Economies of lifestyle choices

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11:20 AM LabmateP: here's my dilemma... at what point can i justify burning more gasoline to save money?

when i save 2x the $$ of gasoline i burn? 5x? 10x?

11:24 AM me: hmmmm

haha

11:25 AM there are always unanticipated hidden costs

11:26 AM > 5x should be pretty good

11:27 AM LabmateP: yeah i'm not worried about time cost to myself though, more just about being 'green'

11:28 AM me: the best thing is prolly get the best MPG car in the long run =P

11:29 AM LabmateP: that's true if they still made that 65mph original honda insight

*mpg not mph

11:30 AM at $4 gas it still only costs me $60 max per month to commute from mountain view to milpitas

since i save more than 400/mo on rent it's well above the 5x mark

11:32 AM if i do some moderate hypermiling, i can probably keep my gas cost down do $45/month

11:33 AM hybrid can save another $10 maybe, but it'll cost me a lot more for the car (again, where is the line, 5x, 10x?)

me: =P

depends on how long you'll drive it

hahahah

LabmateP: and all this assumes saudi arabia doesn't go up in flames making $10/gal gas

11:34 AM me: at some point the hybrid will save more

make up for the initial overhead

LabmateP: i can probably keep my car for another 100kmiles

me: lol "go up in flames"

that's the unanticipated factor

11:35 AM at this rate my plane ticket to [non-US country] will be freaking expensive

11:36 AM LabmateP: when i bought this car, i worked the numbers and found i won't break even with a hybrid unless i drive for >200kmiles (this is used prius vs used manual corolla)

11:37 AM this is with $4 gas though

me: ahah

the joys of economics

11:38 AM LabmateP: should add this is because i drive mostly highway, or at least is able to keep close to highway mpg almost all the time

11:40 AM if i live in SF then prius comes out ahead, but then again nobody drives 200kmiles in SF except for cabbies... so maybe that's a moot point?

11:41 AM a more extreme option is to crash my car into [LabmateJ]'s car

probably cost me a lot more but saves the planet

11:42 AM last time i checked his car still has a broken radiator thermostat, which means it's probably burning 50% more gas than it should, hahaha

won't pass california smog but he is a washington plate

11:43 AM me: AHAHAHAHAHAHAH

LabmateP: so why should i agonize over my miniscule guilt of $40 gas vs $400 rent?

11:44 AM me: indeed...