Peter Greenberg: Flying vs. Rental Car
By: Peter Greenberg | Source: AARP.org
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We will be taking our two grown daughters to Disney World (from Austin, Texas) sometime this year. We have a Ford F-150, and I'm wondering if the savings in gas mileage would be better than renting an economy car and driving that round trip instead. I'm sure plane tickets for four adults would be much more.
–Barry, Paige, Texas
It’s about 1,150 miles each way from Austin to Disney World in Orlando, Fla. For a 2005 Ford F150, you’re looking at about 17 MPG on the highway, depending on the specific model. A 2008 Toyota Yaris (which is not a hybrid, just a subcompact) gets about 35 MPG highway. So the Yaris will need about 66 gallons of fuel to get there, while the F150 will need about 135 gallons. That’s a difference of about 69 gallons of fuel, all told. At $3 per gallon, that’s a savings of $207. And you’ll save more if gas prices stay above $3.
Bottom line, though, is that renting a car is probably going to cost you a tiny bit more, as most rentals go for about $30 per day. So the F150 will cost about $405 to drive there and back, while a rental car would be about the same ($200 in fuel, about $210 for a week-long rental). Of course, if you can get a cheaper rental car, or rent a hybrid, or want to rent for longer than a week, then the economics will change accordingly, but we hope this will give you a good idea of how to estimate costs. And as for plane tickets, expect prices to be around $225-250 per person, roundtrip, for Austin to Orlando, which means that driving is still the cheapest option here.
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