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Looking to buy not sure

2K views 32 replies 20 participants last post by  jrock2004 
My R/T 6 speed is my daily driver, has been since January 2011. My drive at the time was 28 miles roundtrip. Now with my new job it's 55 miles roundtrip. I get better mileage in the summer than in the winter. I'd say I spend around $50 a week in gas for my car given my work drive and then smaller trips here at home after work.

The V6 will be a little better on gas, but it's not a huge difference like you'd think. Coming from a Corolla that probably gets 35+mpg it's going to be a shocker. Your mileage will probably drop near half, but your smile and fun factor will double or triple too! :)

If you really want to have a muscle car, then just do it. If after a year or two of driving it you get tired of filling it up, you can always sell it and get back into a better mileage vehicle. But my guess is you'll like it and find ways to cut small things in your budget to make it work. :)

If you go to test drive one, you won't need to think about it anymore, you'll just want the car. If you don't get that feeling after driving it, it might not be for you.

I test drove my 6 speed and knew right away I wanted to get that car. My drives to work have never been more fun! Everyone else is driving their fuel efficient bland colored low powered car to work while I'm cruising down the highway in my bright orange Challenger, shifting gears, blasting the stereo, and having a blast everywhere I go!
 
Only thing to remember while driving your SUV to work is to remember you're spending a lot of money on gas to drive a "regular" vehicle. When you're driving an awesome muscle car to work everyday, you can justify the higher gas costs a little more because it's cool and lots of fun to drive.

You can get an older muscle car for fun on weekends/summers too and just keep the Corolla for work. But having a modern muscle car is nice in that it can be a daily driver, be reliable, not break the bank on gas, and give you years of trouble free service. An older muscle car is a lot of fun too, but you'll have to work on it more, it'll most likely use more gas, etc.

I would go test drive a V6 and then test drive a V8 and see which one you like more. The V6 has 305hp which is a lot of power as it is. You may not want the V8. Then again you may drive the V8 and say wow, this is it! I love this! And you won't care about the 2-4mpg difference.

I think a test drive will decide it for you more so than our comments here on this thread. Once you sit in that car and nail the gas and it throws you back in the seat, if you're not 100% sold, then it's not for you.
 
Lets do some rough math here.

These are just some averages based on my just doing a google voice search on the two cars and based off of 2014 models.

Corolla: 30 city, 40 hwy,
Challenger R/T: 18 city, 27 hwy

So lets use city driving for our example.

Daily miles = 74
Weekly = 370

Lets figure $4 for regular gas.

Corolla would use 12.3 gallons a week X $4 = $50
Dodge would use 20.5 gallons a week X $4 = $82

Let see......is putting a big smile :D:D:D on your face everyday worth $32 bucks a week?

Let just say that for me...HELL YEA!

Now, of course general maintenance will cost a little more and then there's the insurance cost but those are things to consider.

I love when people, I work with, ask me about MPG and how they couldn't own a v8 for traveling back and forth to work. What i've noticed is that most of these people come to work with their $5-$8 dollar cups of coffee (starbucks) then go out to eat at lunch time. Add that up (x 5 days) and at the end of the week.. see what you get. I figured what I spend in extra gas, most people spend more in junk food on a weekly basis.

And so thats what I usually tell them. Go enjoy those expensive cups of coffee that only last about ten minutes while I enjoy my Hemi V8 on my 2-3 hours a day that I spend in my car. :D

Just my .02
^ Couldn't have said it any better myself! I get the same thing at my work. Everyone tells me how they couldn't afford to drive a V8 like I do, too much gas, etc.

These same people also tell me how you just can't make it on one income these days raising a family. Well guess what, I am doing both. Drive my Hemi everyday and my wife is staying home with the kids. How do we do this? Not wasting money on stupid stuff like $5 coffees everyday, going out for $8 lunches everyday, not going out to eat at fancy places on the weekend all the time, not living in a house that exceeds our means, etc. We use coupons and rebates when we go grocery shopping, etc.

The point is, if you save money on the boring, lame things in life and are smart with your money, then you can afford to spend more money on cool fun stuff like muscle cars, gas for your muscle car, insurance for your muscle car, etc.

If you just make small cuts in your budget here and there, it will all add up over time and then you'll be able to afford everything with no issues. It's just a matter of budgeting and priorities. Some people are already just getting by and so they may not be able to do that, but I'm sure many people out there can trim a little fat from their budget to apply somewhere else if needed.

Like ohgeez said above, let those people enjoy their Starbucks coffee and their lunches and other little things, I'll be enjoying my Hemi Orange R/T to and from work everyday! :smileup:
 
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