Nissan Calculates What it Would Cost to Drive to Mars

The Curiosity is not the first manmade device to be sent to Mars, but it is the largest. It is not quite as big as a midsize car though. NissanNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
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has done some calculations to find what it would take to drive its new AltimaNissan Altima 5Japan, 2013 > present7 versions
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to Mars. Nissan is calculating based on a Mars-to-Earth distance of 352 million miles and gasoline costs of $3.645 per gallon (€0.778 per liter), which is the current average in the US. 

Nissan calculates that it would cost $33,746,211 to drive to Mars in a current Altima given the cars 38 miles per gallon highway rating. Assuming that the Altima has a top speed on 155mph, then it would take 2,270,967 hours to drive to Mars, which is 259.071 years. To put that in perspective that means for a car to get to Mars in 2012 it would have had to leave in 1753.

The Altima has a 684-mile range on the highway with its 18-gallon tank. That means that the Altima would have to fill up 514,620 times on its trip to Mars.