Gas math: How much to the lake and back?

Summary

With gas prices so high, we wanted to know just how much does it cost to drive some of the most popular vehicles on the road out for a day at the lake. | LOWEST LOCAL GAS PRICES

Story Published: May 27, 2008 at 7:57 AM PST

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EUGENE, Ore. - With gas prices so high, we wanted to know just how much it cost to drive some of the most popular vehicles on the road for a day at the lake.

We crunched the numbers and figured out the cost to drive 25 miles. That's about the distance from downtown Eugene to Fern Ridge Reservoir and back.

We used government EPA miles per gallon ratings on 2005 model cars, figuring on a 60 percent city and 40 percent highway driving mix and using regular $4 a gallon gas.

Here's what we found: To drive a Toyota Prius, a hybrid car, to the lake and back would cost about $2.13.

Another popular car, the Honda Civic, would cost $3.57.

As the cars get bigger, so do the price tags.

Taking your Toyota Camry, the most popular car on the road, to Fern Ridge and back costs $4.17.

It costs only slightly more to take the small SUV, the Honda CRV, at $4.76.

If you drive a mini van, like the Nissan Quest, it's $5.56 round trip.

And for those of you in the most popular pick-up truck, the Ford F-150, it costs $6.67. That's three time the cost of taking a small hybrid car.

Now when you turn these numbers into annual costs driving an average 15,000 miles a year here's what you get:

The Prius costs $1,277 a year, the Camry is $2,500 annually and for the Ford full sized pick-up you'll fork out $4,000 per year in gas money.

If you want to do the math on the vehicle you drive, checkout www.fueleconomy.gov. They also offer tips to save money on gas.

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