Only $90?

I live in Houston $90 for a tank is A LOT, especially when you're doing it twice a week. TO contrast, my wife spends $90 per fill up for her F15x35d once every 2 to 3 weeks and her commute is double mine. So anyone want a gas hog to add to their stable? I'll give you an XO deal.

Two windshields today. Had to get a fresh one installed in the in-law's old X5 thanks to an eighteen inch crack. While the windshield dudes were here, I figured I'd do the beat up original glass in mine.

mpg? or gpm?
 

I used to commute 120+ miles every day to my job clear across the DFW metroplex, for over 23 years. Previously, it was only between 45 miles (5 years) and 75 miles (4 years while in college, and 10 while living at other addresses), to two different plants over the years. There were only 5 years where my commute was <15 miles a day.

My vehicles included my worst gas hogs:

• 1) '67 Dodge Monaco 500, 383ci/325hp/323 gears,
• 2) '66 Chevelle 327ci/350hp/3.36 gears, then with 427ci/500hp/3.73 gears, occasionally,
• 3) '69 Chevy 1500, hotrodded with a 350ci/370hp/3.73 gears,

but mixed in were several four-cylinder cars and a small V-6 pickup.

I drove a V-6 '86 S-10 for at least 14 of those years as my DD, and it got 18 mpg. My last DD pickup was my '04 Chevy 2500HD WT 6.0L/300hp/4.10 gears, which (still) gets between 11-14 mpg; at the lower range in traffic, of course.

When fuel rose in 2008-2009 to $4 around here, I bought a '09 HHR Panel 2.2L/155hp/3.91 gear, for increased mileage at lower cost. Even with my lead foot, it averaged 27 mpg. That beat or matched my other, past cars ('73 Volvo & three VW's) that had shown good economy.

So, there've been times where I was spending up to $200 in a week for my commute, and $100+ seems to have been normal for me in the past two decades, but I never had an X5 to drive before. The cost of premium fuel would add to the cost by a bunch, though the first three cars listed used premium (or even race fuel mix), but even now, short-hopping my X5 (with recurring lean codes), I'm getting 15.1 mpg overall. That'd be within the range I was accustomed to. I would never buy a car just for mileage...I have to at least like to drive what I've got; this X5 is a pleasure to drive, so it would've worked for me.

Just curious, do you get a christmas card from the Saudi royal family every year?

OPEC Award!

I do..... [emoji1787]

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

no Saudi friends, nor oil/gas stock...overtime was my friend
 

I generally made sure that my gasoline expenses were covered by extra overtime or double-time & special fees for doing outside jobs for/thru my employer (at their other plants around the state). I averaged 10 or more hours OT for over half of my 46 years working for them, and was the go-to guy (on call 24/7/365) for two decades. I refused salary because I made more money my way.

Unless I was assured of enough extra income to cover my expenses, whether doing my daily shifts, or on a 2 or 3 times-a-year lucrative side-trip to fix machines at another plant (no outside jobs in my last ten years, though), I would not drive the gas-gulping '66 Chevelle or '69 Chevy pickup, unless the '86 S-10 was down for maintenance.

Later on, during the majority of my 120+ mile commuting years, the '69 Chevy pickup rotated with the S-10 ('til the S-10 got T-boned), and the (replacement) '04 Chevy 2500HD was used exclusively prior to the acquisition of the economical '09 HHR in Dec.'08.

Not mentioned previously, I drag-raced from March thru October, for 14 of those years, towing my Chevelle to races in two states, and paying for 116 octane gas to power the 10-second car. Not cheap. After I closed-down one plant & took a position at the old plant in 2010, I lost some income (I saw it coming in '08, so I retired from racing then), and limited my driving as best I could, up until I really retired 1/1/16. My only hobby now is camping (in my home-built trailer), once or twice a year, adding maybe 750 miles a year (down from 3-4x, and up to 2000 miles per year).

The X5 came in May '21, and I'm only on my second tank of gas (driving only just under 450 miles). Gasoline expense isn't a problem, now, and hopefully won't become one.

You and I lead different lives sir. I love driving my 4.6 but it's far from an ideal DD. If I were buying a car purely for mileage I'd be looking at civics and corollas but I do live my bimmers and the N57T is an excellent power plant I experience it all the time in my wife's F15 so an F10 525d is more than just a mileage car. I have a very powerful vehicle already which as a result of owning so.manu bummers I havent touched in years. A lot has gone into the decision, but the driver is definitely the cost and efficiency of the commute.

no criticism intended
 

My story concerning how much $$$ I was willing to spend driving over the years was not intended as any form of criticism of your choice to divest yourself of one of your cars. I was just telling of how I paid for my folly, and what I drove during those years.

I was an hourly-paid employee, who made myself indispensible to my employers, and that alone helped finance my excessive fuel bills. But, I never felt I had enough $$$ to purchase new, or high-end vehicles to play with. I always was a project-car kind of guy.

I only bought 6 of my 25 cars new from dealerships (and had trouble later-on with some their service departments; the 3 Chevrolets '86 S-10, '08 Cobalt, '09 HHR, from one dealer, were the exception...a good dealership among rotten apples), so I bought and maintained used cars as my hobby.

While my friends and co-workers bought & sold their new cars every 2-3 years, spending/losing so much on depreciation, my old hum-drum vehicles cost me comparatively nothing. I also have a habit of keeping them 'til they were beyond repair, or keeping them as I would a pet, unless damaged in an accident (I flipped/rolled a VW, two were T-boned, one was driven into a creek by my ex, one was stolen and totalled by my younger brother); I have let go of only six, to new homes with fellow tinkerers, or traded to one for another project.

As for my latest project-car, I thought I needed AWD or 4WD to aid me with my camping hobby, so I traded for the X5. I almost bought a 2002??, new, back in the '70s, but bought a new '73 VW Superbeetle and then a used '73 Volvo 142 (to assuage my Euro appetite). But, I asked for and received the X5 from my friend, with whom I traded my Chevelle, because it was my final chance to own a BMW (and I've admired, from afar, the E53 for 22 years). Finally, I've got a BMW, an AWD/4WD, and a project-car all rolled-into-one!

I wish I had experienced driving BMW's over the years, as you have, and that my stable was as upscale as yours, but as you said, we've led different lives.