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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: andre1969 (Nov 01, 2008 6:40 pm) I also remember buying Bugs in the 70's and the mid-20ish mpg was a factor. Some stuff, like lead acid car batteries, haven't seemed to change much at all. Cars sure run a lot better, but the average mpg doesn't seem to have made great strides. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Nov 01, 2008 6:40 pm)
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Replying to: fintail (Nov 01, 2008 7:06 pm)
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Replying to: tankbeans (Nov 01, 2008 7:11 pm) The small car became the second car in the 70s when we were told gas was about to run out. People bought econo boxes to get to work and kept there cruiser for family weekends. But the tree huggers convinced the government to that they should force people into small cars, "for our own good, and the good of the nation." They more or less forced the family station wagon and full sized sedan out of the market. Surely people would flock to sub compacts was the reasoning. But one thing eletists and tree huggers never count on is what the people want. What does the consumer want to go to all those soccer games? How will they get the mandated car seats the government says they have to have in a Sub Compact? They can't and so first the Mini-Van and then the SUV drive right through the loop hole the government left open. SUVs are not bad by themselves. Sub compacts aren't good by themselves. Even commuting in a SUV at $1.50 a gallon gas isn't bad. In some cases the SUV turned out to be the only family car some people had so yes they commuted with it. Forgive me if I rant a bit here. What is bad is being lied to about how much gas "should" cost. Gas should cost what we are willing to pay for it and not a dime more. Gold is worth what people will pay for it and only investors complain when gold prices fall. In other words only people with an agenda or vested interest would insist that higher priced fuel is good for the consumer and lower priced fuel is bad for that same consumer. If that had any credibility places like Wal-mart would never have become successful and the discount malls wouldn't be packed every weekend. If people were truly concerned with saving fuel more people would be riding small motorcycles getting 125 to 175 miles to the gallon. But they don't because they draw the line with 4 wheels and an inclosed compartment with a heater. But if anyone draws the line higher than they do, lets say at a full sized car then the self righteous sub compact drivers call them wasteful. Notice you hardly ever hear the same complaints about Sports cars that get low fuel mileage? But still I personally am much happier when gas is less than $3.00 and not so happy when it is $4.00. If fuel is indeed in short supply then alternatives will be invented because people simply aren't ready to go back to riding horses or even bicycles. If fuel goes back up too quickly and I have to pay $4.00 again I will not be happy. But the truth is there is "nothing" in the pipeline to make life easier for us, the consumer, if fuel does go back up. Just look up the history of CAFE and see how well driving smaller has done. As the compact and sub compact became mainstream see how much better the fuel average has become in the US. Then when someone wags their finger at SUVs and tells you how much better things would be without them, you can tell what their opinion is worth without smelling it.  Remember these same people told you 6 months ago we would "never' see $2.00 gas again. Now they want you to believe it would be better if it never did.
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Replying to: tankbeans (Nov 01, 2008 3:06 pm) Wow, what are they putting in your gas? I get almost that mileage in my Eclipse which has a similar weight but a big 3.8L 6-cyl. Is that the newer 4-cyl with 190 hp? If it's a high performance engine that could drop the mpg a bit. Still, at $2.03 who cares?
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Replying to: tankbeans (Nov 01, 2008 6:31 pm) I remember making the statement back in '73 that "if gas ever goes above 40 cents a gallon, I'm going to stop driving". Funny how I can remember that very clearly but now I can't recall where I left my car keys. 
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Imidazol97 is trying to pin me down on how long it's going to take to see $4 a gallon gas again, in view of the recession, etc. Frankly, I'm surprised at all the reports over in Report Your Local Gas Prices Here of gas being under $2. I don't think road taxes are going away although they could shift to some drive by mile plan if too many people start tooling around in their hybrids in electric only mode (Plug-In Conversion Kit for Priuses). So your base is probably 50 cents a gallon for most tanks around the country just for taxes. The stock market is down about 40% so theoretically gas in my area should be around $2.34 from its recent highs. It's not that low yet. I'm thinking gas will stabilize or creep back up a bit in time for Thanksgiving trips to Grandmas, with increased fuel usage as winter sets in. I don't see gas pushing $4 a gallon in the next couple of years absent double doses of hurricanes in the refinery zones or other catastrophic events. But I could sure see it settling in at closer to $3 a gallon instead of $2. Anyone got a better crystal ball? |
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Replying to: steve_ (Nov 02, 2008 8:08 am) Anyone got a better crystal ball? I think that is pretty reasonable. I would rather see it at $2.00 but that may not be reasonable. What I would love to see is some development of synthetic fuel. Something renewable and clean. I would also love to see more EV city cars. easier for me because I don't need a range much more than 60 miles a day. If I could get a EV with a range of 150 miles for less than 24k I would be a happy man.
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Replying to: boaz47 (Nov 02, 2008 9:01 am) Thank you for your well reasoned posts. The issues that scares me here in the Pacific Northwest is how we get around - we have funny geography that limits the ability to make connections east/west and being a one party region we believe bus/light rail is the only solution. Case in point we are thinking of replace a 4 lane floating bridge with a 6 lane job (we have been thinking about this for ~ 20 years). The rub that I see is 6 lanes is not enough and we should build 8 lanes - especially when you factor in that cars are getting more efficient all the time. Who wouldn't drive a Volt back and forth on your own schedule instead of waiting for a train/bus and being subjected to somebody else's schedule - especially when the energy cost per passenger mile of most light rails systems is worse that driving a car. We have a massive ballot measure to build a few more miles of light rail, that would serve an incredible small % of commuters. Curious to see if it fails on Tuesday or not. I do get a chuckle though when I hear that Hugo guy is struggling with Oil being low - uh...what did he expect at a high price that everbody would take it in the shorts to make him happy? He and those fella's from Iran really killed their golden goose. Converting SUV factories to car factories is a major change not easy to undo - that kind of behavior cannot be un done easily - combine that with things like the Volt or that hydrogen car from Honda and it may get to the point where Oil from South America and the Middle east does not matter...I know wishful thinking but the low prices and inability for them to drive short term price via supply must be shocking. I love to see blow hards (HUGO!) fall on their face...
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Replying to: murphydog (Nov 02, 2008 9:34 am) But I agree you need something in the Seattle area like mass transit or alternatives to gas because everyone has so far to drive. With the two bridges across the lake anyone living to the East of the lake couldn’t easily ride a bicycle. I would think EVs would work as long as the wetness wasn’t a factor. But being so close to where Gates grew up I would expect some company in your area might be able to develop a city car we all could afford. Still I am glad I am not facing $4.00 gas right now because I don’t have many reasonable choices to drive something that doesn’t use gas. However I can say I am doing my part. I have more than a 1000 miles on my bicycles since June. Helps to pay for the SUV and Travel trailer when I do haul them out for a trip. But then I only put gas in the Tahoe about once every 6 to 8 weeks. |
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