A few years ago I was in a similar scenario. My F-150 got 13mpg and I had built a house that changed my commute to 76 miles round trip. My truck had been paid for for years and I couldn’t see ha ving a payment to save gas. But last year when I decided that I wanted a newer truck I looked for a more fuel efficient option. I ended up with a 2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, this was perfect for my needs, pulls my 18 ft trailer/tractor like a champ, rides well and I get 25+ mpg. In hindsight a 5.3l might have gotten me low 20s and been able to stay with gas which is cheaper than diesel but this works for me.

Not a bad plan... I do something very similar.

I don't buy new. When I have to have a new to me truck, I look for reasonable miles, 2-4 years old. I then drive it until the wheels fall off.

I agree that most vehicles today can go 250-300,000 miles with no major issues, but I prefer to be the one controlling the maintenance starting at 20-40,000 miles if I can. I generally save 25-40% off new, but they are still basically knew when I start driving them. Important to me, as we travel a lot, and are towing much of our travel time.

Maintaining two vehicles can be a false economy. Run the numbers to verify your situation. I need a truck, and have never been able to financially justify a small commuter car in addition to my truck once I factor in taxes, registration, insurance, etc.

My commute is only 15 miles roundtrip in a Toyota Corolla. If I was doing anything over 50 miles per day, I would stick with a either a Corolla or Honda Civic for gas mileage and superior reliability.

If it’s for work I’d get a cheap reliable car/truck no need to buy a 50k+ vehicle for that unless you just need to spend some extra money

70+ miles one way for me. I have a Camry for work and a Silverado for play. Bought both used with low mileage. Have put around 150k on the car in the last 5 years and only about 25k on the truck in three. Have considered trading down in trucks since I don’t use it that much.

I see several issues here. First, a year ago you couldn’t pay your truck payment. So, now you want to have another payment? Second, if you already have a vehicle, are you making a payment now? You want to add another payment? You have to analysis how much better gas mileage you will get and if the savings on gas is going to off set the increase in expenses for the added car payment, insurance and maintenance on a second vehicle. Very offer you are better not buying a second vehicle if the purpose is to save money.

The wife does home health so she may do 400-600 miles a week..I bought her another Kia Optima and no complaints yet.. she was driving the Nissan truck but having to fill up 4 or so tanks a week sucked.

^^^ what he said

15 mpg (truck) is $15.66 per trip at $2.35 / gallon. 30 mpg (gas saver) is $7.83 per trip.
Savings per week = $39.16
month = $168.41
year = $2,020.96.
As Scott said, payments (or use of money), insurance and maintenance are going to eat up those savings really quick.

Buy a low mileage Hyundai car. Bank the extra money

The simple solution is to just move closer to your job then you won't have to worry about it.

I could not imagine spending 2 hours out of my day, every day.... in my vehicle driving to and from work. I do realize that some workers are on shifts and such that they don't do it based on an 5 day, 40 hour week schedule.

If you are 5/40 - and you work 50 weeks and spend 10 hours in the truck driving to and from work per week you are spending 500 hours a year in your car driving to work. That is about a month of your life you have lost because you don't want to move closer to your job.

Husband and I both drive 100 miles round trip each day. I have an 06 Corolla and he has an 05 Tacoma. I can get 3 1/2 days on gas(about 375 miles to the tank), him maybe 2(if we are lucky). I spend about $40 a week in gas, he spends $100 or more.

I drive about 85 miles a day. I bought a new Corolla in 07. Still driving it today with 305,000 miles. I plan on replacing it with a new one in a couple of years and then drive it until the wheels fall off.

I travel 86 mile round trip. Every day work car is a 03 Camry which we bought new. Cw drove it for about 12 years. In 15 she got a new Camry and I took over the old one. I drive it to work 4 days and on my Friday I drive the f150 EcoBoost. I did the same thing when I had the Tacoma.

My new job is 100 mi round trip. Driving my Silverado everyday. If I financed a decent used car for 10-11k and drove to work with it, my car note and gas would be about the same as what I’m paying for gas currently.

Just did the math. I drive 2k miles to work per month at 14 mpg with gas averaging $2.50 so I spend about $360 per month in just gas and truck is paid for. If I were to drive a car with 32 mpg I would instead be spending about $157 a month on gas. So about $203 left over for a small car payment would probably be the best deal for me...

Don’t forget to add additional insurance cost.

I just sold my truck and took the money I got from it and turned around and bought a 2011 Honda Civic with less than 140k miles. Hoping it’ll last me 3 years of heavy commuting. If I can get by without any major repairs the max I can save in gas for this time frame is around $6k. At that point the wife will be working as well, and I’ll be able to get another beater. Only time will tell.

Prius. All day.