Vehicle Expenses

I got my 1990 Toyota Corolla in 1994, right before my freshman semester at LSU. It had 75,000 miles on it already, even though it was only 4 years old. I had it for 12 years until August 2006 when I replaced it with a Prius. At that time, the Corolla had 151,000 miles.

As I started to risk throwing more and more money at the Corolla, I wondered if it was worth it and if I should just get a new car. This city as it is, it's highly inefficient to not have a car. Public transportation is atrocious, there are no bike paths, and the summer weather is incredibly hot and humid, so a car must be had. I had long since considered a new hybrid that goes 50+ miles per gallon and recharges itself. With the potential for future gas shortages, I thought, this might be a very reasonable thing to buy. (I was probably very wrong considering how terribly expensive the whole affair was for me.) My 2006 Toyota Prius had to be ordered by the dealership since they had none in stock. It arrived after 3 weeks of waiting on July 27, 2006.

Data-taking is very simple: I note some basic data at gas tank fill-up: the odometer reading, the date, the number of gallons it took to fill the tank, and the cost of the fill-up. With just these 4 pieces of information, a whole slew of analyses can be done.

I've combined the data for the Corolla and Prius here. Comparisons can now be done on miles per gallon, dollars per gallon, and miles per dollar. In most graphs, only gas expenses are being used, and it should be noted that gas is a mere 20-30% of the annual cost of owning these vehicles. (Insurance is more.)

Move your mouse cursor over a data point to see its value.

Cost per Year

Cost per Day

Odometer