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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: lemko (Nov 10, 2008 9:44 am)
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Replying to: ponderpoint (Nov 10, 2008 7:57 am) Lots of twenty-somethings live at home so they can afford the care and feeding of their "essential" ride. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Nov 10, 2008 8:05 am) I don't. That was years ago but I still saved a ton of money not having a car. I live rural now with agricultural zoning and am currently debating putting in orchards (apple) on one section of the land. I look over at a ridge that since I've lived here has been decimated with McMansions that destroyed orchards and farmland. The closest small cities close by (two) have urban cores that are rotting away which is a shame because some of it is architecturally important. If I still worked 9 to 5 I would not live where I do now nor a McMansion, It wouldn't make any sense. I now feel a custodial responsibility in my years left to do something good with the land..... Pretty boring I guess. Starbucks? I don't "get it" either.... seems like an incredible waste of money and a gigantic bad financial habit to get into if you're a 9 to 5'er.... I was trying to be humorous, unused urban car racking up fees without even touching the gas pump, and then go console yourself with high priced coffee.... Apparently my humor didn't take. |
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Replying to: fintail (Nov 10, 2008 9:53 am) The condo I ultimately bought was about 12.5 miles from work if I took the most direct route, which had more traffic lights. The way I took was more like 14. Usually took 20-25 mins to go in, 25-30 to come home. It didn't seem too bad at the time, but nowadays it takes me about 7-8 to get to work and maybe 10 to get home, so I've gotten a bit spoiled. Back in 2002, I thought about moving down to southern MD. At the time, it seemed like you could get the same house for about half the money in the places I was looking. I was thinking something like a modest 1200 square foot or so split foyer, etc, which would've been around $250K in my neighborhood, I could get for around $125K down there. Sounds like a nice savings at first, but the killer was that it would've probably made my weekly commuting time jump from about 4 hours to 14-15! And my daily round trip would've gone from 28 miles to about 120. The wasted time, extra fuel, and wear-and-tear on the car would have offset that mortgage payment very quickly. I think my threshold is still around 1/2 hour. And as long as the traffic is moving, that time can go by fairly quickly and stress-free. Unfortunately, at rush hour it usually isn't! If I was in a position where I could cut back my hours to, say, 2-3 days per week, I'd consider a longer commute. |
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Replying to: ponderpoint (Nov 10, 2008 7:57 am) I did live without a car in college, and I hated it. I lived in Philadelphia for two years (Temple University), and I bought a car as soon as I graduated and moved away from the city. Every time we return from a vacation where we travel largely by trains, subway or buses, the first thing I do is hop into my car and visit the store to stock up on food, drinks, etc. It just feels good to be driving - and not having to share space with strangers - again. We're looking to move next year...to either a newer suburb, or the country. No city life for me. 
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Replying to: grbeck (Nov 10, 2008 12:05 pm) However, I WOULD quite willingly be without a car during my commute, but alas there are no transit options where I live and work. I have experimented with carpooling the last few weeks and have found that as often as not I end up in my car alone anyway, due to conflicting schedules, etc etc. I must admit that given the hassle and general ineffectiveness of carpooling, and now with gas back down to $2.35, I will probably abandon the experiment until next summer when $5 gas shows its ugly face....
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 10, 2008 12:35 pm) And I've got nothing against mass transit...not everyone wants to drive, and some people can't (or shouldn't). I support giving people a choice in modes of transportation. I have no problem with using tax dollars to support transit systems. The only problem is that the money is usually spent on buying votes (i.e, padding the employment roles with union members who will vote for particular candidates; keeping fares artificially low; or keeping lightly used routes in service to appease powerful politicians) instead of providing efficient, safe service. |
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One of our editors was on GMA talking about gas prices: "Waiting in the green room before the show a producer said, "We liked the segment. But we were all wondering, what is cruise control?" Ah, don't you love New Yorkers?" Fuel Savings Hits Times Square on Good Morning America |
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Oil prices are going below my estimates. I expected them to stay around $60. You can buy oil today for $55 a barrel and nothing to keep it from going lower. Wholesale gas at $1.28 means only the states with very high taxes are still over $2. At this rate it will be at least 2 years before we see $4 gas again.
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Replying to: gagrice (Nov 11, 2008 10:08 am) It's been dropping for several weeks in a row. Can't go up if the rate keeps dropping.
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