Last week I filled my tank with gas. I only needed to put in 8.19 gallons so I still had about 4 gallons in my tank. At $3.539 a gallon for regular unleaded, it cost me $29.00.
If I still owned my Subaru, I would have needed to use premium unleaded gasoline. At the station I used last week, premium unleaded gasoline was $3.739 a gallon. It would have cost me $30.63.
This particular station isn’t too, too bad when it comes to the price of premium unleaded gasoline. I’ve seen some that were 40 cents and more than the price of the regular unleaded.
You’re probably thinking, “well, Laura, $1.63 isn’t much to stake your happiness over the car you drive.”
True, but let’s go further.
It’s a 30 minute drive to work in the morning and again in the afternoon. When I still had the Subaru, I typically filled my tank every 4 – 5 days or so. Let’s err on the low side and say that I would need to fill my tank about 6 times a month. If I put in 10 gallons each time and gas stayed the same ($3.730 for premium unleaded), then in one month I would spend about $225 on gas.
Yes, the Subaru had to take premium gas because it was a high performance engine.
Thanks to the Prius’ gas mileage, I’m able to go 2 1/2 weeks between fill ups. That’s basically twice a month. Again, if I put in 10 gallons each time and gas stayed at the same price ($3.539 for regular unleaded) it would cost me about $71.
Therefore, in one month I’m saving roughly $154.
I’ve heard the argument that I had to pay more for a Prius than a comparable non-hybrid car. Technically that is true. At least up front. With the amount I save on gas, though, I’ll have made up that extra cost in 1 to 2 years.
With the way gas keeps going up and the amount of driving I have to do, this not at all teeny tiny Prius has been a great buy.
