Don't neglect to look at the total costs of switching to a higher gas mileage vehicle. Maintenance, insurance, taxes, etc. Those things can really eat up the money you save on gas.

For example, my T100 gets about 18mpg, and I drive it about 20,000 miles a year. At $3.00 a gallon, that's $3,333 dollars a year in gas.

Switch to a gas sipper getting 35 mpg, and do the same driving. That's $1,714 a year. A savings of $1619 a year.

Sounds great! Or does it? $500 a year for insurance, another hundred for tags and such. $400 for regular maintenance and such. Now we're down to something like $500 a year in savings. And we haven't included the purchase cost of that alternative vehicle.

Don't get me wrong, having another vehicle can make a lot of sense for various reasons. But singularly as a way to save money with gas costs, it's shakey.

Take that same truck of mine, and boost the gas mileage from 18 mpg to 20 mpg. Easily done by simply slowing down and driving gentler. That's a $300 dollar a year savings.

Get creative and make a fast-back bed hatch and some undercarrage improvements, things like 25 mpg aren't at all impossible. Then I'd be saving a little over $1,000 a year in gas. An old storm door is strong, light, the right size (length wise) and comes with a window. Little fabrication and you could have a very effective hatch back truck.