city driving, driving the speed limit. The government gives a credit of 48.5 cents per mile for tax purposes. l would like to know if it cost more to operate this vehicle. Not if l get a bigger credit because l know l don't. Just if it cost more to operate this vehicle. I am not requesting any sarcastic comments, just an answer to the question if someone might know it.

l dont know of an actual online calculator for this, but l can give u an overview. You factor in: the parts cost, the reliability, the fuel mileage.
The general rule is that an economy car costs between $.20-.25 a mile to operate. This is a reliable car with good gas mileage. The 98 mercury villager is the last year of the design, & that always means that its more reliable then the earlier years, & according to this, thats very true: http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1993-to-1998-mercury-villager-2.htm
(to find out more about the common problems & costs to repair, youre going to have to look up the cars technical service bulletins (tsb)).. but l dont want to spend the time to do that, & im just going to go off of what the website says.
The part costs r about the same as an economy car, so thats a bonus.
so its a reliable car, now gas milage has to factor into it. It scores a 4 out of 10 for fuel economy. 19.7 for the 4 speed automatic. This is about 11 miles less then a standard economy car, so its going to cost more to operate.
Im just going to throw a guess out there by this info that it costs about $.35-.40 a mile to operate.. so the $.48 cents is pretty good.
l really wish there was a calculator online that would let u find this info out.. maybe after l graduate l will make one.