im spending way too much money on gas?

Question

i have an 06 dodge stratus and mabye im doing too much driving. i mean i take my girlfriend to work. thats 11 miles. not everyday but at least 3-4 times a week. on my days off i take her to work, drive back home and then pick her back up. now from my house to my job it is 3.63 miles. now i live in phily. so its loads of traffic lights. do i need a tune up? i mean i only have 26, 000 miles on this car. im spending like $100 a week on gas. of course, im not just going to work. we go other places too. but thats not an everyday thing.

Answer 1

Uhh, dude, you have a one year old car with 26,000 miles on it?! Sounds like you're doing more driving than you realize! If your girlfriend is costing you $30/week in gas you have to let her know- gas or a**, nobody rides for free!

Answer 2

You are right, that is way too much money on fuel. That is nice you drive your girlfriend but perhaps either she needs to start driving herself, carpooling or using public transportation. When you sit in traffic and do a lot of stop and go, fuel mileage is terrible and not good for your car. Are the other routes you could take that might be able to take like a FWY loop around the city to get to the other side? Even if it is slightly longer by distance, might be better to get the FWY mileage than city street.

You could also let your girlfriend take your car and you take public transportation to get to work, or get a bike, roller blades, walk, and use that for your commute. Even though it is only 3.63, that’s 7.26 a day, times 5 a week, etc etc and that adds up fast. You would start seeing a slight savings. Not to mention that would be a great cardio work out. You’d be loosing weight as well. Also, consolidate your other errands as well, because realistically we do not only use our cars for commuting back and forth to work.

Another option, sell the Stratus and get a more fuel efficient car. I’m not saying rush out and get a hybrid, it would be years before you start seeing any kind of savings, but perhaps a used more fuel efficient car. A Stratus isn’t really known for its gas mileage.

Answer 3

$100/week...that's like 30 gallons, right?

11 miles out and back 4 times a week is 11*2*4 = 88 miles
3.63 miles out and back 5 times a week is 3.63*2*5 = 36.3 miles.

So, driving your girlfriend around and driving to work is 88 + 36.3 = 124.3 miles.

If that's all the driving you're doing, 124.3/30 = ~4 mpg, which is really crappy mileage for a bus, let alone a Stratus!

So, what's your real mpg? Keep track of how many miles you drive in a week and divide by how many gallons of gas you use. If the figure is less than 10 mpg, you have major car trouble!

Answer 4

4 miles is perfect for a bicycle, if you don't have to carry much.
You don't have to do this all the time.
Because, it is such a short distance in stop and go traffic this will be worth it. You might find out that the commute is faster from home door, to your work door.
My guess is that will be more then one gallon per a day.

People forget it takes gas, just to start your car, and you use gas for the time you are stopped at the lights.
I do wounder how long someone can idle per a gallon of gas.

Most of your gas is in the 44 miles a day to your girlfriend work, was that a one way to round trip?
_ _Two round trips of 11 miles one way 3 times a week = 132 miles. Lets say 25 miles to the gallon at $3.00 is close to $16 right there.
_ _Two round trips of 11 miles one way 4 times a week = 176 miles at 18 mpg at $3.25 = $31.77
(you will have to plug in the correct values to be accurate)

If you can find a way for her to get a ride back from work, that would save you about two gallons per a day.
Perhaps you can just drive her to a bus stop or a co-workers house that can take her the rest of the way.

Answer 5

Me too. I've had to start planning out the errands that I run so that I drive less. I can't even be the taxi for the kids and their friends anymore. I think these gas prices are getting out of hand. I have said in the past that we should be lucky that our cars do not run on milk because a gallon of milk cost more than a gallon of gas but now a gallon of milk is cheaper than a gallon of gas. If we could only fly.

Answer 6

Do the math, 11 miles each way = 44 miles a day Times 5 days a week. 220 miles a week taking your girlfriend to work. At $3.00 a gallon, if your car get 22 miles per gallon.
220 divided by 22 is 10 gallons of gas, times $3.00 a gallon is $30.00 dollars a week to take her to work.
Two choices, dump your girl friend or suffer like the rest of us.

Answer 7

Several ways to fix this.

Stop driving so much.

Be sure your car is properly tuned up and tires inflated to get the most mpg.

Get another car that is better on gas or get a diesal.

ONLY 26,000 miles on a 2006? that is over 2 years worth of normal driving!

Answer 8

Firstly, you work 4 miles from home. Your girlfriend works 11 miles from home. Give her your car and take public transportation. That'll cut your driving in half. Or sell it and get a prius.

Answer 9

I hear you.

My BF drove an Oldsmobile Bravada with a pump leak.

Now we share my Kia, and even though *both* of us take it to work and back (different shifts), we are saving 50 a week in gasoline.

It cost less to add him onto my policy then to continue insuring the gas-sucking monster.

Maybe it would be cheaper for her to drive separately?

Either her in her own car or borrowing yours?

It would save you just in cutting out one trip up to her work.

Answer 10

I would go get a complete tune up the whole nine yards cause that is way too much for gas