i dont know about trading in, but i've thought about getting a second car or motorcycle. cant let go of the taco. at least not yet. there's other altrenatives. i, for example, i try to take public transportation to work 2-3 times/week. and pretty soon, i'm doing a career change, so i'll look for something closer to home

 

will it make you feel any better if i told you im paying $4.80?

i ride my bike to work

 

I drive 155 miles a day in my '07 DCLB 4X4 and know the feeling. Am getting 20+ mpg but this is ridiculous!
Don't just look at the hybrids, there are alot of new, clean running little diesels coming in within a year to satisfy us. Rather run a clean, fuel efficient diesel than think about where those toxic batteries are going to end up in ten years! My daughter's VW bug diesel gets 45 around town and 52 on the road!

 

im actually looking to trade into a taco from a car. gas is gas and will always be on the rise with inflation etc. i pay $50 to fill my car with premium which is a must due to it being a turbocharged car and personally wouldnt mind paying the same for regular in a truck. i know this might seem like a pointless comparison but not when the car only averages 19mpg, not to mention being light footed in a truck can yield the same mileage and be able to move my toys.
it is what it is and everyone will make their own decisions when it comes to the gas crunch.

 

It crossed my mind once about 5 months ago, but I decided on keeping the Taco and buying a junker for work...

 

rich dad would just say, "make more money" calculate out what the extra cost of the gasoline is for you on a daily basis over say 2.50/gallon, and work an extra hour every other day to pay for it... no biggie. plus you'll look like a harder worker to the bossman, and maybe you'll get a raise next quarter.....

keep your truck, don't give in......


if you're driving 100 miles a day....20 mpg = 5 gallons @ 2.50/gallon = $12.5

if you're driving 100 miles per day.....20mpg = 5 gallons @ 4/gallon = $20


$7.50 difference per day IF you are driving 50 miles to work each way....... most aren't driving that much.


read the book, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"


even better than that is to start your own small business with the intent of making money (talk to an accountant), write off your mileage each day and deduct your mileage @ .43/mile. that way, your gas bill for the year drops by the amount of your tax bracket. also, write the cost of your vehicle off on your business and get the longest term/cheapest lease you can get to keep your payments nice and low..... then your truck payment has miraculously decreased by the amount of your tax bracket....... then, with those two things having been done, the cumulative effect is that your gasoline is FREE.................

 

But that doesn't work for students like myself. I bought another car, it's 60 miles both ways to school, at 16mpg. Gas is $4.00, i can't deduct gas because i don't make enough for more deductions. I got a 1996 scrapper, aka "toyota tercel" manual. i get 40 mpg. I learned something the other day, as a college student i automatically qualify for food stamps, funny.

 

see now that is just quality information... thanks for that :thumbup:.

 

i thought about trading it in for a 09 and maybe go stock... iono

sucks when youre unemployed and a college student these days.

 

I have thought about trying to sell it private party. KBB private party value on my truck is $2,000 more than I paid for it.

If I did I would buy a White 09 Nissan SE-R Spec V. There is no other fuel efficient vehicle I enjoy driving as the SE-R so the Spec V would be even better.

 

Not me! I just got mine and I switched from F250 V-10 that got 10mpg so the 18mpg seems great to me.:clap:

 

Not me! I just got mine and I switched from F250 V-10 that got 10mpg so the 18mpg seems great to me.:clap:

Same here...I had an '08 F-350 with a 6.4 liter twin-turbo diesel that was "supposed" to be a much more fuel-efficient motor than the 6.0 & 7.3 diesels. Well, 12.2 average wasn't what I was looking for. Got rid of that and couldn't be happier. I average 17.5 - 18.0 in the Taco and am paying about $1.00/gallon less for fuel.

