Surprisingly we’ve fit a lot into the MINI as we drive it 90% of the time now. I won’t ditch the SUV until the tires fall off and then worry about something else then — maybe a diesel as those hybrids batteries are extremely expensive to replace.

In my opinion, having no car payment and low insurance trumps any other reason.

If your Expedition is an old clunker that is developing a lot of costly problems (such as if it needs expensive engine repair to stop oil leaks or if the transmission is slipping), IT MAKES SENSE TO GET A NEW CAR rather than keep throwing money at a problem car.

Remember that a car is not worth keeping if it will cost more to fix it than its market value.

If I have a 1997 Expedition that is nicely maintained and is problem free, I’m going to keep driving it.

But if it’s a problem junker, I’m willing to pay the price for a brand new PROBLEM-FREE car.

Fishlamp: Thanks for your suggestions. Just recently in the past few weeks I’ve been focusing on my driving habits. Driving slower, trying to consolidate errands into one trip as opposed to several and at a whim. But, yeah. I need to put some money away each month so I can save up for a full-efficient car in the future. It’s nice have a paid-off vehicle but it won’t run forever. But, I’m also not putting too much wear-and-tear on it and not driving it around as much.

Pat: I was thinking about the Clubman version. I think it could hold my drums and keyboard. Especially now, I just use a smaller jazz kit. As I get older my drums and cymbals and hardware are getting smaller and lighter. ;o)

Mr. Rose: Thanks for your comments and suggestions. And thanks for the link to hypermiling.com, Something I need to focus on, definitely. Yep, I don’t drive the SUV around much anymore. And 90% of the time I’m using it to go to and from gigs. So, I guess environmentally I’m helping by driving it less. Interesting you mention the “peer/social pressure and feel good factors”. I’m sure it would feel nice to be cruisin’ in a BMW convertible and just driving around in a new car. My SUV is old, old, old… but it’s still running. That’s about it. ;o)

Tokyo Rose passed this post on to me. If you are “only” doing 18000 miles per year, then the environmental argument for ditching your SUV and buying a new fuel efficient car might not stack up. You do need to take into account the environmental cost of a new Prius (which is quite high).

From a truly environmental view point, if you do the calculations, it probably makes sense to keep your vehicle AND learn to drive it hyper efficiently (check out http://www.hypermiling.com/ ). This will save you money and also probably deliver the most environmentally sound solution.

You need to find the right figures but here is an example of the environmental calculation as things stand for you today.

Environmental cost of building a prius + environmental cost of running a Prius VS Environmental cost of running SUV
1500+3000 (for PRIUS) VS 3000 (For SUV)

This calculation does not include peer/social pressure and feel good factors which can trump plain environmental arguments!