[albrewer]

My old truck got 22 highway mpg, and the average family size sedan gets somewhere between 27-35 mpg (or up to 45 mpg if you count the Prius), coming out to roughly an extra $1,200 a year at $5/gal assuming 10k miles a year. Additionally, larger and taller vehicles are far easier to work on yourself.

In short, the operating costs are not all that much different. The true cost comes in with overall vehicle price and insurance costs, which heavily favor the family sedans.