This is true.

I was just looking at it from a pure operating costs standpoint. I also realize it's going to double when I get new tires

 

[QUOTE=i_heart_my_DB8,Dec 16 2005, 02:12 AM]Don't know if any of you care, but I can't be the ONLY numbers geek on here, can I?

 

Doesn't matter, the cost per mile should include depreciation.

 

I think the definition of "city" just varies from area to area, and hence the large discrepancy.

The definition of "city" in New York is basically bumper-to-bumper traffic -- i.e. it takes you 30 mins to move 1/4-mile in front of a tunnel on a bad day (not exaggerating), whereas "city" in, say, Seattle/Vancouver means driving at 50 or 60km/h with some red lights every 1/2mile or so.

 

Interesting that your operating cost (no depreciation) is right in between my 6 month number (0.17) and my 12 month number (0.16).

However, I put the same number of miles on my car in the last 6 months as you have in the past four years!

You need to more

 

What's I find interesting is how you kept track of your top down miles. Now that's dedication! Did you write down how many miles you drove top down every time you got out of the car?

 

I bought the car to be driven top down, and I absolutely love it. I jump in, and the top drops. Simple as that.

I keep track of every time I drive with the top up. Over the past 365 days, I count 31 jaunts with the top up, ranging anywhere from 3 miles on the way to work because of rain, all the way to 401 miles from Nor. Cal down to So. Cal due to rain, and also in the efforts of better gas mileage.

I honestly think if I were single, I could cut those 31 trips in half...

As an aside, if you guess the MPG difference with the top up to be +2 MPG, if I had driven the entire year with a hardtop, I could have saved $160 in gas. But what fun would that be?

 

Appreciate the info.
Helps us all calibrate our own experiences.
The winter was a bummer top down wise - but hey we're otherwise very lucky here in SoCal.
See ya soon.

 

Is there something we don't know about you?

 

update to my stats (posted 6 mo. ago). note, these are my cumulative totals since buying the car brand new:

Total spent on fuel: $2862.90 ($2,633.10)
Total gallons purchased: 1150.42 (1,071.95)
Avg. days between fillups: 8.39 (7.53)
Avg. miles between fillups: 222.6 (223.7)
Average MPG: 24.6 (24.6)
Average miles per dollar: 9.9 (10.0)
Average dollars per mile: $.101 ($0.100)
Average fuel price: $2.491 ($2.457)
Average gallons per fill-up: 9.06 (9.08)

What is not seen in the minor changes to the above stats is the dramatic 10% drop in fuel efficiency starting in January.

I am starting to suspect that's about the time that ethanol was starting to be blended into gasoline, as my driving habits haven't changed, my maintenances have been consistently meticulous, and the overall fuel efficiency trend since beginning ownership of my car has been moving steadily upwards (most likely as the motor continues to break in).

The chart shows that my S got approx 23.5mpg initially, which trended upwards over 24mpg one-year later, to approx 25mpg after yet another year... then a dramatic drop back down to 23mpg starting in Jan and forming a plateau at that level for the next 6 months.