Hey! What's That Shitbox Costing You?

AAA released its 2008 costs of driving study, and it's painful. By its math, driving a Toyota Camry costs a guy like me $9,400 a year. Small price for your soul. And a damn good chunk of change better spent putting a hot car in your garage. So how does AAA come up with that number, and how can we put that cash towards a Corvette or something?
AAA adds up the price of fuel, insurance, tires, taxes and depreciation. For mid-sized boxes like our Camry, it totals 47 cents a mile, if you drive 20,000 miles a year.
Since we commute 80 miles round trip from Baltimore to Washington for work, we hit that mark before vacations and milk runs.
Luckily for us, we own no Camry. We commute by train, subway, bike, bus, shoe-leather express and sometimes a Thrify. Our cost per year: just over $3,000. Cost savings added to the hot rod fund: $6,320 a year.* Carbon footprint: less than a Prius.

*Hot rod fund sometimes mistakenly referred to as "home down payment account" by some members of this organization.
Check out a pdf of the study: Your Driving Costs - 2008.