Hi,

I got some inspiration for this question from another thread where people discussed how long they would keep their Liberty CRDs. Most said they would basically keep it until it falls apart (hopefully many years ahead).

Since I live in Sweden I don't know what it costs to own older, diesel cars in the US, but this leads me to believe that it's not that expensive. I am talking road tax and insurance here. In Sweden, it IS expensive, since our government wants us to own newer and fuel efficient cars (and preferrably fewer cars overall) and punish cars like older Liberty CRDs. So it's not a clear case to hold on to one's Jeep forever.

I'd love to know what these costs would be for you guys in the US. I own a '02 stock CRD and this is what it costs me just standing still (and I am a low-risk customer):

Road tax: US$ 80/month (my other car, a modern, powerful '11 Volvo XC70 AWD Diesel, costs about US$ 60/month. A typical, smaller gas powered car, maybe US$ 20/month)

Full insurance: US$ 70/month (my new Volvo about the same)

Oh, and the fuel: gas and diesel costs about the same per gallon over here, about US$ 8.20 per gallon. I'm glad diesel cars at least get better MPG...

How expensive/cheap are these things for you?

One big up front difference from Sweden is each US state is somewhat different in how they "tax" vehicles as there is no uniform US national vehicle tax structure except for the national portion of the fuel tax. So best I can do for Florida, other states will be different.
1. no "road" tax as such although there is a per gallon tax on fuel which totals ca. $0.55 per gallon in Florida (see http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas- ... x-Map.ashx for national variation). Obviously the amount you actually pay varies depending on how much you drive and the mpg of your vehicle. Note though that in some places there are "toll" roads where one pays $XX, if you elect to use the toll road, based on distance traveled.
2. there is a federal gas guzzler tax collected at initial purchase of a new vehicle but it only applies to "passenger vehicles" and the CRV is not a passenger vehicle and in any case the mpg is above the tax threshold.
3. insurance for me runs $46 per month but more like $70 for my son due to his age and the fact that he is not married. That said where I live vehicle insurance is rather cheap comparatively
4. fuel cost per US gallon including the tax mentioned in #1 above is right now about $3.90-4.05 per gallon in the SE US based on recent driving experience
5. there is an annual state vehicle registration fee (vehicle tag) that runs ca. $70 per year.

I can tell you that my per mile cost (excluding insurance and annual registration) runs $0.55 but that includes all fuel, wear and tear maintence and "extra" (e.g. not required vehicle upgrades). If I back out some of those upgrades that I did not really need (GDE Stage II turbo and SunCoast torque converter for example) the per mile cost is $.031.

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

Howdy Maccie - actually the shorter answer - is that there is no tax, or usage payment difference in old vs new.

main issue with old is maintenance and parts availability, nothing to do with government.

(they do mandate all vehicles sold must have parts available for 10 years - but they don't limit the price on those parts)

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2005 CRD
stuff
Skeptic quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur

As papaindigo said, each state is different.

In Virginia, there is also a "property tax" assessment on personal property that gets registered, like cars, trucks, boats, etc. But that is a fixed percentage based on the property's fair market value with some sort of "Car Tax Relief" (pure politics) worked in, so as the car gets older the tax gets lower. Last year (2012) my 1991 Mercedes Benz, (I do not know how much it was assessed for since I did not get a tax bill for it) the Car Tax Relief covered the Virginia property tax so it did not cost me anything (for property tax); for my 2005 KJ (which was assessed at $9,775) the property tax came to $446.72, but with $281.43 in Car Tax Relief it "only" cost me $165.29. In addition to that, all my cars get stuck with an annual state registration fee of $47.75, an annual special license plate fee of $20 for the ones that have special tags, and an annual Town of Vienna fee of $33. That's like $22.17/month to the various governments (not including Federal), it does add up. Plus there is a 5% sales tax for all the parts I buy (does not apply to labor).

As to maintenance costs, my truck is costing me around $0.19 per mile (over about 62,000 miles, fuel not included, sales tax on parts is included), but that includes all other maintenance (oil, battery, etc.), a service contract and a bunch of other goodies that really were not maintenance (like lift kit, wheels, bigger tires, etc., see signature, all those items are included in this number).

My insurance for the KJ is $34.33/month ($412/year) for $250,000/$500,000 coverage with a $500 deductible and roadside assistance.

Life ain't cheap, but it seems to be cheaper here than in Sweden.