 

if you make enough money to pay for the gas now, then you are capable of deducting that amount from your taxes.

what do you mean you bought ANOTHER car and you don't have enough money for gas..... doesn't make any sense to me. so you now have two cars? and just because you're a student, doesn't mean you are hopeless. You can do it.....just don't give up on yourself or develop the habit of forming a pity-party just because you're a student. forming a business is as simple as saying that you've formed a business....

hell, a business of delivering groceries for the elderly from your local grocery store and calling the business "expedient services, LLC" make up some business cards at your school library/computer lab, fill out a form to declare yourself a limited liability corporation/sole proprieter and you're set. start deducting....... you can deduct as much as your business spends, UNLIMITED AMOUNT. you're probably in the 15% tax bracket and it's unlikely that you'll get audited no matter what you do with your deductions.

you can also apply for federal subsidized loans or unsub loans..... that is cheap and easy money to get for expenses as a student... talk to your counselor about it. no excuses....

 

I spend $500 a month on gas to drive my truck, and my payment is $500 my tank cost $75-80 to fill on a 5 day period. My tercel cost $38 max, for 7 days. I commute to school 4 days a week 60 miles round trip. The tercel is already paid off and i got it cheap and in very good condition, Insurance is 1/4 the cost of the truck insurance, and when i turn 25 it'll be even less. I quality for both grants and subsidized loans, and am currently working. I'm an old student but, i'll be pushing for 2 degree's and a minor, with only 2 years of school left, i will be getting my first degree in another year, and my second when i finish my minor in 2010. I am in no way financially insecure, i just work the system to my advantage. I also will soon be doing the "LLC" when i complete my personal trainer certification in the summer months, and possibly taking up a second job at a bank which i am guarantied a job at the moment. I used to be poor but i redid my finances. LIke you said everything is possible you just have to go get it. I'm a very smart individual.

"you can deduct as much as your business spends, UNLIMITED AMOUNT. you're probably in the 15% tax bracket and it's unlikely that you'll get audited no matter what you do with your deductions."

I don't agree on this statement, you can't deduct your whole business expense without showing a profit, after a few years you will be audited, after reporting a loss over to many years. Yes you don't have to pay any extra taxes, but a gain is better then a loss.

 

eyedoc has some good ideas.

I still believe oil prices will go down over time. It may be a ways off yet but I do believe we'll see sub $3.00 gas again.

So, like I said in a previous thread, you have decide if you'll be happy driving whatever it is you get instead of your Tacoma when gas prices go down. Cut back on booze, restaurants, truck mods, or whatever else it is that you typically blow your discretionary spending on for the time being.

 

eyedoc has some good ideas.

. Cut back on booze, .

:ugh3::banhim: how dare you .ummm beer :licklips:
I love to :chug:

 

^LOL, I know, I know, I feel the same way. Of course, I'm just saying that a lot of people complain about gas prices (hey, we all do) but there are ways to fit it into your budget without impacting on your life too much. For example, instead of eating out twice a week, how about once and get a pizza the other night? It just cracks me up when I see people, like at work, complaining about gas when they blow money left and right on whatever.

I buy approx 16 gallons of gas a week. So, if gas is $1.00 more than last year, yeah, that extra $16.00/week hurts but I can find ways around it.

 

Nobody likes the gas prices. You can argue that the relative cost of a coke or beer per gallon is more. To me what it comes down to is: if you want/need to drive a truck you will have to pay for it at the pump. I can't haul my hunting gear in a compact car.

 

TOTALLY thinking about trading in it, but not for gas $ reasons - because of
the continuing vibration issues, weak tail gate, etc etc etc etc etc etc.
Not the quality of my previous taco at all. Ready to trade because I want a
smooth quiet ride to work and back.

 

TOTALLY thinking about trading in it, but not for gas $ reasons - because of
the continuing vibration issues, weak tail gate, etc etc etc etc etc etc.
Not the quality of my previous taco at all. Ready to trade because I want a
smooth quiet ride to work and back.

