What really is a frugal car?

[macarose]

I drove two cars that easily represented the rolling spreadsheets of automotive ownership.

The Beater : A 2006 Toyota Corolla with 136k miles.

The EV : A 2017 Chevy Bolt with 45k miles.

The Corolla will likely sell for right around $5k once you include the tax, tag and title. The Bolt will be right around $12k all in.

So a $7000 difference between the two.

We have really low utility rates here (7.5 cents per kWh) and also a nearby CCS charging station that's almost never used and is free for two hours of charging. All told the Bolt only costs us a penny a mile.

The Corolla? It's about 11 cents a mile. But I get 10% off with my Shop Your Way credit card so the difference between the two is only 9 cents a mile.

That would mean the break-even point between the two for fuel consumption would be 700,000 / 9 which equals 77,777 miles. About 7 years of driving.

But how about depreciation? Well, in 8 years the Corolla would be worth maybe around $2800. Throw in the tax, tag, title, fees, and registration renewals and it would only cost about $1 a day in depreciation.

The Chevy Bolt would probably be worth around $6000 by the year 2032. Just a SWAG of a guess, but with just over 120,000 miles I think $6k is a reasonable estimate. So that amounts to about $2 a day in depreciation.

Now let's talk maintenance!

The Corolla will likely need two sets of tires. Two sets of front brakes. One set of rear brakes. An alternator. One complete AC replacement kit. Two wheel bearings. Twelve oil changes. Six air filters. Three cabin air filters. And about $50 in cleaning supplies. Total cost? Maybe $1000 to $2000 depending on how much you do yourself.

The Bolt? If the steering rack holds up you're a-ok. The tire costs will probably be twice as much. There are more coolant related changes. Probably twice as many wheel bearing replacements. If you avoid that rack going bad the costs may equal the Corolla.

My question. Would you buy a Honda Civic instead? How about a Daewoo Lanos?

 

[SC Maintenance]

Your splitting hairs at this point.

The both sound pretty frugal to me. I don't want an EV so my choice would be clear, but others may choose differently.

I prefer my ancient truck to both yours. Tires last about 60K. Maintenance costs almost nothing and it never breaks. Insurance is cheap. If you can ignore the gas cost its almost free

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Lose the Bolt. Used Corolla or Civic would top my list. But neither generally gets bought by the frugal. Both of these always seem to be a few thousand more than what Mr & Mrs Frugal want to spend. That breed of buyer mostly ends-up in a Nissan Versa, Chevy Sonic, Kia Rio.......etc...... type of vehicle.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

The learing big unknown cost is the potential for the Bolt needing a battery replacement. The auto recycling industry already has a nick name for these kind of vehicles. They are referred to as "Empty Chassis Vehicles". These are EV's that have elected not to have the batteries replaced due to excessive cost and depreciated net worth.

 

[Donald]

I drove two cars that easily represented the rolling spreadsheets of automotive ownership.

The Beater : A 2006 Toyota Corolla with 136k miles.

The EV : A 2017 Chevy Bolt with 45k miles.

The Corolla will likely sell for right around $5k once you include the tax, tag and title. The Bolt will be right around $12k all in.

So a $7000 difference between the two.

We have really low utility rates here (7.5 cents per kWh) and also a nearby CCS charging station that's almost never used and is free for two hours of charging. All told the Bolt only costs us a penny a mile.

The Corolla? It's about 11 cents a mile. But I get 10% off with my Shop Your Way credit card so the difference between the two is only 9 cents a mile.

That would mean the break-even point between the two for fuel consumption would be 700,000 / 9 which equals 77,777 miles. About 7 years of driving.

But how about depreciation? Well, in 8 years the Corolla would be worth maybe around $2800. Throw in the tax, tag, title, fees, and registration renewals and it would only cost about $1 a day in depreciation.

The Chevy Bolt would probably be worth around $6000 by the year 2032. Just a SWAG of a guess, but with just over 120,000 miles I think $6k is a reasonable estimate. So that amounts to about $2 a day in depreciation.

Now let's talk maintenance!

The Corolla will likely need two sets of tires. Two sets of front brakes. One set of rear brakes. An alternator. One complete AC replacement kit. Two wheel bearings. Twelve oil changes. Six air filters. Three cabin air filters. And about $50 in cleaning supplies. Total cost? Maybe $1000 to $2000 depending on how much you do yourself.

