How do you justify your motorhome MPG?

[RayJr]

Like I said "I look to window"

[jroethke]

Originally Posted by wanderso

These days, I ride a bus to/from work in downtown. This saves as follows per year: (2011 Subaru Outback)

8,200 commuting miles
310 gallons of fuel @ $4/gallon
2 extra oil changes @ $35 each
$300 insurance savings due to reduced mileage policy
$1440 in parking
= $3050 per year

Above doesn't even include depreciation, wear & tear and other maintenance.

That's $3,050 in real cash to pay for for fuel and travel costs for the RV "hobby". We all know that it doesn't offset the overall cost, but it is a start. In this case, all just for being willing to ride a bus for 20 minutes longer than driving each way. I guess I see that as worth it for the vacation payback and I can do my email on the bus anyway, getting back part of the commute time lost and less stress.

For those not yet retired, how do you justify your motorhome MPG? No snide comments please. .

Wow someone's way overspoken!

I have a 18year old Class A that I take to Florida for two weeks each spring with a wife two dogs and two cats. The entire trip less food cost me less than $1500 dollars every spring. Then we do 6 local trips with in 3-6 hours from home for the rest of the year to use up the rest of our fuel from the main trip. We love it and hope to become full timers in the near future.
We will someday need to update our coach but for now its the best investment we have ever made!

[TwelveVolt]

The past two weekends we were on the roof installing new vent fans. Today I am installing a new, easier to use fuel filter. Next week we will rebuild a BrakeBuddy aux brake for the toad. Might have to get the nine year old nephew to help with that one. Why do we need to justify having this much fun and together time?

[Brockx]

I gave up 32 gallon per hour big block Jet Boats, and got an econo 8 gallon per hour MH.

[bblack]

how come nobody figured the cost of the unit

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by bblack

how come nobody figured the cost of the unit

It is primarily "sunk funds" in financial-speak. It is dun spent. You may get something at trade time, but not much.

[Green D]

My wife and two boys have visited all these places together for the first time for all of us.
Grand Canyon, Sedona Az, Hoover Dam,Hollywood, Queen Mary,Golden Gate Bridge, Red Wood Forrest,Mt Ranier, Oregon Sand Dunes,The Rain Forrest,Cratter Lake,YellowStone,Grand Tetons,Glacier Park,Mt Rushmore,New York City,Washington DC,Daytona 500,Key West and Lots more I think you get the picture. My Son asked me after our first long trip to CA, Dad do you think we would have done this is our truck and camper?? Probably Not. My kids have photos movies and memories that will be here long after Mom & Dad are gone.
PRICELESS!!
Eric

[PyrateSilly]

I am 47yrs old and not allowed to work anymore according to the doctor. I have almost died a couple of times. While Thom still works we live full time in the MH so that we can take off anytime and anywhere we feel like when he has time off.

Besides it is costing us WAY less to live full time in the MH. We are paying $500 a month for FHUs. If we moved into an apartment here in SoCal it would cost $1000 to $2000 a month and then add in electric, gas, water etc .... We are saving money to play with. We are NOT concerned with trying to save money for the kids inheritance as they are doing just fine without us paying for anything for them. We taught them the value of money.

[ChallengerRN]

So my coach gets about 10 MPG and my Toad get 30 MPG. So I pull the toad. I figure I getting 40 MPG. The math may not work for all. But sounds good to me. That's our new math!!

Russell

[StevenNSteph]

My King Air averaged about 3.1 miles per gallon burning Jet-A
My Winnebago averages about 7.2 miles per gallon burning MoGas.

I typically spend over $1000 fueling the King Air and have never gone over $250 fueling the Winnie. On top of the gas I would need to get a rental car (or crew car if available) and a hotel room with the King Air and all the meals would be eaten out.

Bottom line: I went green and sold the King Air and lessened my carbon footprint with a MH.

[TeJay]

My first 5 cars were VW's and 1 Buick Opel. That started in about 1960 and lasted until about 1971. So I (we (married in 1969)) saved a ton of fuel when the rest of the country was getting 8-10 MPG on their cars/trucks I was getting 30 + MPG. I could selfishly say that It's owed to me but I won't.

We got our first MH in 1978 and I tried everything reasonable to get close to 12-MPG on the Dodge 360. We even drove 55-MPG when we were supposed to.

You can't really justify owning a MH, a boat, or a plane (unless for business). They are purely for recreation. Nobody NEEDS these machines. We just WANT them. None of them are fuel efficient. Even your commuter cars/trucks and SUV's are a waste of $$$$. Yes they are necessary to get to work but when you drive off the lot you are in the hole paying all the commission to sales and dealer. We don't have to many choices. The majority 90%+ really don't care if their cars were safe or economical. That's proven by the number of fuel guzzlers that were bought long before fuel was expensive and yet there were economical vehicles available, but nobody wanted to be inconvenienced. There were choice in the 70's and 80's but few cared. I was still driving economical vehicles in those times and watched most of the rest of the country burn up the fuel with not a care in the world. You might notice a bit of bitterness in my tone and there is. I saved a lot of fuel but i was in the minority. Today when I want to splurge and use some gas I'm paying like everybody else.
So these days I really don't care what it costs to have the MH. I'm going to spend what I need to spend and enjoy. I do it with just a tad more satisfaction than I should because I know I was not one of the guilty gas guzzlers back when fuel was cheap.

TeJay

[HHg]

I don't even try to justify the expense......we bought the M/H knowing its a depreciating asset the moment we drove it off the lot. To a logical, penny pinching tightwad, there is absolutely NO justification....but I damn sure enjoy mine and no you can't have it!!

Hhg

[Orangepeel]

Originally Posted by bblack

how come nobody figured the cost of the unit

Recently my 12 year old asked me "if you and dad are always trying to watch your money how come you bought an RV last year and we are going on a vacation Wednesday". I think this came on the cusp of him asking us for a $40 video game and being told that he would need to earn the money to buy it himself and no he could not take money out of his savings account for it.

This is what I told him - the reason why we have DVC and the reason why we bought the RV is to spend time together as a family. We wanted to have a place we like to go visit each year and an RV to travel in with you and your brother so we can do things together. It was an investment in family. Yes, your dad and I are always looking at ways to conserve money and to spend wisely and the reason for that is so we can afford to have things like DVC and the RV.

So to answer your question bblack; I may have paid X amount of dollars for my RV but what I get out of it is priceless and that can't be quantified on a spreadsheet by anyone.

[nothermark]

I have an issue with the assumption that one has to justify their choice to drive a Motor Home as a way to travel. It has nothing to do with commuting expense or the use of subsidized bus transportation.