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Automotive News & Views How does gas at $4 and higher impact you?
2183 messages, Last post on Nov 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: boaz47 (Oct 19, 2008 2:05 pm) I will repeat that those with very narrow vision could see the high price of fuel as a positive. I did not see that in the overall big picture.
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Replying to: boaz47 (Oct 19, 2008 2:05 pm) From the time you were told or first heard this, how long do you think it takes, to get a lot of people into more efficient vehicles? How many vehicles are there? have the factories been able to switch to small cars yet? and if any did switch, how many small cars could be sold? The answer is there are over 200 million vehicles on the road, and it will take a good number of years (about 10?) before we could switch most people over to something more fuel efficient.
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 20, 2008 5:18 am)
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Replying to: lemmer (Oct 20, 2008 5:54 am) Plus, it's going to take awhile for SUV's to work their way through to the used car market, where depressed prices might actually make them more enticing to those who would still sacrifice fuel economy for a perceived coolness factor. The bigger, pickup-truck based ones are also relatively simple and durable, so, like the battleship cars of days gone by, will often outlast smaller vehicles which might be more fuel efficient and sensible in general, but can also be more expensive to repair when they do break, and are easier to total out in an accident. While the new car market has changed dramatically, it's still going to take a long time for the big SUVs to fully work their way out of the system. Look at how long it took the old, mastodon-class full-sized cars to get to the point they're not common occurrences anymore. The 2009 model year marks the 30th anniversary of the final "true" full-sized cars. By 1979, the only real mastodons left were the Lincoln Continental sedan/coupe and the Mark V, both of them ~230" long beasts that, if properly optioned, could top 5,000 lb. Yet, those big monsters still seemed a common sight throughout the 80's and even the 90's, although in the 00's I'd say they started really dropping off. About the only time I'll see a big 70's car (and I don't count mine as "big" by 70's standards, as the Chryslers are downsized and the LeMans is a midsize  ) these days is at an antique car show. Maybe the credit crunch and high fuel prices, and increased complexity will get the big SUV's off the road quicker than it did with those 70's cars, though? After all, while an Expedition or Suburban might be simpler and more rugged than a Prius, it's still light years more complicated than say, a '72 Impala. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Oct 20, 2008 6:10 am) With GM killing off the TrailBlazer/Envoy, Toyota the FJ, Ford the Explorer/Mountaineer and Nissan prolly the Pathfinder in the midsized segment there will likely be only the 4Runner, XTerra and Durango left on the market ( and the Durango may have a very very short life ) . Big SUVs will still be around but there will be only 2 or 3 IMO, the Sequoia, the Tahoe and maybe the Expedition. None of these will be big sellers.
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Oct 20, 2008 6:55 am) I agree, but I see the Suburban, Expedition, and Sequoia sticking around. I know it probably doesn't cost much to keep a Tahoe around, but it isn't really needed with Lambda based SUVs. There will always be a few around like me that have a family to haul and a boat/camper to tow that want these vehicles. No doubt the sales numbers will never reach what they once were. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 19, 2008 2:36 pm) That's complete poppycock. No relationship. People spending $400 on gas a month instead of $250 did not cause them to default on their mortgage.
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Oct 20, 2008 6:55 am) The bigger '09 Honda pilot is also there. Kia has a new 7-pasenger SUV. BMW, Suzuki and Hyundai also sell mid-sized. And these new crossovers that replace the Ford and GM mid-sized SUV's are marginally more efficient than the truck -based. Most cross-overs are luckly to get 25 mpg on the highway, so the combined-mpg is not that great. BMW is actually bringing an X1 to the market, which purportedly will approach 40 mpg with a diesel option.
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Replying to: larsb (Oct 20, 2008 7:27 am) I think high energy prices are a big factor in the housing market collapse.
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Replying to: steve_ (Oct 20, 2008 7:35 am) Higher gas prices did not kill anyone with a correctly written mortgage. People who GOT INTO MORE THAN THEY COULD AFFORD might have had an issue. But I can promise you that very few people came down to the choice, "buy gas or pay the mortgage?" If they did, then they were just idiots who made bad financial choices. Not enough people were in that circumstance to contribute to the issue If you took a poll of people who have been foreclosed on and asked them, "Did you ever have to decide on either buying gas or paying the mortgage?" I would bet my last dollar that the number would be 5% of them or less. When I refinanced my house in 2006, they offered me $25,000 more than I thought the home was worth. I could have been one of the stupid ones and taken the extra money - it was there for the taking. But I did not give in to the temptation and drive my mortgage payment through the roof and grab the cash. High gas prices affected the economy IN GENERAL in the ways that you mentioned - but there is no DIRECT CONNECTION between people having to pay higher gas prices and that money going for gas instead of a paying their mortgage contributing to the mortgage meltdown. |
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