[masraum]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Not really...although I do take note of it. Poor gas mileage is the price of entry for most fine cars. If one can afford the car, they can afford the gas. I drive an awful lot of miles (rural area and often drive cross-country instead of fly) and I expect more than most economical cars offer.

I recently bought my wife a Lexus RC 350. I could have bought the rear-wheel-drive version that gets 28/20 mpg or the AWD version that gets 26/18 mpg. Both come with the same 3.5L, 311 hp engine. I chose the AWD, even though they cost a little more and got less mpg.

I would have bought her the much similar Lexus RC F with a 5.0 V8 and 472 HP that gets 24/16 (since I do most of the driving), but I could not get the color she wanted (or AWD). The gas mileage was not a factor and the price was not that different (to make me preclude the higher performance car).

When I was just staring out (young family and made very little money), mph was more of a factor.

Right 28/20 vs 26/18 is not enough of a difference to me for me to even pay attention if I felt that I wanted/needed AWD due to driving in rain, snow, ice.