DO NOT LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/WhyNowsTheTimeToBuyAnSUV.aspx?GT1=8386

Here's a piece of unconventional wisdom: Now may be a great time to buy that SUV.

What? you sputter. Haven't you seen the price at the pump?

Sure, gas prices are still above -- sometimes way above -- $3 a gallon in many parts of the nation. But that translates into lots of people trying to unload their sport-utility vehicles. (In one extreme, California authorities foiled an arson-for-hire ring in which SUV owners, weary of paying for their gas-guzzlers, paid an arsonist to burn them.)

The simple law of supply and demand means there are some hard-to-ignore deals out there on big rigs -- particularly used, late-model SUVs, experts say.

"It would be a great time to buy an SUV, based on what we're seeing on our site." says Louise Barr at used-car classifieds site AutoTrader.com. AutoTrader.com saw an increase of nearly 70,000 more SUV listings between last June and this June, a nearly 20% rise.

:eyes:

is that Tina Turner?
:hi:

:rofl:

Well, not under it... :wow: :spray:


:hi:

is it a schedule or just when you feel like it?

Sometimes less, never more. Well, that's not entirely true. If I feel particularly strong over a previous image, I'll temporarily change it back...

"Buy a vehicle nobody else wants any more because they can't afford to operate it -- since because nobody wants them, you can now get a geat deal, even though you won't be able to afford to operate it, either." So I guess I'll run right down to the Hummer dealer. Maybe I can park it out back, make a koi pond out of it.

There is no wisdom to it, unless gas prices go down to $1.39/gl.

I recall all the repugs blasting Clinton over gas prices. How are they re: Bush... silence, I'd presume...

If someone is that stupid, just go all out.

when this same thing happened in the late 80's. Right after the market fell. Every one sold the large trucks for compacts. Then prices on full size pick-ups seemed to double overnight. Actually it was about a fifty percent increase. From around 10k to 15k. When that happened book value on full sized trucks went through the roof. Gas prices will come down. Maybe not where they were before but they will. I expect to see full size vehicle everywhere again.

The theory that this marketing ploy is based on is How much gas can you buy for $10,000. $35.000. S.U.V. and you pay $25,000. there is a savings.

As people trade in the full size cars for compacts and hybrids, or, start driving compacts while leaving the S.U.V. at home, fuel prices will fall. .

Even if they save 10K on their precious SUV they'll more than eat up that savings in gas expenses in two to three years. :eyes:

I don't use 3K in gas in a year, let alone drive enough that that would be the difference in fuel costs from one vehicle to another. Now the higher cost of ownership including insurance may eat up the discount, but the math would vary based on how much somebody drives and the fuel and insurance costs for the vehicle they'd have otherwise.

At $3 a gallon that would be $90 to fill the tank, and if they only filled it 3 times a month it would take three years to spend $9720 on gas (assuming gas prices didn't rise further).

(I used 12 MPG) they'd have to drive 1080 miles a month in that vehicle to need that much gas. For a more mid-sized SUV (I'm using 18 mpg here) that's 1620 miles a month. Assuming a person isn't getting thier SUV as an alternative to a much smaller and more efficient vehicle (and most don't, they stole a lot of market share from family sedans and minivans, which aren't that great on gas either) and doesn't intend to use it as a commuter vehicle traveling great distances, the numbers may work out. Otherwise, they likely don't.

If Mom gets a minivan instead of that mid-size SUV and gets 26 mpg (a rather high real-life number for a minivan) instead of 18, she spends $62.31/month on gas instead of $90. Over 3 years, her increased fuel costs are $996.84 cents. There's no way increased gas and insurance costs will eat up that other $9K.

Ok. I was just thinking that I go through about $26-$28 in gas per week (which would average out to $1404 per year if gas was always $3/gallon). This is based on a minimum of 250 miles per week in my tiny Saturn with a 12 gallon tank. Therefore a huge SUV would necessarily use much more.

Okay, 250 miles/wk at 30 mpg (I'm guessing, but it's about what my Saturn SW1 gets so it's a fairly educated guess) = $100/mo in gas at $3/gallon.

With a 16 mpg SUV fuel costs would be $187.50. Over 3 years your increased fule cost, assuming fuel costs are constant (just for easier math, we all know they won't be) would be about $3150. However the added cost of the vehicle itself and the disparity in insurance rates would probably take up the rest of the $10K in your case.

For the target market, a family buyer who needs a largish (although perhaps not that large) vehicle primarily for hauling kids and thier crap, it may make financial sense, due to the smaller disparity in fuel costs compared to other vehicles large enough to accomodate a family. Over the longer term it might not add up, but that'll be more of a function of cost of ownership and maintainace and either increased fuel costs for the aging vehicle or shitty resale value than the initial disparity in fuel usage for the average user.

I drive less than 100 miles / week = 400 miles per month tops.

Oh yeah, Im gonna love stoking my ego! :rofl:

They're still unsafe and ugly and most people can get by with a smaller vehicle. I'm just saying that the discount can offset the added fuel cost for some buyers and even come out ahead. As I mentioned in my later reply to BTFS, it's probably still a loser over the long term, but fuel costs alone wouldn't be the cause.

www.jeeppatriot.com

Its a real 4x4 that actually might get better than 20mpg (do any SUVs get better than 20?).

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/ViewTypeModels/category=type/attribute=suv/category2=subtype/attribute2=compact

However most of them are AWD and not really built for off-road stuff. The exception, of course, is the Jeep Wrangler, which gets astonishingly bad mpg for such a small vehicle, let alone one generally equipped with an auto. It's only rated for 19 mpg highway, which all of the small and most of the midsize SUVs can meet or exceed.

So for somebody who needs the 4x4 feature set, that sounds like a good choice. I like that it's packaged with side curtain airbags and stability control- typically SUVs have lagged well behind other classes in safety features or they're offered only as options.

People who buy them for commercial vehicles don't care about the gas prices. They write that off as a business expense anyway.