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2005 Liberty Limited CRD; Air Filter Monitor; Samco Hoses; GDE HOT Tune; RL037142AA TC; KJ Interior Rack from All J Products; JBA Adjust-a-strut lift and A-Arms; 245/75R16 Firestone Destination ATs on Moabs; ARB Bumper; ASFIR Skids; FS-2500 Bypass Filter; ARP studs.
2016 Grand Cherokee Overland CRD.

I have owned by CRD since June 2010 and have put about 17,000 miles on it. My average operation cost is .59 cents per mile. In my operation cost I include fuel, insurance, maintenance, repairs and registration. Obviously my cost/mile would be cheaper if I drove it more.

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05 CRD
97 Toyota FZJ80 12v Cummins/NV4500-build thread
96 Lexus LX 450
96 Ford F350 4x4

Here in MN we pay sales tax when registered (6.75%) for me used about $1,000
Diesel is about $3.79 for me about ~$50-80 a week
Tabs are around $99/year now (when newer they were like $500/year)

The below is parts/fluid only
Oil change ~$70/5,000
Front&rear Axles $80/15,000
Transfercase $20/30,000
Tranny $200/60,000
Tires $400/35K (I will be going with something better the stock next time)

I figure my GDE ECO tune has paid for itself ($450) (the tuner not so much) 2-3MPG increase (took 13.1K miles at $3.80 avg)
The GDE TCM tune (Paid $200) should pay for itself by 110K only about 1MPG for me (45.7K at $3.80)

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05 CRD Sport, GDE eco tune/GDE TCM/fumoto/Trac Loc/Sony Deck/Polk DB6501 DB651
06 Jetta TDI, DSG

Hi, could you tell me on average how many miles per gallon or km per liter you get on your vehicle in Sweden? I have been told that the foreign/European CRDs get better mileage. I know it is true for the TDIs or Volkswagons.

Google "White Diesel"

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Silver 2006 KJ 2.8L CRD Limited:
GDE ECO Tune / Fumoto Valve / E-Tecno GX3123 7v Glow Plugs / 2nd Gen Fuel Head / Mishimoto RED Hoses / Rockers/Lifters @ 114k / Hayden FC + 11 Blade Nylon / Sears P1 Battery / Transgo 45RFE-HD2 Reprogramming Kit / Timken Front Bearings

@paulrc:

If you are asking for what the car is officially rated at here in Sweden, it is 23.8 MPG, mixed (9 liters/100 km).

Bear in mind that this is a 2002 2.5 CRD, manual.

I haven't measured myself what my milage is.

Does this help?

Marcie, 23 mpg does not seem a very high mpg number. Is that a EU number, a number put together by a ministry of the Swedish Government or a Jeep number?

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2006 CRD, 2nd Owner, GDE ECO, 5V steel fast-glow plugs, updated fuel-head

Bio-Diesel when/where I can. In Houston available at http://www.houstonbiodiesel.com/ and it conforms to ASTM. They also have home brew classes!!

60 % Suburbs N. of Houston, TX - Conroe / The Woodlands Area 40 % Colorado and the West

Yes, that is actually quite disappointing to hear. I was told that the European models were getting around 22 - 25 miles city driving and 34 miles highway driving. I get around 19 city and 30 highway in the US.

Ooops...my bad. Since we use liters/km and not MPG, I used a conversion table but used it wrong.

The official ratings for my 2002 CRD are actually as folllows, if you do it right. These are EU constructed official ratings. I don't know if the EU calculation model is different than the US one or not.

Mixed: 26.1
City: 20.1
Highway: 31.4

To maybe get an idea if the EU and US models differ, I found the numbers for two new Jeeps sold in Sweden.

If you look at the 2013 Wrangler Unlimited 4-door, it comes in two versions in Sweden. One 2.8 CRD (200 hp) and one 3.6 V6 (284 hp). Both automatics. They have the folllowing official EU ratings (again converted by me).

2.8 CRD: mixed 26.7 - city 22.8 - hwy 30.2

3.6 V6: mixed 20.1 - city 14.6 - hwy 25.6

If someone knows or want to find the ratings for the same cars in the US, that could give you an idea about the rating models being comparable or not.

EDIT: Took a quick peek at the US Jeep website. Unless I am mistaken, it seems like the 2013 Wrangler Unlimited automatic is rated at 17 city / 21 hwy. So better in the city but worse on hwy than in EU ratings. I guess that means the calculations differ a bit. Couldn't find a CRD model, I guess it is not sold in the US.

Don't forget that a US gallon and European Gallon are not the same.

I know, I chose US gallon in the conversion tool. 1 US gal = 3.785 liters.