Comment by aestra | Hacker News Reader

Comment by aestra | Hacker News Reader

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How much are you really spending on gas?

I paid $11,000 for my now 3 year old car when it was 2 years old. I didn't finance it so I didn't pay interest. I average about 35 mpg and drive about 12,000 miles a year. If gas was $4 a gallon that is about $1,412 a year. If I drove 15,000 miles a year that is $1,700 in gas. My owner's manual* says to change the oil once every 10,000 miles or once a year whichever is first. The dealership does that for me for free.

I'd have to drive my car for 30 years to make up the price difference between the cars ($52,000)

If you want to get a luxury car, then get a luxury car, but don't act like you're doing it to save money.

*it is no longer true you have to change your oil every 3,000 miles for most cars.

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/how-do-you-really-know-when-to-c...

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4209/is-it-neces...

http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/stop-changing-your-oil.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/your-money/11shortcuts.htm...

I call straw man argument. Take everything "electric drivetrain" out of a Tesla and it's still far beyond $11k echelon. Also, buying a car without financing it is surely not the norm, especially for cars in the class of a non-electric Tesla (for the sake of discussion) -- though I could be wrong, as it is a "luxury" vehicle, after all.

I'm interested in seeing your argument re-framed against the Nissan Leaf, which in this case is more of an orange than a Tesla, to your Aveo (?).

>Take everything "electric drivetrain" out of a Tesla and it's still far beyond $11k echelon

So what? I was arguing that nobody is buying a Tesla specifically to save money and that $3k in gas an oil is absurdly high. I didn't say the two cars were comparable, I said one actually saves money on personal transportation. If saving money is actually an issue, it wouldn't make any sense to go Tesla over the other options out there. Everyone has different priorities and "far beyond" is completely and entirely subjective to each person.

I don't have an Aveo but I did rent one before (if I recall correctly) and I didn't like them. I also negotiated the asking price of the dealership WAY WAY down.

Anyway if I made $10 million a year, I wouldn't change a thing about my car purchase.

OP said E Class Mercedes, so this is comparing against an E63--16 mpg.

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