OK, I have an F250 and one of my favorite hunting spots is a 90 mile round trip away. This translates into a $25 fuel bill for every trip.
I need my F250 for pulling my camper and tractor around but am thinking about buying a late model used vehicle for hunting transportation.
I don't need a pick-up but do occasionally need 4 wheel drive to keep from getting stuck on wet grass and well maintained dirt roads after a freeze and thaw.
I need about 30 mpg and have been looking at the small Suzuki's, Trackers and such.
What do you guys have that fits the bill and how dependable are they.
I feel for you Eric; One of my favorites spots is about 100 miles round trip. My F150 Super Crew with 4WD does it for about $30 dollars if I drive sensibly.
I bought an old Harley; I still have to drive the truck in the woods but the bike sure is fun to ride. :knothead: :goldtooth:
Lets say you get 10 mpg now and will get 30 mpg with your new vehicle.
Lets say gas is $4(even though its under $3.50 now)
Lets say you will make this trip 20 times this year.
Lets amortize over 5 years.
Getting a new car will save you $2400 over 5 years. Its going to have to be a cheap car to pay off.
Eric,
Been thinking about the same thing as my Pathfinder gets less than 15mpg on average. Those small sport utes that you mention are not really meant for off road and don't have much room in them for carrying gear. I've been seriously considering a used Subaru Outback. My daughter has one and it has a respectable 7.3 inches of ground clearance. Even better, with the rear seats folded up and the front seats set for me (I'm 5'9"), the bed is a full foot longer than the Pathfinder. At 6 feet, I can lay down and take a nap in it if I want to. It also just as wide and only 4 inches less in height, and the 4cyl gets 30 mpg on the highway. It also goes great offroad and in the snow. It is no surprise that so many people in the midwest own them.
Exactly what Dartwick said. Dont forget the extra insurance, plates, taxes and up keep. I dont think you can save enough to justify it.
Tune up the F250.
Spend the money on a new bow and just smile as your filling up.
gr
get a mule dirt cheap to run. :biglaugh:
Not sure if this is "cool", but I like it. Ugly, tough, all business, yet somehow really practicle.
http://alliedarmament.homestead.com/Customer.html
My first car was an old subaru and I can tell you, bar none, the most relaible car I have ever had...
Don't forget the safety factor of the F250.
Two years ago a small SUV turned in front of my F350. I opened the door and got out after getting smacked with an airbag, the rescue crew spent 40 minutes cutting them out.
gr
Tune up the 250.
Eric, I know exactly where your comming from. I drive a 2500 HD Chevy and get 12 MPG. Nothing like you but I drive 30 miles round trip to my hunting spot. I was thinking about something that gets better gas to run back and forth as well. Then I starting thinking and like has been said before by the time you put plates, insurance, and pay taxes on a second vehicle it really isnt worth it any more for what you would be saving. So now I just suck it up and bite the bullet when I fill the tank.
Eric,
Something that was pointed out to me about all wheel drive cars, which I hadn't considered, is they aren't the same when it comes to '4-wheel drive' comparisions. But even still if an individual has a need for traction in soft surface conditions wouldn't a set of snow chains be a legitimate compromise and a small electric wench for those 'shouldn't have done that' moment?
I like the Impreza. Currently my surburban is parked and I'm get out there in a subaru legacy or my honda civic. Neither is all wheel drive, mpg is 30 and 39 respectively. Road conditions so far this year are semi-maintained dirt roads and it hasn't rained yet. When it does it will have to be back to the suburban 4X4
Rusty
I have a 2X4 ranger ext cab that get's 20-25 MPG but bought a Honda Civic 2 door off my niece for $500. It has 265K miles on it but still gets 40+ MPG. I use it now as my hunting vehicle. It is tight with my gear and I have to park and make several trips back to the cabin with my gear, as well as debone deer and put it in the cooler for transport but it means I can afford to make more trips. I also use it for daily commute: I figured I saved $1,600 last year at $3 a gallon, not to mention wear on my truck.
