For those readers that have asked, here’s what I’ve been driving for the last four years or so. It’s a 1998 Ford F-150 STX with a 4.6 liter V6. It’s been a great truck – very reliable, comfortable and useful. I’m going to try to hang onto it for the duration of the experiment so 1) I’ll have a viable vehicle while I’m doing repairs or in case something goes wrong and 2) I’m steering away from the older enormous diesel trucks as a matter of preference and towards passenger cars, but owning a truck still has a very high utility value for me.
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This truck gets around 16 miles per gallon in the city and 21 mpg on the highway. With regular driving (mostly back and forth to work) I’m filling up about every two weeks to the tune of $50-$60 a tank. At an average of $27/week, I’m projected to spend $1404 in gas over the next year – assuming prices stay where they’re at. My estimate actually sounds a little low, so here is the Ford F150 4.2 V6 Fuel Economy Factsheet from http://www.fueleconomy.gov.
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