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$6 per gallon does it really matter to my Z?


ZR8ED

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The gas in your Z is no issue if your a not a daily driver.

But everything else you buy for it, and buy to work on it, and the food you need to eat to work on it, is going or will be more expensive.

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Let's see, we have a choice these days. Burn 1 gallon for every 15 miles in a big, slow, behemoth truck...or burn 1 gallon every 15 miles mashing the pedal in a fast, agile, sporty Datsun Z.

 

How would you rather spend the money?

 

I know how I would.

 

 

I am with you on this one for sure!!

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I get about 60 miles to the $3 on the bus. The high cost of oil will drive the search for alternative fuels, which is a good thing IMO.

 

this is what happens when jack***es on the road dont pay attention to their surroundings. 85mph into a wall on I-610 just outside New Orleans, LA. Riding bikes is a whole mess of fun, but its not about how well you can ride. People just dont care to watch for riders.

ouch.jpg

 

Last time I was in NOLA the speed limit wasn't 85mph.

 

I'm willing to bet most of the responsibility falls on the rider in most bike accidents. Yet, it is always the cagers who need to be more diligent.

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Last time I was in NOLA the speed limit wasn't 85mph.

 

Its called following the flow of traffic. You can get a ticket if you drive 5 or more below the speed limit if the flow is about 85. Its called restricting traffic. Kind of a oxymoron.

 

There was an interesting vid a while back that had a bunch of college students driving side by side, going the speed limit on the freeway.Lets just say, there are some insanely scary drivers on the roads.

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Its called following the flow of traffic. You can get a ticket if you drive 5 or more below the speed limit if the flow is about 85. Its called restricting traffic. Kind of a oxymoron.

 

I'm with you on this, but it doesn't mean that you have to speed. I drive the speed limit and get dirty looks all day.

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i've been trying to stay down sub 70 lately on the drive to work. Driving with the "flow" around 80-85 around here KILLS my gas milage and it feels like I'm using at least 1/3 less gas keeping the speeds down.

 

I really do want a cheap yamaha though, saw a 81' 850 special in the paper that was tearing me apart. Perfect condition for $1100.

 

If the gas prices get too high I might just find a cheap econobucket to buy as a secondary. Maybe a CRX HF.

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$1.20/L...tell me thats 87 octane. When I left for vacation last wed. we were 1.21/L for regular and over $1.35ish for 91 at Petro...

 

Thankfully our DD cars are 87 only, and once the LS1 is in, well, I'll cringe a little when I pay for it but I'll be smiles ear to ear burning it up (and tires too!)

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I gave up riding street bikes years ago due to the people on auto-pilot and it's only gotten worse with all the morons yapping on cells phones, watching movies, messing with stereo head units, driving gangsta style and playing with a GPS while driving.

 

It's really a false economy to buy a different rig just to save gas, even at these prices. When you consider the extra car payment, up-keep and insurance it takes a long time to reach a point of pay off, even if you're driving a car that gets low mileage now. The best way to save gas is drive less!

 

Wheelman

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I gave up riding street bikes years ago due to the people on auto-pilot and it's only gotten worse with all the morons yapping on cells phones, watching movies, messing with stereo head units, driving gangsta style and playing with a GPS while driving.

 

It's really a false economy to buy a different rig just to save gas, even at these prices. When you consider the extra car payment, up-keep and insurance it takes a long time to reach a point of pay off, even if you're driving a car that gets low mileage now. The best way to save gas is drive less!

 

Wheelman

 

Yeah Ive had alot of not so smart friends sell their cars to buy a car that gets a few mpg better... I try to tell them that it will take ~5 years for the cost to start being offset but no they wont listen.

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I had a friend sell his STR-4 Neon for an 89 Accord LXi and came out on top ~10k. You don't have to buy a new car to get good gas mileage. In fact, most older econoboxes get better gas mileage than modern ones. This is, of course, because they are tin cans. However, if it's tin cans your worried about, you are on the wrong site. lol.

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Well, if you're getting say, 20mpg (few on this site go much above 30, and few bellow 10... so that's a good average right?) and then buy an old FWD japanese car that's going to get 40+ mpg, and you only spent $500-$1000 on it, it actually won't take that long for the car to pay for itself.

 

It also greatly depends on how much you drive, and how much you'll be paying for insurance. If you currently only own one car then your insurance might very well go DOWN, not up, because most companies offer a multicar premium discount. With it being such an old car the increase might be less than the discount difference. I had this happen when I got my new 80' 280ZX. Insurance went down about $1 a month.

 

With gas prices the way they are right now I'm spending about $60 a week on gas, that's $3120 a year and if I see a 100% increase in gas milage that $1000 encono box would have paid for itself under a year.

 

So in some ways yes, it DOES make sense to be buying a commuter vehicle if you're daily driving the Z. Sell the Z though? Hell no.

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OK, you guys have listed the one and only scenario where it might make sense to buy a car to save money on gas. The question is, How many folks are going to settle for driving around in a $1000.00 clapped out econo-box? Another good question, Is it possible to find a $1000.00 econo-box that won't be a major pain in the a$$ to keep running? The last time I spent $1000.00 or less on a car was for my daughter (1992 Honda Prelude with a JDM engine swap, bought it for $750.00 from a friend), so far it's cost us an additional $300.00 due to a broken timing belt and the ensuing head work, plus 2 weeks down time to get it running again.

 

I'm sticking by my assertion that it's a false economy to buy a car just to save money on gas!

 

Wheelman

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I think that for most people you're right wheelman. For us car guys, finding a deal on a $1000 car that'll actually not fall apart is much more likely than when it's something that just some kid wants.

 

I only paid $1100 for my 75' Z, and the motor, transmission, rear end, tires, basically all moving parts have been EXTREMELY reliable thus far and have kept me safe on my commute.

 

Just search craiglist for cars under $1000, it's amazing some of the deals you can find.

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