I will stuff a deer into my new Corolla this year. Hopefully more than one :) It gets 35+ MPG. My best spot is about 110 miles round trip. The Explorer sucks $25 worth of gas every time. The Corolla takes about $11. I'll take pics. I used to have a Pontiac Lemans hatchback. I carried more than a few deer in it.
I drive our Ford Focus until the roads get bad enough then I just suck it up and drive my 4x4 Silverado ('94). The mileage sucks but when the loggers and whatnot tear up the roads I don't want to get stuck 30 miles from town and out of cell phone range.
The best car I ever had was a Geo Prism hatchback. That thing would go through anything, 35+ MPG and had lots of room for my hunting gear if I folded the seats down. Heck I once strapped a deer to the top of a Camaro, made for an interesting view through the T-Tops. :-D
We drive the area in which we were drawn-this past weekend it was 326.7 miles---one way. I'd feel blessed with only 50 mile roundtripper. One must be grateful for what one has.....
QuoteOriginally posted by MI_Bowhunter:
Heck I once strapped a deer to the top of a Camaro, made for an interesting view through the T-Tops. :-D
I've got a picture of one of my deer in the trunk of my '65 Mustang.
When I was a kid, one of the few guys my Dad trusted enough to take me hunting (without him) drove an AMC Eagle 4-door wagon. He had tallish mud tires on it and a rack on top similar to the ones you see on trendy sport-wheel-drives now.
That freaky thing would go anywhere! I have always wanted to have a dedicated hunting vehicle. I have almost bought one several times, but they all fell short of my memories of traveling in the EAGLE. If I ever find one that even half way runs I'm buying it.
I figure they get better milage than my truck. I should be able to pick one up cheap since there aren't any pop icons driving them, and when you open the hood, there actually seems to be an engine in there. Not some hunk of the international space station that takes a NASA engineer and a former cosmonaut to work on.
OkKeith
I had a mid 90's Suzuki sidekick 4x4 -the four door hard top model. It was a very good vehicle and with "mud tires" did pretty good off-road. I don't remember the mpg but I know that I spent alot more on gas when I sold it and started driving my full size chevy all the time.
I'm looking for something similar for my 15yr old right now but they are hard to find.
I parked my Tundra most of the time and am driving a RAV4. 15 mpg vs 25mpg. The RAV is 4 cyl 2WD but with front wheel drive it goes almost everywhere and the with Tundra for back up it has been a real help. If I did not need a super dependable vehicle for work driving I might consider some other brand, but my experience is that Toyotas are bullet proof.
Gas just dipped under $3 here for the first time in a long while, but I don't expect it to last.
look into Hydrogen fuel supplementation. You may also want to do some internet research on "HHO" induction. Basically a simple system using a water/baking soda solution is the fuel source in which a stainless steel plate is electrically charged causing a chemical reaction which produces hydrogen gasses that you route to the intake of your wehicle. There a few companies out there producing these now for anywhere from $700 to $2500 per system that pretty much guarantees you double your fuel economy.
Read this. http://www.fuelfromh2o.com/how-it-works.html
I had a link to one of the sites saved but can't find it right now. I'll keep checking. Skippy
Here is a good video to watch if you are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKM4pb9Oxrg
At $25 for 90 miles with $4.00 gas its 6.25gallons for 90 miles so...14.4mpg
So I really don't know if we're talking gas or diesel. I've seen diesels that low.
Is so, save the money for a second vehicle and buy one of those $400 chips. It'll pay for itself in mpg long before the extra vehicle will.
Dad's new F250 went from 16 to 20 and I don't know what his older F250 got originally but it got 22 unless we pulled our 20' trailer with a 180horse diesel generator on board...then it got 20. But it was 2WD
Eric,,
What the others have said... I did the math earlier in the year. The opportunity cost was just too high. In my case this was the Diesel fuel. Diesel would have needed to go to around $8.00+ a gallon to make any change cost effective... Even at a five/six year pro-rate.
It's not all bad as of today on my way home reg. GAS was $3.08 and Diesel was $3.68.. I thought wow I can save $40 a fill up over last summer...LOL
We should all be able to run CNG at $2 a gallon. America is full of natural gas.. Clean, cheap and AMERICAN.
