First off to say what this debate is about: Which one is it smarter to get money wise, NOT emissions and environmental. I say truck, cause nowadays dealers are selling for like $6,000 off, which is still quite a saving compared to saving about $20-40 at the pump. So which is it? More now and less from now on? or Less now and more from now on?
Easy: get a Toyota/Scion four door sedan, or if you travel a TON, a Subaru. The money saved on that for gas prices, amount of work you WON'T have to do on it, and the sheer reliability of them easily outweighs anything else that you can possibly buy.
$20 a week is over $1000 a year. How long do you plan to own the vehicle? And then when you are done with it, is there going to be anyone who is willing to buy it? Probably not. And that is assuming that gas prices stay where they are for the next couple years. That is guaranteed not to happen. My advice, don't estimate the numbers. How much do you drive per week? Are you about to start college, and if so, are you commuting? Are your miles/week expected to increase over the next couple years? Then, figure out the difference in gas economy between a truck and a sedan. Assuming a truck is at 18 mpg, and a sedan is at 24 mpg, figure out how many extra gallons per week you'll need, based on your expected mileage. Calculate the price difference per week based on $4 per gallon of gas. Then, I'd say add a dollar to the price of gas per year. It could easily inflate faster than that, but you'll need to assume at least some price inflation. Then, ask yourself if the price difference is worth it for the hauling ability of the truck. Honestly, I own a truck and I regret buying it. It's nice to be able to move stuff when you need to, but I don't do it very often, and the poor fuel economy is killing me.
Exactly. My parents bought a truck to haul our boat, and my brother ended up commuting to work with it, but it gets about 10 mpg (highway) so we bought another car, a Honda Civic that gets 35-40 Mpg and it's about all we use any more.
It all depends what is better for you. If you have 5 kids, then you probably want a bigger car that has higher MPG to get everywhere you need to go. If you are single or married with no kids a car like the new smartcars would suit you perfectly. Or you could have both and only use the SUV when you need it.