Like snowcountry, I was one of the ones with a problem tacoma when it came to the vibrations. They were getting worse as miles increased, and I was only at 10300 miles. Truck was totally stock. On my last service dept. visit, they told me that lots of others had been in complaining of the same thing, and they didn't know how to fix it. Anyway, it wasn't enjoyable to drive anymore, so I traded it off on Monday. Honda dealership gave me $19500 for it, and I got an 08 civic EX coupe. I've driven toyota trucks for many years, and this will probably be my last. It's sad, and I felt sick making this decision, but something wasn't right with that truck and the dealerships and I couldn't isolate it.

 

its crossed my mind on getting a cheesey new hybrid, but the extra cost of the car is more than the amount of gas id be saving, and nobody ever seems to stop and think about that.

 

Nope! I just got this truck! It already does better on gas than anything I've ever owned. Not to mention buying a new vehicle is not a smart way to save money. Your starting a new loan, possibly for more per month than before, you have to register and insure the new rig, both of which will likely cost more than the one you have now.

 

ive been thinking about it very seriously over the last week. It takes 90 to fill my truck up and it only goes about 320 miles, where as it takes 45 to fill my gf car up and it goes 365 miles??? im paying double and getting less miles.
Anyways i went to honda today to trade it in on a civic si and they were only going to give me 15,000 for my truck when i just payed 23,000 for it a year ago and it only has 11k miles on it with lift and tires.
So know it looks like im just going to switch to a smaller tire and change some driving habits.

 

If your gonna sell the Taco, do it on your own. Considering you where offered 15 by a dealer you could get like 19 private party.

The SI is a badass little ride. Pretty fast to. I raced one with my SE-R and they are pretty damn quick. Not as fast as the SE-R or Spec V until you hit 90 and then the SI eats the Spec alive (they are big rivals if you didn't know that). Plus they have VTEC

 

ok im not saying theyre better or anything because i really dont like dodge, but they are doing a thing(at least in so cal) where if you get a new dodge they guarantee gas at 2.99 for life....i thoght that was kind of cool and wished only toyota would do that i would be a happy camper.......but still Doing.Overhauls.Daily.Gets.Exhausting...:lol:.

 

I see... My mistake. Didn't realize that you were already engaged in battle. Carry on.

 

LOL! No, not a battle, just a disagreement. It's all opinion for anyone at this point, anyway. Who really knows what the future will bring. To be honest, it very well could get worse, for all I know. I'm just an optimist and I hope for the best.

 

I too like to think the glass is half full, but maybe in the meantime worthywads can say a little prayer for all of us (don't want to waste that catholic school education of his) that gas will go down.

Cheers dude

PS, I had no idea that other thread was going on. (I usually skip the 2.7 vs 4.0, 4x2 vs 4x4, shortbed vs long bed, 9mm vs .45 debates) So wasn't trying to do a Sun Tzu "disturbance in the east, attack from the west" move on you. :lol:

 

I hope they go down...unfortunitely i'm using my taco to deliver pizzas, since i don't have junker for work right now...i'm lucky if i'm getting like 12mpg in stop and go city traffic...wish i could get a different job, but i guess i can't complain about makin' like 30 bucks an hour :thumbsup:

 

Haven't thought about trading in the Taco but I have thought about trading in my '08 Nissan Armada. The damn thing cost $95 to fill up and only gets 11mpg! It's the wife's car and for some reason she thinks she needs the gas guzzler. :lol:

 

Just got the truck in January, so I definately haven't thought about trading it in. I did look at the Tri-Rail train schedule today though, as an alternative way to get to work. The only problem is the train stops are a couple miles from my home and work, so I would need to bike too. Not sure yet if its worth the hassle.

 

I just downsized into my Tacoma this year after Diesel prices hit the $3.80 mark. With a 29 gallon tank in my F-250, and the current price of $4.45 for diesel, that equates to about $130-$140 a tank per week. I'll happily pay for a $60 to $70 a tank in my tacoma, thank you! My Tacoma is still saving me about $250 a month just in gas...