Rex-O-Saurus One Year Later
 

Approximately a year ago this week I picked up my CRX HF. I mainly got it for my commute from Temecula, CA to north San Diego (40 miles each way). I was commuting my 95 Integra GSR before this, and due to the fact the Acura gets about 28mpg, eats tires the way I drive it, and considering it has about 160K miles on it, I figured I'd be rebuilding its engine in 2-3 years. I had calculated I could almost pay for the cost of the CRX in 2 years.

I paid $2000 for my 90 HF with 176K miles on it. Was a little more then I wanted to pay, but it was 15 miles away and after looking for a few weeks, that was worth a few hundred to me.

I've put 19,355 miles on the CRX and have averaged ~43mpg with it. Gas prices averaged about $3.24 for the past year in the area, so I've saved $780 in gas.

I just put 2 tires on the CRX at $55 each (it came with 14" rims). I would have gone through 4 tires on the Integra at about $75 each. Add the $20 per tire to mount and balance and that's another $230.

So I've saved ~$1000 in gas and tires in the past year with the CRX, so I'm on target for my two year goal. You could argue with my accounting in that I haven't added maintenance costs, but I believe I'd have had similar, if not more expensive maintenance on the Integra. I just ate up ~$300 in a blown HG on the CRX, which doesn't help, but again, the idea was to prevent even more expensive repairs on the Integra.

The other consideration is depreciation. If I keep it maintained and running, I doubt the CRX will depreciate much if gas prices continue to go up, irregardless of how many miles I put on it. The Integra is probably worth a little over $5000 and preventing alot of miles form accumulating on it will probably slow its depreciation.

A year later, overall I'm pretty satisfied. The car has done its job. Considering neither car I own is brand new, having two cars also is a little comforting - they'd have to both break at the same time for me to be walking.

I figure it out in cost per mile to drive a car, and often I end up with simaler figures as you just did, small, quality built cars are cheap to drive.

mrmad -

This is very good news. And I agree, all cars need scheduled maintenance, so you don't have to count that. In terms of unscheduled maintenance, I usually compare that to a new car payment. If your yearly unscheduled repairs are X% (for example, I usually cite 50%) of what your willing to pay for a new car, then I think that's a win.

But what about your cost of car insurance? Is the Acura 100% offline or are you making insurance payments on two cars?

CarloSW2

Yeah you caught the one accounting snafu I didn't originally take account for. I thought the fact that I wouldn't be driving what is considered a sports car that is one of the most stolen cars as a daily driver would offset the cost of adding a second car (I can't drive them both at the same time afterall). I was wrong, the insurance co added $200 a year for the CRX. Maybe this should be my incentive to slow down a little and see if I can push the CRX'sFE to where it should be.

mrmad -

Only $200? I thought it was going to be a lot more than that. That's like adding a motorcycle. I think that it makes your "payback target" a little farther away, but ... not the way gas prices are going, :) ... :o :confused: :( :eek: !!!

CarloSW2

mrmad-

did you factor in that the gsr takes premium and the rex takes regular? its 20 cents cheaper

43mpg with an hf transmission? you must really speed :)

But the Integra GS-R is so much fun over 5k rpms ;) Plus the '95 was a great year ;)

Guilty.