Good luck out there.
John III
Took my wife's shiny new Acura to Georgia two weeks ago and brought a pig home in the trunk. Her car's 30 mpg beats 14 mpg in my truck.
I tried to get her to buy a hyundai, I figured that you could get one for $159 per month and we would save $200 per month in gas. She could have had three of them in different colors to match her outfits for what the Acura cost. Oh well.
Even if it costs more to get a more fuel efficient vehicle it is worth doing because we NEED to burn less fuel.
If you look around and make an honest assessment you'll see we really are a large nation of pigs. Maybe an unpopular thing to say but it is true.
I used to own a tracker. You can find them relatively cheap ($500- $800) they may be in a little bit of a rough state but you want a hunting vehicle. Easy on gas and with good tires and 4 wheel very hard to get hung up. I know from experience plus I know guys who use them for weekend off-road vehicles. From my experience for what you want a Tracker/ Samurai type vehicle is what you want.
A really good friend of mine (Bear) just bought a Honda CR-V and the gas mileage beats the heck out of my truck and I think it looks pretty cool to boot. My next vehicle will definately be alot more along those lines. It may take alot of hunting trips to catch up the expense of getting something like that, but it won't take long driving all year long.
In my younger days I went to a mud run in my dads 1978 vw rabbit diesel (58mpg). It rained that day and we were all parked on a hill in a farmers field. The rabbit spun the little tires and climbed out while others in 4x4 was being pulled by true 4x4.
With gas cost iI searched and found a pristine 1980 vw rabbit diesel 54 mpg and have the parts to turn it into a veggie oil burner.
Insurance for my truck and rabbit comes out $10 more because they figure one is parked.
I my not make up the cost of the car but what a great ride and I can go 500 miles befor I think of getting out a little money to fill up.
PARK THE TRUCK AND SAVE THE WHEAR AND TEAR.
I should have my Toyota for MANY years to come I only put on 3000 miles last year.
I used my wife's Lexus ONE time to go hunting, because my truck was in the shop. Needless to say when she saw the hog in the back, she didnt let take her truck hunting again. Me and my brother got a good laugh out of it though. :biglaugh:
Sixty miles each way for me. I drive a 1993 Ranger 4wd that I bought new (first and only). Even with the v6, I got 23.4 MPG last trip.
My worst mileage since I went back to a stock tire size is 20.5 mpg. That was with 2 hours of idling in crawling traffic at an accident that shutdown the interstate, one our of idling as I planted an acre of winter wheat by track headlights and 20 minutes of the truck serving as a tractor while I used a chainlink fence gate to cover the seeds. My best mileage with stick tires was 27 on a trip through the Shenandoah Valley.
My point is that there are some American 4wd vehicles that are both practical and relatively efficient.
Yup I feel for ya bud, my lease is 3.5 - 4 hours away from where I live (200+ miles one way)and I have an F250 Super Crew Cab 4 x 4 with....you guessed it the V10!!!! The good thing is it gets 13 mpg uphill, downhill, loaded, empty, with the wind, against the wind...you get the point. I share a ride as often as possible with hunting partners to save a bit of gas and we are buying a double wall tent this year to eliminate the hotel cost. We generally pack our food etc.
Just gotta be creative with what you have I guess cause the extra expense of a "hunting vehicle" makes it impractical even with my big hawg of a truck.
I have a 98 Nissan 2WD pickup, 4 banger, 5 speed, 55& under gets me 32mpg, you might want to look around for one of these. Been driving this one to work, 60 miles round trip a day for 8 years, never used any oil, replaced the clutch, alternator and standard maientance. Just rolled over 220,000 miles. With good off road tires these go like the dickens, geared just right in the lower two gears. Hope this helps.
I had a 2001 F150 reg. cab 4x4 8Ft. box with a fiberglasscap. I got about 12 mpg average. I averaged $80.00 a week in gas & I don't drive all that much or that far on average. I traded for a Jeep Patriot. Now I get a little better than 25mpg city & a little better than 26mpg highway. Cut my fuel bill in half. I bought a fold-up carrier for hauling deer. Works for me.
