Originally Posted by
mrodgers
I thought biking was suppose to be cheaper than cars? I don't commute on a bike, I commute by car. I drive 20,000 miles a year, bought my Jetta for $7000 with 74,000 miles on it. I will drive it to 200,000 miles which will take me 6.3 years. I figure I'll put 2 sets of tires on it and 3 sets of brake changes. I will change the oil every quarter and will pay insurance for 6.3 years. I average 28 mpg and use premium fuel, so I will use $3.75/gallon. My car will cost me $0.12 per mile as long as I don't have any unexpected repairs, which I expect being that it would be unexpected (where as "unexpected" repairs for something like a Ford or Chevy to me would be "expected".)
Where are cars so expensive?
I made an estimate on how much you spent on gas alone this year.
2012 Jetta ------------- 38 miles to the gallon (estimated)
20,000 miles ----------- Per Year (estimated)
$3.20 ----------------- Price of Gallon of gas (estimated)
Under these assumptions, you used 526 gallons of gas in one year costing $1,684.00 dollars in fuel alone! Wow! That's what I spend on bus/rail fair for 16 months! We didn't even find out the cost of insurance, registration, tolls, tickets and parking. I almost forgot, what about replacement costs per year?