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Automotive News & Views Are gas prices fueling your pain? 
10042 messages, Last post on Jul 12, 2008 at 3:07 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: lemko (Jun 02, 2008 8:11 am) With all these stories of more motorists running out of gas, did their fuel gauge suddenly stop working when they started putting less gas in the tank? "E" still means empty (or darn close), whether someone fills the tank or puts in 5 gallons. Edit: I hadn't seen the many replies about the stupidity of people who run out of gas nowadays before I typed that. Anyway, there's an easy way to tell just how close to empty your tank is when the needle is close to "E". Look up the fuel capacity in your owner's manual and the next time you fill up when the needle is almost on "E" pay attention to how much gas it takes to fill it up. With mine, I've determined that "E" really means EMPTY. I don't think that cheating the gauge by leaning all the way to the left and reading it would get me very far. Come on, I know I'm not the only person in the world who has ever done that. 
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Replying to: andre1969 (May 25, 2007 1:13 pm) Darn those SUV's always going off on their own and hitting people. Those Hybrids are much better behaved. Now if there had been a person driving that SUV we could blame him/her. Then we could say "got hit on her bike last year by this stupid driver". But alas, the SUV was driving around by itself. Can't trust 'em. 
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Replying to: tedebear (Jun 02, 2008 2:58 pm) Yeah, but I think it's a psychological thing. When you get hard-up and put less gas in the car, maybe you also start driving it more gently...or at least get it in your mind that you are, whether it's true or not. So you think you can go further. Dunno if that's the most rational explanation, but perhaps one possibility. All I know is that I've learned my lesson. On my cars that have a low fuel light, I try to refill as soon as that light comes on. Although I learned with my Intrepid that it comes on once I've used about 13 gallons. And it has a 17 gallon tank, so there's 4 gal of reserve left. Some cars aren't so generous though. My '79 5th Ave has a 21 gallon tank, and its light will come on once I've used about 19 gallons. On my cars that don't have a low fuel light, I just try to err on the side of caution. With my '85 Silverado, which only only as a 16 gallon tank (had twin saddle tanks, but both failed and I only paid to get one fixed), the needle will hit E but still have 3-4 gallons left. My '76 LeMans, which gets horrible mileage, thankfully has a large fuel tank...something like 21-22 gallons. Because I consider it a midsize, I think I subconsciously get it in my head that it only has a 17-18 gallon tank...nevermind the fact that it's an old-school midsize. The needle also seems to get to E pretty quickly, so there's usually plenty of reserve. And now, for something really weird. My '67 Catalina's fuel gauge doesn't work. The needle doesn't show up, and I thought that the gauge was either broken, or the needle came off somehow. But then one day I let it get really low, and suddenly the needle showed up! What happens is that when I fill it up, the needle actually extends so far that it's off the face of the gauge. It goes up there and stays there. But when I get low on fuel, the needle appears, and will slowly sway back and forth across the face of the gauge. Weird.
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Jun 02, 2008 3:13 pm)  Actually, don't read too much into that. I said that someone got hit on their bike by an SUV, because, simply, that's what happened. That's all I know. If they got hit by a Prius, I'd say" got hit on their bike last year by a Prius." If they got hit by a '57 DeSoto, I would've said "they got hit on their bike by a '57 DeSoto". I didn't mean for that post to demonize SUV's. Hell, one of the vehicles I own is an '85 Silverado, which a lot of SUVs were based upon. And some of my old mastodon cars would probably make an SUV seem petite, in comparison.
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My partner in Alaska was always waiting until the last minute to fill his tank. I went fishing with him and 8 miles back in on this dirt road he ran out of gas. We walked back to the highway. Luckily someone was headed back into our fishing spot and gave us a ride back to the truck. That was in 1975. I have not been in a vehicle since that has run out of gas. If I am riding with someone else which is rare, I check their fuel gauge out of habit. I never let mine go under 1/4 tank if I can help it. My wife's Lexus gauge went bad. I always reset the trip odometer to zero when I filled the tank. When we got to 200 miles I started thinking about refilling the tank. I am wondering at what $$price parents will stop giving their teenagers gas money?
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California consumed 4.5% less gasoline, including aviation gas, in January 2008 than in January 2007, according to figures released by the State Board of Equalization (BOE). The BOE is able to monitor gallons through tax receipts paid by fuel distributors. Total gallons of gasoline used in January 2008 were 1.234 billion—58.2 million less than in January 2007. For all of 2007, Californians used 0.97% less gasoline compared to the previous year. Californians used a total of 15.672 billion gallons of gasoline for the twelve months of 2007—a decline of 153 million gallons from the total of 15.825 billion gallons for the calendar year 2006. Gasoline consumption in the state has now fallen for two years in a row
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Replying to: gagrice (Jun 02, 2008 3:52 pm) 
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Replying to: kernick (Jun 02, 2008 12:42 pm) Also about a year ago I was talking to one of the managers at the the shopping center downtown and he had started giving his employees the option of doing a four day work week to save gas. |
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Replying to: british_rover (Jun 02, 2008 5:21 pm) I wonder if it really does save gas. Working a 4 day week gives one more day a week to do things. If you go somewhere that one extra day it could very well negate the gas savings of one day less of commuting.
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Replying to: british_rover (Jun 02, 2008 5:21 pm) My wife's company, however, actually sends people to Europe to do their job there for a week or two. The exact same job, not interacting personally with the people that they communicate with using the above communication tools US to Europe. Rather, the US employees actually sit in a conference/training room in a different building at German HQ communicating with the German folks by phone, email and IM. Brilliant! |
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