Which vehicle to commute in?

I know similar questions have been discussed here before but they're kind of all over the place in random threads so I thought I'd start this one.

My daily commute for work is about to go from 8 km (5 miles) to 42 km (26 miles) and I'm debating which of my vehicles I should commute in and looking for any insight or advice you guys can provide.

1. Tundra - currently about 6500 km (5000 miles). Would probably get between 13 and 15 L/100 km (16-18 mpg) depending on traffic (there's a rail crossing right at my destination and apparently trains at rush hour most mornings so there may be some idling from time to time, which, as we know, kills the mileage).

2. 2012 Kia Forte Koup - currently about 60,000 km (37,500 miles). Would probably get between 6 and 8 L/100 km (29-39 mpg). If I sold it now, I figure I should be able to get $8-10k for it. It also probably needs a battery ($200) and new tires.

I'd like to keep miles off my truck if I can and better fuel economy is always attractive. Plus the Kia fits in the garage so I wouldn't have to sweep and scrape it off in winter. I'd been trying to keep the miles off of it to keep the value up since I've known I wanted to sell it when I bought a truck. However, even if I put 20k kms on it this year, it would probably still be the lowest mileage Forte Koup of that generation on Auto Trader. Since I already own it, the primary downside I see is having to keep up the maintenance on it given that I have to keep it registered and insured until I sell it anyway and I'm not planning to do that until things cool off enough for me to feel comfortable having strangers in my car.

 

In the olden days I had the same issue. I ended up commuting in the vehicle that was the easiest to drive ~ it had an automatic transmission and my pickup had a manual transmission.
Neither of these vehicles had any real value ~ they were too old and not at all collectable. When I bought my Tundra (used) I gave away one vehicle and sold the other one for a song.
I guess it's all in what works best for you.

 

Kia.

Next.

 

I commuted 70 miles a day pre-pandemic with my Sequoia.

 

My daily commuter. Spot Acme. Belt drive and dynamo hub to run the lights. I know Rosy, it is not what you are asking. But, my commute is really nice by bike. If snow and ice, I take the Tundra. The best of both worlds.

 

Here, I'm a numbers and a miles and gallons guy so here's a comparison in difference of fuel costs. If you don't need two cars, I'd say get rid of the Kia and that could pay for 8 years of commuting costs. Not to mention no need to pay registration, inspection, insurance, etc on the Kia.

 

Tundra, pedal on the floorboard in both directions.

 

My brother in law just bought a house that's about a 15 minute bike ride from where he works. That's not really an option for me though, partially because the jobsite I'm going to is in the middle of nowhere and partially because we currently live about a 5 minute bike ride from where my wife works. It's all around better for me to commute than her.

 

Honestly a commuter vehicle never saves money. Maybe a little in actual gas money but that will largely depend on annual miles. However I would drive that Kia till the wheels fall off IF you are financially capable.

Monetarily my commuter simply is not justified. But the damage that my commuter car receives while driving and parking in the city is worth it. Because it’s not happening to the vehicle I put my family in...the Tundra.

If I had a parking lot to use while working and if there was no congested city driving I would only be driving my Tundra. 40k real city miles equals 100k of highway use.

 

Rarely will a second vehicle save money on gas considering insurance, maintenance and depreciation. Also the fact that it still burns gas. Need a lot of miles to break even.

I drive my wife's Camry once a week or so on days she doesn't need it. I like it, I bought it, It gets better than twice the mileage, so might as well. I also bike to work couple times a week during the nicer months. (First ride this year was today). But my bike wasn't cheap so need a lot of miles to even break even on that...

 

That was kind of the way I was leaning. I think I just scared myself when I realized I'm going to put 18,000 kms on my vehicle just from commuting in the next 10 months. I don't think I've ever put more than 8000 kms (5000 miles) on a vehicle in a year before.

 

Depending on the commute, I wouldn’t worry about mileage. I have had a few high mileage highway Toyota trucks that were incredibly quite and smooth.

 

Sell it. Life is short. Drive the Tundra and enjoy it!

 

12,000 miles in a year is nothing.

 

The roads on my commute suck badly so I use the Tundra, if you’re on well maintained highway any car would be great

 

Just gonna leave this right here.....

 

I have a different dilemma of commuters:
Or

 

Fwiw the red one gets better mpg lol

 

Life is too short to drive a Kia,at least to me.

 

That’s great. Work one up for me. My options are:

 

I was considering buying a 2015 Nissan Leaf to commute but Id rather take the $7k and put it towards paying the Tundra off first. When the truck is paid off, I may consider a used EV for commuting.

 

I would sell the KIA.

 

Hell, I tried to buy a Kia in 2014 but the dealership apparently thought I was kidding.

 

So there are also the psychological effects to consider maybe?
You never said that you like to drive either one of them?

I have 4 cars and usually am in either the 2015 Tundra or 2010 Honda Element and I love both of them a lot!
So I sort of split time between them and my Sprinter and other Tundra too.
Yes I might need to shed one or two too?

The thing is that when I fill up the tanks it is less than 1/2 the price to fill the Element and I get about the same range with either the Tundra or Element too so it is a real world daily double price cost to drive the Tundra when I get gas!
Sure I know in the long run it seems like a small difference but the repeated higher fill up costs can wear on me too for sure.

My Sprinter gets better mileage than all of the others by a long way but is not nearly as fun to drive usually but I do get nearly 700 miles to a tank of Diesel so there is that too.

So if you like driving them both that is one thing but if not life is just too short to drive one you dont like to me and I have never driven a Kia that I could stand to drive.

 

The KIA's gotta go.

You bought the Tundra, work hard for it, take care of it, enjoy it, the KIA is a tin box trap in am accident (I'm guessing) and let's face it ...you WANT and enjoy driving the Tundra.

No decision to be made here, it's clear

@ezdog also touched on some of my points at fhe same time I was posting

 

If you answer yes to the following question, I will allow you to commute in the KIA, otherwise it's time to sell it.

Are you on a KIA forum?

 

I rate driving enjoyment, safety & comfort over miles per gallon, that's why I have two Tundra trucks instead of one Tundra, and the high mpg Camry I once owned. While driving either of my Tundra trucks I can't recall a time that I wished I was driving an econobox instead.

 

We have a Tundra and a Corolla. 2 vehicles is just so convenient that we'll always own both. The Woman works from home, so I drive the Corolla as my commuter. According to our records, I'm actually saving about $100/month. The car is pretty well paid off, insurance for it is less than a tank of gas in the Tundra and maintenence on it is a $65 oil change every 10,000kms. My truck would burn about 3 tanks of fuel commuting per month, at an average of $98 per tank (which will go up constantly now thanks to so and so). The car does the commute at about 2 tanks per month at an average of $39 per tank.

 

Since the Kia is paid for, from what I understand, it makes sense to use it as a commuter. To go buy a commuter and have payments on it typically does not make financial sense. Unless there is another reason for owning the other vehicle, such as needing 2 vehicles in the house for spouse or children etc.

That being said, I would say just drive the Tundra. It is more comfortable and safer in the unlikely event something happens. The Kia's money, saved insurance etc. will pay for a lot of gas as someone mentioned above.
I put about 30,000 miles (50,000 km) a year on my truck - I made peace with the high mileage. I enjoy every mile and I know the truck can handle it.

 

A Corolla and a first gen Tundra are pretty much the same vehicle anyway.