. Might have to go with the earlier generation to get one for reasonable money. A accord or Toyota Avalon would be great too. After so many years registration goes down…+ gas savings. The cost of my 04’ tundra was half my 21’. The replacement for your 15’ tundra might be double. Might as well make it last. Our Camry has about 150,000 miles. In a year or two..I’ll drive that to commute until it dies. I’m commuting with my 04’ tundra but with 300,000 miles I quit driving it and it’s done. Anyway I like driving those next size cars like a Camry down the road better than a Corolla. That’s from personal experience putting about 50,000 miles on a 05’ beater Corolla.

 

My wife has a Sienna and I daily drove my Tundra for years. In February I bought a hybrid Camry (47mpg combined over 8k mi so far) to eat all the city commute miles to work and hauling kids. I’m very pleased with it. It feels like a go kart compared to the Tundra, and going back to the Tundra (mine is also lifted with 33s) feels like a monster truck.

In the past I’ve tried SUVs/crossovers as a way to compromise between truck and car. If you can swing it, it’s better to have one of each. The right tool for the right job.

 

I have a 2011 tundra with 190k on it. I do a lot of commuting for clinical sites for school now. I was going to sell the truck to buy a commuter bc couldn’t afford to purchase another car otherwise d/t my financial situation with school

My dad ended up passing before I had to make that decision and my mom gave me his kia sportage to use as a commuter. I get at least double the mileage in it while not racking up further miles on my tundra, therefore theoretically allowing me to keep my tundra even longer.

After having 3 cars now I will say that I think in the future I will always have a truck and commuter. This allows me to keep the truck for a longer period of time and I can drive it as little or as much as I want.