Josh B

I have always kept a pretty close eye on how much it has cost me to drive different cars. <a href="http://www.edmunds.com" target="_blank">www.edmunds.com</a> has a new feature on their site where they will tell you the TCO or True Cost of Ownership and the cost per mile to drive a new car. Everything is based on 15,000 miles a year and buying the car on a 60 month loan.

Has anyone here kept track of what it costs to drive their car per mile. My current car is running right at 62 cents a mile and I have put about 10,000 miles on it. The 87 944T that I owned cost about 59 cents a mile to drive and I put 14,000 miles on it. I include gas, insurance, tag cost, depreciation, repairs, and financing cost if applicable.

Michael Weinstein

You MUST be joking! If I ever added the costs together I would snap and go on a tri-state shooting spree. I have owned 3 944 Turbos and you just have to be lucky. Even full maintenance records don't guarantee anything. With my current car, it is running about $5.00 per mile. Of course, I bought it and almost immediately upgraded everything and started a rebuild on the motor.

Rich Sandor

the whole "cost per mile" idea is useless and inaccurate.

A highway car running at "legal" speeds will get a WAY WAY lower Cost Per Mile than a City car being driven in the city by a clutch-dropping, autocrossing, track-day attendee.

It'll differ by where you live, what kind of car you have, your own driving style, and numerious other factors.

It's like comparing 0-60 numbers in car magazines. 1/2 of them are different becuase they were done by different drivers in different track conditions.

Tom R.

If i dont count insurance & gas and I get what I'm asking for the car it is about 44 cents per mile. about 1cent less than my friend that just leased a brand new Acura MDX!

Josh B

I agree that it is a relative number. However it is a number that exists especially once the car is sold and depreciation can be calculated for sure. Insurance and tag fees are fixed reguardless of milage but they do vary especially with age and location of both the driver and vehicle. The gas cost per mile for my car has been about 6.5 cents with a high of 7.8 cents (city driving, rising cost of fuel) to 5.2 cents (straight hwy driving, cheaper fuel). That makes fuel cost only about 10% of the total cost per mile. With a diference of only 2 cents for hwy vs city driving that for the most part means that gas is a realtively fixed cost on at least a per mile basis.

The cost of financing could be viewed as either the interest on the money locked in the car or the cost of a loan.

Repairs seem to be expensive for these cars reguardless of age or mileage. Rubber wears out and plastic cracks either way.

It is interesting to look over Edmunds site. They definetly put a lot of effort into it. It does seem like a useful way to compare between models the real cost of owning a vehicle.

I've just been thinking about cost more lately as I realized that on a per mile basis I am spending about $9300 (15,000 miles) a year of after tax money to drive my car while my wife's honda albeit with 10000 miles a year cost $1900 to drive.

Not that I would have it the other way around

Tom R.

I have 20,500 into the car. What can I sell it for? When I wanted 13,8 I was told I am too high. figure 6500 to drive 14500 miles and you get 44.8 cents.

My friend just leased a brand new MDX for i think 532 a month for 48 months. thats 25,536 for 60,000 miles or 42.56 cents a mile, no maintenance other than oil changes, it handles the snow etc. The leasing co says he can give it back needing 1,500 in work so he can give it in with baldies.

Makes an old man like me think, especially when the cuff to my suit catches the damn brake when I get out of the car.

Waterguy

I just worked mine out: US$8.32 a mile. My solution: drive it more! (Only had it for 7 1/2 wekks and 1,650 miles so far.)

I plan to enjoy driving my costs down!

Steve Lavigne

Well, cost per mile might be good comparison for basic transportation, but I don't think it is very suitable for these cars. I'm more into cost per grin, and in that department, the 951 is a pretty good value.

Dave

Insurance and reg comes to $.35 for me. I've never worried about it enough to calculate gas milege let alone fuel cost per mile. $80 worth of mobil 1 every 1500-2000 miles is .04/mile, $600 for a set of tires that might make it to 12,000 miles (including a DE and ~18 autocrosses) is .05/mile. I'm not willing to add up the maint and repair bills .
So I'm at $.44/mile without adding in the purchase price, repairs, maint, upgrades or fuel.

my944

Investment into my Porsche = $30K+
Price Per Mile When Driven & Reacted To = Priceless

Dave

[quote]Originally posted by Tom R.:
<strong>Makes an old man like me think, especially when the cuff to my suit catches the damn brake when I get out of the car.</strong><hr></blockquote>

It does that with Levi's too! The big question is "do you make the
old man noise getting in and out yet?I think it comes with parenthood <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> .

BartW

you guys have some ridiculous costs, I did not check out the site to see how you figured that out but I can tell you that my Semi truck and trailer cost me 51 cents per mile last year to operate and that is averaging 6.99 miles to the gallon, $130 for oil changes, $1600 for the plates for the year, heavy highway vehicle use tax, fuel tax, 18 tires wearing out, minor repairs, insurance, my disability insurance and etc.... She has 716,000 miles on a motor that has never been opened yet and she's for sale. Anyone interested in a semi plus a enclosed car trailer that will fit 3 P-cars for around $20k let me know. You can look like all the professional racing teams and it is cheaper to operate than a pickup with a single open trailer. Oh yeah, it can be registered as an RV for cheap plates and insurance.

Rich Sandor

[quote]Well, cost per mile might be good comparison for basic transportation, but I don't think it is very suitable for these cars. I'm more into cost per grin, and in that department, the 951 is a pretty good value.<hr></blockquote>

He said it best.

Mark Parker

[quote]"do you make the
old man noise getting in and out yet?I think it comes with parenthood <hr></blockquote>
Ahh yes,,the "old man" noise. That would be the one that sounds like "uhhn" whenever you get out of the Porsche, or up from a creeper, or even off the couch. I don't know exactly when the onset of OMN is, but I have a theory on its background. I think it has its roots in cave man days, and is a vital component in natural selection (per Darwin) Whenever there was a dangerous predator about, say a sabre tooth tiger f'rinstance, the cave men would crouch low to hide. When it appeared that escape could be made, they would rise, but the younger cave person could rise silently and flee succesfully, whereas the cave man suffering onset of OMN would involuntarily go "uhhn",revealing his position to the tiger and facilitating his removal from the gene pool. I am SO glad there are no more sabre tooth tigers !

PrerYDoG

Well, I've driven it 2,000 miles in 1 year.

Purschase price = 12,600
Total cost so far (not including gas, insurance, car tax, registration, title fees, and the little bit of intrest I paid on the loan): 4,114.27

That means: $2.07 per mile Or
$8.36 per mile including purchase price

I haven't bought tires yet
Gas is another .10 cents a mile

Now I'm depressed....I'm gonna go work on my car, wax it (not included in above prices) and take it out for a sping, and watch my wallet cringe