A friend at work who just ordered a new GT knows how insane us L owners are, and how insanely fast it is (I hate that "for a truck" part most people add in). Anyways, when the UPS guy showed up a few minutes ago with my new chip in a small box, this kid threw the very light box to me from across the room. Not that chips are all the fragile, but I told him to watch it, as that "light box" cost about $400, and he was surprised. He asked what was in it, and I told him, then he asked how much I thought my truck cost me per year to own, so we did some quick calcs...

Truck Payment = 12 @ $590 each = $7,080
Insurance = $1,600
Gas: (@ 40,000 miles per year, 13 mpg, $1.75 per gallon) = $5,380
Tires: (incl shipping and installation; 2 every 4 mos.) = $1,500
Excise Tax = $400
Oil Changes (every 4,000 miles; Mobil 1) = $400
Mods = CONSERVATIVE $2000 budget

TOTAL = $18,360 OUT OF POCKET!!!

...not that I care, because as someone else on here said: "its all about Smiles per gallon, not miles per gallon", but I just thought it was funny to look at on paper.

Then we did some other quick calcs:

$18,360 per year / 40,000 miles per year = 46 cents per mile

So if you're driving 75 mph on the highway, its costing you $34.50 PER HOUR to drive it.

ha ha. later...


------------------
Being Single...
Seeing Double...
Going for the triple
(((Garrett))))
'00 Silver Lightning
'01 CR250
'00 NESC MX Amateur Champ
#65 NESC / #465 AMA

motoxer@wpi.edu
gkaye@rjagroup.com
AOL IM: GK65A

 

I knew there was a reason I bought a STX instead of a lightening. Not that I didn't want one really baaaaaad!!!!!

 

only 2 observations:

1) 40,000 miles per year!?!? wow!

2) 1500 for 3 sets of tires in one year? thats a steal.

Daniel

 

About 6 months ago I put up a Excel psreadsheet that will let you total your own costs
http://www.svtlightnings.com/xls/costcalc.htm
Pretty frightening
Doug

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Picked up Silver 2000 Lightning 2/28/00!!
1st run 13.9 sec 1/4 !! Best Run 13.025
Email Silver_2000@SVTLightnings.com

My Web Page www.SVTLightnings.com
My mods and photos of my truck
Link to my profile because the UBB doesnt support semicolons any more
Moderator Lightning Forum

 

thepawn: I bought my truck last October, approximately 8 months ago, and last week I turned 28,000 miles. But the first two months after I bought it I was still at school and didn't drive it that much. In January I started a full time graduate internship, and ever since I've been doing a daily 55 mile commute each way. I figure that I'll put 50,000 miles on the L during the 12 months I work here...or about 55,000 by this Xmas. And luckily I took advantage of the "TireMan"s (or whatever his name was) deal on F1's a while back and still have two at home that I only paid $175 a piece for, so $1500 for 3 sets of 2 is pretty close I'd say...for this year anyways (but those 20's are looking pretty sweet (jk)). later...

 

blueblood: I knew that my school offers "tuition assistance", but I didn't realize that they have a "Lightning payment assistance" program too!! (jk). You'd almost think they should though since they've had no problem whatsoever charging me $28,000+ per year for each of my 4 previous undergrad and 2 current graduate years there. And trust me, if I would have had the $$$ to pay for the truck outright, I would have, but that would inherently assume that I have been working for quite a while...as opposed to still being a college student (granted, with one of the sweetest rides on campus...and all for only $1,500 down).

Let's update the calcs:

W.P.I. = $28,000+ per year:
4 yrs undergrad and 2 yrs grad school = $168,000...wow

Lightning = $18,360 per year
Assume will own for ~5 years (have 5 yr extended warranty)
Cost of Lightning over 5 years = $91,800!!!

double wow-zah!

and the hits just keep on coming, later...

GK

 

BadBolt,

Where did you get the Tires? I am looking for a set for this coming winter and thought about getting them now instead of waiting.

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2000 Black Lightning
1972 Gran Torino Sport

 

I got mine from this boards classifieds. You can also find a lot of prospects on www.ebay.com Remember, your stock spare tire will not work if you change to most anything taller than L wheels. Keep that in mind.

[This message has been edited by BadBolt (edited 06-27-2001).]

 

My method of calculation: I don't want to know how much it costs!!!

Still driving the stone-stock, silver 2001
(but noticing that the bottom-end & mid-range could be better)

 

Why are they so expensive?

Cus Its Worth It

AW

 

Car payment $0
Gas $1.60 gal 8000 miles per year 13 mpg =$984
Insurance $833 yr
2 oil changes ~$25
Total $1842
I pay only 10% of what you pay! Stop those payments and drive less!
Tom

 

I use my only method of conveyance (Lightning) to do my job. I get about $4,500 in fuel expenses anually. That's a big help; but, still, I end up putting lots of miles on the truck. I put 26,000 on my now gone 00 after owning it for 11 months. This puts my anual expense of owning this awsome vehicular to about $5,000. I can live with that. BTW, I don't go through tires like some here. I'd probably need a set every two years to keep prime rubber on it. I don't even have them on in the winter because I snowmobile and tow; I got a set of 2000 SuperCrew 17" wheels for that. Really sedates the L bigtime on ride. Paid $475 for tires/wheels with almost no wear on them. Good deal there.