The Bolt? If the steering rack holds up you're a-ok. The tire costs will probably be twice as much. There are more coolant related changes. Probably twice as many wheel bearing replacements. If you avoid that rack going bad the costs may equal the Corolla.

My question. Would you buy a Honda Civic instead? How about a Daewoo Lanos?

Frugal. Corolla or Camry.

 

[riff1006]

If it were me, I'd go with the Corolla. I suspect it would be more dependable than the Chevy, I like the looks better, and my own personal opinion, would outlast the Chevy. Lately, I've developed a fancy for a GM 3800 grampswagon.

 

[cptbarkey]

If you can find a working Daewoo Lanos, i'd take it for a spin.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I drove two cars that easily represented the rolling spreadsheets of automotive ownership.

The Beater : A 2006 Toyota Corolla with 136k miles.

The EV : A 2017 Chevy Bolt with 45k miles.

The Corolla will likely sell for right around $5k once you include the tax, tag and title. The Bolt will be right around $12k all in.

So a $7000 difference between the two.

We have really low utility rates here (7.5 cents per kWh) and also a nearby CCS charging station that's almost never used and is free for two hours of charging. All told the Bolt only costs us a penny a mile.

The Corolla? It's about 11 cents a mile. But I get 10% off with my Shop Your Way credit card so the difference between the two is only 9 cents a mile.

That would mean the break-even point between the two for fuel consumption would be 700,000 / 9 which equals 77,777 miles. About 7 years of driving.

But how about depreciation? Well, in 8 years the Corolla would be worth maybe around $2800. Throw in the tax, tag, title, fees, and registration renewals and it would only cost about $1 a day in depreciation.

The Chevy Bolt would probably be worth around $6000 by the year 2032. Just a SWAG of a guess, but with just over 120,000 miles I think $6k is a reasonable estimate. So that amounts to about $2 a day in depreciation.

Now let's talk maintenance!

The Corolla will likely need two sets of tires. Two sets of front brakes. One set of rear brakes. An alternator. One complete AC replacement kit. Two wheel bearings. Twelve oil changes. Six air filters. Three cabin air filters. And about $50 in cleaning supplies. Total cost? Maybe $1000 to $2000 depending on how much you do yourself.

The Bolt? If the steering rack holds up you're a-ok. The tire costs will probably be twice as much. There are more coolant related changes. Probably twice as many wheel bearing replacements. If you avoid that rack going bad the costs may equal the Corolla.

My question. Would you buy a Honda Civic instead? How about a Daewoo Lanos?

No carbon release numbers?

 

[Graham Piccinini]

Not a car, but is a frugal vehicle. Helped me when finances were tight.
- Purchased for $1000
- $100/year insurance
- 100MPG+
- Honda Ruckus in particular doesn't lose in value. If anything - the stock ones only seem to be more appreciated as time goes by. This one paid for itself in fuel savings in my ownership, and then I still sold it for $1900.

Its top speed is 38-45MPH, depending on rider weight. That is both a PRO and a CON. CON because I was basically stuck to bicycle routes in Google Maps. But a PRO because I was extremely happy seeing all the things that I would normally never see. Roads less traveled got a lot to offer, but that's a topic for another thread.

 

[bullwinkle]

At 15 years,it’ll be a miracle if the Bolt’s battery has enough range to do much, and a battery replacement will be more than it’s worth. Maintain a Camry or Corolla, it’ll likely still be chugging along. Like the one in my sig! Knock on wood, only 1 front wheel bearing, still on original alternator, halfshafts, engine,& (slightly slipping) clutch @ 173K

 

[AZjeff]

Not a car, but is a frugal vehicle. Helped me when finances were tight.

Comparing apples and carrots.

Haul wife and kids? Weeks worth of groceries? Use in all weather conditions? Travel long range? Worked for you but hardly anyone else.

 

[stormgol]

my best friend 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI with 6 speed DCT. that is a frugal car. it's insane. it has close to 300 000 kilometers and he takes very good care of it. he wants to keep it for as long as it will work. but he does not save any money. diesel prices are high. but he often average 4,5 liters to a 100 kilometers.