I drive a 1990 Geo Tracker 4WD (same thing as a Suzuki Sidekick). It gets 30 mpg on the gravel roads and seams to run forever offroad on a tank of gas. It has been a very reliable rig and what few parts I have needed seem to be priced reasonably.
Mine is a two door model -- the four door ones drive better and have twice the cargo space.
Problems:
The ones with a rag top are a pain ---
Not much room for equipment.
Not a great rig for on the highway.
Will have to go home and get the truck if I stumble across an elk dumb enough to let me shoot it!
Bought mine for $1500 a couple of years ago, folks seem to be asking a lot more for them now.
How about a Norton 750 Commando with a sidecar to haul elk/deer/pack,etc! :goldtooth:
Well Eric.....Knowing the fine Master Craftsman that you are..... :thumbsup:
I would keep the F-250 and just put gas in it.
Using the mindset that everything you make yourself (bows,arrows and such) saves you money that you can now put in your tank. Your still WAY farther ahead than guys who have to (or just want to) buy all of their gear.
I also owned a 96 Geo Tracker and loved it. got the same 30mpg everyone else did and as a 5 speed, it was just simply FUN to drive.
The 4WD worked great right up until it didn't work at all... Turned out my hubs were rusty. Easy fix. I actually thought it was quite roomy. I can honestly say it had a little bit more leg room up front than my wifes 98 Expedition does as I bought the same exact aftermarket floor mats and there was a good bit more room for them in the Geo than the Ford. With the back seats folded down, you have a pretty decent sized storage area that would certainly fit a deer. Ya might have to throw your pack on the front passenger seat but who cares?
Around here the farmers buy old Geo's or Samurais to use in place of 4 wheelers around the farm. You can get a Geo for about $1,000 and it will go darn near anywhere the 4 wheeler will go plus it's got a radio and a roof. Then if they need to run to town, it can do that too.
They'll curise cross country at 75 to 80 mph but much faster made me nervous as the rpms are getting up there.
The REAL ride though is to find a VW rabbit turbo diesel engine and put it in the Geo. I heard they have kits to do it and you end up with twice the torque, about 45mpg and an engine that will go 400,000 miles. I sold mine to a mechanic buddy and he's thinking about doing it to that one but the gas engine runs so good it's kinda a waste until it goes out.
Put a detroit locker and good tires on the back of a 2wd pickup and it'll go most places a stock 4wd
truck will and get better mileage.
Trade that Ford in on a Dodge Diesel 2500. I get 22mpg highway and 16 towing, and it's 4 wheel drive.
ch
Eric, I understand I have a Ford Supercrew and a Chevy Silverado. I need them in my business but here is what I use for local hunting. A 92 Geo Tracker that I chipped out. I gave $400 for it 2 years ago and fixed it up a bit. For Winter time I lock in the hubs and leave them that way til summer. I have got a look or two for strapping a deer over the hood but it was done that way for years.
(http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q271/bowmac_photos/pics171-1.jpg)
Heck I have a 4x4 Tracker sitting here that runs and is mechanically sound. Body could use some work.
Don't have time to fix it up myself, but it would make a great hunting rig with a little TLC.
Mike
I don't think you would recoup the money spent on a new vehicle, if you intend to keep the Ford anyway. maybe go less often and stay longer, if that's an option.
If I were looking I would look real hard at the Honda Element. You can hose it out after you haul Deer home. The rear seats fold up and out of the way, Easy access and it sips gas.
Eric,
Been down the same road with my Tundra but the numbers just don't add up on an additional vehicle. Plus I know I'm going to get out of what I might drive into, snowstorms etc...
I say make more of those great bows you build to pay for your adventures and keep the truck!!
I like my Tundra. Pulls my camper great and gets 19 mpg average on hiway.
autopartswarehouse.com
look under -throttle body-, it is a bolt-on HP and mileage enhancer for gas engines
...and then there are the 'chips' for gas and/or diesel
...the hydrogen thing Skippy mentioned does work..
my F150/302/5spd/4X4, will be sporting some upgrades soon..
Conserving is good, tinkering is American !! and hunting is a MUST..