Okay so here's a rundown:

I'm a sophomore in college, and I work part-time as a delivery driver. I make $6/hr base plus tips. My dad pays for my rent and truck insurance, and I pay for my food, gas, and electric bill. My parents live an hour away and my girlfriend another 45 minutes past them. I drive home about 2-3 times a month. I'm not dying for money but then again I could do better.

Here's where it lies; recently my truck has taken a run for the worse. I usually got 15-19 mpg city in my truck, but recently I'm seeing 9-12 mpg. With the miles I drive, it has hurt me a bit. The gas station attendant knows me by name now and its a bad habit. Yesterday I swapped vehicles with my dad and I'm now driving his 1999 Mitsubishi Ecipse RS Spyder. Non-turbo 4G64, 2.4L I4, 5-speed manual. It gets 18 mpg city the way I drive, and so far I'm liking the savings. I'm now considering swapping vehicles, permanently. As much as I think about it, I'm still on the fence.

So far the pros include saving money and easier transport home and everything, but the cons include the crappy transmission (Chrysler co-designed the car with Mitsubishi, so I've got a Dodge transmission basically), the red paint (hello speeding ticket), its a girl's car, and lastly I can foresee back problems with it sitting so low and non-lumbar seat support for my job. I love my truck to death and I love sitting so high up and being able to hit curbs and not worry about it. With the car I have to be careful when taking turns. I've dumped thousands of dollars into the truck, so its a part of me and if I stayed with the car, I have immediately thought up of stuff I would do (tint, radio, speakers, etc) so its a trade off.

Thoughts/comments?

 

Have you looked at what may have caused the sudden drop in mileage?

 

I've got a 3-page thread and have replaced many things and even Ford gave it back to me with their hands in the air

 

Id say keep the truck. worst case scenario you'd need a long block, and V6s can be found on CL all day long for 6-800 bucks take out engines with 80 or 90k on them

 

Its time for a v8 swap, I think your v6 is just not working the way it should. Maybe something internal.

 

I'm still trying to figure out how you're only getting 18 MPGs out of a Mitsu turd bucket.

 

Keep your truck man. Don't all of the gas station attendants know us by name?

 

Well it is a '99 and a Spyder and I'm willing to bet that right pedal is on the floor often.

 

If you have given up trying to fix the truck, swap it with your dad or sell it for what you can get.

Replace it with a car or truck you can afford to own.

Then when you graduate and get a real job, reward yourself with a car or truck you will be proud to own.

 

New car... duh.

 

the truck runs fine, just gets ****ty mileage. no way im spending that much on an engine. it would take years to offset the cost of the block to the upturned gas mileage.

see above. if it came down to getting ANOTHER engine for this truck, im going to slap a FOR SALE sign on it and strip it back down to stock

Coming from a 4,000-lb truck with 170 hp to a 2,500 car with a 150hp, I'm having my fun with it

Avg is 23 city/31 hwy

 

If the extra money in gas for the truck is hurting you then it's a no brainer.

Keep the Mitsubishi.

Also if you don't use a truck for what it is intended then you don't need one anyway. I would trade the truck for late 1990's Honda Civic and get about 37 MPG on the highway.

 

Keep driving it that hard and the tranny won't hold up very long. I say keep the truck.

 

If you can't afford the truck and have the option of using the car, use the car. You're in college, you're supposed to be smart and this isn't a difficult decision.

Why do you go home almost every weekend (I'm assuming your trips home are over the weekend since you work and have classes)? If you just kept your butt at school like most students you wouldn't have to worry about spending money on gas. Don't worry about your g/f living so far away either, it won't work out and you're just wasting your time and money. Find yourself a chick at school.

edited to add:
If you can't afford gas, quit spending money on mods, and if you take the car, for the love of Pete, don't waste any more money on mods for it!

And you shouldn't have to worry about hitting curbs in a car, just don't drive like crap!

- NCSU

 

Good point. the car has 150K miles on engine and clutch. it burns oil and has a small electrical issue. the charging system is shot. apart from the gas burning, the truck runs like a champ (80K engine, 40K clutch)

The truck I've spent all my time and money on or a girl car? I just cant seem to make the leap. Yes I would save gas, but being a dumb college kid, that money would just go back into the car.

I go home every weekend to see the parents and g/f. I'd go after the girls at my college, but I'm not interested in getting an STD anytime soon

The car is bone stock, and living in Florida is impossible without tint, and the stereo is blown along with the speakers. Thanks for the opinion NCSU, you seem to be one of the few who really break it down. Everyone else here is just saying keep the truck.