 

[Oillover]

Comparing apples and carrots.

Haul wife and kids? Weeks worth of groceries? Use in all weather conditions? Travel long range? Worked for you but hardly anyone else.

Don't worry, if things continue they way they are, we'll all be riding one and this place will resemble traffic in India/China.

 

[wemay]

"What really is a frugal car?"

A car that's very fuel efficient.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

Comparing apples and carrots.

Haul wife and kids? Weeks worth of groceries? Use in all weather conditions? Travel long range? Worked for you but hardly anyone else.

Different levels of frugal. This one worked well for me. Did haul my wife once, half-week worth of groceries pretty often. I used it in rain, sun, snow, and ice. Long distance is doable, as reliability is there. But only at 300 miles per day max. More time for sight seeing at that speed tho .
It's definitely not for everyone. As this level of frugality requires complete disregard for stereotypes or personal status.

P.S. Growing up in Russia we were pretty poor, parents did the best they could, but much was stacked against them. But at that time an absolute delicacy for me was when mom made a shredded Apple&Carrot&sugared sour cream salad. So thank you for bringing up that warm memory

 

[Capt W]

"What really is a frugal car?"

A car that's very fuel efficient.

Or a car that costs next to nothing to acquire and insure. My daily driver '86 Daytona cost me $1100.00 in 2011. Nothing but routine maintenance for the last 13+ years and costs $120.00 per year to insure.

My nephew in Wisconsin just picked up a very clean 70K-mile 2000 Buick LeSabre (with the awesome 3800) for $1800.00. Good, not great fuel economy, but negligible insurance rates.

The point is if someone's willing to really look (and perhaps travel a bit), there are still loads of low-mileage bargains out there.

As this level of frugality requires complete disregard for stereotypes or personal status.

Absolutely! What's positively hysterical to me is when we drive the Daytona (or my 254K mile Caravan) to church functions, the ladies' group consistently offers my wife trips to the food bank, free fruit, etc. And the sad fact is that we're much better off than the majority of the congregation. We just don't waste money on cars for phony status and prefer our mortgage-free house.

 

[daves87rs]

E bike?

 

[Cujet]

A note about cost per mile, the calculations can be wildly inaccurate if you are not able to predict. But there is no way, within vehicle class, to change the real world numbers much. As insurance, depreciation, mx and so on are costs that we all pay. We can drive a 40MPG car 20mph slower for 56mpg. A savings that wastes so much time, the 2 work-weeks lost per year by going so slow end up at a rate of $3 per hour savings.

The same goes for electric cars. The bolt can't make road trips in reasonable time. And a Bolt's $13K street price battery has an 8-10 year expected life and some fire risk. Don't expect to skate around this cost. It will be built into depreciation or actual.

In the end, I think the truly frugal are better off with a used prius, and don't keep it so long.

 

[atikovi]

The Corolla will likely sell for right around $5k once you include the tax, tag and title. The Bolt will be right around $12k all in.

So a $7000 difference between the two.

That Bolt will be around $8,000 if your qualify for the 30% federal tax credit. And the one I bought recently had the battery replaced under recall recently and has an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty. Except for tires and a cabin filter, you can probably drive it for a couple hundred dollars a year for the next 8 years.

 

[macarose]

That Bolt will be around $8,000 if your qualify for the 30% federal tax credit. And the one I bought recently had the battery replaced under recall recently and has an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty. Except for tires and a cabin filter, you can probably drive it for a couple hundred dollars a year for the next 8 years.

Please don't say that to me. I'm trying to sell this one for $10,900.

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV LT electric for sale - Powder Springs, GA - craigslist

This Kinetic Blue 2017 Chevy Bolt 2LT has 45,000 miles. The battery was replaced under the recall with a brand new one at only 20,000 miles, and the warranty on it is good until June 2029 or 120,000...

atlanta.craigslist.org

On a serious note, the book on it was $10,800 with a $530 buy fee. I bought it not only because it qualified for the credit, but also because it was one of the very few which didn't come in a humdrum gray, white or black.

I've owned at least one since 2022 for my family. If you're looking to balance cost, features, and safety it's definitely the best vehicle out there.