<prompt> Human: TL;DR at the beginning to be nice How to decide if buying a vehicle is financially justifiable?Currently, my car is a 2009 BMW 335i. Now dont get me wrong, I love this car. Its a decent daily driver, and I also use it for flogging at track weekendsHPDE events, where it is buckets of fun. Its also paid in full as of a few months ago, so theres no car payment in my budget. instead Ive been taking what used to be my car payment and chucking it into savings each monthBut heres the thing - I moved a little over a year ago to a sort of dream home, but the downside is that I now have a 80-mile round-trip commute. I try to ride my motorcycle when I can - better on gas than the car and I can use the HOV lanes - but thats not particularly doable when Houston summer comes along, so on average I probably am still driving to work about 50 of the time. And that 335 is not a gas sipper by any means.So every now and again I think about getting an efficient commuter car, but I never feel like it makes sense overall caveat - I would keep the 335 for track and occasional street use. I got really interested in the Chevy Bolt a while back - lots of fuel savings there, but it hardly seems to make sense to pay for a new car to get them, even when you consider the tax credit. Last night I got to thinking about a plug-in hybrid like a Volt, which can be had slightly used for somewhere in the mid-teens, but I wouldnt have the cash on hand to pay up front for that, which means having a car payment again.A naive analysis would have me saving 170mo on gas driving a Volt. Another option might be buying an oldercheaper normal hybrid, but that would cut my fuel savings to maybe 130 assuming 50 mpg average and possibly have me on the hook for maintenance vs. a Volt still under warranty.Not considered above are the reduction in maintenance costs by not dailying the 335 I would migrate all maintenance costs of it into my track budget, changes in insurance probably minimal, as Id knock the 335 down to liabilityMy gut says that the smart thing to do here is save until I can buy a car without requiring a loan maybe by the end of this year, and then things will make more sense. But Im curious about whether there are more rigorous ways to analyze this - I feel like Im staying pretty naive here.Thoughts?Edit: To maybe frame this a little better, historically a big obstacle to me being better with money has been having a sort of pennies dont count mentality. That is, when considering whether or not to buy a thing, Im good at telling myself thats hardly any money, it doesnt count. So Im trying to counter this by not just changing that thinking, but also actively looking for pennies I can trim out of the budget - that is, trying to make small-ish lifestyle changes that can add up in the end.  <response>: I just cant really see how it makes sense. Youre not even talking about going from a real gas guzzler. Personally, Id much rather drive a longer distance in a nicer car. 