i wouldn't talk you out of buying another mopar, but no matter how you shake it -- with that driving your going to probably double your fuel costs of commuting.
given that fact -- it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, to embark on this endeavor for a daily driver @ 33K+ miles a year of commuting, especially with the awful NYC/long island traffic.
now if you just want to get another car and build it, well that makes a crap ton of sense.
Hey Mike. Sense and I are not real great friends...
It won't be an 'every day' driver, like day-in-day-out, 700 miles a week like I do with my Mazda. And no way it's coming out after the roads are salted. But, if it's nice enough out, I'd rather torture myself in style. I live like a monk anyway, gas is probably the only thing I spend money on.
When I insured my D100 last year the insurance company asked if I would be using it to offset some of the mileage I put on the Mazda. I said no initially because it sounded like an odd question but I thought about it later and decided maybe it's not such a good idea to put so many miles on any one car every year. So I guess the answer to that question is actually yes.
Fuel injection and overdrive are definitely part of the equation so there is a nod towards some level of economy. I know the initial investment on those things is probably such that you would never make your money back but it's fun to try at least.
But just to give a comparison - my Mazda 'requires' 93 octane gas which is normally 30-70 cents more depending on where you get it. I use my Stop N Shop rewards card sometimes which helps. On average, that little 4 cylinder FWD car gets about 325 miles per tank, sometimes more (rarely), sometimes less (often). I drive a minimum of 120 miles a day while getting pounded by a sport-tuned suspension.
I had an '01 Cherokee a few years ago that thing got like 16 mpg on a good day and that was an MPI 6 cylinder with an OD trans. My wife's Subaru with the V6 probably gets about 23-25 mpg as well on the highway, way less around town.
My D100 gets about 13 mpg if it's all highway driving. I drive it all the time too, including back and forth to work. I figure I can do a little better than that with a car. If I was able to get 16 mpg with a big block equipped B body, I'd be pretty happy.
My Duster is probably the most impractical but I've driven that back and forth to ETown a few times, wasn't crazy bad, probably about the same as the truck.
It's all relative. If it runs, I'm gonna drive it.
Got a couple of potential candidates I am looking at right now, we'll see what shakes out.
